cable - GRR

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
cable - GRR
12
Wed, 02-23-2005 - 3:03pm
Our development had a contract with our development to provide cable at discount rates. The contract expires this month and now the cable rates are doubling! What is REALLY irritating is that we had a prepay agreement with the cable company. Now, in mmost cases, if you prepay the year, you are guarding against rate increases. Not so with cable. They still raised or rates and have our money interest free. And their customer service really stinks as well. It really is "what are you going to do about it?"
Well, we decided to get Direct TV. The customer service is good and I really like the feeling I got when we returned the cable box. And the satelite bill is the same rate I was paying before the cable contract ran out.
What gives cable companies (or realistically -- any company) the right to raise rates and treat you like crap? They don't even try. I can't stand giving my money to people/companies with bad customer service or high opinions of themselves. Most of the people I know are either switching to satelite, dropping to basic or dropping cable all together. And for some reason they are surprised!
OK. I am vented now.
Sandra

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Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: usg1865
Wed, 02-23-2005 - 4:31pm

Hi Sandra.


DH and I have been with DirecTV for years now.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-16-2004
In reply to: usg1865
Wed, 02-23-2005 - 5:25pm

Danni,

I am glad to see someone else is splurging in satelite TV. We also have Directv with 2 extra receivers and Tivo. This is the one household expense I simply couldn't give up! And what value for your money!

Nicola

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
In reply to: usg1865
Wed, 02-23-2005 - 5:41pm

Oh how I wish I could get Dish here. Dh has to have high speed internet for his work, and DSL isn't available where we are, so we're stuck with our cable company.

Not sure what others pay for their cable service, but we currently have:

Basic Cable (gives us local channels)
Expanded Basic (for channels like Nickelodeon, CNN, etc)
and our Cable Internet

and we pay $109.57 a month.

What a joke! LOL! Luckily, Dh's work pays for the internet part of the bill, but still...it's so pricey, and it's gone up twice in the past year! LOL! :-D

Pat

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: usg1865
Wed, 02-23-2005 - 7:12pm
Nicola - it's definitely a guilty pleasure.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2004
In reply to: usg1865
Wed, 02-23-2005 - 9:32pm
Really? I've never had this problem with cable companies. I've had my current cable provider for 11/2 years and I have never had a price increase. Maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones, I dunno. I have Charter Cable.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
In reply to: usg1865
Wed, 02-23-2005 - 10:28pm
I have Adelphia. :-D
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
In reply to: usg1865
Thu, 02-24-2005 - 8:03am
We had Comcast. Cable went up to $104.95 and internet was $49.95. I heard the internet fee was going up too. My neighbor came over last night to see how our DSL was working after she received her rate increase notice.
In our old house (pre 2001) we had cablevision, whch was a decent company.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-19-2004
In reply to: usg1865
Thu, 02-24-2005 - 11:55am

Dh and I had enough of Adelphia Cable and switched to Dish Network in October. We paid NOTHING upfront and got 3 receivers plus installation. We added the $5/month for the DVR(tivo) which is the best thing ,I think, since sliced bread!! I love it!!
We pay $4 more for digital satellite with DVR, pay per view,and tons of music channels than plain old cable (non digital), plus I heard the cable rates were going up again soon. I think it's well worth it!

We did not have our internet through the cable company as I am still dial up(I refuse to pay more since I am the only one that uses the computer.) It's $13.95/month thru people pc with the accelerator. So our total tv plus internet bill per month is $68.95.

~Nicki

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
In reply to: usg1865
Thu, 02-24-2005 - 12:28pm

Wow, Nicki! I wish I could get my cable and Internet down to that price! LOL! :-D That's terrific!

I think we will probably switch to Dish as soon as DSL makes it up to our area. We live in North Georgia, so far North that when some of Dh's co-workers drive up to our house for the first time, their first words are, "Am I still in Georgia?" because they feel like they've driven so far that they've more than likely crossed into South Carolina. LOL! :-D

Our area is building up, though, and many new homes are being built, so I'm thinking they will have to offer DSL soon. That would solve my Dh's high speed internet that he needs for work, and then we drop Adelphia cable. :-D

Pat

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
In reply to: usg1865
Thu, 02-24-2005 - 12:38pm

We have WOW cable. Right now we pay $60.32 a month. That's going to go down a couple bucks soon though because I need to cancel the little magazine they send every month. Totally don't need that! We get expanded cable (or whatever you call it). It's all the cable channels but no HBO or anything. Plus that includes high speed internet which I'm not sure I could live without at this point.

I would LOVE to have TIVO but I can't justify it yet! LOL

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