topic Re: My Cable Provider in Community Chat

My Cable Provider

Jordan2 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:08:21 GMT

I have been with TWC for almost 15 years. Anyway I get a letter with my bill in December that the rates are going up (what else is new). I call to discuss my bill and am told to call back in mid February since my promotional year is up in March. I call today and spoke to a very nice CS woman. She told me since you have no contract you can renegotiate anytime.She told me my bill would go up to $283 from $197! I said surely you can do better than that. She gave me a price of $195 with no changes of services I have now. I don't like that unless your are savvy enough to get a better price you will be taken advantage of. Moral of the story is never be afraid to renegotiate with your provider and be prepared to leave them if you have to One other thing that bothers me is they will offer a new customer the best deal around, but for a long time customer like me I have to work for it.

Re: My Cable Provider

TasMss — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:20:58 GMT

I'm with you, Jordan2! Our trash collection service does this same kind of thing too. We canceled service with them as quickly as we could and now we like our new service so much better! The companies that do this to us create such a hassle and I would much rather leave them.

Re: My Cable Provider

fthunt — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:22:36 GMT

Your statement holds one important KEY - be prepared to leave them (TW). That's the rub for me - - 2 neighbors went to another provider and were unhappy with poor picture quality or no picture during rain and heavy snow storms. The other 2 providers in my area have eliminated some local channels + the weather channel and the price is only great when you sign up; but up and up the rates go after they have you hooked. I do agree you can possibly renegotiate your rate if you call.

Re: My Cable Provider

KimmC — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:23:22 GMT

Same exact thing happened to me. I had to 'negotiate' my bill down from the $50 increase they decided on for no apparent reason. While my bill is about $8.00 more than it was, I have this unsettled feeling I could be getting it even cheaper. I hate having to do this...I wanted to eliminate some things..they insisted I could keep everything! What kind of business practices are these. So underhanded. And I, too. wondered about people who don't know to call!

Re: My Cable Provider

KimmC — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:25:56 GMT

BTW Jordan2..mine was TWC as well. and not much choice around here!

Re: My Cable Provider

GCR18 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:31:16 GMT

I go through this nonsense with AT&T. If I can call and get a lower rate, why can't you just give me one. I know, they are counting on me not calling. I hate the game playing.

Re: My Cable Provider

January121 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:38:36 GMT

@Jordan2 ..... thanks for posting this .... I also have TWC & my bill went up last month .... I have been meaning to call them & now that I have read all of the responses to your post I AM GOING TO CALL THEM TOMORROW!!!!!!!!! Thanks!!!

Re: My Cable Provider

Jordan2 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:55:52 GMT

@January121 wrote:
@Jordan2 ..... thanks for posting this .... I also have TWC & my bill went up last month .... I have been meaning to call them & now that I have read all of the responses to your post I AM GOING TO CALL THEM TOMORROW!!!!!!!!! Thanks!!!

Good luck!

Re: My Cable Provider

kivah — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 02:28:48 GMT

I'm also with Time Warner. A couple of years ago, I called them to lower my bill and the guy - could tell that I'm electronically challenged. So - he said NO!!!! I read an article last week that said - call the service provider and if they say NO - call back a few hours later and get another rep.

Well - last week, they raised my bill to $195. So - I called and asked them to reduce it, as it's too high. The guy put me on hold and said they'll reduce it by $30/month.

Seems like these internet svce providers could charge whatever they want - and raise the bill every year.

I have the package: tv, cable, phone.

That's true -- new customers pay a lot less - initially.

Re: My Cable Provider

Moonchilde — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 02:32:53 GMT

I was stuck in TWC he** for years. There was nothing else for me. Finally, ATT Uverse was available and I went with their 2-year deal. TWC never said a word when I canceled and hasn't once in 2 years tried to get me back. I LOVE U-Verse compared to TWC. It almost never goes out.

My 2 yrs is up just now and my next bill is literally double the previous month's. If I were staying put I would dump some things and renegotiate, but I've got 'em - I'm moving in 3 weeks. Heh.

Re: My Cable Provider

QVCkitty1 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 03:20:35 GMT

In Dec. Time Warner sent a card saying I would be getting Showtime free for a year. I would rather have a discount, because there is nothing on Showtime that I want to see. I can't really

bargain with TWC, because my local options are limited.

