It's now been over 6 years since we cut the TV cable.
Now if only there was a way to cut the internet cable as we currently have Verizon Fios which costs us $57.99/month.
Typically Verizon raises their price at least once per year and sometimes more but even with that we've saved thousands of dollars over those 6 years. Additionally back in April we dumped our Verizon Landline and ported that phone number to my cell phone. At the time we were paying $98.56 for Fios internet/landline service so $57.99 is not too bad for just 15kbps up/down internet. Thinking back on it, $40/month for a landline is pretty silly since we both have cell phones. Just the savings on the landline since April is over $300!
Speaking of Cell Phones, we recently switched providers from ATT to T-Mobile because of a new plan (T-Mobile One) that they came out with. $35 per line if you have 4 lines. We combined with our son & daughter-in-law to get the 4 line requirement. Pretty sweet deal!
https://explore.t-mobile.com/t-mobile-one
Shout out to Channel Master for their Fall TV Freedom Bundles. Great deals especially on the DVR Bundle.
http://www.channelmaster.com/Special_Offers_s/364.htm?Click=121564
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
A new DVR!
The good news....I've recently retired
my old DTV Pal DVR to the basement to keep me company while rarely
watching the old Visio TV in the man cave. Thousands of hours of time
logged on this DVR in the past 5 years or so. Still works fine.
The better news....I replaced it with a
brand new Channel Master DVR+ with a terabyte drive.
I ordered this DVR+ with the wifi
adapter & extra remote.
The cool thing about this DVR is that
it includes Channel Masters Internet Channels. Currently I can select
from about 24 channels with the touch of the remote. It also has
selections for Vudu HD movies, Pandora, YouTube & Sling streaming
channels. They promise to add more channels soon.
Here's my current channel lineup that
has really grown.
2.1 ~ KDKA (CBS affiliate)
2.2 ~ KDKA Decades (Classic TV shows &
movies from the 50's through the 80's.
4.1 ~ WTAE (ABC affiliate)
4.2 ~ WTAE (THIS TV Network) reruns of
vintage movies and TV programs
4.3 ~ WTAE (ABC affiliate) (North Hills
translator/repeater for a better signal)
4.4 ~ WTAE (THIS TV Network) (North
Hills translator/repeater for a better signal)
7.1 ~ WTRF (CBS Affiliate) Wheeling WV
7.2 ~ WTRF (FOX and/or myTV network)
Wheeling WV
7.3 ~ WTRF (ABC affiliate) Wheeling WV
8.1 ~ WWCP (FOX Affiliate) Johnstown PA
8.2 ~ WWCP (ABC Affiliate) Johnstown PA
Simulcast of WATM-TV Channel 23.1
9.1 ~ WTOV Steubenville, Ohio (NBC
Network affiliate)
9.2 ~ WTOV Steubenville, Ohio (FOX
Network affiliate)
9.3 ~ WTOV (MeTV - "Memorable
Entertainment" TV) classics from the 1950s through the 1980s
11.1 ~ WPXI (NBC Network affiliate)
11.2 ~ WPXI (MeTV - "Memorable
Entertainment" TV) classics from the 1950s through the 1980s
11.3 ~ WPXI (LAFF TV) specializes in
comedy programming
13.1 ~ WQED-HD (main WQED programming /
PBS)
13.2 ~ WQED-D1 (WQED-DT2 programming /
Create Channel)
13.3 ~ WQED-D2 (WQED-DT3 programming /
Neighborhood Channel)
13.4 ~ WQED-D3 (WQED-DT4 programming /
Additional Neighborhood Channel)
16.1 ~ (ION TV) national television
network featuring general entertainment & movies
16.2 ~ (qubo TV) Childrens TV
programming
16.3 ~ (IONLife TV) dedicated to
lifestyle programming - mostly 80's, 90's & 00's movies.
16.4 ~ (ION affiliate) ION Life or ION
Shopping Channel depending on time of day.
16.5 ~ Home Shopping Network
16.6 ~ QVC - Home Shopping
19.1 ~ WPCW (CW network) Formally UPN &
WB. Various original & rerun programming.
