Re: I hate my Cox

On Thu, 23 May 2024 16:09:18 -0700, anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>
wrote:

shawn <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:

On Wed, 22 May 2024 21:34:11 -0700, anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>
wrote:
 

shawn <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:

On Wed, 22 May 2024 04:56:02 -0700, anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>
wrote:
 

shawn <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:

On Tue, 21 May 2024 21:04:53 -0700, anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>
wrote:
 

Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:

On 5/21/24 5:08 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:
 

Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:

On 5/21/24 12:34 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

Dimensional Traveler  <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 5/20/2024 10:25 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:

Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:

On 5/20/24 6:55 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:
 

I hate my Cox
 
Suddenly, after decades of DVR rental, they locked me out until I agree to
this:
 

 
 

Do you get a special sports fee for ESPN whether you want it or not?

 
That's usually not broken out - everyone with cable has to pay that.
 

 
It’s broken out on my Cox. It’s really really annoying.

 
It was broken out on Comcast and AT&T Uverse. Of course there was no
way to decline it as those sports bundles were added to every level of
service. Though it's possible the lowest level now that just includes
local channels and little else may not have it.
 
Yep, just checked with Comcast/Xfinity and the most basic TV plan
(Choice) has 10+ channels for .. strange.. it shows $20/month but in
the text it says $32/mon with the broadcast fee extra.
 
Ah, I get it now. Looking at the next level makes it obvious the full
price is the TV channels + the broadcast so it is $52/month + taxes
and equipment.
 
Then there's the next level which is (Popular TV) with 125+ channels
for $60/month + $32/month broadcast TV fee + $13.50 regional sports
 
So for Comcast you can avoid the $13.50/month regional sports fee IFF
you get the most basic plan. Otherwise you are stuck paying for it.
There is no way to avoid the broadcast fee which makes up a huge
portion of the cost of the most basic channels. With Choice you are
basically getting the locals and not much more so you are paying
$52/month to get the locals. $20/month to Comcast and supposedly
$32/month to be split among those local stations and $105.50 to add on
those other channels that they think most people want.
 
It's clear that it's a rip-off for the limited basic given that the
majority of the cost goes to the local stations that are already
getting paid for their advertising.
 

 
Cox has recently made all of this information unavailable. You can’t see
any of the plans at all now. It says that you just have to talk to a
salesman.

 
Hmm, I'm not a Cox customer and was able to see all of the plans and
their costs. Contour TV Starter shows up as $61/month. Though my guess
is that doesn't include the broadcast and regional sports fees.
https://www.cox.com/residential/tv.html

 
 
When I go to that URL, I get this
 
“Let's update your services together
There's only one step to update your services - chat with us.  A dedicated
team member will help add services or update your plan to create a new
package that has everything you need. Be sure to have your Cox PIN and SSN
on hand so we can verify your account. 
Live chat available: Monday - Friday, 9 am - 9 pm ET and Saturday - Sunday,
11am - 8 pm ET”
 
I love it. They told us to stop giving their sales people our SSN years ago
ago.
 
They must be redirecting me.

 
So you need to use the private browsing mode (or whatever your browser
calls it) to hide your cookies from Cox so it doesn't know you are an
existing customer. Though I'm surprised they don't even allow you to
change your plan online. With Comcast and AT&T I could change my plan
online. Though I could only upgrade and add services. If I wanted to
downgrade or drop a service I had to call up.
 

>
Yeah, years and years and years ago, you could add and subtract stuff
online. Then they made it so you could add online but you had to call to
drop something. Then they made it so you had to call to do anything but
could still see the prices online, but even talking to somebody, you could
only upgrade, they had to switch you to somebody else to downgrade and the
last time I talked to them, they just refused to do either.  That was last
year after they dug up my yard and cut my speed in half and refused to send
somebody out without charging me 75 bucks even though I pay the $10 a month
to get free service calls and they said my modem must’ve failed and it was
just coincidental that did it during the week that they had my service
knocked out First thing I had to do was buy all new equipment and that I
could only buy it from them at the Cox store and I suggested that since
they were giving me the lower level of service I just switch to that they
refused and they refused to pass me on to somebody who could make that
happen.

I'm glad to say that I've never experienced that sort of service. Some
times it took multiple calls to get through to someone that could fix
my problem but they were always willing to try and help. That's with
Comcast and with AT&T. I can even see why Comcast had some trouble
with one problem because it was a line card that was failing and their
first response is to send out one of their install guys. Someone who
can't do anything with the line cards and might not even know about
them. So a couple of service calls where they saw the problem and
couldn't fix it got them to finally send out a line tech who found and
fixed the problem.

Even changing levels of service or getting a discount when they wanted
to up my monthly fee just took a phone call and talking to a few
people. That is with both Comcast and AT&T. I don't know if Cox just
hates you or if it is a general behavior.