The Charter Communications CSR who spoke with Dustin has some pretty astounding news about what’s on the horizon for all of us. It looks like starting May 1st, cable companies will have total, FCC-sanctioned control over streaming video and will take down all competing services.

Here’s what happened when Dustin called to cancel his cable TV with Charter:

Just wanted to let you guys in on the absurd story I was told today by someone named “Guy” when I called Charter to see what I could do about the cost of my cable tv and internet, since it had recently changed from the promo price to a ridiculous regular price.

After making a payment over the phone, I told Guy that I wanted to go ahead and turn off tv service since I don’t watch it enough to justify the cost, unless he could get me a deal on my cable tv w/ cable box and extended basic service and 10mbps internet.

Guy proceeded to ask the expected question of why I wanted to get rid of tv, to which I responded that I can stream pretty much anything I like to watch over the internet.

At this point, he said he would see what the cost of internet alone was, and said there would be a $10 “no cable TV” fee (sounds like b.s. to me), which would make it $49.95 a month for internet alone. Then he went on to say that he strongly suggested that I keep the tv service because come May 1, all of the online streaming services would be shut down because the cable TV providers are taking over, and that the FCC regulations are changing so that the cable companies will have total control over streaming video.

Here is a screenshot of the chat (click to enlarge)

Knowing that he was giving me a completely false story, I considered stopping him there and letting him know that I knew it was a lie, but I let him go on. He went on to say that after May 1, the only thing that would be available similar to Hulu is video on demand through a cable provider, which meant that I would have to have the cable box to receive this, so he “really suggested” keeping my box and TV service so that I could have that available to me.

After I let him finish his “suggestions” I just played dumb and said I would consider it, then asked what was the best price he could give me on a bundle of TV and internet. The price he gave me for the bundle was (conveniently) cheaper than me going to just internet at $45/month for basic cable w/ box and internet. I was short on time, so I told him to just put it at that rate for now, but the experience today with him really left a bad taste in my mouth about Charter and how the employees will make up completely false statements to deceive customers in hopes that they can make them order more expensive services. Now that I’m home for the day, I’m going to be researching my options in this area and look at completely getting away from Charter entirely.

Dustin! Agggh! Dustin! Why would you reward Guy for lying like that? You should have pointed out that you knew he was lying and that you were going to report him. You should still report him to Charter management, and while you’re at it file a complaint with the FCC and your state’s attorney general. Just because you caught the lie doesn’t mean every customer who calls in will know better, which means Guy may be deliberately misleading Charter customers in order to sell services.

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