Thursday, December 10, 2009

11 Days: COMCAST

Uh huh--I said, Comcast. The evil empire which now finally has all sorts of competition and therefore a much friendlier attitude. I've heard friends tell me recent stories of getting free HBO for 6 months due to mistakes or installation delays. So, I knew they were operating very differently from the days of when I'd try to steal cable from a neighbor or attempt to unblock the blocked movie channels--this was when I was a teenager.

So, you must be wondering what this "first" is. I am singing the praises of my once esteemed enemy of entertainment. "Why?" you ask. I received our bill and saw that the total was $45 more than it had been for the past couple of years. I read through the bill and saw that several of the package programs and free add-ons had run out of their time-based bonus period. I called expecting to return the couple of extra boxes we had and cut out the HBO/Showtime/Starz package at a minimum to get our costs down--not to mention canceling phone service which we really don't use anyway. After speaking to the billing department and getting the 2 extra boxes fee removed--mind you, without having to return them--I was sent to the subscription change guy.

This "specialist" had some computer glitches, which gave us time to chat over the 25 minute phone call. He was clearly a local Baltimorian. Apparently he wants to change lives with me--or at least the part where he has to go in to work every day along with the headaches of his wife and kids. I told him of my recent bill increase and requested that he cancel all my movie channels (no more Dexter--very, very sad). He said he could offer something and tapped away on his computer. He mentioned a price that was $20 less than what I was currently paying. He did a double take and said, "This doesn't seem right. Hold on, let me check that I added this up right." He did the math right--and we agreed to leave everything as is and that our new price would be less than we've been paying for the last several years. So, instead of a $45/month increase we now have a $20/month decrease all for the same service. WOW. Now, THAT is a first!

Lesson learned: Whenever you get your increased bill from Comcast--give them a call and see what deals they've got for you.

Only 10 Days remain til I'm 40. I'm heading to Austin, TX next week for a few days. But look for an invite soon to the big PARTAY on the 20th!

2 comments:

  1. Ever tried to be a santa?

    how's this for starters:
    www.sketchysantas.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. ^^ you know I am NOT trying to imply anything. the site just had me laughing really hard and I thought I'd share.

    ReplyDelete