22.1 ~ WPMY (myTV network) mostly
syndicated programming
22.2 ~ ASN (All Sports Network) Mostly
College Sports
22.3 ~ (Comet) Science Fiction
programming from MGM
22.4 ~ (Get TV) Pre-80's programming
from Sony
29.1 ~ WBOA - Home Shopping Network
29.2 ~ CRTV – Paid Programming
31.1 ~ WIIC (Bounce network) Directed
mostly to African Americans. Some good older movies & TV shows
39.1 ~ QVC
39.2 ~ Paid Programming
40.1 ~ WPCB (Cornerstone TV) Christian
television station
40.2 ~ PFFC (Cornerstone TV) Christian
television station
53.1 ~ WPGH (FOX affiliate)
53.2 ~ GetTV - Pre-70's movies from
Sony Pictures
53.3 ~ Grit TV - Feature films &
programming targeted at adult men
59.1 ~ WBGN - (COZI TV) - classic
television series from the 50s to the 80s, movies, and first-run
lifestyle programming
59.2 ~ WEPA - (Movies! TV) Older
feature films
59.3 ~ RTV - (Retro Television Network)
reruns of vintage movies and TV programs
61.1 ~ Home Shopping Network (same as
16.5)
65-1 ~ WPDN - (Daystar Television
Network) - Christian Programming
66.1 ~ WNNB - (COZI TV) - classic
television series from the 50s to the 80s, movies, and first-run
lifestyle programming
66.2 ~WNNB - (Movies! TV) Older feature
films
66.3 ~ RTV (Retro Television Network)
reruns of vintage movies and TV programs
69.1 ~WPTG - (Bounce network) Directed
mostly to African Americans. Some good older movies & TV shows
Channel Master TV Internet Streaming Channels.....
201 Bloomberg TV
202 ABC News Live Clips
205 Newsy TV World Headline News
206 Newsmax TV
207 WeatherNation TV
210 BIZ TV Small Business &
Entrepreneur TV
211 WGN-TV Chicago
303 FoodyTV
304 The Outdoor Cooking Channel
341 Vevo TV Hits All Hit Music Videos
342 Vevo TV Flow Rap and R&B Music
Videos
343 Vevo TV Nashville Music Videos
399 DRTV Doctor TV
444 Youtoo America
445 Backlight TV
451 Twit TV
501 TVMAS
502 Canal Once
503 Azteca Noticias
550 RT News (US) from Russia
551 RT Documentary
552 RT Espanol News
553 RT Arabic News
556 France 24 News
600 Add Your Streaming Channel Here
(Not sure how this works yet)
601 Catholic TV
602 Daystar Christian TV
608 FFE Family Friendly Entertainment
609 Son Life Christian TV
610 Inspiration Christian TV
625 EVINE Live shopping channel
627 Jewelry TV shopping channel
900 VUDU HD Movies Pay Channel
901 Pandora Video TV
902 YouTube
903 Sling TV Pay Channel
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Latest Channel Line-up
I just
noticed that a new channel 31-1 is now "Bounce TV" so I decided to update my channel
line-up. 47 channels now!
North Hills Pittsburgh O.T.A. (over the air) Channel Line-up 10/13/2015
2.1 ~ KDKA (CBS affiliate)
4.1 ~ WTAE (ABC affiliate)
4.2 ~ WTAE (THIS TV Network) reruns of
vintage movies and TV programs
4.3 ~ WTAE (ABC affiliate) (North Hills translator/repeater
for a better signal)
4.4 ~ WTAE (THIS TV Network) (North
Hills translator/repeater for a better signal)
7.1 ~ WTRF (CBS Affiliate) Wheeling WV
7.2 ~ WTRF (FOX and/or myTV network)
Wheeling WV
7.3 ~ WTRF (ABC affiliate) Wheeling WV
8.1 ~ WWCP (FOX Affiliate) Johnstown PA
8.2 ~ WWCP (ABC Affiliate) Johnstown PA Simulcast of WATM-TV Channel 23.1
9.1 ~ WTOV Steubenville, Ohio (NBC
Network affiliate)
9.2 ~ WTOV Steubenville, Ohio (FOX
Network affiliate)
9.3 ~ WTOV (MeTV - "Memorable Entertainment" TV) classics from the 1950s through the 1980s
11.1 ~ WPXI (NBC Network affiliate)
11.2 ~ WPXI (MeTV - "Memorable Entertainment" TV) classics from the 1950s through the 1980s
11.3 ~ WPXI (LAFF TV) specializes in comedy programming
11.3 ~ WPXI (LAFF TV) specializes in comedy programming
13.1 ~ WQED-HD (main WQED programming /
PBS)
13.2 ~ WQED-D1 (WQED-DT2 programming /
Create Channel)
13.3 ~ WQED-D2 (WQED-DT3 programming /
Neighborhood Channel)
13.4 ~ WQED-D3 (WQED-DT4 programming /
Additional Neighborhood Channel)
16.1 ~ (ION TV) national television
network featuring general entertainment & movies
16.2 ~ (qubo TV) Childrens TV
programming
16.3 ~ (IONLife TV) dedicated to
lifestyle programming - mostly 80's, 90's & 00's movies.
16.4 ~ (ION affiliate) ION Life or ION Shopping Channel depending on time of day.
16.5 ~ Home Shopping Network
16.6 ~ QVC - Home Shopping
19.1 ~ WPCW (CW network) Formally UPN
& WB. Various original & rerun programming.
