My Logic Is Suspect

[Anriana]

Background: Customer was upset because sales agent didn't give her the channels promised. We couldn't add those channels without increasing the bill.

Customer: So you telling me I just have these shitty channels I don't even fucking watch?
Me: Well, if you don't watch them we can take some off and add on the channels you do want, that could-
Customer: What the fuck? That's fucking basic cable. Who doesn't have fucking basic channels? Why the fuck would you even ask that?

[Samaliel]

So, her problem is that she doesn't have the channels she wants and have quite a few that she doesn't watch. But she doesn't want to remove the ones she doesn't watch in order to add the ones she wants, because everybody has them?

Urgh, the stupid, it burns.

[calulu]

The first time a customer drops an F Bomb they're hearing dial tone from me.

Sounds like she/he needs a few months without any tv

[EricKei]

Heh...I'm actually looking into getting cable service here for the first time in years (I dropped it many moons ago simply because I seldom used it) -- Maybe it's just here, but when the cable co says "basic cable", they mean "local channels, A&E, TBS and a couple of other "superstations", and that's about it, for $30 a month (ALL cable (and power) is "legalized monopoly" style here, they're rather extortionate)....My roomie insists that "basic" means everything up to and including sci-fi/toon/history, etc... I wish it did >_< Those are "extended basic" here.

I wonder, tho...is this different in other markets? How much do you guys charge/get charged for the basics as opposed to "extended" or the goodies like Digital?

[calulu]

I'm thrifty so we only get basic cable which is local channels, MTV, VH1, TBS, History, TNT, Spike, etc, about 65 channels in all for about 40 dollars a month. We used to have the big digital package but discovered the only thing that happened was our teenagers watched hours and hours and hours of crap when they could have been actually reading, working out at the gym, going out with friends, etc. The adults in the household were watching less tv so I dropped the fancy package for the basics only.

[telecom_goddess]

OH not me I have the whole digital package...it's bunded with internet and phone too so it's about 180 a month I guess.

I LOVE Digital cable...and now that I have an HDTV it's even better.

[calulu]

telecom I take it you don't have to fight the teenagers for the remote either? LOL.. If it were just me I'd get it, I love some of the shows on HBO and Showtime...but I got tired of the arguing and fighting and lardassery it was encouraging.

[tamezin]

Background: Customer was upset because sales agent didn't give her the channels promised. We couldn't add those channels without increasing the bill.

I'd be pissed too. This is exactly why I get everything in writing now. There are too many unscrupulous sales people who will tell you anything they think you want to hear just to get you to buy. The satellite company we had did something very similar, they were sued and had to allow the customers who chose to disconnect with out penalty.

[wagegoth]

telecom I take it you don't have to fight the teenagers for the remote either? LOL.. If it were just me I'd get it, I love some of the shows on HBO and Showtime...but I got tired of the arguing and fighting and lardassery it was encouraging.

DVR is the only way to go. Love it. If you have On Demand, Showtime runs their series on On Demand a week ahead of broadcast. We had a regular date for Nurse Jackie.

[nhollywood]

When I worked for "the cable company", when we would say "basic cable" we meant channels 2 through 16 only (no VH1, MTV, Discovery, etc). It's what some people refer to as "antenna service". The additional channels (VH1, MTV, etc.) was our "extended basic" package which costs extra.

[MergedLoki]

here basic is channel 2 - 28. so... whatever your areas stations on in ch. 2 - 28 thats what you get.

Currently I've got sattellite. but yea...even with like 700 channels I still watch NOTHING that i didn't normally watch anyways.

Not living on my own right now when I get my own place I don't think i'll get cable. I'll miss tv for a little while but i've lived w/out it before and after a month or 2 I dont care... and also become a much more productive person instead of vegging in front of the tube :P (yet strangely my dvd collection grows at an alarming rate lol)

[pssorens]

we pay about 185 a month, but we have 3 cable boxes, phone and internet, as well as HBO, Showtime and Stars. So it's not too bad.

[BookstoreEscapee]

My roomie insists that "basic" means everything up to and including sci-fi/toon/history, etc... I wish it did >_< Those are "extended basic" here.

I wonder, tho...is this different in other markets? How much do you guys charge/get charged for the basics as opposed to "extended" or the goodies like Digital?

That's what we have, I guess. Mostly I don't go above channel 50 (which is Comedy Central here); occasionally the weather channel, which is in the 60s, and sometimes National Geographic, which is like 162 or something. I watch TNT a lot (NCIS reruns ), Discovery/TLC, and the major networks. We don't have any movie channels like HBO or Showtime, or any HD channels (seeing as how we don't have an HDTV).

We pay about $150 a month, which includes internet, cable, & phone (which we rarely use because we both use our cells as our main number; whenever the landline rings we just look at each other and go "should we answer it?" because it's usually a wrong number). I don't know how it would break down if we were to separate them, and since the bill is in my roomie's name I've never really bothered to look at it. I just keep a little Excel sheet on my computer where I punch in the electric bill (which I pay) and the cable bill (she pays) and it figures out how much I need to pay her, since the cable is more than the electric. Every few months or so I write her a check.

I do sometimes wish we had gotten the DVR. We were going to, but she forgot when she called to set up the account, and we never got around to adding it.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

we pay about 185 a month, but we have 3 cable boxes, phone and internet, as well as HBO, Showtime and Stars. So it's not too bad.

Yeowch! We were paying that just 3 years ago through Local Cable company for just Digital cable w/8 boxes. That price didnt' include our Internet . . . w/Internet it was over $200.00. And no digital phone (my mom still prefers traditional landline w/BlueBall, formerly known as HellSouth.)

We switched to satellite be 3 years this coming January. We have the largest package, including all the movie channel packages (HBO, Starz, Showtime, Cinemax, etc. and the NASCRAP package) and we were paying $133/month but now they've gone up and starting with the next bill it'll be $144/month (we had a 5th receiver installed last May.)

So currently our Internet is bundled w/the phone . . . and right now we're getting a special rate for 6 months on DSL, and 2 phone lines (we've had the 2nd line forever so it's grandfathered in at the older, cheaper rate) around $83.00/month for everything.

Yeah, probably a bit more than having cable/internet/digital phone package but we have 2 phone lines, so it's not bad.

[EricKei]

Wow. I don't feel so bad about the local one's offer now ^_^ -- Basic , Extended, Digital versions of about half of those same channels, phone service with no frills (not even caller ID), and Internet for about $120 a month, one TV...

Then again, maybe where the sticker shock came in for our town was when I was a kid -- in the 70's, we were paying around $40 a month for just crapass Basic on 2 sets, and that was considered "normal".