by Ashley
Remember when I talked about how my cable bill was going up and the whole headache it caused? (Cliff’s Note version: I was initially told there was nothing they could do about it; after a second call I was miraculously granted a new, lower, promotional rate for another year).
Well one of the readers said I should’ve gotten it in writing. They were right!
My bill showed up and what SHOULD have been about a $90 bill (maybe $95 with taxes) was for $118.60. No freaking way.
I called back and – shocker – there was “no record” of the new promotional rate I had locked in. After a long back-and-forth I got upset and asked to speak with a manager. I explained the whole situation and the manager was able to give me the promotional rate I’d been promised and to back-date it so I didn’t have this one super high bill. He said to call back in 24 hours and the new rate would be updated so I’d know how much I owed this month.
I did one better. I waited 3 full days. And when I called back the automated system said I owed….$118.60. I was livid. Absolutely furious that I would have to do this whole dog-and-pony show all over again – speaking to customer service rep, being transferred to a manager, the whole shebang.
When the customer service rep answered I calmly explained the whole situation. I started off with, “I don’t know if you can help me, I may end up needing to be transferred to a manager, but….” and I launched into the whole story.
So the representative asked me how much the automated system said I owed and I told her, “$118.60.”
Her reply: “Well I guess the automated system hasn’t been updated because my records indicate that you owe $34.62.”
Me: * stunned silence *
“No, no, no”, I thought. “That sounds way too low. Is that $118.60 and an additional $34.62 on top of it for something? What does that amount cover???”
The rep explained that it looked like they had given me a $150-some-odd-dollar credit for the month of August, so all that was owed was $34.62. After that, my rate would be the $89.99 (cable + internet) rate that I was quoted from my call that was, at this point, a full month ago.
I’m still a little skeptical that there’s been some confusion and I’m going to get slammed with a big bill, but everything the representative said seemed to make sense. I don’t know why the manager hadn’t told me he was giving me a $150 credit, but I guess that amount covers my “pain and suffering” for having to make these multiple phone calls over the past few weeks. Regardless, I’ll take it!
Soooo, since Sallie Mae decided to double-charge me this month and I’ve been looking for ways to come up with an extra $250 to put toward the car payment, I’m pretty pleased with this result. Instead of the $100 I budgeted toward cable/internet this month, I’ll only be spending $35. I “found” an easy $65 right there! Woo!!!!
Unrelated side-note: When I heard the automated system tell me I still owed $118, I jumped on Twitter and tweeted the company, saying how dissatisfied I was with their service and that they were about to loose a customer. I was thinking I might hear back from them (Comcast/Xfinity), but I didn’t. Guess who tweeted me instead….DirectTV replied by saying, “Ashley – we would LOVE to have you as a customer and we have lots of special rates right now! Can I set up a package for you?” HAHA! How genius of them to “follow” the Comcast tweets!!! The response was nearly immediate, too! I’m telling you – social media is changing the way companies do business. It’s crazy!
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
This story is too funny to me because we recently cancelled DirecTV after they refused to lower our bill. We tweeted them, and we got no response. We did get a response from Dish with a $50 gift card offer. The week after we switched, DirecTv called offering us a better deal then we originally had with them
LOL at the twitter response from DirectTV! How sneaky, yet clever. We got rid of them over a year ago, because every month our bill was going up, yet we were losing channels. Good riddance paid cable! So very pleased with our Roku. 🙂 I also learned to always get it in writing, or email, or at the very least a confirmation number and name of the person I was speaking with. It can be an expensive lesson, hopefully they did get it figured out and no more surprises next month.
Hilarious side note about DirectTv. Very clever. But glad you got all that… any chance you could’ve requested an email confirmation of all that? Truth be told, I dont trust verbal promises from any company. Then tend to flop way too fast, and with so many reps, you never get the same story twice.