Re: My Cable Provider

Desertdi — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 07:45:31 GMT

I am a prisoner of Mother Nature. Live between two "mountains"........(huge rock piles if you asked me what to call them.) Anyway, I have NO reception at all unless I buy cable or satellite.

Re: My Cable Provider

hckynutjohn — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 07:57:17 GMT

I've found what has always worked best for me. Tell them you are dropping them for a different/new provider. This has worked more times than not for me, but you have to be ready to drop them if they won't comply to your request.

I never say this to anyone without meaning what I am saying.

hckynut(john)

Re: My Cable Provider

Fona — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 09:40:44 GMT

I have often wondered why cable companies get away with this stuff. I have a Comcast bundle and for each of the past two years I have been on a one-year promotion rather than a contract although the promotion basically just gives me the price I already have, so the cost is still high. If I forget to call at the end of the one-year, the price will automatically go up at least $50 or more with no notification from Comcast. Because of the high cost, recently I have been exploring ways of getting rid of cable, but unfortunately I am not technology savvy and the various choices (Hulu, Roku and such) are beyond me, not to mention all of the extras you would need to install them (such as certain types of cables, certain boxes and antennae, etc.) which are also beyond me. I find it very annoying to be told by a cable representative that "well, you will be getting 250 channels" or whatever, when I only watch maybe ten of them. I wish it were possible to just get (and pay for) the channels we actually want.

Re: My Cable Provider

ID2 — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 11:13:59 GMT

We just called to renew our Charter and the first rep wasn't willing to give us any kind of deal. We politely asked to speak to someone with more seniority and this rep gave us a super deal! Don't settle for the first person you talk to!

Re: My Cable Provider

ValuSkr — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 11:38:48 GMT

@QVCkitty1 wrote:
In Dec. Time Warner sent a card saying I would be getting Showtime free for a year. I would rather have a discount, because there is nothing on Showtime that I want to see.

I've had Comcast and Verizon - both do this all the time. They charge more and more, but (to ease the pain?) they give you more and more stuff you don't want or need. I finally had enough and cut the cord last year.

Re: My Cable Provider

MomCat — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 12:15:29 GMT

@GCR18 wrote:
I go through this nonsense with AT&T. If I can call and get a lower rate, why can't you just give me one. I know, they are counting on me not calling. I hate the game playing.

Whether it's phone, computer, or tv, ALL these companies play the same game. It's disgusting. And, when you make the slightest of changes, you renew your contract with them.

Re: My Cable Provider

CelticCrafter — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 13:18:00 GMT

Up until a year ago, our only choice for the internet was the through the cable company and they didn't care because they knew they were the only game in town.

The neighborhood wasn't wired for Verizon Fios.

As soon as they came in, we switched everything over and are saving about $50 a month. We still have another year left with Fios before we have to start playing the game.

Re: My Cable Provider

Lipstickdiva — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 15:23:10 GMT

OMG don't even get me started with TWC. That is our provider as well. We have everything with them bundled together.

Our bill went up from around $135 ot $160 a month (we have no movie channels) so I called. The CS woman I spoke to put us on a package and got us down to about $150.

DH decided that we should get rid of our home phone so he called to do that. Because we are bundled together, if we decided to drop our phone, we would pay full retail for cable and internet and our monthly bill would go UP to around $200.00/month. They transferred us to a CS rep in the phone division to discuss other promotional packages.

My husband was on the phone with CS for over 1 hour and we were put on a promotional package that bumped up our internet speed and added Starz and our price went down to $145.00 a month. My bill was due a few days later, which I pay on-line and they had pro-rated our bill and I paid what my bill showed was due.

Now I got a bill for this month which was kind of high and I noticed they are claiming I owe $15.00 from last month which isn't true. So my DH called them again and spent another hour on the phone, only to be told that they cannot find the promotion we were put on, they have no such promotion and they took Starz away from us (fine) which lowered our price.

I am gearing myself up to call and speak to a supervisor about this. They should have a record of our call and be able to find out the package the CS rep put us in. I don't know if he put us in a package that was only good for 1 month or what but to spend over 2 hours on the phone over this is ridiculous and now I'm going to spend more time on the phone over this.

Re: My Cable Provider

RetRN — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 15:29:14 GMT

I also have TWC and they are not nice to work with. I have been trying to get them to correct my bills since Oct. and now they called and threatened to cancel my service if I don't pay for charges that are incorrect. I called AGAIN and they said it will be corrected in Mar. We'll see.