22.1 ~ WPMY (myTV network) mostly
syndicated programming
29.1 ~ WBOA - Home Shopping Network
29.1 ~ WBOA - Home Shopping Network
31.1 ~ WIIC (Bounce network) Directed mostly to African Americans. Some good older movies & TV shows
40.1 ~ WPCB (Cornerstone TV) Christian
television station
40.2 ~ BDC (Cornerstone TV) Christian
television station
40.3 ~ WPCB (Cornerstone TV) Christian
television station
40.4 ~ CTVN (Cornerstone TV) Christian
television station
53.1 ~ WPGH (FOX affiliate)
53.2 ~ GetTV - Pre-70's movies from Sony Pictures
53.3 ~ Grit TV - Feature films & programming targeted at adult men
53.3 ~ Grit TV - Feature films & programming targeted at adult men
59.1 ~ WBGN - (COZI TV) - classic television series from the 50s to the 80s, movies, and first-run lifestyle programming
59.2 ~ WEPA - (Movies! TV) Older feature films
59.3 ~ RTV - (Retro Television Network)
reruns of vintage movies and TV programs
59.4 ~ LWN - (Live Well Network) - home,
health and lifestyle programming
61.1 ~ Home Shopping Network (same as 16.5)
66.1 ~ WNNB - (COZI TV) - classic television series from the 50s to the 80s, movies, and first-run lifestyle programming
66.2 ~WNNB - (Movies! TV) Older feature films
66.3 ~ RTV (Retro Television Network) reruns of vintage movies and TV programs
69.1 ~WPTG - (Bounce network) Directed mostly to African Americans. Some good older movies & TV shows
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Dish's Sling TV coming soon.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/5/7491071/dish-sling-tv-ott-internet-tv-announced-ces-2015
This is Dish's Sling TV: an internet TV service that lets you stream ESPN for $20 The perfect complement to your Netflix subscription is coming this month
By Chris Welch
January 5, 2015 11:57 am
Internet TV is here. Sony kicked us off in earnest with the launch of PlayStation Vue (which currently remains in limited beta), but Dish is about to make a full-on push into a new TV experience aimed at cord cutters and millennials who've dropped or never even had a cable or satellite subscription. If you're someone who pays for Netflix (and maybe Hulu Plus) and borrows someone else's password to watch HBO Go, you're probably the type of person Dish is trying to sell this on. At a recent media event, CEO Joe Clayton recently said his company is aiming for the 18-35 demographic. "I believe it's the launch of a whole new industry," he said.
Dish's grand experiment is called Sling TV, and before going on, we need to point out that it has very little to do with the Sling brand you may already be familiar with. There's no direct partnership with Slingbox or Sling Media, though both it and Dish are beneath a single parent company, EchoStar. So right off the bat, it's a somewhat confusing name that Dish maybe could've done better with. Another thing: though this is a service designed by and coming from Dish, you wouldn't know it without being told. The satellite provider's own logo is nowhere to be seen on branding and marketing materials — a decision meant to underline that Sling TV isn't meant to compete with or cannibalize Dish's primary satellite business. It's a new product meant for consumers that Dish has never been able to sign on. "It is a complementary service, not a supplementary service," said Clayton at a recent media gathering.
This isn't the cable experience you're used to But what is Sling TV? For $20 a month — yes, twenty dollars — you get access to a lineup of cable networks that includes TNT, TBS, CNN, Food Network, HGTV, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, the Disney Channel, ESPN, and ESPN2. ESPN is obviously a huge get for Dish and could earn Sling TV plenty of customers all on its own. ESPN just ended another year as TV's leading cable network, and now you won't need a traditional cable package to watch it. For sports fanatics, that could prove enticing. But Dish has hinted that there may be limits on watching ESPN on mobile thanks to red tape from existing deals between the network and Verizon. We'll need to wait for the specifics on that. There are no contracts involved with Sling TV. No commitments. You can buy it for a month and cancel the next if you're not sold on the idea. And since it's a true, over-the-top internet TV service, you can watch and take it anywhere. This really is TV everywhere; watch it on a Roku box in your living room, and then carry live TV with you outside the house on Android and iOS devices. You can also stream it on your PC or Mac with a web browser. Here's the initial list of exactly where you can tune into Sling TV:
- Amazon Fire TV
- Amazon Fire TV Stick
- Google Nexus Player
- LG Smart TVs
- Mac / OS X
- Roku set-top boxes
- Roku Streaming Stick
- Roku TV
- Windows PC
- Xbox One
No a la carte channels, but you can add on "genre" packages
Sling TV is something new, but that doesn't mean Dish plans on delivering the "dream" of a la carte programming. That approach would never work out on the business end of things, according to the company's top brass. "The economics for it don't really work out for programs," said Lynch. And Dish insist it would wind up a bigger hassle than consumers expect. Instead, beyond the $20 base offering, you can pay extra for "genre packages" that add more content. "You can construct a package that meets your needs rather than the traditional pay TV bundle of big, bigger, biggest," Lynch said. Today, Dish is announcing two of those premium packs: Kids and News. Each will tack $5 more onto the monthly $20 price — and did we mention you'll still be dealing with commercials? Apparently that's one aspect of traditional pay TV that Dish isn't comfortable ditching yet. There's a lot we still don't know about the specifics of Sling TV. You'll be able to pause and rewind live shows, and some will be available to replay for up to three days after they originally air. But others won't, and Dish isn't yet getting specific about names. Exactly where and when will you be able to watch ESPN? Also, Dish says it's got a huge catalog of video-on-demand programming to complement live TV. That includes some internet content producers like Maker Studios. Dish says Sling TV will launch later this month, so it won't be long before you get to try out its take on internet TV. The big question is whether it'll prove worth paying for in addition to Netflix and, eventually, HBO. Just don't count on sharing it with anyone: there's a single-stream limit at all times.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
So glad we don't have Comcast anymore.
