Charter Cable Rant

As long as we have the topics of negativity and customer service going on I thought I would add to it. Received bill today for Charter. I have cable tv and internet. No added premium channels and it’s running $122.15 They have all these ads out with great deals. Of course they are for new customers. I figured adding the phone thru them would get me a deal. Nope. Talked to 3 different people and they have no offers they can make me. I can’t switch to Dish because trees block my sky view. I could live without TV but you can’t live without internet today. And nobody has the speeds that Charter has in this area. Hard to believe they won’t try to retain long time customers. Guess they know they have you over the barrel. Just venting.

you really need just a small window of opening in the trees.. and the lower you go. the higher up you point.. I recently moved my dish from the roof of the house to my deck.. and even though, my so called “expert” said that I would not get signal.. I am getting, are you ready for this? 100 on one sat transponder and 90’s across the board.. for one , I know where true north and south are, and two, pointing at a higher angle gave me much more sky to point at.. so I would have either directv or dish come and actually do a signal check.. its a big sky and the higher you point the bigger it gets.. I wish you well.

Up here with Comcast you can call in and ask to see if you can enroll into a beginners price and they will work with you.
Though there is a bit of tack to get this done.
Take in mind when you are talking to costumer service your not talking to the company in most cases but another company subbed out to do the job. If they will not work with you just nicely suggest you can no longer afford the rates and ask to talk to someone about discontinuing the service. Likelihood you will be on hold for a bit then transferred to another person that will offer you better rates. Ive done this every six months and I have gotten some pretty good deals that included free premium channels. It is a pain to keep doing this but it saves money.

If they dont work with you have a choice pay the price or go DSL if you have that choice. DSL is not that bad if you don’t download much and watch much video. Some areas DSL has gotten better as for downloading but not where I’m at.

A negative post just might have turned positive.

Its a hassle, but if you ask to talk to someone in the retention center of Charter, you have an opportunity to get a deal. When my 2 year contract is up, I always call and a get someone in retention. We compare the prices and I have usually gotten a reasonable rate for the next two years. The general customer service call centers are not authorized to give the deals.

I have looked hard at the sky access. It would involve cutting down trees or possibly trenching in a cable but really don’t want a dish on a post to be my backyard view. And I did ask about cancelling services. I was transferred to 3 different people. I was polite. The next time I call may be different. As for DSL. Well my phone is Centurylink and they don’t have the speed in my area. Wish Charter had some competition.

I first called the number for change of service. He told me that was the best he could do. I said well give me someone in retention. Was told they don’t have retention anymore it is all thru Billing. Said transfer me to Billing. She said that was the best she could do. I said well I want a supervisor or someone else to deal with because I would look at cancelling if couldn’t get a better deal. 5 min wait and the next woman said this is the best we can do. I asked several pointed questions about cancelling with where to return equipment and how quickly it gets done if they come out. She answered them all and thanked me for being a loyal customer but she could do nothing more. Need to talk to the FW tonight and discuss. By the looks of the Ads you have to be a non customer for 30 days to get a deal. I may just go dark for the next month. Heck no Packers to watch in the Superbowl anyway.

Sgt. Rock – good info and thanks for sharing. my 2yr is up in Aug, so this gives me some time to look at other options. Thanks

I have Charter too and am looking at alternatives. I can get by with slower internet speeds because I mostly do mail and surf. Do you have specific down and upload targets speeds?

What speeds are you needing with your DSL? We used to have internet through Comcast. We switched to ATT DSL service over a year ago. I know their speeds aren’t near what we had with Comcast, but I can honestly say I don’t notice any difference with the internet sites I visit. We also watch Netflix movies on TV over the internet using DSL and it works fine too.

Hi Brian,

I see you have some frustration with Charter. I dropped their TV signal last year and now only have Charter for internet service at about $48/month. We live in NE Rochester at about the same elevation as you (1200′) and put the below antenna in our attic. I pointed it towards mpls and receive most of the mpls stations, plus all of the stations to south of us (cbs/nbc/abc/pbs). I also split the signal to two TVs. This antenna may be worth a try and if it does not work then just return it.

http://www.amazon.com/Antennas-Direct-ClearStream4-HDTV-Antenna/dp/B001BRXW74/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1359052578&sr=8-2&keywords=clearview+antenna

The quality of the over the air signal can be just awesome (1080p) at times.

We also stream netflix at $8/month.

This website will help you point your antenna in the right direction.

http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/

Dave G

I have 3 chainsaws Kari. But love the wooded isolation. Best DSL speed I can see available is 1.5 Mb thru Centurylink. I’m not in the City. My speed is 15-20 Mb now thru Charter. All the new offers they show are 30Mb. Don’t see going slower as an option. Dave that is exactly what I’m thinking right now. Drop the TV and go antenna. Yeah I’ll miss some things on the other channels but like you I have some grey whiskers and can remember when we only had 3 channels.

My wife tried getting comparable Charter new customer deals
(when ours is up for renewal)
over the phone with no luck.

BUT, when she goes in to the office,
they always come up with something to save us money.
quite often the same new customer price
She has been using this tact for almost 20 years now.

It works for her.

I have had this problem before with a satellite company. If you cancel and then open a new account in your wifes name they will give you immediate service as a new customer with the low rates. I would think this would work with Charter too.

We dropped Charter Phone in October after looking at the cost (especially the taxes). Only telemarketers were calling the land line as kids have their own cell phones. Then we dropped cable in December as Charter would not negotiate any deals to stay with them. Kept the internet as it has great speed. Went to Best Buy and talked to a Direct TV Rep and got way more channels and DVR for $7 more than I was paying for cable. Also got $150 gift card from Best Buy. ( A friend got $250 at Costco). Now if you refer someone, you each get $100 off on your bill-$10 a month for 10 months. I need a couple more people to get my bill for free! Send me a message if interested.
Was also told Direct TV will have better internet service by summer time.

