So, Hillary and I are now homeowners. We are for sure, super-excited. Let me tell you, it is so nice to have a place that is yours (or at least sort of yours-after all, it is only yours after 30 years....). We really love it. I finally have a garage parking space, which means tomorrow morning, while all of my friends are scraping off their windshields, I will just start and drive my car to my destination. Garages really are a great invention.
With the new home comes all of the extras. Yeah, trips to Menard's, Home Depot, Target, etc. can be expensive, but lets face it, it is really fun to have new stuff for new rooms in a new place. Hillary and I even bought a new TV for our new basement. I have always wanted a big screen TV. We settled on a 50 inch flatscreen for our basement. After 2 weeks, I can say I am definitely happy.
The fact is, when you purchase a TV like that, the only reason you are doing it is so you can get a bigger, BETTER picture for stuff like movies, shows, and SPORTS. With the world we live in today, TV and sports have teamed together to make it nearly impossible to follow your favorite teams without paying for cable television. On top of that, you are nearly forced into cable if you want to take advantage of all of the "HD" options your new TV comes with. So, after living without cable for almost 2 years, Hillary and I broke down.
When dealing with Comcast (you pretty much have to in our area, you have a choice between Comcast and At&T-while I like At&T's cell phone service and internet, they only have the option of a dish for TV in our area and I just dont want to deal with that), you have to jump through hoops, many many hoops. Everytime you call and ask someone about pricing, they tell you something different. It could be 30 per month, but it goes up after 6 months, or it could be 55 a month but you get this other thing, etc. Then the installation fees, that is what gets you. You see, when I go to a restaurant and order one of the "specials," I want to know exactly what the price is. I dont care if the lobster dinner is 30 dollars or 70 dollars, but I want to know before I order. Same with cable TV. When Comcast says it is 30 per month (goes up to 60 per month after 6 months) plus 25 for the installation, my first bill should be around 55-60 dollars. Sure, lets be safe and add an extra 10 dollars for taxes and whatever, so it makes it 70 per month for the first bill.
We received our first bill: $121.00!!!!!
I was really pissed off. They charged us for everything they said originally, and added 9 bucks for the "HD receiver," plus 6 for the regular box, per month.....Then they charged us 27 bucks for the "activation fee" for the HD box, and 18 bucks for the "activation" for the regular box. Activation/installation? Same thing in my book. Plus there was a "cable service fee" or 7 dollars.
I know, companies can charge wahtever they want. However, I tried to order this online, only to find myself e-chatting with a comcast specialist. I asked him over and over, "Are there any extra fees or charges?" He said no, so I went ahead with it. Because I dont trust these people, I saved the transcript and printed it out. Comcast's website even had an option to print it out from their website-I did, it even listed the exact time of what was said between both parties. I printed it out along with my own that I imported into word just to be safe.
When I got my bill, I called the company to dispute the extra charges. After talking to 3 different reps, being hung up on once because of bad reception or something, I asked to speak to a supervisor. I debated with the rep for quite some time, finally he made me wait 15 minutes to speak with a rep. Finally I got to talk to the rep. She basically told me she couldnt do anything without the transcript in front of her. I offered to email it to her. She said she didnt have email at her office. NO EMAIL AT THE COMCAST OFFICE? THEY ARE THE *&&^*^$ INTERNET COMPANY, BUT THEY DONT HAVE EMAIL? BBBBSSSSS!!!!!
I got even more frustrated, was transferred to another department, etc. My evening had gone south an hour ago. Hillary and I decided it was too stressful to cook, so we ordered a pizza from one of our favorite places, Barnaby's.
I finally gave up on the Comcast thing. Hillary made a good point: they werent going to do anything with us on the phone, so we were just going to go to the Comcast office the following day with transcript in hand. I started to calm down, and we drove to pick up the pizza.
We walked into Barnaby's: really cool place---dark, dim lighting....a ton of booths with old tables and rotting woodwork. Every other table was packed with families, groups of friends, etc. and at least two pizzas and 2-4 pitchers of beer and/or pop, complete with those cool old plastic glasses that are ripply red plastic that make your coke look and taste really good.... It looked and smelled great. The place is a true old fashioned pizza parlour.
We got in line for pick up. When we finally go our pizza, the lady asked, "is this to go?" I said "yes," and she charged us 30 cents. I asked her what for, she said "for the pizza box." AFTER BEING RIPPED OFF BY COMCAST I WAS BEING CHARGED FOR A PIZZA BOX? I was really mad. Hillary didnt want to make a scene. I made a few smart ass comments to the clerk, and we let with our pizza, costing us 30 cents more than expected.
The moral of the story (should it even be called a moral?) is that businesses naturally have costs that realistically have to be passed on to the consumer. What these businesses dont seem to realize is that they are really upsetting their customers by tacking on these prices to what they originally declare "the official price." I dont mind paying a little extra, but I get really agitated when they tell me it costs ______ and it ends up costing an extra 30-50 bucks....or cents. I will pay the price for the goods, just tell me what it is.......................without playing games please..........................
