So I cut the cable (never on Fios, never on satellite, not in my house) to Cablevision

[DainBramaged]

and today a woman from their main offices called to ask me what my complaint was with the company. My response was simple, I've returned my equipment, satellite will be installed now that the ice and snow is off the building, you're too late.


Dead silence. 10 seconds later, the begging started. And then I said goodbye. They waited too long, they don't think people will cut the cable. They are condescending and mistreat their customers. 55 MILLION people who have satellite can't be wrong.

Arrogant fucks.

[annabanana]

1. They really are condescending. I'm giving them the hairy eyeball now

for not having Current or HDtv. .

[DainBramaged]

2. When you talk to them they treat you like a child, talk over you (like their republican masters)

Badmouth the competition, and basically think that they are the only ones out there. When I returned my equipment, the woman said I couldn't till I got a disconnect from the disconnect department, I said disconnect said I had to return my equipment first. And then she started to badmouth Fios and satellite.


I am saving $78 a month.

[remember2000forever]

3. Why is it......

In my local area, Comcast, The Dish and Direct TV are all about the same price. So....every 2 years I call up my local provider, (last time it was Direct TV), and ask them if they can lower my bill or I'm leaving. Always "No". Then, when I switch, I always get a bonus to join the new carrier. But only after I do switch, the former carrier offeres me all kinds of discounts to come back. Wierd!

[DainBramaged]

4. I didn't even give her the chance

Dish and Direct off the same deals, MORE HD and regular channels than Cablevision for less than $60 a month after the promotional 1 year $35-$39 price. And I'm paying $12 for basic until the satellite is installed. The best part was the idiot who said "but your internet will go up $5 a month". Stupid stupid stupid.


They are one stupid company. 26 years with them and they pissed me off for the last time.

[truedelphi]

9. Very bizarre. You'd think they would figure out

That for every two people that the low "new user" fees attract, another old timer leaves.

Who can afford the $ 150 a month for cable internet and telephone once the initial year is over?

[DainBramaged]

14. Just before 4PM a guy called wanting to know what they can do to salvage the situation

to which I laughed, asked him why they always wait till the equipment is returned told him don't call again, and hung up.

[csziggy]

20. They are SUPPOSED to turn you over to a "retention" representative

But it never happens.

I figure every time I want to upgrade my equipment, I will switch from DirecTV to DISH and back, since otherwise I would have to pay for the upgrade.

[damntexdem]

5. The old Ma Bell parody line: "We don't care. We don't have to."

Forget the RW obsession with competition -- it's still nice to have an alternative.

[Bonhomme Richard]

6. My problem is I have 5 TV's in the house and..

I would have to pay the extra 5+ for each receiver otherwise I would get satellite. Having said that I only pay about 15/month for basic because I got pissed at what Charter charged a few years ago.

[Javaman]

7. We were in the process of dumping cable...

we were paying like 75 bucks a month for both cable and internet. Internet being the biggest chunk since we get basic cable.

So, they said to me, well, how about we give you both for 44 bucks.

I had to ask them 3 times to believe them.

They cut my internet down to 30 bucks and my cable to 10.

Before I would have saved about 20 bucks, now I'm saving 30.

The catch is: it only lasts for a year.

So I put an alarm on my computer calender to go off 2 weeks before the deadline.

Next year, I'll go the route of trying to cut it off yet again.

I'll see what they offer me then.

It should be amusing. LOL

[jtrockville]

8. Who is your internet provider?

[DainBramaged]

12. The dreaded Cablevision until Fios comes down the road....

and I stream Netflix to my tee vee.

[jtrockville]

19. FiOS is an excellent choice. Hope it comes your way soon. :)

[onenote]

10. I'm curious how you figure that there are 55 million people with satellite

DirecTV has around 16 million customers and Dish Network has around 14 million, which equals 30 million households. Are you assuming some number of "people" per household to get to 55 million?

Frankly, my experience is that neither cable nor satellite is immune from providing bad customer service and both are capable of providing good customer service. It varies from provider to provider, time to time, and place to place. I stick with cable because the bundle of service -- voice, phone, and internet -- that I get, along with other services (e.g. DVR) are a good value compared to what I could get with satellite. But I know plenty of people who have satellite and think that it provides them the best value.

Not a Cablevision customer, so I am not passing judgment one way or another on your experience.

[DainBramaged]

13. Why does it matter?

[onenote]

15. you are the one that cited the 55 million figure as meaning something

I was just curious where it came from. Frankly, I don't think the fact that 30 million or 55 million people subscribe to satellite proves very much about the relative value of cable v. satellite since the number of subscribers (or people) that subscribe to cable still is double the number that take satellite.

So I guess I'll pose the question back at you: why does it matter how many people take satellite?

[DainBramaged]

16. Cablevision has 3,000,000 subscribers in the Metro NY/NJ/Conn region

Google is your friend.

[onenote]

17. I know that. And Verizon probably has around 750,000 to a million

I'm still not sure that those numbers prove anything about the relative value of Verizon v. Cablevision (or either of them against satellite which probably has relatively lower subscribership numbers in those areas). All it suggests is that some people are satisfied with Cablevision, some are satisfied with Verizon, and some are satisfied with satellite. Subscribers jump around ("churn") from one provider to another these days, which is a good thing since it indicates that these providers offer competitive alternatives to one another.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DainBramaged]

23. "Over 50 million Americans strong"

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/index.jsp?topnavtype=-1


proof positive. let it go.

[Uncle Joe]

11. Good for you.

Thanks for the thread, DainBramaged.

[southernyankeebelle]

21. I have Direct TV for years. Very pleased. You can call 24 hrs a day and someone is always there to

help you no matter how long it takes. My son has Dish and I wouldn't give a plug nickel to them.

[madokie]

22. I'm thinking of going to cable internet

we only have two choices here really as satelite is too expensive for internet, Anyway, we have dish but the trouble with satelite for tv is when it pisses and pours, raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock, you know, well, the signal gets lost somewhere 'tween there and here so you have that to deal with that. We're in tornado country so I kind of like to keep an eye on the storms as much as I can and if not for my internet sometimes I'd be screwed on that front. Other than that satellite is great, especially HD during football season. You know the season that comes in late summer then last until we're starting to dream of an early spring, yup that season.