The big "X" just hiked my bill...

I pay $144 a month, for internet and TV, 2 DVR boxes. All channels but the paid HBO, etc.
53 down, 7 up. I don't download much or use Netflix and my master is on wifi. I'm not unhappy overall.
 
Larry Sabo said:
Wow! Is that subsidized by the government in any way? How do suppliers make a profit at those rates if it's just a free, open market? Whatever, enjoy!
Click to expand...
Don't think it's subsidized, but when you have a population of approx 40 mil with a land area of nova scotia, not sure what land area that would be in the usa. I guess you can still turn a profit.
 
Geez, I didn't realize how large Korea's population is! (Canada's is just 30 mil or so and is spread across thousands of Km.)

That's great that it's just competition working at its best. I can just imaging the number of networks that list in "View available wireless networks," and the challenges of cross-talk between them, especially in metropolitan areas.
 
katz said:
Not sure how you guys are able to pull that off. Do you have government lobbyists over there? It's a "no win" situation for us. Our corrupt politicians are in the back pocket of the corporate lobbyists, follow the money trail. Voting is a joke really, because as soon as you get a new batch of "honest" (yeah right) representatives in there, the lobby groups make them back door deals they can't refuse. So for the most part, everything stays status quo.

It's been like that here (no or minimal competition) for as long as I can remember. For each region, one phone company, one electric utility provider, one cable company.

Although with the proliferation of cell phone technology, we have more company choices, however, they all have very similar price plans, it just comes down to a matter of who has the best signal for a given area...so that's not a "choice", really. Electric company - I live in an area where we can chose our supplier for a portion of our bill, which is silly, as it becomes a constant juggling act, changing suppliers several times a year to save a few pennies. :rolleyes:

And then there is the big box stores that are slowly but surely pushing all the mom & pops out...

I'm sure here in the states, anyone in their right mind is for anti-monopoly laws...it would be nice to have real "choice" for once.

Wow, guess I went on a bit of a tangent on this one, but I'm still irritated over this deal. I still haven't received the confirmation email of our phone conversation, so for all I know I'm still on the hiked rate plan. :(
Click to expand...

Lobbyists are around but rare - either PR people who have take on lobbying projects or PR\Marketing employees of large business or organistions. No full time lobbyists!! Spending on elections is limited by law and political donations by both individuals and by corporations are limited by law to tiny, tiny amounts. €1000 for an individual or €200 for a business. Therefore no money to hire lobbyists!! If any business wishes to donate more they must register with and have donations vetted by a public body whose sole purpose is to maintain ethical standards in public office. Candidates and parties must declare all donations and their sources. Elections spending is propped up by public money because it's seen as a duty to the public to ensure that they have the opportunity to hear all viewpoints. Our politicians are still annoying and duplicitous but much less so as they have to be publicly accountable.
 
Diggs said:
Charter is the cable provider here. Basic Internet (20 Mbs down/4 Mbs up - verified) is 55$/month with all taxes and access fees, etc. Their triple bundle (Internet/TV/Phone) is $99/month for the first year but jumps to $175/month after that. DSL is too unreliable around here due to being rural. My power goes out more than Charter cable outages. They been good to work with in this area.
Click to expand...
I am a Charter subscriber as well in a small rural town. I am always amazed at our speeds which have been consistently hitting 50 down and 5-6 up. Latency is usually always around 70ms. I get this and phone and 20 channel basic cable for about $100. We have a local fiber option that is available to businesses, govt, etc. I have been quoted around 300 per month for 100 down, and 10 up. but that comes with a 3 year contract and costs of installation.
 
At work:

Capture.PNG

At home, I only get 200 down, 15 up :(

Andy

Edit: Just noticed the ad asking if I want faster broadband.... Hmmmmm??? LOL :D
 
Last edited:
Andy,

Why is the up speed faster than down? Is that a correct test? That ping time is off the charts!
 
Follow up:

Have not yet received a confirmation email to either of my two ISP emails. I contacted the ISP to confirm our agreement, spoke with three different CSR, and two out of three confirmed that the account is indeed changed back to the former bill amount (plus five dollars). The third CSR could not confirm or deny, the system is in an "unclear" state...

They cannot explain why I did not receive the confirm email, and no, they have no way to send me a conformation email from their end, but they said "trust me, your account has been changed as you want it..." How can the ISP not have the ability to send me an email...come to think of it, they send me about one email/week, spam stuff of some sort.

When I log in to view the bill, it is still at the increased amount. I am supposed to pay that amount, and then over the next two months the bill will see-saw itself back into the final adjusted amount we agreed upon.

Apparently, there is no "EDIT" button in the software that they use so they could simply edit the bill amount right now and save us all the hassle of future billing adjustments. :rolleyes:

Oh, also, feel confident Mr. R... that our phone conversations are being recorded in the event that your bill would happen to not change to what it is supposed to, we have a record of this conversation for verification purposes... LOL

I can't imagine that they have the capability to pull up the conversation and will adjust the bill from that, considering the silliness that has transpired thus far.

Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be getting a blast speed of either 105 down/10 up, or 150 down/10 up...they aren't sure about the actual numbers.

This is so good, I can't make this stuff up. To date, I think I've wasted about two hours of my life on this.
 
katz said:
Follow up:

Have not yet received a confirmation email to either of my two ISP emails. I contacted the ISP to confirm our agreement, spoke with three different CSR, and two out of three confirmed that the account is indeed changed back to the former bill amount (plus five dollars). The third CSR could not confirm or deny, the system is in an "unclear" state...

They cannot explain why I did not receive the confirm email, and no, they have no way to send me a conformation email from their end, but they said "trust me, your account has been changed as you want it..." How can the ISP not have the ability to send me an email...come to think of it, they send me about one email/week, spam stuff of some sort.

When I log in to view the bill, it is still at the increased amount. I am supposed to pay that amount, and then over the next two months the bill will see-saw itself back into the final adjusted amount we agreed upon.

Apparently, there is no "EDIT" button in the software that they use so they could simply edit the bill amount right now and save us all the hassle of future billing adjustments. :rolleyes:

Oh, also, feel confident Mr. R... that our phone conversations are being recorded in the event that your bill would happen to not change to what it is supposed to, we have a record of this conversation for verification purposes... LOL

I can't imagine that they have the capability to pull up the conversation and will adjust the bill from that, considering the silliness that has transpired thus far.

Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be getting a blast speed of either 105 down/10 up, or 150 down/10 up...they aren't sure about the actual numbers.

This is so good, I can't make this stuff up. To date, I think I've wasted about two hours of my life on this.
Click to expand...
Sounds just like Telstra! I have a customer moved into town three weeks ago, Telstra promised internet would be connected the day they moved in. They're still waiting. I will put money on their inability to transfer the customer account from the old address to the new address.
 
katz said:
Follow up:

Have not yet received a confirmation email to either of my two ISP emails. I contacted the ISP to confirm our agreement, spoke with three different CSR, and two out of three confirmed that the account is indeed changed back to the former bill amount (plus five dollars). The third CSR could not confirm or deny, the system is in an "unclear" state...

They cannot explain why I did not receive the confirm email, and no, they have no way to send me a conformation email from their end, but they said "trust me, your account has been changed as you want it..." How can the ISP not have the ability to send me an email...come to think of it, they send me about one email/week, spam stuff of some sort.

When I log in to view the bill, it is still at the increased amount. I am supposed to pay that amount, and then over the next two months the bill will see-saw itself back into the final adjusted amount we agreed upon.

Apparently, there is no "EDIT" button in the software that they use so they could simply edit the bill amount right now and save us all the hassle of future billing adjustments. :rolleyes:

Oh, also, feel confident Mr. R... that our phone conversations are being recorded in the event that your bill would happen to not change to what it is supposed to, we have a record of this conversation for verification purposes... LOL

I can't imagine that they have the capability to pull up the conversation and will adjust the bill from that, considering the silliness that has transpired thus far.

Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be getting a blast speed of either 105 down/10 up, or 150 down/10 up...they aren't sure about the actual numbers.

This is so good, I can't make this stuff up. To date, I think I've wasted about two hours of my life on this.
Click to expand...

As a person that has worked in customer service for several companies I will translate for you.

1. "The third CSR could not confirm or deny, the system is in an "unclear" state" This likely means theres been multiple manual edits and it looks super confusing at this time and the rep didn't want to guess how it will turn out. One of the more experienced reps that have been there for a long time could probably figure it out but these software systems they use arent exactly friendly with this kind of thing in most cases.

2. "They cannot explain why I did not receive the confirm email, and no, they have no way to send me a conformation email from their end, but they said "trust me, your account has been changed as you want it..." How can the ISP not have the ability to send me an email...come to think of it, they send me about one email/week, spam stuff of some sort." Company doesn't trust reps to send anything out manually in writing. They probably have a button they push for set email templates. The only reps that can probably send out custom emails are the reps that respond to emails but they usually won't let them handle this kind of thing and thats why they make you call in.

3. Theres a way to edit bills but its usually done by a department that doesn't talk to customers directly. The rep usually has to put in a request then someone in that department will investigate the request and make the changes accordingly.

4. Reps almost never have the ability to pull up calls on their own and if they do it would likely be only their own calls. They can however have management or quality pull up calls and will likely honor what was said if its possible but that really depends on the company.
 
ComputerRepairTech said:
As a person that has worked in customer service for several companies I will translate for you.

1. "The third CSR could not confirm or deny, the system is in an "unclear" state" This likely means theres been multiple manual edits and it looks super confusing at this time and the rep didn't want to guess how it will turn out. One of the more experienced reps that have been there for a long time could probably figure it out but these software systems they use arent exactly friendly with this kind of thing in most cases.