How is this company still in business?
They are the largest broadcasting and cable company in the world by revenue, have bought NBC/Universal, Time Warner and many other giant media corporations with the money you give them. They have violated net neutrality practices and have the worst customer satisfaction rating of any company or government agency in the country, including the Internal Revenue Service.
They spend millions of dollars annually on government relationships. They employ the spouses, sons and daughters of mayors, councilmen, commissioners, and other officials to assure its continued preferred market allocations.
In short, they run their business like mafia thugs.
Why anyone would continue to give them hundreds of dollars every month, thousands of dollars per year is beyond me.
From an ethical/moral standpoint, I would go dark rather than give them one red cent.
This is from a friend of a friends twitter/blog post.
http://staciehuckeba.wordpress.com/2014/06/14/an-open-letter-to-comcast-xfinity/
An Open Letter to Comcast / Xfinity
Hello,
My name is Stacie Huckeba I have been a customer of Comcast for over eight years.
I realize that it’s a dirty little secret and you don’t like to talk about it, but c’mon, between just you and me, you can admit it. Basically you have a monopoly on internet service, at least in terms of speed. It’s ok, I like money too. Nobody is happier than me when I deposit big fat checks. Sadly, I’m not quite as “connected” as you guys.
I’m a photographer and I think I’m really good, unfortunately, I live in a town with a plethora of talented photographers so I can’t just sit back and be lazy. I’ve sent emails to the Mayor, and Governor and even my Senators and Congressmen asking that they put in regulations to make sure I am the only photographer who can use professional and top of the line equipment in town. Weird, they don’t get back to me. One of you guys will have to tell me how you got them to do that for you. It would be so awesome to deposit those big fat checks knowing that I had no competition and could just be lazy, put out half-assed work and charge whatever I wanted because I was the only one in town who could deliver print ready work. God, I bet those feel so good going in the bank!
So, as much as I admire your business model, I am having some trouble. Back in November, I realized that I was utilizing Hulu and Netflix because of travel, work etc. far more than I was cable and I never had a land line to begin with. I mean can you even buy a phone that plugs into the wall anymore? I’m not sure.
I called to cancel my Triple Play Package and was talked into keeping it because I was really saving all this money by having it all. On a side note, I think it’s brilliant that the people who sell your services are all super easy to work with, you never have to hold for more than a second and you never have to get transferred. They can do everything through one representative fast and efficiently. They are also open seven days a week. While technical support and cancellation departments are a minimum hold time of twenty minutes, you get transferred sometimes 5, 6, even 7 times and each and every time, you have to start from the beginning with your name, address, account information and then tell the whole story as to why you called over and over again, making the whole process almost unbearable. And only having the option to talk to them during normal business hours is genius. I mean, how great would it be to have a person who booked all my shoots, (and there would be a lot, since no one else in town could do them) happily just raking in the money while I had another person who basically told all of my unhappy clients to get bent? God, you guys are so good!
Anyway, back to my problem. I realized over the holidays last year that I really was not using it and in late January, I called back and asked for my account to be downgraded from the Triple Play (I had the full package with the fastest download speed available. Again, your sales team is tops!) to just the internet at the Performance Starter for download speeds of up to 6 Mbps. I returned my cable box / DVR and other equipment in early February.
I was really having no trouble whatsoever with my service and actually had not really noticed a difference in my internet speeds whatsoever. In late April, I received a delivery from UPS from Comcast. When I opened it, there was a new cable box / DVR inside. I called about it and you know how this goes already. I spent literally over three hours on the phone in one of the most grueling, frustrating, infuriating series of transfers, hang ups, and different representative pass-offs, in history. It is a miracle I did not wind up curled in a corner talking to spiders. But alas, I had a photo shoot with Jason Ringenberg and some live chickens that day and had no choice but to get my head in the game. (I know you think I’m making that up, but I’m not. It really happened and I have the pictures to prove it.)
The cliff notes of that three hour transfer are this. You guys never actually cancelled my services. I returned the equipment for no good reason, I could have happily been enjoying the Real Housewives in my spare time and didn’t even know it. After being told at least 6 times that I had called the wrong department (I only have one number for you guys and there is only one option for customer service so that always confuses me. I bet that is also in the business model and it too is quite brilliant). They finally conceded and issued me a credit for the four months that I had still been paying for what was supposed to have been cancelled all along.
