Charter / Spectrum Conned Me Into Coming Back

[Mr_Luke]

I got my broadband from them from about 2007 when I moved up from dialup. A year or so ago I switched to fiber optic BB from my electric company. After that, I was getting deal letters from Spectrum often. I basically told the rep I was going to stay where I was. I was getting my phone from Basictalk for the last 7 years. So the Spectrum rep rang my doorbell and told me I was eligible for free BB, at no cost to me. I couldn't pass that up, the only trouble was, he was lying to me. Then I saw the bill from Charter (after their rep on the phone told me I was eligible for 1 year of free phone, something to do with the stimulus package.) Another of their reps told me Spectrum phone is 9.99 a month. Such a big corporation, and so much conflicting info with them. They also tried to shove Spectrum TV down my throat, which I told them many times I did not want. I have Roku Wifi TV and it's free. Then I had to call Spectrum and get them to remove a $10 service charge, and they were going to charge me to renting their router, when I use my own router.

Watch out for Spectrum. The rep who mislead me should IMHO be fired. He would deny lying to me, but he intentionally led me to believe I'd get free broadband for at least a few years. They will go to any length to get their customers back, even lie to them and lead them on.

As it turned out, I'm getting their top BB package that's 400 Mbps for about $25 after a $25 discount. It's normally $79.95 a month.
So my bill will be about $39 a month, including BB and land line phone. They have good service and are reliable, I do have to say that.
If they try to jack up the price of their BB, I can go to their 50 Mbps BB for $23 a month. Their phone price of $12.99/mo has come down.

 

[Mr_Luke]

Seriously, you think it was funny how I was misled by Spectrum?
Wow, some people have no empathy whatsoever, either that or have an odd sense of humor.

 

[Rand]

you arent under contract switch back?

 

[Mr_Luke]

you arent under contract switch back?

I could if I wanted to.
This is actually a better deal than I was getting, just not free as he claimed it would be.
I was paying 49.99 for BB and about 17.60 for phone = $67.59.

Now I'll be paying about $39 per month for both, at least for a while.

 

[JohnnyG]

Yeah, just got my new Spectrum bill a few minutes ago. $286.78! It just went up $20.00 or so with tax.
Maybe you are doing better than you think.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

You'll be north of $230 a month in months. Spectrum is going to have competition in our city soon as Allo contractor is placing underground fiber optics in are quadrant of the city. Probably won't be much of an improvement as is agreement with city to offer service is a license to STEAL no matter what company.

 

[Hall]

...and you chose to continue doing business with them

 

[PimTac]

They must have gotten a call from Progressive.

 

[mk378]

So my bill will be about $39 a month,

Have you received an actual bill yet, or are you just saying what you presently think it is going to cost? The $39 you're dreaming of is based on numbers that you somehow know are not lies compared to all the other numbers they threw at you?

How much did fiber cost, and what speed?

 

[dishdude]

Must be nice to have options. 5th largest city in the country and Cox is the only option...I'm paying $87.99/mo for a lousy 100 Mbps down. Fiber isn't even an option!

 

[Mr_Luke]

Have you received an actual bill yet, or are you just saying what you presently think it is going to cost? The $39 you're dreaming of is based on numbers that you somehow know are not lies compared to all the other numbers they threw at you?

How much did fiber cost, and what speed?

I've seen their email bills which can also be seen when I log into my account at spectrum.net.
I will be saving about $28 a month for at least a while, maybe quite a while.

I was paying 49.99 for (fiber optic) BB and about 17.60 for phone = $67.59.

 

[Mr_Luke]

...and you chose to continue doing business with them

Yes, I did. To save $28 a month made it worthwhile to deal with them.

 

[Imp4]

Yes, I did. To save $28 a month made it worthwhile to deal with them.

So you didn't get conned, contrary to the click bait title...

 

[bullwinkle]

I got my broadband from them from about 2007 when I moved up from dialup. A year or so ago I switched to fiber optic BB from my electric company. After that, I was getting deal letters from Spectrum often. I basically told the rep I was going to stay where I was. I was getting my phone from Basictalk for the last 7 years. So the Spectrum rep rang my doorbell and told me I was eligible for free BB, at no cost to me. I couldn't pass that up, the only trouble was, he was lying to me. Then I saw the bill from Charter (after their rep on the phone told me I was eligible for 1 year of free phone, something to do with the stimulus package.) Another of their reps told me Spectrum phone is 9.99 a month. Such a big corporation, and so much conflicting info with them. They also tried to shove Spectrum TV down my throat, which I told them many times I did not want. I have Roku Wifi TV and it's free. Then I had to call Spectrum and get them to remove a $10 service charge, and they were going to charge me to renting their router, when I use my own router.

Watch out for Spectrum. The rep who mislead me should IMHO be fired. He would deny lying to me, but he intentionally led me to believe I'd get free broadband for at least a few years. They will go to any length to get their customers back, even lie to them and lead them on.

As it turned out, I'm getting their top BB package that's 400 Mbps for about $25 after a $25 discount. It's normally $79.95 a month.
So my bill will be about $39 a month, including BB and land line phone. They have good service and are reliable, I do have to say that.
If they try to jack up the price of their BB, I can go to their 50 Mbps BB for $23 a month. Their phone price of $12.99/mo has come down.

I have to be devil's advocate here-I had Time Warner, and Direct TV, even Dish for a few months, and Cincinnati Bell Fioptics (the worst overchargers of all!), and Spectrum so far has been the ONLY company to actually charge what they say they're going to charge! Broadband, TV (through their Roku app), and home phone for ~$105/month. Literally EVERYONE else overcharged regularly, requiring endless phone calls to try to fix it.

 

[Mr_Luke]

So you didn't get conned, contrary to the click bait title...

Click bait title? You're too funny.

I was lied to, plain and simple, aka conned, not just by the rep who rang my doorbell, but also by the rep on the phone who told me I was eligible for 1 year of free phone service. The end results are immaterial. They lied to me in order to get me back.

 

[Hall]

Regarding the "free" broadband, the rep should have made it very clear that you might qualify for it being free. He/she doesn't make that determination.

 

[Mr_Luke]

I have to be devil's advocate here-I had Time Warner, and Direct TV, even Dish for a few months, and Cincinnati Bell Fioptics (the worst overchargers of all!), and Spectrum so far has been the ONLY company to actually charge what they say they're going to charge! Broadband, TV (through their Roku app), and home phone for ~$105/month. Literally EVERYONE else overcharged regularly, requiring endless phone calls to try to fix it.

There's a lot of that in these days and times. Lots of misrepresentation of prices and charges.
I have a feeling Charter is one of the better companies out there, even with their sneaky ways of getting customers back.
I could go back to fiber optic and Basictalk phone and pay $28 more a month, but I'm a tightwad.

 

[Rand]

I think they were susposed to tell you if you were on unemployment/low income the govt. is subsidizing certain things.. that turns into salesperson scam talk real fast though.

 

[Hall]

I think they were susposed to tell you if you were on unemployment/low income the govt. is subsidizing certain things.. that turns into salesperson scam talk real fast though.

Actually, people in those situations get first dibs but I think it's partly related to terms of the merger with Time Warner and maybe partly now Covid-related, but they had to sign up "x" of customers for their "lifeline" service but no one was doing it so they started giving it to anyone in order to satisfy the gov't terms.

 

[mk378]

Most cable companies have an unadvertised bare-bones Internet plan for less than $20 but it's slow.

Some will sell it to anyone, others stipulate low income and/or must have school age children, etc.