Author Topic: Cable TV scam - Is it just me?  (Read 5220 times)

Plugra

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Cable TV scam - Is it just me?
« on: March 28, 2017, 07:53:15 AM »
Last year I told my cable company to cancel my cable television but keep my internet connection. They gave me huge resistance, dragging their feet, asking me my grandmother's maiden name, escalating to higher level rep, blah blah blah ... But eventually they agreed to cancel the TV.  Lots of my time wasted but now my monthly bill should drop to about $60.

Now one year later ... By chance I notice that my cable TV autopayment is above $100.  WTF?  I retrieve the recent statements and find that, lo and behold, they had reinstated the TV a couple of months after I cancelled it, and I've been paying $40+tax per month ever since for TV that I didn't know I had.  That's hundreds of dollars down the toilet.  I called them up and they were like, "Oops!  Sorry!" but say they can't just credit me because the amount is too large and that requires filling out a special form, escalation to higher level rep, call back during certain hours, etc.

So the funny thing is, this isn't even the first time this has happened.  Some years ago they did the same thing - upgrading my TV service without asking me.  I can imagine an evil corporate strategy of tacking on unwanted services and then just saying "Oops!  Sorry!" if the customer complains.  This is the kind of thing that leads to a class action lawsuit.

Has anyone else had the same experience?

neo von retorch

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Re: Cable TV scam - Is it just me?
« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2017, 08:07:49 AM »
I would never put bill payment in the hands of the people collecting the money. I use my credit union's bill pay, or I manually initiate payment with any vendor that collects. That doesn't solve your past problems, but it could help you going forward.

CupcakeGuru

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Re: Cable TV scam - Is it just me?
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2017, 08:36:16 AM »
I have had this to us multiple times. We would call to cancel a part of a package, then 3 or 4 months later notice that the charge is back on the bill. The most annoying part is that they would add some cable magazine to the bill for $4 and I would have to fight to get it removed and a credit. The last time, we downgraded again and they actually added new items to the bill.

I turned off both electronic invoices and auto payment that way I am forced to review the bill when it comes in.


AMandM

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Re: Cable TV scam - Is it just me?
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2017, 09:12:14 AM »
Thanks for this warning--I just "downgraded" to internet-only, so I'm going to keep an eye on my bills!

rantk81

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Re: Cable TV scam - Is it just me?
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2017, 09:23:55 AM »
My issue is, there is no transparency with the pricing with Comcast.

The website does not quote the regular package prices. Any time I call, I try to find out what the price is, and instead of immediately telling me the price is "X" for "Y" service, they tell me they will "see what they can do" and "run scenarios" on what promotion they can put me on.  After holding for several minutes, they get back to me.

I've been leaping from one promotion to another for the past several years, typically paying about $50/mo for HD cable tv and interent (not too bad of a deal, I guess...)  But there seems to be absolutely no way for me to easily figure out what my "normal bills" will be if these promotions run out and they don't offer me a new one.... outside of just waiting for the next bill.

What I want is a price schedule of all the internet speed options available and at what price... same with TV, and what the discounts are if they are combined. But comcast refuses to publish this information, and getting quotes from them is a game of back-and-forth and you're essentially at the mercy of the person on the phone who "crunches numbers" each time and "offers you a deal"...

Makes it very hard to be an informed customer and comparison shop.... E.g. investigate alternate options for internet and/or TV (such as DSL + streaming)



Samuel

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Re: Cable TV scam - Is it just me?
« Reply #5 on: March 28, 2017, 01:55:54 PM »
I've not had the sneaking additions problem but it never ceases to amaze me the ways Comcast finds to mess things up.

I had added TV +HBO when it was basically $5 more a month as a promo, but recently called to go back to internet only. I called a couple times and spoke with different people, who never quite agreed on the pricing and different options. After cancelling I returned their cable box the next morning since I was near the place to do that. That afternoon I get an automated email saying my package had shipped.

Confused, I called. After 10 minutes on hold the person came back and said, "oh, that's just a shipping label to return your cable box, if you've returned it already just throw the label away."

A couple days later the package arrives... and it's a new cable box.

Miss Prim

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Re: Cable TV scam - Is it just me?
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2017, 07:49:18 AM »
Comcast is the devil!  Just trying to cancel their service is a nightmare!  We got rid of cable about 4 or 5 years ago and installed an antenna in our attic.  Best move we ever made!  Our cable bill was rising above $100.00/ mo.  and we actually had a better picture with the antenna!  I hate them so much that I got DSL for internet and even though it is probably slower, they have not raised my rate in all of that time. 

I would never sign up with Comcast ever again.  They deserve to go out of business for all the grief they have given customers over the years.

                                                                   Miss Prim

Bart1ma3u5

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Re: Cable TV scam - Is it just me?
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2017, 08:02:14 AM »
I absolutely hate dealing with all cable companies. I have never had any add things back into my bill after i had cancelled them (atleast that I was aware of), however I have had issues with almost all of them I have dealt with. The most recent was verizon instead of "transferring my service" to my new address they opened a second account and started trying to charge me on both of them. That took several hours of sitting on hold to get them to correct the mistake and then finally admitting they actually owed me money back... Still never saw that check.. I assume they sent it to the old address I moved away from, and it didn't get forwarded, or was never sent, who knows.