Cable Costs

Are you like me -- do you have a love/hate relationship with your TV and your cable company?

I love my HD TV -- everything from rock'n'roll concert specials to food shows to McDreamy. BUT I hate the cable company!!

When I got my last bill I was shocked as they had raised my basic bill by 25%! Don't they know that I'm on a fixed income and can't afford huge increases?

I had already done everything I could to cut my monthly bill by bundling my Cable TV, land-line phone and high-speed Internet with one company. I'm so fed up with cable and phone companies offering new customers fabulous deals for signing up or transferring, but then not taking care of us loyal customers. When will they realize that they should work on retaining customers with some good bargain rates?

Of course, I called and challenged them on increasing my bill and told them that I would just switch to another provider who offered a new customer discount.

To my surprise, they had a Customer Loyalty Department. After a lengthy discussion with the rep she finally agreed to a $9 a month increase instead of $31.

So, if you're faced with a similar situation, don't be afraid to threaten that you'll switch companies; just keep asking for a manager until you find someone to help you; and also ask for some cable pay-for-movie coupons for your trouble. Another thing, don't forget when comparing companies, that you will always save when you can bundle with the same one.