Ridonkulous!

[blas]

I haven't and I won't call up the cable company and bitch up a storm, because I'm a better person than my roomate and a much better example of a young adult.....

But my jaw dropped to the floor when I got what I thought was my cable bill. $50? That can't be! No way.....it's always at least $120 or more! (keep in mind I recently changed the bill over into my name lest my roomate shut the cable off).

Then I looked closer......it wasn't my bill. It was the "Auto Transfer" fee (if you will) to get the bill switched into my name!

When I went to the cable company, the lady told me there was a $1.99 charge for switching names, and she said she'd put it on the bill.......she never said it would cost $50 fricken dollars to get it switched! It's not like I moved away or upgraded or downgraded..............it's the same cable box and the same modem......exact same equipment, just a different person to bill to. And the EXACT same address and apt #!!!

I don't want to be an SC but I am really curious as to why it costs so damn much to switch the cable bill into another name if it is the exact same address and exact same package as before..................!

[ShortTemperHatesStupidity]

Ummm, no. I would totally call and find out what the eff they're doing...

I can understand a 1.99 fee, that's acceptable, but they didn't have to come out and do anything, no equipment transfer. It's totally understandable to at least call and find out where the 50 bucks is coming from hun. Maybe if you inquire they'll drop it (especially if you're an "on time" payer). Just don't go all SC on em.

[KamenRiderOsaka]

:O

Do you have Time Warner? I remember being charged some outrageous fees to transfer our service from one apartment to another. Like, we got a bill for $400 bucks (we got charged for 3 months) and a transfer fee too. Luckily enough, it got fixed on the next bill.

[blas]

Nope, I don't have that service. I'm not sure if it's a local service or a countrywide service, it rhymes with Martyr. LoL.

I just smell some bullshit. I could have even dealt with a $5 charge to switch names, because it does require paperwork and a customer service rep to switch all the information on their records............but $50?!!? I think not. No farking way.

[ShortTemperHatesStupidity]

Well then investigage and get back to us. Hop to it!

[blas]

So much for that. What a waste of my daytime minutes.

So I called the customer service # (why they don't leave their local phone # I don't know, the building is only 5 miles away, maybe I should drive down there and see if I get a different answer), and got a foreign customer service rep. Now, to keep this fair and non judgemental, I could understand everything she said. But the answer was not what I expected.

I asked, "I'd like to know why it costs $50 to switch the cable bill into my name when the address, package and equipment are all the same," (as polite as I could)

I got, "This what we charge. Two adjustment rates, together $40, and then tax $10." (It all equals $50.36)

I still didn't get it and while I understood the words, I didn't understand WHY these "adjustment fees" were so expensive. I was holding my bill right in front of me, and she basically just read it off to me (probably because that's what shows up right in front of her lol), but I still do not get it.

I do not see how changing the name of who the bill goes to (especially when nothing but the NAME changes) is going so far out of the way of normal customer service that it has to cost that much.

[ShortTemperHatesStupidity]

Nah, I would call back and see if I could get someone different/ask for further clarification. Why are there two adjustment rates? They only adjusted it once...

[blas]

I have no idea. On the bill, one costs more than the other. I suppose one is for the trouble of having to delete my roomate's information and enter mine, and the other is for the time the lady wasted on me when she could have recruited a new customer or helped a customer upgrade *eyeroll*.

I called my roomate, he smells bs too. I'm wondering if he'll keep his promise he made to me.....if some weird charges show up, he'll make them disappear. Not to encourage SC behavior, but I want it explained to me, not read off of my bill, and I want to know how that can cost so much.

Talk about nickle and diming people to death.

[ShortTemperHatesStupidity]

No no no, this would not fly with me at all. If you feel up to calling again, ask to speak with a sup in billing. When they get on the line, explain what you're calling about, and that the woman you spoke with previously didn't go into detail, but merely explained what you could already read for yourself.

I definitely smell some poo from somewhere...

[TNT]

So I called the customer service # (why they don't leave their local phone # I don't know, the building is only 5 miles away...

The reason they don't leave a local phone number is that the local office is in the business of helping people face to face. That is, if the local office published their number, the people waiting in line would wait forever because the counter people would be too busy answering phones. That's especially true with Martyr Cable, which had to offshore customer service because it's a financial basket case. (A share of Martyr stock that was worth $24 in 1999 is now worth $2.88... and that's only because the stock price has doubled in recent months. On May 31, 2006, it was worth $1.05.)

More to the point, I don't think the company I work for charges for an account transfer from one name to another. I suppose that's because we keep a customer and we don't actually have to do anything... no techs need to go to the house, etc.