From inside a Comcast call center, we got a sales goal sheet designed to excite call center reps to sell more new customer bundles using with four cartoons icons of cold; Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat,, Mr. Freeze from Batman, Frozone from The Incredibles, and Ice-Man from X-Men. The flyer exhorts: “ANTI FREEZE INCENTIVE. Don’t let these freeze masters get you…Sell some bundles and protect yourself from the cold!!!” If you’re in the top three of your department, the flyer continues, you can win $250, $150, or $100 for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, respectively. Exciting. What is the symbolic function of the “freeze masters” as a performance incentive? What does, “the cold” represent? Left out in the cold? Given the cold shoulder by your peers if you’re not contributing enough to the 2000 bundle goal? An inability to pay one’s heating bills? We have no idea, we’re just glad we don’t work in a call center, we’ve never been too good at winning knife fights. (click to enlarge).
cable
Cable Box Reset Codes To Ask For When Cable Is Wonky
If your cable television is giving you trouble, you can call up your cable company and ask the rep to send what are known as “reset codes” to your cable box. Here are some that we found:
Opt Out Of Comcast's Arbitration Agreement
Included in the Comcast January bills was a new Comcast Agreement for Residential Services pamphlet, and a new opportunity for customers to opt out of mandatory binding arbitration as a way to settle disputes with their cable provider. Just go to comcast.com/arbitrationoptout, enter the required information, and hit go. Boom, you’ve just held onto your constitutional rights. Here’s a related post on the 9 ways arbitration screws consumers over.
Time Warner Charges You For 2 Years For A TV You Don't Own
Colby writes:
I moved this past month to a new apartment in the same building — when I was setting up the account transfer, the representative uncovered that I had been misbilled for nearly 2 years for service on a 3rd, non-existent, television. It wasn’t clear due to the billing information, and I was instantly promised a credit for $170.20 that was calculated by the rep and his supervisor. As a loyal consumerist reader, I got all their extensions and representantive ID’s — just in case. After the move, I received a bill and there was no credit. I called, and was informed my credit was denied due to a ‘disclaimer’ that would allow them to only go back for 3 months with a credit. They didn’t care what I had been promised, nor did they care what another rep and their supervisor had noted on my account.
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Starting March 11, Comcast will begin charging a $3.99 “human interaction fee” if you want to pay your bill by talking to a live operator. [The Oregonian via DSL Reports]
DirecTV Raises Rates, Warns Customers Not To Switch To Cable
DirecTV is jacking up rates by 4% as of February 27 and is reminding newly disgruntled customers that DirecTV still ranks higher than cable according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Most customers can expect a $3-$5 increase, but don’t count on award-winning customer service.
Why Does My Cable Company Force Me To Subscribe To All These Stupid Channels?
If you’re like most people, you look at your “basic” cable line-up and think: “Why do I have all these stupid channels? Wouldn’t it be cheaper if I could just subscribe to the ones I actually like?”
Best Internet, TV, Phone Service Providers
Lots of companies are pushing deals for their bundled internet, tv and phone plans, but which are best? Consumer Reports surveyed its readers and here’s how they ranked the service providers:
Shareholders To Comcast: Fire The CEO
Chieftain Capital Management Inc., owns 2% of Comcast (about 60 million shares) and is unhappy with the way its investment has been performing. They’re calling the management tenure of CEO Brian “Bad Install” Roberts a “Comcastrophe,” a term that might just good enough to be Mr. Robert’s new official Consumerist nickname. Brian “Comcastrophe” Roberts. We like it.
Time Warner Cable Testing Bandwidth Caps In Texas
Ars Technica reported yesterday about a memo from Time Warner Cable (that first showed up on a DSL Reports forum and has since been verified by Retuers) that indicated TWC might soon launch a trial program of bandwidth caps and tiered pricing, aka “Consumption Based Billing.”
Reach Comcast Executive Customer Service
215-640-8960 is the number to reach the Comcast executive offices.
Comcast Quietly Leaches $3/Month From Former Adelphia Customers
A reader from Vermont writes in to let us know that he accidentally discovered Comcast has been charging him a $3/month modem rental fee for a modem he owned, because Comcast claimed that due to poor record keeping, it had no way of distinguishing between Adelphia’s modem renters and owners. This fee went on for months undetected because Comcast doesn’t itemize such fees on their online statements, only on their printed bills. (Well yeah, because including such details online would waste ink…wait, what?) When our reader called Comcast to have the fees refunded, he was told he’d have to provide proof of purchase for his modem.
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There’s a promotion going on right now whereby Comcast customers can get 6 months of internet for $19.99 per month. [SlickDeals]
NFL: "You Can Have The Patriots Game If You Agree To Binding Arbitration." TWC: "Bite Me."
The NFL has offered Time Warner Cable the option of entering into binding arbitration in exchange for “free” access to the much-anticipated last regular season Patriots game after two U.S. Senators threated to reconsider the NFL’s anti-trust exemption if it didn’t make NFL Network games available to more viewers. Sadly for the NFL, Time Warner Cable has decided to decline this generous offer to screw themselves.
FCC Says Comcast Can't Buy More Cable Companies, But Murdoch Can Own Everything
Today, in an attempt to anger fans of both regulation and deregulation, the FCC approved two new rules. The first one restricts cable companies to owning no more than 30% of a market; the second one “gives owners of newspapers more leeway to buy radio and television stations in the largest cities.” One nice thing about the first rule is that Comcast can’t buy any more cable companies. One bad thing about the second one is that it will likely mean that Rupert Murdoch will win “permanent waivers to control two television stations in New York, as well as The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal.”