You guys need to fix that part. Eventually, if a customer can hang on long enough and not dig out their own eyes with a spoon from frustration, you can usually get someone to go back through your records and find where you did what you said you did and remedy the situation. The customer wins that way. Not good for your plan. You need to make that part harder. Well, except that you did get to kind of keep all of my money. It’s not like you gave it back. So I guess it’s not a total wash for you.
So sure enough, once that was fixed I noticed real quick that the internet was way too slow and was not going to work for me, so I called back. You know how this goes too. I called back and within moments I had a representative on the line and he had me bumped up to the Blast package with download speeds up to 50 Mbps in just a few minutes. Easy breezy when you want to add on. It’s just so smart!
The problem is that my internet never did get faster. In fact, it got slower. I used your Xfinity speed test off your website and sure enough, I was barely getting 3 Mbps. I know better than to bother you guys right away, so I set out and did all kinds of things to try and remedy the situation. Clearing my cookies, changing my browser, running diagnostics on my computer, sending refresh signals and of course the first and main thing your representatives always push to fix the problem. I unplugged and replugged the modem and router in a myriad of combinations.
Sadly, the call had to be made. You know how this went too, don’t you? I called, spent a half hour on the phone with 3 or 4 representatives and then got hung up on during a “transfer” (You know I get you, and so you know that I know that sometimes “transfer” is code for “click, bye bye”.) I’m tenacious though, so I called back and this time spent an hour on the phone going through the same thing. I actually finally got to a retention specialist who confided in me that really the people that you talk to on the phone don’t ever really know what is wrong because it could be 100 different things. It’s really just a guess. He suggested I get a technician to my house. “Great idea. Let’s do that”, I said. Well, of course he can’t do that. Nobody in the “the customer has a problem department” can do everything like they can in the “the customer wants to buy something department”. So back I went on hold and I should have known, I got hung up on. God, that is so funny how you do that! I absolutely love it!
But like I said, I’m kind of tenacious, so I called back yet a third time but I went right to asking for a person to come out, so this time it only took another half an hour. I mean, thirty minutes to schedule a tech coming out is pretty good timing for knowing exactly what you need and asking for it directly. I wish it was that way everywhere I called. Wouldn’t it be awesome if it took thirty minutes every time you wanted to order a pizza or make an appointment with your Veterinarian or whatever. I could just sit around on my ass all day if every call took thirty minutes. Hell, I wouldn’t even need to get dressed some days. I could just sit here in my underpants eating cheese all damn day listening to advertisements and bad music while I was on hold. Man, that would be the life! You guys get me, you really, really get me.
As luck would have it, the only appointment you guys have is not for six whole days! And while I have told you several times in this note that I am all for being a lazy, until you tell me your secret about how you got the government to shut down your competition, I have to work. Jason Ringenberg has that Farmer Jason record coming out for Christmas and he’s gonna need those chicken pictures. I can’t upload those bad boys without proper internet and six days doesn’t really cut it for me right now.
Lucky for me, my neighbors are cool and are letting me steal theirs to get this out, but I can’t be using up all their data plan sending chicken photos. They are musicians and can’t get the government to shut down all the other musicians in town either. And we live in Nashville, we have lots of musicians, so they really have to hustle to make ends meet. I can’t ask them to up their data plan to accommodate me and some chickens while I wait for a week for you to come out here. My neighbors are assholes like that.
Look, I feel like we are friends. We understand each other, so I’m asking you to do me a solid and just this once, maybe you can use your pull to get someone out here before then. I wouldn’t normally ask, but since you’ve got a few hundred bucks of mine that I don’t really owe you anyway, maybe just this time you could bump me up in the line.
And since we are kinda friends and all, I’m gonna do you a solid too. I think you guys are awesome and misunderstood so I’m gonna take this whole letter and post it on my blog. I only get a few thousand views on my blog when I post one, but maybe if a few people could see you the way I see you they would quit talking trash and recognize you for the brilliant and genius business moguls that you are.
Please, don’t thank me now, getting my internet back to speed before Thursday will be thanks enough (wink wink. No pressure). See what I did there. I might not be Comcast, but you aren’t the only ones with a plan!
Your friend,
Stacie
They are the largest broadcasting and cable company in the world by revenue, have bought NBC/Universal, Time Warner and many other giant media corporations with the money you give them. They have violated net neutrality practices and have the worst customer satisfaction rating of any company or government agency in the country, including the Internal Revenue Service.
They spend millions of dollars annually on government relationships. They employ the spouses, sons and daughters of mayors, councilmen, commissioners, and other officials to assure its continued preferred market allocations.
In short, they run their business like mafia thugs.
Why anyone would continue to give them hundreds of dollars every month, thousands of dollars per year is beyond me.
From an ethical/moral standpoint, I would go dark rather than give them one red cent.
