[attrition] Reminder: cancel Comcast service in 12 months

[security curmudgeon]

The stories of Comcast and poor customer service are widespread. I've 
never been a fan of them myself, but they were the only cable TV provider 
when I got service. Over the years, the price for the exact same service 
has gone up considerably, and the last year has been the worst.

I got a 3rd party Comcast representative call today, trying to upsell me 
on adding more services (I only have cable tv). I told them at $80 a month 
for the one service, that was a ridiculous price point to *begin* bundling 
additional services. I thanked her for reminding me that I had been 
meaning to cancel the service completely.

I called the real Comcast, told them I want to cancel and got the sales 
pitch I was expecting. I wasn't quite expecting just how long and hard 
they were bending me over and not pro-actively trying to keep my rates 
acceptable. For a company that 'values my business', they sure don't act 
like it.

When I originally signed up, basic cable (and extended basic) was just 
that, a bunch of channels but not much more than 100. Comcast offered 
'Digital Classic Pkg' which would allow me a) interactive program guide b) 
PPV access and c) bunch of crap I didn't want. So to get the digital TV 
guide and have the ability to order PPV, I was paying 10 bucks more. Jump 
to five years later, early 2008, and the basic cable was $48.99 and 
digital classic was $11.95.

Jump to this month and basic cable was $55.99 and digital classic $16.95. 
That price increase is certainly steeper then 'cost of living' increases 
and the $80.68 a month for the most basic cable service you can get is 
ridiculous. The Comcast representative told me that they no longer offered 
either of those, and that I was 'grandfathered in'. I don't think she 
realizes what that term means, since they are still doing price hikes on 
it and it is almost 3x the price a new customer pays for the exact same 
thing. For being a long standing customer, I was 'grandfathered in' on 
absurd rates?

She offered to move me to the new basic package, which includes the 
program guide and PPV access, for 6 months at $29.99. I told her that I 
would just have to call in six months to cancel as it would jump back to ~ 
$55 (still less than what I pay now) and why bother when I don't watch 
those channels on TV that often. She immediately said she could do the 
$29.99 price for 1 year and that it would give me everything I have now, 
no changes other than the price. Since I have guests once in a while, I 
took the new deal while I re-evaluate if it's even worth paying 30 bucks a 
month. I really can't imagine it is, given that I watch my basic channel 
shows via torrents and my schedule. That "on demand" feature starts at 
$44.99 for new customers.

Comcast has been happily billing me $80.68 for a service they offer new 
customers $29.99 (that bumps to ~ $55.00). Forcing customers to call you 
every year to figure out what better packages are available is wrong.

 	"Learn more about our efforts to provide you with a consistently
  	 superior customer experience." - comcast.com

Right..