Thomas is on the 7th day without Time Warner Cable phone service, which is a bit of a problem since his mother just had a heart attack. They’ve promised multiple times to come out and fix it, and either broken those promised appointments or only partially fixed the issue. [More]
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Get $20 Back From Comcast Just By Asking
By 8.3.10
Without telling him there would be a fee, Comcast charged Tom $30 to fix the cable wiring going to his house. By simply questioning the charge and expressing his disappointment he wasn’t notified about it, Tom was able to get $20 back. Here is the chat transcript of his success, which is also enjoyable for the inane interjected advertisements that try to sound like human conversation. [More]
AT&T U-Verse Points Finger At Cablevision In Flap Over AMC Fees
By 7.14.10
Midnight tonight is the deadline for AT&T U-Verse to come to terms with Cablevision’s Rainbow Media over carriage fees for several channels, including AMC, which is about to debut its new season of its biggest show, Mad Men, next week. Now AT&T is pointing the finger squarely at its opponent in this showdown. [More]
Ben Popken On NPR This Morning Re: Comcast NBC Merger
By 7.13.10
I was on NPR this morning chiming in about the Comcast NBC merger that’s hurtling like a freight train through Washington (spoiler alert: not a fan). Here’s the clip. At the end, the reporter says that when he asked Comcast about their coming first in our Worst Company in America contest, they dismissed the entire affair as a “cheap stunt.” We take offense. A trophy that cost $30 and had to be air-mailed from Japan is not cheap. [More]
Cable Companies Could Save Money By Flagging Certain Customers "Not An Idiot"
By 7.12.10
Cable companies could be saving lots of money and pissing off fewer people if they implemented special “this guy is not an idiot” flags on their tech savvy customer’s accounts, argues the NeedCoffee blog. [More]
Hulu Plus Reviewed: Is It Worth Your Money?
By 7.12.10
Staci D. Kramer at mocoNews tested Hulu Plus, the forthcoming “pay us $10 a month to watch commercials” subscription offering from Hulu, and reports that it’s okay-to-disappointing depending on your needs: “Given that I’m a subscription addict, I was fairly sure I’d wind up keeping it after my free review month. One week in, not so much.” [More]
"This Is Why I Canceled Cable," As Told In Collage Form
By 7.2.10
Redditor Lambboy got an email from his cable company asking him why, oh god why, had he canceled cable? Doesn’t he know that without it life is but a cheap oat paste? Lambboy struggled with the best way to communicate his innermost thoughts. The radio buttons on the survey, and, yes, even the optional comment boxes, were insufficient tools with which to express himself. So, he sent them this collage. [More]
Verizon Offering Trials Of FiOS With No Cancellation Fee, Cheaper No-Term Contract Bundles
By 6.21.10
Even though Verizon might have throttled back on expanding its FiOS network to new areas, the company still needs to make sure the networks it’s spent millions installing start making money. That’s why the telecom biggie has made two moves to attract reluctant consumers. [More]
300 Outages And 31 Service Visits Later, My Comcast Is Still Broken
By 6.17.10
Don’t come crying to Sean with your tales of Comcast woe, because he can probably top whatever you’ve got. His Comcast service goes down just about as often as the sun and no matter what the company does to try and fix the problems, they keep occurring. [More]
Comcast Understands That My Ex Was A Jerk, Lets Me Start Fresh
By 5.31.10
Lindsay was stuck with an overdue cable bill because her flighty live-in ex bailed on her, but found sympathy in the least likely of places — Comcast customer service. She explained her situation and got the company to give her a mulligan. [More]
An Easy Way To Make Comcast Spell Your Name Right
By 5.28.10
A fellow whose last name is Ernst — or is it “Earnest?” — says he’s annoyed with Comcast misspelling his name on its billing statements. He writes: [More]
BillShrink Shows You How To Save On Cable Bills
By 5.26.10
This morning, BillShrink delivered a karate chop to the cable cabal with a new service, currently in beta, that shows you how to get the best cable/tv/satellite/dish package for the best price. [More]
Family Of Six Ditches Satellite TV, Gets All Shows Online
By 5.17.10
Three months ago, Larry made a bold move. An avid sports fan with a wife and four kids, he unplugged the satellite TV. Larry loves TV, so much that he once worked in a TV station for six years. But his wife made him do it. That $50/month fee had to go, so he learned how to hook up his TV to the internet. “We’ve had our challenges,” he writes, but, “even with March Madnes I’ve managed to save a ton of money and with a few small adjustments, not miss out on any of our entertainment.” Here’s what he did and how it worked out. There’s nothing super fancy here but for someone just trying to get their feet wet, it has some good ideas: [More]
Comcast Is Giving Me More Channels Than I Pay For… Do I Tell Them?
By 5.7.10
A reader has written in to ask us what we think the moral and financial ramifications of accepting free extra channels from Comcast might be. [More]
Top 7 Legalized Ripoffs
By 5.7.10
We busted the trusts! Oil! Rail! Coal! Kapow! You just got Tafted! Yeah, but that was a century ago. Industries have had more than enough time to mutate and adapt, especially when it comes to technology, and figure out new anti-consumer ways to develop and maintain hegemony. You get higher prices, lower product quality, and fewer rights. They get more yachts to waterski behind. In no particular order, here are some of the top 7 legalized ripoffs consumers face today: [More]
Comcast: Sorry We Never Installed Your Cable Correctly
By 5.6.10
Reader K. wants to let us know that our tips for writing an effective complaint letter helped her solve her parents battle with Comcast. For months they’d been complaining about faulty internet service — only to be told they had the best signal they could get. Turns out, however, that their cable had never been installed properly. Whoops! [More]
Verizon FIOS Pulled The Old Switcharoo On Me
By 5.6.10
Dave says he was lured in by the promise of a low rate when he switched from Cablevision to Verizon FIOS, but the bills have been much higher than expected and when he called to complain he was told the promotion he signed up for didn’t fit anything Verizon offers. [More]
How I Won A Billing Battle With TWC
By 4.30.10
Marcus is rightfully bragging about how he was incorrectly billed by Time Warner Cable, then fought the long, steady fight and came out victorious. It was of course a tougher, longer and more annoying struggle than it should have been. But hey, all’s well that ends well. [More]
