I have Comcast cable and I hate the fuckers. First off my rates have gone from 29 dollars a month about 2 years ago to 46 dollars now!!! Most of this rate hike came when they merged with some media conglomerate. So I guess I’m just a stupid cash cow for them to pump up their stock and give their investors a better return.
Secondly it seems everytime they connect someone else in the area they disconnect me for some reason. This has happened twice in the last year and I’m sure it will happen again. For some reason the technicians just can’t seem to fathom that the existing connections may serve some actual purpose.
Thirdly everytime I call to complain and get my service reconnected they give me shit about owing them 350 dollars and that was why I’m cut off. They evidently don’t see or understand that this is an apartment building and there are multiple units here and that I’m not the deadbeat here. Eventually they figure that out and realize I pay my full share each month – and besides they are the morons if they allow somebody to run up 350 dollars in charges before cutting them off. I know with the people in this building they’ll never see a dime.
Finally I have to see all these stupid ads for high speed cable internet trashing DSL and such. I’m very happy not to pay the Comcast bastards any more money and gladly have DSL through Earthlink. I’ve heard bad things about comcast high speed internet and I know from my experience that DSL here is super reliable.
So what are your problems with the cable company? Any horror stories with service or high rates?
In fact with everything I’ve been thinking of just saying fuck you comcast and shutting it off. I could gladly use the 46 dollars a month for something else like a new video game or some books or clothes or just to save a little more for a house so I can get out of this dump. I also thought of dropping everything except for the main channels but I don’t watch network tv – it’s just a wasteland of reality tv and horrible sitcoms – ie. will and grace. The only stuff I really watch is History channel, comedy central, AMC, and ESPN. Maybe I’ll shut it off after hockey season is over and take a break from cable. I’ll have to be strong… lol
I hate Comcast, but I don’t have much of a choice in the building I live in right now. I did reduce my service to the bare minimum, so I’m only paying about $9 a month right now - when they were taking the expanded basic (or whatever they call it) to $50 a month here, I dropped it. That’s way too much for the channels I didn’t watch that often.
Oh, and the disconnecting you whenever they came to disconnect someone else in the building? Happens to me too, although not as much anymore. I never had them tell me that I owed them $350 before they could reconnect it - just kept getting the story that this building used to provide free cable to all residents, but then that changed and it was really hard to tell which wires were for which apartment.
Yeah. I’d drop it completely, but then I wouldn’t even manage to get the local channels - without the cable, I get almost no reception.
We haven’t had any troubles with our service, but our rate’s gone up twice. I think of cancelling it from time to time, but I love my History Channel and episodes of Monk on USA.
about a year ago, i had AT&T broadband in my room in the apartment i was sharing with my mom and sister. this was before they were bought out by comcast, so i feel it’s sort of relevant.
there were problems with it from the beginning. i opted for the not-full installation package - the one where they come hook up the equipment and let you set the computer up by yourself. it was saving me $50 and anyway, my dad could help me set it up.
they charged me the extra $50 anyway. i called. they said they’d take it off. they didn’t. my mom called. they said they’d take it off again. they didn’t.
so i just paid my bill less $50 each month.
and when i called to cancel the service because i was moving, they wanted that extra $50. in spite of the fact that it was documented that i had called in about it and it should have been removed…there was “nothing that could be done” and “the money was owed” but “here is our corporate address, you can write to them”.
don’t even get me started on their tech support. i called them several times in one day once because it was giving me an awful time - not working at all - and the last call i made, i didn’t even get to explain the situation before the rep said flatly “we’ve told you everything we can. we can’t help you anymore.”
…the hell?!
my options for highspeed down here in florida are comcast and sprint (neither of which deserves the respect of capitalization). i’ll gladly stick with dialup until we move to a bellsouth area.
We have Time Warner, and I gotta say they’re pretty good. We have DVR (sort of like Tivo), excellent reception, and great service. Of course, TW has cable competition around here, so that might be a part of it.
Ours is a local cable company, and the only problem I have with them is their outdated equipment. I just recently got digital cable and they still don’t offer cable internet in my area. I was told by an installer who worked at another cable company that their equipment was ten years out of date.
