An offer I couldn't refuse

[mastersmurfie]

OK...so my local cable company (which shall remain nameless, but is big in Midwest US and is a 7-letter word that starts with "C" and ends with "R"...it's also who I have my cable modem service through) sent me a letter. Seems that they "would no longer be able to offer me the service that I am receiving now (basic cable with HBO) at the "low intoductory offer of $49.95 per month. Instead, starting with my next billing period, my "new" rate will be $62.99 per month, for the same thing...however, they will add all the Showtime channels, plus the digital cable channels (no choice...they will charge this regardless). Seemed like a pretty crappy deal, till I read further in the letter. For an extra $3.00 per month, I can get the "Super Duper, All Movie, All Everything, BIG Value Package" which includes "all HBOs, all SCinemaxs, all STARZ, and all ENCOREs, plus all the digital channels" available in my area

So...now I have 22 "movie" type channels and not a dang thing to watch!!

Thought I'd "upgrade" my DVD collection with movies that I never bought on DVD with movies that I might want to record off cable...but with choices like "Bikini Airways" on SCinemax and "Bringing Down the House" on STARZ it's not such a good deal...

redeeming factor is ENCORE ACTN...which seems to have some pretty good anime shows...

Just a thought...

mastersmurfie

[Rookie64]

The offer is only good for a limited time - you'll see your bill go up very high before you know it.
I got suckered into that deal a couple years ago


What you'll find out soon enough is that all those channels keep showing the same movies...and they'll keep playing the same movies for the next two or three years


STARZ/Encore sucks - you get giant sign size logos plastered all over the screen on every movie



I got rid of all of my pay movie channels and the bill is still what you're paying now.

Don't listen to what anyone says about cable being better that a Dish - it's not, and you'd be paying half that price for not only the same channels but a few more that your cable company doesn't carry.

[galactica]

I am also a member of this nameless cable company
i have this internet and basic cable
however they just cant seem to understand why I dont want anything above and beyond basic cable

its always funny to hear the callers remarks when i just say i dont watch cable, i just got it because your internet is cheaper when i get basic cable and i can at least watch nbc, fox and abc clearly this way

hahahaha

[slimmx]

Let me tell you about a deal.

I have DTV. I get all the cinemax, hbo, shwotime and Starz channels. I also have Ondemand for all channels available. I pretty much have everything there is. I also have a cable connection from the same company. When I first signed up I was paying $99 for everything. I can't remember exact. Those ******** been raising my bill every freaking 4 months. I now pay $129 and they raised it again starting Feb. I dont know by how much.

They claim they add new features to my internet connection and all that bullshit but the reality is that it's all the same. Even though I got all those channels there is still nothing to watch.

[redwudz]

I have my cable and internet access through a company whose name sounds like a male sexual member, which is a good definition of what they try to shove up you. I've been tempted to convert to the cheaper non-basic cable, which only has 13 channels. Of course I doubt that they will really let me do that. (Even though they say I don't need a cable TV subscription for my cable modem to work) When I first connected, my access speed was about 3MB/sec. Lately it's been about .4 to .75MB/sec. Unfortunatully, they are the only game in town. I'm outside of DSL range. The rates have continued to climb, not for the modem, but for the crappy channels they keep adding. (Like I really need the GOLF channel) I pay about $40US for channels I wouldn't watch if they paid me. Maybe the 'dish' and a set of rabbit ears is the way to go.

[shelbyGT]

I am also with the company of the male genitalia. However, I am actually quite happy with my service. Originally, the speeds were 3000 down and 300 up, now its still 3000 down but 500 up. And i quite frequently get download speeds of well over 4MB/s. The prices will ink up a tad every now and then, but I havent' noticed anything drastic.

[mastersmurfie]

really crappy thing...second page of letter...

"We will no longer be able to offer your cable internet service at the "low introductory offer" (which I didn't know I was getting...)

Now will be $39.99 for 2MB/s download speed...on top of the "super duper" package...

so..I'll be paying over $100 bucks a month..

[Roundabout]

I'm with that cable company that rhymes with "Philadelphia", and they offered me a deal last year that I couldn't refuse, either. They gave me Local channels, Expanded Basic (Discovery, CourtTV, etc - the standard 75 channels), Satellite Tier (specialty channels - BMania, LMN, Discovery Times channel, DIY, etc - another ~100 channels), and All 14 HBO channels for $24.50 a month, for one year. Then they added the Internet for another $24.95 a month, for 15 months. Well, I couldn't refuse, for a price less than $50 before taxes.

Now that deal is about to expire, and they've changed the way they structure the "packages", and tried to disguise a price increase by making everything set up a different way. When I got my bill, the price went up, even though I had it in writing exactly how much I would pay for a year. I had to actually drive down to their office and show them a copy of what I had that was clearly written by their rep when I was set up. Long story short, I had to make a lot of calls and get a supervisor to override their pricing structure so that I could get what was promised in the first place.

I'm basically disgusted with them, and their constant price increases. When I was at CES in Jan., I saw the Dish Net booth had one of those huge inflatable pigs floating high up (must have been 25 ft. long and 15 ft. high, LOL) with the message (like their TV ads) "stop feeding the cable pig". That's exactly what I'm going to do.

Next month sometime when the one year offer runs out, I'm gonna disconnect from the cable. Maybe I'll try Dish Net (I already have a dish and two receivers someone gave to me, so I don't need that) and see how it is for a while. I'll go back to dial-up, though I know it'll suck. Means no more d/l on eMule for a while, until a better alternative shows up. SBC is offering DSL for $29.95 with a one year contract, so I may try that. Anyone else have the SBC service? What do you think of it?

Bottom line, I'm sick of the cable co. and their lies and constant price increases, they think if they get you hooked, you won't leave. Not true in my case. There's nothing to watch anyway on all those 300 or 400 channels I have, and I don't have time to watch them anyway. Who needs 3 golf channels, 14 shopping channels, etc. anyway? 90% of the channels suck and I never even turn them on. I think a lot of people feel this way. We're tired of having tons of crappy channels shoved down our throats and have to take them as part of a "package". I can live with antenna service anyway. Local channels are enough for me. I can buy a new TV for what a year's worth of service costs. Even at what I was paying (the intro rate) it's still over $600.00 a year. Too much, I think.