[Seaside]

Ok, I just finished phone call with my cable company.

Here's what happened.

I never had strong signal, but I didn't really mind as long as I can see some of my favorite channels without breaking or freeze up. Then those channels started go bad, and I found two other channels that used to work fine going bad too. So, I called them at Sep. 15th to fix this problem. A technitian came, inspect the cable in my place, and he said, the problem is not in my house, but is bad cabling outside. Then I got a phone call from the cable company, said they will going to replace bad cabling outside at Oct. 2nd. which is yesterday.

As you guessed it, none fixed.
I called them, asked them if someone actually come in to try fix things yesterday. The guy over the phone had no idea. He said he is going to write an email to maintainance dept, make them call me regarding this. Then the guy said, it looks like there is a construction near my place, that's why they were not able to fix the problem. Oh, yeah?

The construction is not new. It's been there for a while, but it is far far far from completion. It may take another 6 months to be done. Is that mean I can not see it fixed for next 6 months? He said he can't say anything about it. So, I asked him if I can get some sort of credit for that, and he connected me to billing dept.

A lady in billing dept didn't know whats up, so I had to repeat all over again. She said she can not give me any credit now. I was like what? Look, I know this is not your fault, but I can not get the service you guys promised, and there's no guarantee of fixing this in near future. You think it is not fair for me to ask some credit?

Of casue, I understand, she said. But she can not issue credit for me because... 1) I already paid off my bill. she can not deduct anything there. 2) The company can not do that for me due to this credit crunch.... (and Wow, that's real bummer) and 3) I can call ask credit after the problem fixed. (Huh?)
So, basically what she said is... dude, you're ********. but we can talk this later.

For me, this is not comfortable at all.

 

[intoflatlines]

I don't understand why she can't credit you. Even if you don't have a balance due, they can still put positive credit in there for future payments. I say just call them and tell them you're canceling their cable because they have bad customer service and they don't follow through with what they promise. They'll either give you credit/discount, or at least you can pick another cable provider or go satellite.

 

[EyeAmEye]

You hear this type of bull all the time with these companies. I had a problem with Sprint a few years back and they were spewing some nonsense about billing cycles. Guess what? I don't care about Sprints billing cycles. If they fail to provide an immediate service, the credit should be immediate as well.

I say cancel and find another provider, even if they try to keep you with credits/discounts.

 

[ricksome]

Your picture is screwed anyway, just cancel the service. You'll be up the money.

 

[tjumper78]

sorry to hear the sad story.
i'm in a similar situation. i used to get the internet service only from time warner cable. a few months ago, i started subscribing to their triple package(internet, tv, phone), and the internet became focking slow as hell. when i called them, they said the internet speed decreased because of the telephone service (how much bandwidth can the telephone service eat up?) and there was nothing they could do. and the digital cable tv was laggy as hell too.
i WANT to switch to a different service but i have no other options. no fios avail. verizon dsl is even slower. tried 2 different satellite tv services but they were absolute crap.
*sadface*

 

[Seaside]

Unfortunately, I don't have alternative.
That's my only available choice for my TV and internet.
Satelite service in area suck big time, and verizon fios is not available at my neighborhood at this moment.

Dunno, why they can't. Some company won't do other transactions while the flag is up. That may be the case. Anyway, I do not appreciate it whatever it is.

I am so going to switch at the first day fios come in.

 

[Todd R]

I'll confess, I used to work the phones at a cable company.
They used a proprietary software that did not allow you to give someone a negative balance, they can only credit you back if there is something in the account.

And yes billing cycles matter! The systems are pretty locked up as far as the money goes.

Do step 3, and keep on the maintenance guys to get it fixed.

 

[beerguy0]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seaside /img/forum/go_quote.gif Unfortunately, I don't have alternative. That's my only available choice for my TV and internet. Satelite service in area suck big time, and verizon fios is not available at my neighborhood at this moment. Dunno, why they can't. Some company won't do other transactions while the flag is up. That may be the case. Anyway, I do not appreciate it whatever it is. I am so going to switch at the first day fios come in.

Your state Attorney General office might be interested in this, since the cable company is charging you for a service that they seem unwilling to bring up to standard. I certainly wouldn't pay for another six months of crappy service.

 

[Edwood]

Gotta love the monopolies that cable companies have. I don't have cable TV. I don't believe in paying to watch TV with commercials in them. I enjoy over the air HDTV instead. Although I don't really watch a whole lot of TV. My wife does, though.