I have Comcast, also. I signed up originally for basic service (only the major networks and a few other stations - about 13 channels in all) and broadband internet. They billed me for standard service for about 4 months, even though I wasn’t receiving those channels. Since internet is so expensive, I have the cheapest TV package you can get. Screw 'em - I’d rather spend the money on new PS2 games.
I have never had a problem with disconnects in the internet connection, but their customer service is pretty crappy. I had to call and nag them in order to get a username and password so I could actually use all the stuff that comes with a subscription (web space, email, etc) - I have no idea why they didn’t give it to me when I got it all hooked up. :rolleyes: To be fair, I have a feeling the problems I’ve had are more rooted in the structuring of support, since individual reps are pretty much helpful once I’ve made the initial contact.
I would love to switch to DSL, but it isn’t available in my area yet. I hope it comes soon.
I have Time Warner. A few months back I decided I should cut back on this expense so I called them and asked some questions about downgrading my package. I gave up several channels and asked about the new and reduced fee. It was only a few dollars less than what I was paying. So, when I heard the final monthly price I told the sales rep that I would just keep my original package. She then tells me I must pay a reconnection fee. I think it was about $25.00. I went off the deep end and after a heated exchange and me asking to speak to her manager, I kept the package without having to pay the reconnection fee. I thought the procedure was suspect since all of this discussion took place during one phone call. I have internet sevrice with them as well. I think they are pretty expensive but I can’t survive without internet and cable tv.
I have Comcast internet, and have been happy with it, but I got rid of the TV yonks ago, when I moved to a new place and saw that the cheapest package was about $40 a month. I was just not willing to pay that much money for TV. So I went back to rabbit ears, and haven’t missed cable once. Frankly, you can take that $40 a month, spend it on DVDs of your favorite shows, and have more than enough to watch - commercial free!
Getting rid of cable was the best move I’ve ever made.
FYI, GMR, I’m a Comcast customer, too, and when “basic” cable went to ~$50/mo. I downgraded, not quite to “antenna service” (~$9/mo. for just the local “broadcast” stations) but for something a few steps above, the name of which escapes me, but costs ~$14/mo. and includes both USA (Law and Order junkie, here) and the History Channel, plus MSNBC (I need at least one news channel), CNBC, ESPN2 and a few other super-esoteric channels I never watch: religion, 2 spanish language, 2 CSPANs, 2 shopping channels, TVLand, Game Show, Golf Channel, Crewel Channel (JK!) … About 30 channels in all, but, again, only a few actually “watchable”.
But it fits the bill for me, and at $14 is a lot easier than $50. This may also be what Magickly Delicious has.
Anyway, if History and USA are the major cable channels you watch, you may want to look into it.
Comcast is a bunch of fucking fucks. I hope the deal with Disney goes through, because the bastards deserve each other.
We recently got Comcast cable internet (no choice in our area and no DSL). First problem is that we get 100 k/sec, tops, which blows big hairy balls. Rather than pay the $3/month modem rental fee, we bought our own modem. Now, a normal company would simply note that we are not using a Comcast modem and delete the $3/month charge, right? Not that easy with Comcast. Comcast says that in order not to pay $3/month, we have to prove that we have our own modem, i.e. bring it to the Comcast office for them to see. Well, they can eat my ass because I’m not proving shit.
We’re on a temporary deal that gives us the whole package (including modem rental and basic cable) for a flat fee, but that expires in a few months, at which time we have to take our modem in or get charged $3/month. Considering that the only reason I would bring my modem to the Comcast office is so I could stuff it up the manager’s fucking asshole and break a piece off in him, I think we will no longer be Comcast customers. Goddamned scrote-nuzzlers.
There are about 3 cable companies in this area so Time Warner is really good. I don’t have too many problems with them.
