Can you tell I'm a little irritated?

[asheris]

I have heard things about how bad Charter Communications service is, but had my first experience with it yesterday. What a bunch of incompetent lying dumbfucks.

Lady on the phone trying to tell me I don't get the special listed on the website, because that's not what the website really says. (Yo bitch, I read through everything looking for a catch.) And the basic basic cable only has 4 channels. (According to your channel listings, it's more like 23. But hey, you're only off by a factor of about 6.) The internet price is $19.99/mo for 6 months, and unlike your claims, does NOT require a digital cable subscription. It requires a multi-product subscription, options for which include good old basic cable. Yes, there IS a free installation offer with this, if you sign up for automatic bill pay at the time ofinstallation.

Their reps have to be THE most clueless... not to mention they transferred me around a few times, and it wasn't until the third person that someone actually decided to talk to me.


I really fucking HATE these damned monopolies the cable companies have. Allows them to get away with damn near anything.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lj_sucks_/]

We've been loving DirecTV. Better picture quality than cable, cheaper than cable, TiVo with no loss of quality, and no endless list of added fees and taxes to bulk up the bill without them having to admit the real price.

Time Warner here just jacked up their TV subscription price by $3 a month. They now want $54.88 for their cheapest digital service, plus $7.99 a month for the cable box, plus $6.35 for program guide or $9.95 for DVR. So that's $72.83 + additional taxes for what DirecTV will give you for under $50 total... and with DirecTV all the channels are digital, whereas with cable only half of them are.

Their digital phone service is no bargain either. Their cheapest offering costs more than the local phone company (SBC), and you can only get it if you have both TV and broadband Internet from them.

I have to say, in Cambridge my #1 hate was the cable company. They would jack the prices up at least twice a year; there was a Washington Post article from a guy whose bill went from $44 to $70 between 1997 and 2004.

And DirecTV is the expensive option. If you want the cheapest way to get SciFi + Comedy Central + Cartoon Network (i.e. the essentials), Dish Network would probably be the way to go.

I also really hate those ads that offer $19.99 Internet (*for six months), and then don't say anywhere what the real price is.

[asheris.livejournal.com]

Satellite would have been an option if we were just looking for TV, but our primary reason for going with cable is for internet access.

At least they did say what the regular price is in the documentation... :P