Quote:

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My wife tried getting comparable Charter new customer deals
(when ours is up for renewal)
over the phone with no luck.

BUT, when she goes in to the office,
they always come up with something to save us money.
quite often the same new customer price
She has been using this tact for almost 20 years now.

It works for her.

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Bingo. Brian, you need to run out to the office located behind Cinamagic theater. We make out trek out there every December and are under a c-note/month for phone, cable, and internet. When we get notified of an increase about the first of December we run right out to the office and barter. We’ve done this for years. I won’t talk on any phone to anyone from charter.

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Hi Brian,

I see you have some frustration with Charter. I dropped their TV signal last year and now only have Charter for internet service at about $48/month. We live in NE Rochester at about the same elevation as you (1200′) and put the below antenna in our attic. I pointed it towards mpls and receive most of the mpls stations, plus all of the stations to south of us (cbs/nbc/abc/pbs). I also split the signal to two TVs. This antenna may be worth a try and if it does not work then just return it.

http://www.amazon.com/Antennas-Direct-ClearStream4-HDTV-Antenna/dp/B001BRXW74/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1359052578&sr=8-2&keywords=clearview+antenna

The quality of the over the air signal can be just awesome (1080p) at times.

We also stream netflix at $8/month.

This website will help you point your antenna in the right direction.

http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/

Dave G

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Dave, did you also install the signal booster?

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Bingo. Brian, you need to run out to the office located behind Cinamagic theater. We make out trek out there every December and are under a c-note/month for phone, cable, and internet. When we get notified of an increase about the first of December we run right out to the office and barter. We’ve done this for years. I won’t talk on any phone to anyone from charter.

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Tom, are you getting any premium or HD channels?

Just for reference, I get ever channel Charter offers + 30Mb internet for $130 a month. Was told it would be $124 at the time of sale. I called to upgrade to more DVRs and they offered up the new pricing without even asking.

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Hi Brian,

I see you have some frustration with Charter. I dropped their TV signal last year and now only have Charter for internet service at about $48/month. We live in NE Rochester at about the same elevation as you (1200′) and put the below antenna in our attic. I pointed it towards mpls and receive most of the mpls stations, plus all of the stations to south of us (cbs/nbc/abc/pbs). I also split the signal to two TVs. This antenna may be worth a try and if it does not work then just return it.

http://www.amazon.com/Antennas-Direct-ClearStream4-HDTV-Antenna/dp/B001BRXW74/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1359052578&sr=8-2&keywords=clearview+antenna

The quality of the over the air signal can be just awesome (1080p) at times.

We also stream netflix at $8/month.

This website will help you point your antenna in the right direction.

http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/

Dave G

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Dave, did you also install the signal booster?

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I did try a Clearstream booster to see how it would work. We have 2 Panasonic TVs and the reception on the 3 year old TV improved somewhat on the weaker Mpls stations, but the reception on the 7 year old TV got much worst for the Mpls stations. So I returned the booster and have been very happy with this simple set up for over a year.

Guess I’ll make an office trip and see what happens. Thanks for the info guys.

I have been doing the office trips for years (Apple Valley). It’s the way to do it. They spend a lot of time checking out the best deal they can give you

Haven’t had cable tv for 5+ years. Still don’t feel like I am missing anything.

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Just for reference, I get ever channel Charter offers + 30Mb internet for $130 a month. Was told it would be $124 at the time of sale. I called to upgrade to more DVRs and they offered up the new pricing without even asking.

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John how long have you been a charter customer? Is that a new customer price?

Anyone out there use HBC cable? Do they offer service in Rochester? I have been hearing allot of there commercials lately.

We have been with Charter for 5+ years now. I have to call and threaten them every year pretty much. This time I happened to want another DVR. They lowered my price by $80.00 and we got two more DVRs.

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Just for reference, I get ever channel Charter offers + 30Mb internet for $130 a month. Was told it would be $124 at the time of sale. I called to upgrade to more DVRs and they offered up the new pricing without even asking.

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Went to charter today to see if I could get a better deal, we have 1 TV with pretty much all the channels and one DVR and 4 other TV’s with no boxes. We also have high speed internet, my Wife is a Medical Transcriptionest for Mayo and works from home so we need the high speed, and we pay about $150 a month. My wife called charter this weekend to complain that our TV’s without boxes have lost some channels, come to find out now charter is telling us that by next year you will have to have a box for every TV for even just the basic channels! Sorry but I just don’t buy it, you can not tell me that with today’s technology that you have to have a cable box for just basic TV! this is just yet another way for charter to bend over there customers! Charter also tells me that I can not get a better deal right now because the promo deal I have right now does not end for another month. Charter did give me two more boxes for free but I have to pay $5 each for the other two boxes, and you can bet your bottom dollar when my promo ends watch my bill shoot sky high!!!

I wish someone would compete with them. They would be done in no time.

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Anyone out there use HBC cable? Do they offer service in Rochester? I have been hearing allot of there commercials lately.

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So I called HBC out of Winona to see how far they have expanded there service, turns out they have come as far as Eyota, I only live 8 miles from Eyota! I also asked them if they require there customers to have a box for a basic cable package, the answer was no they do not!
Kiss my charter!!!

Hey Brian what did you end up doing?

The answer at the office was the same. Sorry nothing we can do at this time.
I’m debating options but think the TV is going bye bye come spring.