Sunday, February 24, 2008

Cable Wars, Part 1 of 3

[Note: I changed the post dates to get these in the correct order.]

I've had cable since the dinosaurs roamed Southern Illinois. The line from the pole across the street to my house hangs low so a few times trucks have pulled it down. The cable company (rhymes with 'barter') always had it back up quickly.

About six weeks ago, the line was knocked down again so I called the 800-number. The service rep said they would not send anyone out to put the cable back up since I did not have account. I explained about the dinosaurs, she was not impressed. I explained that they direct-debited my bank account each month for the bill, she was not impressed.

She turned me over to a supervisor who merely repeated what the service rep had told me -- no account no repairman.

So, I immediately canceled any future debit payments and went outside and pulled the downed cable out of the street.

The neighbors on all three sides of me have switched to satellite TV (pretty easy to figure why!) so I called one of the satellite TV companies and made arrangements for installation.

Some of you may remember when the telephone company declared me dead a few years ago, including sending a nice letter to my 'estate.'

Part 2 tomorrow.

2 comments:

moni said...

It so happens that I cannot stand our phone company (idiots) so I decided to make myself completely free of the telephone company (Qwest). I cancelled my service, using my cell instead and had a satellite dish installed for my internet. I hope never to have to deal with the phone company again.

David Amulet said...

Fascinating. I still rely on cable, and I don't see myself switching over anytime soon.

Unless the cable company says i don't exist.