I had Adelphia before I moved. Oh…My…Gosh. How horrible can you get?! Those people need to learn about customer service. I had one of their reps get verbally abusive with me. She pretty much told me I was a peice of shit. And that she could Undo anything on my account. When I told her to put her supervisor on, she said no. I called back and spoke with her. They told me that they record every telephone call (the reps think it is only every once in a while). they would listen to it and she would be councelled (sp?) on customer service. Now i called back for a follow up. I really wanted to know that she was fired or dealt with harshly. They told me that they could not tell me anything. I had a huge problem with that. With the way she treated me, I think I should have found out what had happened (my opinion is that nothing was done and I told them that…same phone call I told them to turn it off and come get their stuff). I also told alot of people about the incident.
I don’t have cable anymore. They sued me and now I am suing them.
My lawyer told them that when we get to a jury they will have a real problem because the suit is against three of the most popular members of society 1) cable company 2) lawyers & 3) a collection agency.
I got rid of Comcast last month. They doubled my bill in less than two years and the damned service was out at least once a month. They also made a point to telemarket my house at least once a week even after I repeatedly pleaded with them not call me.
The idiots wanted to point out that I could save money if I bought a package with cable tv service.
Ugh. You do a lousy job providing expensive ISP service and now you want MORE of my business?
Assholes. I hope the greedy morons go out of business.
I have DSL right now. It was half the price of Comcast and I haven’t yet had a problem with it.
I have Insight cable here in Indiana. I’m pretty sick of their service as the signal quality is crappy and asked them to look into it on a few occasions. They basically told me the lines in my apartment are old and I should talk with my apartment management about replacing them. But doesn’t the cable co claim to own the lines in the building and aren’t they responsible for replacing them? (Maybe I’m wrong on this) Anyway, I’ve lived in different parts of Indiana where I’ve had Insight and the signal quality has been bad in all three places. I suspect it’s them, not the buildings’ cable lines.
I can’t get DSL in my apartment either because of the crappy phone lines. I’ll probably have to get cable internet from Insight because I’m starving for broadband. (promised myself that I wouldn’t get it until my car was paid off, about two or three months to go). When I move out into a nicer place, I’ll switch to DSL in a heartbeat.
I’m seriously considering getting DirecTV. About the same price, better signal quality, better channel selection, and I can add TiVo pretty cheap.
I just moved from VA to Ohio, and we have Time Warner here. They’re not bad, but they charge more for cable internet if you don’t have digital cable, which we don’t want right now. So we’ve got the basic cable pacakge (He and I both watch Comedy Central and SoapNet - we’re in one of the few markets that gets SoapNet on basic cable - , and he likes the Game Show Network.). The only thing I miss from digital at the moment is BBC America, but until they put EastEnders back on, they can blow me. For high-speed, we’ve gone with SBC DSL, which seems to move just as fast as cable.
However, when I stayed with my parents last year, we had Comcast digital cable and Comcast high-speed. I’d had TWNYC digital and high-speed in NYC with my roommate, and that service on three TVs with an additional IP address was $110 a month between the two of us - which we figured was somewhat reasonable. Comcast was charging over $150 for the same services! WTF? When we called, half the charges were bogus!
Last I heard, Dad had cancelled cable internet and digital cable, and is now quite happy with DirecTV and Verizon DSL.
I hope the cable companies cap out and are forced to start lowering their prices. I would love Digital Cable just for the additional choices (I have a ReplayTV, so that’s not a big deal to me), but we refuse to pay that much more for three more channels.
Hey Everyone,
I too have comcrap, and they are by far the worst cable company I have yet seen, I have however been able to work them over a bit. I too had the rates increase like crazy, and am disgusted w/$50+ for cable and another $45+ for internet. So, I called them, and very nicely explained that I could no longer afford the package I had, and would be downgrading or cancelling the service (cable TV that is), immediately they chimed in with, well how about if we offer you this package, at a reduced rate of $35/month, well that worked just fine for me, and so now, I have the reduced rate for at least 1 year, and then I’ll “renegotiate”. Our cable internet service is blazingly fast, and I was loathe to give it up, but I figured I would try the same tactic, so I told them I could get DSL for $29.99/month, and was going to go that route, and again they chimed in with, “we’ll match it for the next year!”, so, I have gotten significantly reduced rates, and although their service is not great, they’re the only player in my market, and I was able to bend them to my way of thinking. Just a thought, and maybe it will help someone else here.