This is from a friend of a friends twitter/blog post.
http://staciehuckeba.wordpress.com/2014/06/14/an-open-letter-to-comcast-xfinity/
An Open Letter to Comcast / Xfinity
Hello,
My name is Stacie Huckeba I have been a customer of Comcast for over eight years.
I realize that it’s a dirty little secret and you don’t like to talk about it, but c’mon, between just you and me, you can admit it. Basically you have a monopoly on internet service, at least in terms of speed. It’s ok, I like money too. Nobody is happier than me when I deposit big fat checks. Sadly, I’m not quite as “connected” as you guys.
I’m a photographer and I think I’m really good, unfortunately, I live in a town with a plethora of talented photographers so I can’t just sit back and be lazy. I’ve sent emails to the Mayor, and Governor and even my Senators and Congressmen asking that they put in regulations to make sure I am the only photographer who can use professional and top of the line equipment in town. Weird, they don’t get back to me. One of you guys will have to tell me how you got them to do that for you. It would be so awesome to deposit those big fat checks knowing that I had no competition and could just be lazy, put out half-assed work and charge whatever I wanted because I was the only one in town who could deliver print ready work. God, I bet those feel so good going in the bank!
So, as much as I admire your business model, I am having some trouble. Back in November, I realized that I was utilizing Hulu and Netflix because of travel, work etc. far more than I was cable and I never had a land line to begin with. I mean can you even buy a phone that plugs into the wall anymore? I’m not sure.
I called to cancel my Triple Play Package and was talked into keeping it because I was really saving all this money by having it all. On a side note, I think it’s brilliant that the people who sell your services are all super easy to work with, you never have to hold for more than a second and you never have to get transferred. They can do everything through one representative fast and efficiently. They are also open seven days a week. While technical support and cancellation departments are a minimum hold time of twenty minutes, you get transferred sometimes 5, 6, even 7 times and each and every time, you have to start from the beginning with your name, address, account information and then tell the whole story as to why you called over and over again, making the whole process almost unbearable. And only having the option to talk to them during normal business hours is genius. I mean, how great would it be to have a person who booked all my shoots, (and there would be a lot, since no one else in town could do them) happily just raking in the money while I had another person who basically told all of my unhappy clients to get bent? God, you guys are so good!
Anyway, back to my problem. I realized over the holidays last year that I really was not using it and in late January, I called back and asked for my account to be downgraded from the Triple Play (I had the full package with the fastest download speed available. Again, your sales team is tops!) to just the internet at the Performance Starter for download speeds of up to 6 Mbps. I returned my cable box / DVR and other equipment in early February.
I was really having no trouble whatsoever with my service and actually had not really noticed a difference in my internet speeds whatsoever. In late April, I received a delivery from UPS from Comcast. When I opened it, there was a new cable box / DVR inside. I called about it and you know how this goes already. I spent literally over three hours on the phone in one of the most grueling, frustrating, infuriating series of transfers, hang ups, and different representative pass-offs, in history. It is a miracle I did not wind up curled in a corner talking to spiders. But alas, I had a photo shoot with Jason Ringenberg and some live chickens that day and had no choice but to get my head in the game. (I know you think I’m making that up, but I’m not. It really happened and I have the pictures to prove it.)
The cliff notes of that three hour transfer are this. You guys never actually cancelled my services. I returned the equipment for no good reason, I could have happily been enjoying the Real Housewives in my spare time and didn’t even know it. After being told at least 6 times that I had called the wrong department (I only have one number for you guys and there is only one option for customer service so that always confuses me. I bet that is also in the business model and it too is quite brilliant). They finally conceded and issued me a credit for the four months that I had still been paying for what was supposed to have been cancelled all along.
You guys need to fix that part. Eventually, if a customer can hang on long enough and not dig out their own eyes with a spoon from frustration, you can usually get someone to go back through your records and find where you did what you said you did and remedy the situation. The customer wins that way. Not good for your plan. You need to make that part harder. Well, except that you did get to kind of keep all of my money. It’s not like you gave it back. So I guess it’s not a total wash for you.
So sure enough, once that was fixed I noticed real quick that the internet was way too slow and was not going to work for me, so I called back. You know how this goes too. I called back and within moments I had a representative on the line and he had me bumped up to the Blast package with download speeds up to 50 Mbps in just a few minutes. Easy breezy when you want to add on. It’s just so smart!
The problem is that my internet never did get faster. In fact, it got slower. I used your Xfinity speed test off your website and sure enough, I was barely getting 3 Mbps. I know better than to bother you guys right away, so I set out and did all kinds of things to try and remedy the situation. Clearing my cookies, changing my browser, running diagnostics on my computer, sending refresh signals and of course the first and main thing your representatives always push to fix the problem. I unplugged and replugged the modem and router in a myriad of combinations.
