Cable company rant

[AUTailgatingRules]

It never ceases to amaze me how stupid a company can be.  I've been a Charter customer in some shape or form for about 15 years.  Once every 6-12 months I have to call and bitch up a storm because my "promotional" rate expires.

This month my bill went from $149/month for cable with movie channels and Internet to $199/month.  I always have to call and see what the new pecials are and if I want to keep cable I will have to pay $160 for the next six months.  After this I will ceartainly have to call again.

I think I may be finally done with Charter.  I realize ATT bundle with Direct TV is about the same, but at least they only go up $18 after my first 12 months are up.  I can live with that, I'm just so fucking tired of the wild swings and the time it takes to fight with these morons.

Charter has to have the worst sales/customer service people I have ever dealt with.

Does anyone have any experience with the services provided through an ATT bundle?

[Jumbo]

$125 for 200 channels + hd and all the premium channels. At&t $82 for phone and 6.0 Dsl.

[Thrilla]

AUTR,  I left Comcast cable companies because of the same reason.  Awful customer service, idiots at the call center, and slow turnaround time to fix problems.

I'm with DirecTV now and I can confidently say that this company is one of the best I've EVAR dealt with when it comes to customer service.  Well spoken, educated, and quick to fix problems and make things right.  They also take the time to explain to you how to upgrade, hook the satellite box to the internet, etc., and will stick with you until it's done or until you understand. 

I got a promotional rate with them that expires in the next couple of months, so I'll have to renegotiate the $60/month I pay for one HD/DVR box, one HD box, and one regular box, plus all the HD and regular channels (but no movie channel, although they do have "on demand" and ppv movies as well).  I get the interwebs and home line through AT&T, but I don't have them bundled with DirecTV, as I think AT&T's new TV services is run through the AT&T U-verse box that utilizes broadband/fiber optics for TV watching (not affiliated w/ DirecTV)  https://uverse1.att.com/un/launchAMSS.do

I highly recommend DirecTV though...although if it does get windy or there's bad storms it can occasionally go out.  Let me know if you are looking into them...send me a PM and we can both take advantage of extra savings throught their "refer a buddy" program.

[Jumbo]

AUTR,  I left Comcast cable companies because of the same reason.  Awful customer service, idiots at the call center, and slow turnaround time to fix problems.

I'm with DirecTV now and I can confidently say that this company is one of the best I've EVAR dealt with when it comes to customer service.  Well spoken, educated, and quick to fix problems and make things right.  They also take the time to explain to you how to upgrade, hook the satellite box to the internet, etc., and will stick with you until it's done or until you understand. 

I got a promotional rate with them that expires in the next couple of months, so I'll have to renegotiate the $60/month I pay for one HD/DVR box, one HD box, and one regular box, plus all the HD and regular channels (but no movie channel, although they do have "on demand" and ppv movies as well).  I get the interwebs and home line through AT&T, but I don't have them bundled with DirecTV, as I think AT&T's new TV services is run through the AT&T U-verse box that utilizes broadband/fiber optics for TV watching (not affiliated w/ DirecTV)  https://uverse1.att.com/un/launchAMSS.do

I highly recommend DirecTV though...although if it does get windy or there's bad storms it can occasionally go out.  Let me know if you are looking into them...send me a PM and we can both take advantage of extra savings throught their "refer a buddy" program.

Damn I forgot to tell him

[AUTailgatingRules]

I just signed up last night for Direct Tv bundled through my ATT.

Promotianal rate of $153/month for Phone (unlimited long distance), DSL (only had 3.0 available in my area), and Direct TV premier (no HD as i never watch it, but got 1 DVR and 3 regular boxes, all the movie channels).

After one year my rate willl supposedly go up $28 which I can live with.  I did not change nescessarily for a cost savings as much as i am fed up at the cable company for treating a long term high end customer as shitty as they do.  I am tired of constantly having to watch my bill and renegotiate all the time.