2. "They cannot explain why I did not receive the confirm email, and no, they have no way to send me a conformation email from their end, but they said "trust me, your account has been changed as you want it..." How can the ISP not have the ability to send me an email...come to think of it, they send me about one email/week, spam stuff of some sort." Company doesn't trust reps to send anything out manually in writing. They probably have a button they push for set email templates. The only reps that can probably send out custom emails are the reps that respond to emails but they usually won't let them handle this kind of thing and thats why they make you call in.

3. Theres a way to edit bills but its usually done by a department that doesn't talk to customers directly. The rep usually has to put in a request then someone in that department will investigate the request and make the changes accordingly.

4. Reps almost never have the ability to pull up calls on their own and if they do it would likely be only their own calls. They can however have management or quality pull up calls and will likely honor what was said if its possible but that really depends on the company.
Click to expand...

You explained the issue/problems with large corporations very aptly.

By having such a strangle hold on your employees, giving them very small wiggle room for fixing client's problems, the end result is limited and poor customer service for your clients, leaving them unsatisfied with your product. Consequently, there is no brand loyalty, I would not highly recommend their service to another person, and given another competitive deal I would drop said company in a heartbeat.

I never get confrontational with the CSR's, as they're only doing their job, and I realize they have very limited capability to address any problems. It's designed that way on purpose by corporate to lock the customer into a "my way or the highway" deal. Same issue with cell phone company/ satellite service/2 yr. contracts, $375.00 early termination fee.

I do however, ask them to log my complaint into the system, that I'm very dissatisfied with the company and the level of service I receive. Will it ever make a difference? Not likely... I've been down this road before, we all have, I suppose it will never end.

At the very least, the fact that the system cannot generate an automated email confirming my new plan, so I at least have some sort of paper trail/proof is pitiful. :rolleyes:

When you operate as a monopoly, you don't have to play by the rules...don't have to have morals or good ethics.
 
You can try contacting them via their facebook page usually those reps will have a little more power than reps over the phone but then again they often lie and pretend to be managers when they are just reps in another department. You can also try asking them where to send complaints in writing and what department processes those mailed in complaints if its something like a quality assurance dept rather than just customer service then you may be more successful with that route.
 
It's funny, if you read the forums for any of the large corporations, be it an ISP, computer manufacturer, etc...

A customer will start a thread explaining his problem...the certified company technician/manager/rep/etc. will reply with "I understand your problem, I am here to help you get it resolved..."

The discussion that ensues usually turns into a train wreck of no assistance whatsoever, an endless barrage of back and forth replies that never addresses the problem, and the customer is left disgruntled and in limbo.

Back in the day, we rarely had this problem with "Mom and Pop", as they needed to keep us satisfied to stay in business. It was a win-win for everyone. I'm of the age where I can still remember those small shops where the "customer is king." Fond memories...
 
Yeah what these corporations need is like a support council like a group consisting of 1-2 experienced reps from every department that could be involved in a customers problem. They would have full access to communicate and request things from every department. If a customer calls in and its clear to the rep that their issue is not being resolved through the normal channels then it gets escalated to the support council for resolution. Council would also be able to put in suggestions for changes if they see the same situations coming up.
 
I can tell you I had unholy nightmares trying to get my service established. I went well over two weeks
before I got my self install kit at all, then couldn't install it for another week and a half because they
had the line shut off at the pole. They sent a tech out, who replaced all my boxes and turned the cable
back on at the pole but instead of running my cable line up to my bed room outside, he ran the old line
from the satellite dish on the roof into the house again. Why I'm not sure, the dish was there before I
moved in.... and it was painfully easy to see that it wasn't correct. I waited 3 hours because he said it
could take that long for the box to initialize, then waited an hour on the phone to get a tech scheduled
only to find out myself the next day that the wire was ran the wrong way.

I also:

got charged shipping on a free over night shipping package
got charged shipping again on a package that was free overnight shipping, but this time I didn't order the second package
got up at 8 AM on a Saturday (which I normally sleep in) to wait a few hours for no one to show up, he should have been there at 8:30 AM
got charged a late fee because my printed bills date was different from the online one (I went by the printed one)
got told off by a very rude customer service rep, when asking for the wrong's to be righted and have these issues fixed / compensated for

It was almost 6 weeks before everything settled down. For the better part of the first month, I could effectively only use
half of my services, and when I mentioned since I could only use half the service I should have only had to pay half the
bill.... of course they didn't go for that.

All along the way, I wasted hours on the phone with techs and CSR's who sounded most of the time like they
couldn't have cared less. The only emotion I got out of any of them was the one that was very ignorant to me.
If it weren't for the fact that my internet service is so rock solid, I'd have sent their crap back within the first month considering
what happened.
 
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