Sadly, the call had to be made. You know how this went too, don’t you? I called, spent a half hour on the phone with 3 or 4 representatives and then got hung up on during a “transfer” (You know I get you, and so you know that I know that sometimes “transfer” is code for “click, bye bye”.) I’m tenacious though, so I called back and this time spent an hour on the phone going through the same thing. I actually finally got to a retention specialist who confided in me that really the people that you talk to on the phone don’t ever really know what is wrong because it could be 100 different things. It’s really just a guess. He suggested I get a technician to my house. “Great idea. Let’s do that”, I said. Well, of course he can’t do that. Nobody in the “the customer has a problem department” can do everything like they can in the “the customer wants to buy something department”. So back I went on hold and I should have known, I got hung up on. God, that is so funny how you do that! I absolutely love it!
But like I said, I’m kind of tenacious, so I called back yet a third time but I went right to asking for a person to come out, so this time it only took another half an hour. I mean, thirty minutes to schedule a tech coming out is pretty good timing for knowing exactly what you need and asking for it directly. I wish it was that way everywhere I called. Wouldn’t it be awesome if it took thirty minutes every time you wanted to order a pizza or make an appointment with your Veterinarian or whatever. I could just sit around on my ass all day if every call took thirty minutes. Hell, I wouldn’t even need to get dressed some days. I could just sit here in my underpants eating cheese all damn day listening to advertisements and bad music while I was on hold. Man, that would be the life! You guys get me, you really, really get me.
As luck would have it, the only appointment you guys have is not for six whole days! And while I have told you several times in this note that I am all for being a lazy, until you tell me your secret about how you got the government to shut down your competition, I have to work. Jason Ringenberg has that Farmer Jason record coming out for Christmas and he’s gonna need those chicken pictures. I can’t upload those bad boys without proper internet and six days doesn’t really cut it for me right now.
Lucky for me, my neighbors are cool and are letting me steal theirs to get this out, but I can’t be using up all their data plan sending chicken photos. They are musicians and can’t get the government to shut down all the other musicians in town either. And we live in Nashville, we have lots of musicians, so they really have to hustle to make ends meet. I can’t ask them to up their data plan to accommodate me and some chickens while I wait for a week for you to come out here. My neighbors are assholes like that.
Look, I feel like we are friends. We understand each other, so I’m asking you to do me a solid and just this once, maybe you can use your pull to get someone out here before then. I wouldn’t normally ask, but since you’ve got a few hundred bucks of mine that I don’t really owe you anyway, maybe just this time you could bump me up in the line.
And since we are kinda friends and all, I’m gonna do you a solid too. I think you guys are awesome and misunderstood so I’m gonna take this whole letter and post it on my blog. I only get a few thousand views on my blog when I post one, but maybe if a few people could see you the way I see you they would quit talking trash and recognize you for the brilliant and genius business moguls that you are.
Please, don’t thank me now, getting my internet back to speed before Thursday will be thanks enough (wink wink. No pressure). See what I did there. I might not be Comcast, but you aren’t the only ones with a plan!
Your friend,
Stacie
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Awesome Advice - Record your calls
Now everyone is recording their nightmare Comcast calls
Tim Davis got a refund from Comcast, but only because he recorded his calls with customer service
Tim Davis, a Comcast
customer and YouTube user, is the latest to go public with his tale of
injustice at the hands of the cable company's customer service agents.
Yesterday, Davis posted a
14-minute video detailing how the company promised him he wouldn't be
charged for something, charged him anyway, and then refused to undo the
charges until Davis revealed that he had recorded the initial call.
"What have we learned today?
Well for one thing, always record your calls with big companies," Davis
says in the end of the video.
Basically, Davis moved from one
Comcast service area to another and completed the self-install
according to Comcast's instructions. When the service got spotty, he
called Comcast. He was told it was a problem on the company's end and
assured that a technician visit would not result in charges because it
was an "outside issue."
The tech came and the issue was
resolved. But the following month, Davis received a bill for about $182
in charges for the "failed self install" and, mysteriously, a wireless
network setup he says never occurred.
After a few rounds with
customer service agents, Davis is informed that $100 of the charges were
actually offset by "discounts" on his bill, but he's still on the hook
for $82. He ends up on the phone with a customer service agent who
repeatedly claims the charges are valid and that she cannot credit him
the full amount.
She offers a $60 credit on his
internet service, which would have brought his obligation down to $22,
but Davis insists the charges were not valid and demands a full refund.
He plays the recording of his initial call, in which an agent says there
will be no charge for the technician's visit.
After listening to the
recording, the rep promises to get back to him within an hour. Roughly
90 minutes later, she does. The full amount is credited to Davis's
account because, she says, she told her supervisor that there was a
recording of the call. "Since I advised my manager that there is a
recording, and you were misinformed, then she is the one who can approve
that $82 credit."
"You're telling me that if I didn't have a recording of that call, you wouldn't have been able to do it?" Davis asks.
"Yes, that is correct," she says.
