Me vs The Cable Company

This will be a long post, so stop now if you don’t have time to get to the end.

Saturday my sister and I met to do some Christmas shopping. We only went to a few places before I was done. Then we took off to get some lunch. I drove home in pouring down rain and my little bug was covered in ice by the time the trip was over. Of course, I come in and find out that there has been no TV the whole time I am gone. In order to get the full advantage of this tale of woe, you have to know a few things about my DH.

1. He is partially deaf.
2. Technical stuff drives him crazy. Really, really, really crazy…..
3. He hates to talk on the phone. (to anyone except me)
4. Fox News is on all weekend, even if he isn’t in the room

So imagine the horror when the TV went out and I wasn’t home to call the cable company. He dialed the number and got through to a “real person” and immediately handed me the phone. Ha Ha turns out all he had to do was unplug the TV and reset it….LOL My goodness, wonder how much
Fox News he missed for no reason….

So….I took this opportunity to ask the cable guy if they had any upgrade packages to offer. Told him we were looking to change our cable company as we pay too much each month. I really was only trying to see if we could get something free. Hey, you won’t know unless you ask. TIME STAMP - 1:45pm. (remember this, it will come in handy) Cable guy says “sure, we can upgrade you to a DVR for $99 with a $50 rebate and we won’t charge shipping”. Hmmm……sounds like a good Christmas present for the family..
Me - Ok, can you set me up.
Cable - Sure, you are a previous customer so I have to change you over to a different kind of customer and take $18 off your monthly bill.
Me - Ok. (should have asked sooner!!)
Cable - It might take a few minutes so if you will hold.
Me - Ok.
Cable - well, it is taking longer than I thought for the computer to catch up and I go on break in 10 minutes, so let me call you back.
Me - Ok. You have my phone number and we are getting an ice storm, so I will be home all evening.
Cable - Ok…. I will call you back within an hour.
Me - Bye
Cable - Bye

TIME STAMP - 7:30pm
Me- Gee, we haven’t heard from that cable guy. Maybe I should call him back?
DH - Ok…. (don’t we have fascinating conversations?lol)
Me- **calling**
Cable - (it’s a girl this time) Can I help you?
Me - yes, I was calling to order a DVR and this guy said he would call me back in less than an hour and its been since 2pm.
Cable - Hm….let me put you on hold.
Me- ok
Cable - so, you wanted to update to a DVR?
Me - yes
Cable - Hold please
Me - ok
Cable - Did you order it already?
Me - yes, I think
Cable - Hold please
Me - ok
Cable - I don’t find an order for you, lets start over.
Me - ok
Cable - hold please
Me - ok
Cable - Ok, so you want a DVR? Let’s order that now.
Me - ok (I thought we were?)
Cable - can you hold?
Me - ok
Cable - dial tone…………………she hung up on me……………

TIME STAMP 7:45pm
Me - **calling**
Cable - Can I help you?
Me - Yes, I think I have ordered a DVR but the last cable person hung up on me and we didn’t get finished.
Cable - I am sorry, lets see what we have. (doesn’t put me on hold, button must be broken on his phone)
I have your account charged $339.62.
Me - WHAT!!!???? No, no, no,…. it is supposed to be $99 with a $50 rebate and no shipping charge?
Cable - Huh!? Who gave you that information?
Me - The first guy I talked to at 1:45pm this afternoon. I called in to get help fixing the tv and then I talked to him about upgrading to a DVR.
He told me $99 with a $50 rebate and no shipping and then he was going to set me up with an appointment for the tech to run a second line. The DVR takes a dual line. He had to go on break and was going to call me back but never did.
Cable -oh, long pause….. Let me look and see what you have. Long pause….Well, we don’t have an offer like that. Let me see what I can do. Ok, that will be $250 for the HDDVR with $19.99 shipping.
Me - No….it is $99 with a $50 rebate and no shipping.
Cable - We don’t have anything like that. HDDVR’s are very expensive.
Me - What’s a HD DVR?
Cable - for HD TV’s.
Me - I don’t have an HD TV.
Cable - Oh, then the regular (read ol’fashioned) DVR is $129 with $19.99 shipping. But I will give you Cinemax and ShoTime for free for 6 months for your trouble.
Me - I have a 15 year old son and won’t allow either of those channels in my house.
Cable - oh….long pause……how about 6 months free of cable insurance?
Me - no thanks…I want the $99 with $50 rebate and free shipping.
Cable - sorry, I can’t do that. There is no where on my screen to give you that deal.
Me - Can I talk to a supervisor?
Cable - sure, let me get one for you.
Me - Ok.
Wait….wait….wait…..(not long though, I am happy to say)
Cable - I have the supervisor on the line.
Candace - how may I help you?
Me - I called to order a DVR and a gentlemen gave me the offer of $99 with a $50 rebate and free shipping. I want to order that and get an appointment set up for installation.
Candace - We don’t have a deal like that to offer you. I am sorry.
Me - Well, the guy at 1:45pm said that was deal he could give me, but he had to go on break in 10 minutes and would call me back.
Candace - um…the guy said he had to go on break? And he would call you back?
Me - Yes.
Candace - well, that really disturbs me. We have set breaks, but he never should have told you that. I don’t know where he got his information, but he never should have given you that deal.
Me - well, he did and that’s the deal I want.
Candace - Well, I am sorry, but we can’t do that. However, we can do something to help you. I can put in the order for the purchase of the DVR at $129. Then I can give you a rebate of $10 a month for 12 months. Plus I will give you a rebate of the $5.99 monthly DVR charge for 6 months.
Me - ( in my head I am adding up $10 a month/year and $5.99 a month/6 months.) this equals $120+$36 which is $156. The DVR runs $129.…

OK…..order it up….. TIME STAMP 8:30pm

DVR will be installed on Wednesday. I can’t wait…apparently you can stop TV, go to the bathroom and resume it without missing anything….HOLY MOLY….I can now pee during Survivor and Project Runway….

It only took me 7 hours and 45 minutes to order cable.

SOLD !!

Happy Sewing Day!
Nancy