I took on Comcast

[Patri]

Comcast is the only game in town so we are at their mercy for internet, TV and landline (which I keep so businesses, etc. get that number).
My bill jumped $40 from last month, so of course I was livid. Naturally, lame excuse that my package was no longer offered. I told the first rep I would be cancelling within a week if I couldn't get my old rate back. (I could get separate services from other companies, and drop phone if I absolutely had to).
She transferred me to the solutions department.
Bottom line, an hour later, I had a triple play package $10 less than I am paying now, with only 4 channels taken away (which I don't watch anyway). Just hate this crap, but feeling pretty good.

 

[pagosajim]

Comcast is the only game in town so we are at their mercy for internet, TV and landline (which I keep so businesses, etc. get that number).
My bill jumped $40 from last month, so of course I was livid. Naturally, lame excuse that my package was no longer offered. I told the first rep I would be cancelling within a week if I couldn't get my old rate back. (I could get separate services from other companies, and drop phone if I absolutely had to).
She transferred me to the solutions department.
Bottom line, an hour later, I had a triple play package $10 less than I am paying now, with only 4 channels taken away (which I don't watch anyway). Just hate this crap, but feeling pretty good.

Was that a short term 'teaser' rate they gave you, or something without an expiration that won't automatically increase after 6-12 months?

 

[Roger830]

We had a similar thing happen.

Our phone stopped working, so my wife called Comcast and set an appointment.
While on the phone the agent remarked about the cost of our plan for what we were getting.
She set us up with a new plan that eliminated about four channels such as True TV, but gave us many more, all of the Starz and all of the MTV channels, Nat Geo, etc, supposedly higher internet speed, all for about $10-15 less per month. It's not supposed to be a trail rate.

What gets me, if we didn't call, we would have never gotten the new package.

I fixed the phone myself. The prior owner put in the phone line where we have the router and spliced some wires without soldering them.

 

[Sandy VDH]

I call and get them to change the price or change the package when the promo is up. They are hoping that you do not call. But they will give you a new promo, but only if you call.

 

[bluehende]

Thank you for the reminder to call COmcast as my promo ended a couple months ago. It is such a pain.

 

[Roger830]

I call and get them to change the price or change the package when the promo is up. They are hoping that you do not call. But they will give you a new promo, but only if you call.

She stated that it is not a promo.

 

[Jan M.]

Keep a close eye on your bill for new charges or charges you don't understand. Comcast is notorious for adding charges that they shouldn't. In the 7 years we've lived here and had Comcast I have yet to hear anyone say a good word about them. We had Armstrong Cable where we used to live in Pennsylvania and it didn't even take us a full month with Comcast to find out how spoiled we were.

My husband is president of our HOA of 146 homes and we don't have a management company. Basic cable is included in our HOA dues. The Comcast contract expires in December and the board has spent months looking at options and alternatives. The various Comcast representatives my husband and other Board members dealt with failed to show up for meeting times the Comcast representatives themselves set up, didn't return phone calls, didn't know anything, made no effort to find out anything, etc. Unfortunately Comcast or nothing turned out to be the only two options and they did eventually get a better, more knowledgeable representative and a better deal than the previous contract. Another company is putting in fiber optic lines in this area but they haven't reached our plan yet. My husband was really hoping they would be able to provide service by the time our current contract expired but it may be as long as another year or two. Now we will have to wait 5 years as that is the minimum contract they were able to get.

 

[rickandcindy23]

My mother-in-law's bill was $268 for one month with Xfinity, same company because they used to be called Comcast here in the Denver area. She has just the regular channels, internet and phone. Sounds crazy high to me, but our phone and internet with Century Link + our Dish bill add up to more. We don't have extra channels either.

 

[Patri]

The package was for two years, when I moved to this house. So that time just ended. Now the lady said to call back in 2 years, when rates will go up $25, and we can negotiate again. By then I hope there are more choices for our area.

 

[VacationForever]

These Telecom companies are all the same... bad. Fill in the blanks with Comcast, AT&T or Century Link. Unfortunately we have lots of experience with all 3. Rates go up as the old discounts no longer exist, we want to cancel and then we get transferred to resolutions/cancellation dept, then miraculously you can get what you had paid for and the real increase is $10 to $30 more per month. The worst part next is that the next bill still shows the old increased exorbitant price. Call again, get someone else who tells you that the reduced rates no longer exist, ask to cancel and then we get transferred again and we get the new reduced rates. The only difference with all of these is that our last experience with AT&T, the new reduced rates never came through and we were billed the much higher, non-discount rates month after month. We are so sick and tired of all of them.

We are definitely looking at going to something like Hulu and the only service we will buy from Century Link is for internet.

 

[Bucky]

There are always options! I don’t have Comcast but I do have ATT which is just as bad if not worse. Seems to me that those that bundle always end up getting the worse deals in the long run. I think these companies just bet on people not wanting to look for alternatives. If you are going to save money it requires work.

I pay $92 mo for 200+ channels on DISH Network. This is on a two year price lock. At the end of two years if they try to raise the cost, which they always do, I will just threaten to cancel and I will end up getting another two year agreement. This includes 2 DVR’s, one able to record up to 16 shows at a time! Throw in another $45 for my internet and I’m all in for $137 mo. I don’t count anything for my home phone because I ported it to my cell service.

Another option is to just cut the cord completely. We tried that for nine months and found it just wasn’t for us. It worked, just not how we wanted it to. We had 85+ channels for $69 mo. Add in the $45 for internet and we were all in for $114.

There are alternatives out there, regardless of where one lives.