 

[kydsid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seaside /img/forum/go_quote.gif Unfortunately, I don't have alternative. That's my only available choice for my TV and internet. Satelite service in area suck big time, and verizon fios is not available at my neighborhood at this moment. Dunno, why they can't. Some company won't do other transactions while the flag is up. That may be the case. Anyway, I do not appreciate it whatever it is. I am so going to switch at the first day fios come in.

What's the problem with Sat? I just left NOVA. My apartment had DirectTV and work had Dish Network, both worked great. Are you in a more rural part of NOVA with trees in the way or something?


Or is it because you want to get both services from the same company? If so can you get ATT DSL which can be bundled with Dish.

 

[Spiritboxer]

Can you hook up your PC to your television? That's going to be my temporary solution if I have a beef with cablevision. Haven't tried it yet but there's lotsa stuff on-line like Joost, Lycos and hulu.com for starters and it's FREE! Maybe I'll give it a shot this week to check out P/Q.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I had a problem with the cable company in 1999. Ended up telling them to turn it off, went off television and am still off television. I'm not going to get preachy, but that is an option and I only missed it the first month. I don't miss TV at all now.

Though if you want to drive them crazy, try overpaying your bill by 17 cents (or whatever) for a few months then underpaying by 17 cents for a few months.

Did that to a cable company once. The manager called to ask me to stop, which turned out to be a good opportunity to talk him into fixing things.

Also, check to see if there's a Citizen's Utility Board or similar in Virginia. There should be some kind of quasi-governmental agency that deals with utilities. Contact them and file a formal complaint. That will get the attention of the cable company. If the CUB isn't responsive, drop a letter to your state representative and/or senator. They usually get to vote on a budget for the CUB, which is an excellent button to push.

This might seem like a bit much, but sometimes you have to do this to them. A few years back, I had to open up a can on Qwest. First, they insisted that I was in a different city than I was actually in. Imagine arguing with a rep over where you are. Then they insisted that my apartment was a government building.

I swear I am not making this up. It took about two weeks and strongarm tactics before I got a landline. I hope it doesn't go that far, but hit them with the biggest stick you can find. You are paying them and service is not an unreasonable request.

 

[LostOne.TR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seaside /img/forum/go_quote.gif 3) I can call ask credit after the problem fixed. (Huh?)

Just a warning from my experience. Because while that sounds great, it sure as hell didn't happen for me.

I accepted that #3 line from Cox communications for a problematic internet line. This was supposed to cover some of the 1-2 months now of worthless service (at the time) and the repair/check up which cost $70 or so. Don't remember exacts, this was 2+ years ago

The repair/check up they only charge you if they find that something inside your house is the issue. Well that's what they found, and said fixed, because we were on too many splitters/our wiring was bad/blah blah.

Nope didn't fix anything. After several more calls and complaints from me, and probably a few others in my same building, Cox then said they'd send a higher level tech to the area--had to get some special code to talk to a person on a diff line to ask for the tech. Tech shows up at my door claims some of the older equipment outside (which means, I should not have been charged the $70) is the issue but they, cox, couldn't do anything without getting the OK from the landlords. They soon got the OK, took another 1-2 months to actually fix.

Called back to billing, asking about the credit. Sounded all good, later on, check my bills and notice I was only credited the $70 for the repair fee which "fixed" the problem that never existed inside my apartment. Roomates and I eventually gave up, and just lived with that. Least the internet worked I guess.


Just be careful, maybe call back get some names, have them make a 'note' on the account (if there's such a field to type in...I'd assume there's something of the sort) and maybe a case#/some reference# referring/tied to the note.

 

[zotjen]

Call back and ask to speak to a supervisor. Explain the situation to her or him. If you still get the runaround, tell the supervisor you'll be filing a complaint with the FCC. Cable companies are very afraid of the FCC.

 

[Todd R]

As a former customer service punching bag, I'd like to offer some suggestions.

Get names and extensions of who you talked to.
It's a lot easier if you can get back to the same person, and if you need to go up to the supervisor it's also helpful.

Be polite, but firm.
These people get yelled at and bitched out a lot. If you're being an ass to them, they will try to get you off the phone just as quick as possible, and definetly won't do anything extra to help you.
If you're cool and polite it will go a lot further in getting your problem solved.

Don't make stupid threats.
Yeah, you're going to sue over $50? Right! It costs that much to walk into a lawer's office.
You say that if you are not happy you will disconnect/go to the competition, something realistic. Remember they need you to stay in business.

Understand that for the most part they are trying to help you. Demanding that they break the rules or do something that could get them fired won't help. They have policies and rules at their place of business, just like where you work. Try to work within their system if possible.

Get the supervisor if nessisary. Get that person's supervisor if they can't help. Eventually you'll get to someone with more athority and power who will be able to do more than the lower level troops.