Cablevision Wants You Back, Promises "Free 911"
Ever since switching to FIOS a few months back, reader GiteEmSteveDave has been pestered by his old provider, Cablevision. Like any other jaded ex, Cablevision is losing it's mind in well-meaning promises - like, offering "411+911 FREE". Gitem, you have to be firm - you had good times together, but you're with FIOS now, and Cablevision needs to move on and accept it. If they don't get the picture, then maybe a little tough love is in order.
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Not to state the obvious, but the "411=911 FREE" looks like a hand written note.
The area that says "for the best prices..." also looks like a sticker. It probably has a sales rep contact # on the back.
Something tells me we may have a rogue salesperson or sales contractor on our hands.
@celticgina: yeah that's what i thought. isn't it, any cell phone or landline is supposed to be able to call 911 regardless of whether or not there's a plan of any type paid for?
Gawd, even old no plan cell phones can call 911... stupid.
Reminds me of the Circuit City ad, "Buy our TV. And the monitor's FREE!"
Actually, 911 is NEVER free. You pay a fee for that on your bill. It's government mandated, kinda like a tax. If they're advertising free 911, it's false advertising. (But there's never a charge to dial 911 - unless you call them when you shouldn't...but that's another posting.)
Unfortunately, I'm now stuck with Charter, the only company that could make me miss Cablevision
@mergatroy6: It was handwritten as were other notes, like a price at the top, I guess to point out the values. It did have the reps name+number highlighted on the label below the cutoff as well. On the back is the same ad, but in Spanish, but no notes, which upset me as I would have liked to see if he could write en espanol:)
I dream of the day when my cable company comes begging me like this. Come on FIOS!
a) Tell them to shove it.
b) What the hell does "Git'Em Steve Dave loves this guy --->" mean?
Meh, 911 is overrated anyways. Doesn't matter if they're bundling it for free.
@Rhayader: My star went away for a little while, so when it came back, I made a little arrow to point to it, b/c it appeared next to my name. This was right around the time Gawker changed it's commenting format, and since then, the star moves around and isn't always where the arrow is.
@davere: I love FiOS, and can honestly say that since I have had it, I have only had two "known" outages of service(I don't count power failure, even though my phone will work with a corded handset), and one of those outages was I couldn't upload to Verizon's server. I have Cablevision at work, and it goes down all the time.
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Yeah, mine got taken away too. They said it was an accident but apparently not SINCE THEY NEVER GAVE IT BACK. So, now I have 5.
*whistles*
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Haha, fair enough. I always thought it was a homoerotic reference to your avatar, which I can't really discern beyond knowing it's a mostly naked man.
Not that there's anything wrong with that...
@Burgandy: @Rhayader: That's actually me. It's a ADvatar for my webcam.
@everclear75: I'm not the one you should worry about. Walt the Fan Boy is a different story.
411+911 free? Come on that's not so bad. When's the last time a company offered to add 2 numbers together for you for free?
Sure, better consumer service might take the form of free square roots or extremely helpful free multi-variable calculus, but I don't remember Verizon or Comcast offering free addition. Sounds like a good deal to me.
Now, I've never had any experience in business, but how is that a good deal to make someone switch back? I would think that it would make more sense to, I don't know, offer a lower rate for a year or something.
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: i always thought you were loving the commenter who replied to you, like some sort of karma. silly me. =)
@carlogesualdo: Yeah, I was surprised to see $0.75 charges for 911 on my cell phone bill a while back. It's weird... of all the things to charge someone for.
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->★: That's funny because I never looked at it very closely and I would have said it was a the Big Hamburger mascot thing from McDonald's.
I took this post to mean that there's a new service bundling 411 and 911, which available to Cablevision customers for free.
411+911 Operator: What city please?
Caller: Help! My toilet's clogged and I can't shut the water off. My house is flooding!
411+911 Operator: I'm sorry, I don't recognize your response. What city please?
Caller: Cleveland. Quick, send the fire department!
411+911 Operator: Thank you. Please state the name of the listing you are searching for.
Caller: The Cleveland fire department!!!
411+911 Operator. Thank you. The number you have requested is--five-five-five-nine-one-seven-eight. For a 99 cent fee, we can connect you directly to this number, do you wish to accept?
@celticgina: Yes, FCC regulations (among other laws) require that all phone customers have free access to 911 (or E911 in Cablevision's case). Funny that they're advertising it though. Somebody wrote it in, which I guess is supposed to make SteveDave think that it's some kind of added bonus or something. Look at what we'll give you for switching back. Betcha Verizon doesn't do that.
Looks to me that some moron Direct Sales guy just doesn't know what he's doing. Wouldn't really take it that "Cablevision" themselves is saying this...
@BrianDaBrain: I remember my parents talking about how when they lived in California, and still now that they live in Wyoming, their provider charges a mandatory fee for 911 service. My guess is that, because it is a required fee and you can't have service without it, Cablevision is offering to reduce the bill by the amount of that mandatory fee?
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: Where do you have cablevision that it goes down all the time./ We have a business boost line that hasnt gone down since we got it.
We have a verizon fttp business line that is ALWAYS going down.
Since we are posting about cablevision can we also post the nerws that cablevision is giving us 7 more free hd channels starting dec 5 or that cablevision started upgrading their equipment to docsis 3 (we know this because a cablevision employee stated this on the dslreports forums and stated that boost got an available upload increase ).
@majortom1029: New Jersey. There's FiOS across the street, but not available to our side of the road. Whenever the Verizon reps show up drumming business, I ask first if FiOS is availale yet, and when they say no, I say, call me then.
No 311? That would be a dealbreaker.
@celticgina:
ummmm.... aren't they REQUIRED to provide 911 free?
Yeah, but as a customer, you'll get the real number.
912.
They'll change it so you can change your dial tone. And charge you for it. Like some washed up singer humming out of key.
Huh? You mean Ashley Simpson still has work?
...wha? That's what she sounds like without the boombox playing?
I stand corrected!
@carlogesualdo: Not True. You can dial 911 on a cell phone with no service (as long as there is a signal) and get connected. Same with pay phones. If you maintain service with a phone company they may pass on fees, but it most certainly is possible to dial 911 for free.
@Zeniq: Everybody everywhere who pays for a phone pays a 911 tax. It's government mandated and pays for the various 911 infrastructure.
@Zeniq: I don't know about a mandatory fee for 911 but I took a telecommunications law class and there is a mandatory fee for "Future service" which is supposed to be similar to a tax to guarantee phone service in out of the way locations.
It's its. It's = it is.
@carlogesualdo: I wonder, if there is such a tax, is the sales agent who wrote that in offering to pay it for you?
ummmm.... aren't they REQUIRED to provide 911 free?
Wow talk about desperate!