The story is now circulating
on Reddit and various media outlets, but Davis's experience is hardly
unusual. Last week, Dann Furia blogged about his Comcast nightmare, which involved $1,320 in charges, 17 phone calls, and six appointments. Similar stories abound in the Comcast subreddit, which is for "venting about your shitty experiences with Comcast."
The Verge also received a number of these stories from frustrated customers who have been following the Comcast Confessions
series, which is about the underlying issues that lead to bad customer
service at the cable company. Many stories spanned months of frustration
over things like unburied wires after half-finished installations, long
hold times — one gentleman says the department he was waiting to speak
with actually closed while he was on hold — and unexpected charges.
Davis's story comes roughly three weeks after AOL exec Ryan Block published a frustrating call with Comcast that has been listened to more than 5 million times. Comcast, which has proposed a merger with Time Warner Cable that would increase its subscriber base by more than a third, says improving customer service is "one of our number one priorities."
Update, 3:30PM: Comcast
sent a statement: "This is not the type of experience we want our
customers to have, and we will reach out to Mr. Davis to apologize to
him. Our policy is not to charge for service visits that are related to
problems with our equipment or network. We are looking into this to
understand what happened and why it happened."
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/11/5991525/now-everyone-is-recording-their-nightmare-comcast-calls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suUzvYV8TV4
Monday, August 4, 2014
Comcast's internal handbook
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/4/5967255/this-is-comcasts-internal-handbook-for-talking-customers-out-of
http://www.scribd.com/doc/235832382/Comcast-Quality-Guidelines-Retention
This is Comcast's internal handbook for talking customers out of canceling service
"Retention specialists" can be pretty persuasive
Remember that Comcast customer service representative who just wouldn't let Ryan Block cancel his service? That employee was in Comcast's retention department, which is a customer's last stop on their way out.
Retention specialists are trained to persuade a customer to stay, or at least not cancel all their lines of service.
"We locked down the ability for
most customer service reps to disconnect accounts," a billing systems
manager who worked for Comcast from 2008 to 2013 told The Verge.
"We queue the calls for customers looking to disconnect to a retention
team who are authorized to give more deeply discounted products to keep
subscribers. Even if the subscriber disconnects cable, maybe we can keep
them on internet or voice."
A current employee at Comcast who participated in the Comcast Confessions series provided The Verge with a copy of the 20-page guidelines the company uses for retention specialists. The guidelines are divided into 13 sections:
1. Greet customer clearly
2. Clarify reason for call
3. Relate and empathize
4. Take control
5. Set the agenda
6. Ask targeted questions
7. Consider unstated needs / active listening
8. Take ownership / make offer
9. Overcome objections
10. Close the save
11. Confirm details
12. End on a positive note
13. Documentation
Following each guideline — from
greeting the customer clearly to avoiding "trap words" like
"disconnect, downgrade, cancel" — earns the specialist more points.
Other actions, such as forgetting to perform a credit check or failing
to attempt to save the customer, are "auto-fail behaviors."
It's pretty standard call
center stuff, but Comcast throws in some of its own tactics. If a
customer is calling to cancel cable because they only watch Netflix, the
rep is directed to push an internet speed upgrade. If a customer who
says they're moving declines to provide a new address, Comcast warns the
rep to "ask probing questions" because the customer "may instead be
planning a move to a competitor." If a customer wants to check with
their roommates before agreeing to a sale, the rep is supposed to
communicate urgency by reminding the customer how tough it is to get an
installation appointment.
Reps are also encouraged to
build rapport with customers with lines like, "Enjoy Game of Thrones
tonight." It's all about keeping or adding as many RGUs, or
revenue-generating units, as possible.
Reps are also encouraged to build rapport with customers with lines like, "Enjoy Game of Thrones tonight"
Comcast has stock responses for
every reason customers might want to cancel: bill too expensive,
competitive offer, promotion expiring, don't use the service, technical
or customer service issue, move, rate increase, or extended vacation.
"What do you value the most about your current services? You mentioned
you had a wife and children. How do they enjoy _____ (per RGU)?"
The biggest takeaway for
customers may be on pages 11 and 12, where Comcast outlines the
scenarios in which it is not possible to save the customer. If you're
having trouble canceling your service, one of these lines might work.
(Although not always; one commenter on The Awl claims a Comcast retention specialist once asked her if she truly wanted to move somewhere where there was no Comcast service.)
Save Attempt is Not Applicable in the Following Scenarios
Customer is moving in with an existing Comcast customer (CAE must verify Comcast services active at new address)
Customer is moving to a non-Comcast area (CAE must verify by looking up zip code)
Account holder is deceased / incapacitated
Temporary / seasonal disconnect and Seasonal Suspend Plan is not available in their area
Natural disaster
Customer doesn't know what address they're moving to
Block should have told his persistent retention specialist that he was moving to, say, Iceland.
Read the full guidelines below.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/235832382/Comcast-Quality-Guidelines-Retention
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)