I do have a question, do you guys get the Jefferson Pilot channell for 11:30 games on Direct?  With ESPN taking over it may not matter, but i watch reruns of 2 and 1/2 men on the same channell.  I believe the network on my cable is CW21, channell 9 on Charter in B'Ham.

[Thrilla]

I do have a question, do you guys get the Jefferson Pilot channell for 11:30 games on Direct?  With ESPN taking over it may not matter, but i watch reruns of 2 and 1/2 men on the same channell.  I believe the network on my cable is CW21, channell 9 on Charter in B'Ham.

Yeah, it's the CW for me as well.  It's like channel 36, I think.

[AuburnChopper 3.0]

Yeah, it's the CW for me as well.  It's like channel 36, I think.

I have DirectV and it's the same for me.

[Thrilla]

I just signed up last night for Direct Tv bundled through my ATT.

Promotianal rate of $153/month for Phone (unlimited long distance), DSL (only had 3.0 available in my area), and Direct TV premier (no HD as i never watch it, but got 1 DVR and 3 regular boxes, all the movie channels).

After one year my rate willl supposedly go up $28 which I can live with.  I did not change nescessarily for a cost savings as much as i am fed up at the cable company for treating a long term high end customer as shitty as they do.  I am tired of constantly having to watch my bill and renegotiate all the time.

I do have a question, do you guys get the Jefferson Pilot channell for 11:30 games on Direct?  With ESPN taking over it may not matter, but i watch reruns of 2 and 1/2 men on the same channell.  I believe the network on my cable is CW21, channell 9 on Charter in B'Ham.

AUTR, were you not offered the AT&T U-Verse option for TV programming?  A buddy of mine has it and it seems pretty cool...and I know they bundle it as well through phone packages.  Kind of an afterthought now, but I was just wondering.

[AUTailgatingRules]

What is the ATT u-verse program?  I'm getting every channell they offer, I just don't care to pay extra for HD given that the picture I get through my TVs is pleny good enough for me.

[chinook]

What is the ATT u-verse program?  I'm getting every channell they offer, I just don't care to pay extra for HD given that the picture I get through my TVs is pleny good enough for me.

sounds like a scam.

[Ranger12]

Good move on going with DirecTV. We had Charter when we were renting and like you, we kept having to call every 6 months to get the promotional price reinstated. Once we got back to where we own our place, we got DirecTV immediatly.

However, we still have to use Charter for our internet. DSL is not available in our area with AT&T. We also just recently switched over to T-Mobile at Home for our landline, so we don't use AT&T at all anymore. If we are going to have to use Charter for our internet, we figured we might as use the internet as our phone service also, plus save about $60 a month by switching to the T-Mobile at Home plan. So far we are loving it in the couple of weeks we have had it. The caller ID can be sketchy sometimes by not giving the number, but I can deal with that. It does not even seem to affect our bandwidth when we are on the phone while on the internet at the same time. I have heard several customers complain about how Charter's phone service uses a lot of bandwidth and they can hardly use the internet while on the phone.

[AUTiger1]

I can't complain about DriectTV.  I have been a costumer for 4 years and they have done me right so far.  Even when it was my mistake on ordering a Boxing PPV, they made it right.  I have been able to get them to give me 6 months of showtime for free just calling and asking and for that 6 month stretch there were some outstanding boxing matches.  I think their customer service is better than any I have ever dealt with. 

Navy12: 2 questions......Are you ever going to be done with your punishment and change your name back?  Since "the other site" has sold are you (and others) going to hang around as a MOD or are you out?

[Thrilla]

What is the ATT u-verse program?  I'm getting every channell they offer, I just don't care to pay extra for HD given that the picture I get through my TVs is pleny good enough for me.

It's their new TV programming system, similar to DirecTV and cable companies.  If you don't care to go Hi-Def, then it's probably no big deal.  I know they do bundle phone and internet as well, but like I said, it's a little late now for you.

https://uverse1.att.com/un/launchAMSS.do