By Mike Austreng
It’s been a number of years since what we watch on television came from an antenna on our homes. There weren’t as many channels available, but once you owned your antenna the programming was free. Then came cable. I remember the first time we subscribed to a cable television service I paid about $39/month. It was probably basic service, but that’s all I could afford at the time. As the services improved and I could afford more channels and options, the monthly cost kept going higher – naturally. I’ve never subscribed to the top package with any provider, but the prices kept going up and up. When the move to Florida happened our household was forced to make a choice, but the number of providers was limited, depending on where your house happened to be. We picked a provider (which will remain nameless) and signed up for a two-year period. The cost was $86/month. Once that two-year contract ended the monthly fee went up to $116. When you added the “extra” equipment we needed for extra televisions and what we needed to record programs we wanted to record, the monthly charge was $161. When I received the higher bill I called my provider and was informed that the two years I signed up for were over and the higher rate would be the charge. I asked if there was any chance they could lower the monthly fee and was told the only way was to receive the lowest number of channels – which, of course, did not include several channels we like to watch. The person I talked to didn’t seem to be at all concerned when I told her I wasn’t happy paying that much and would be looking around for lower-cost services. Her response was, “well, that’s what we charge and you probably won’t find much less expensive services.” I was left feeling like being a customer of that company was at all important to the company. After doing some research we found a streaming service that provided everything we wanted, and more, with unlimited recording options – and no required equipment since we have smart TVs. The cost for the services was almost a quarter of what the previous provider wanted to charge us. We made the switch. Everything is going perfectly with our new services. The only difficult issue was learning to operate a new remote control. Just the other day the previous provider called wanting to make us an offer to return to their services. I told the person on the phone I wasn’t interested. The “salesman” on the phone with me didn’t want to give up – I didn’t blame him, it was his job to sell me something. At one point during the conversation, I could hear someone in the background say, “Ask him if he’s Michael Austreng”. He didn’t get the chance because I immediately told him he didn’t need to bother asking my name, they already had my name since they made the call, and I thought I should be talking to the guy trying to coach the person on the phone. To my surprise, the caller told me he would put his supervisor on the phone with me. It was a long conversation. The whole time I told the guy I wasn’t interested in their services any longer since I felt like I was mistreated by their customer service team and that I felt unimportant to the company when I called to ask if there was any way to lower the monthly cost. The supervisor told me he understood and that the company was reacting to the responses they received from customers they recently contacted. I told him I was one customer who wasn’t going to change my mind and wouldn’t go back to them even if they offered their services for free. At one point in our conversation, I was told I had been “careless” by not paying attention to the small print in the contract. After hanging up I wished I had thought to tell the company representative that as a customer I shouldn’t have to carefully read the “fine print” and if the company wasn’t trying to hide something they wouldn’t have “fine print” at all – I have to admit, it felt good to politely tell the guy I was not interested and that I was going to end the call – then hang up. Maybe I’m too old-school when I say the customer has to be important to any company, or the company doesn’t deserve that customer. Have A Good Week!
