Saturday, November 23, 2013

Same Drill Different Year




The old bundle deal. I am so tired of the game. You can get their internet hookup which is so smashing fast, it is fast, and the free long distance phone and 900 TV stations all for one low price for a solid year. No fuss no muss, just sign up today because this offer will not last. Go ahead, and sign up. I don’t think you can get one without the other. If you do it will cost more than your arm and leg so you sign up. You get the bill and it varies each month. Sometimes they just nudge it up a few dollars with no exclamation what so ever. If you call and ask, they tell you it's because the taxes vary. Why should taxes vary?
 I finally decided to just accept it and life was moving along at the usual jet pace. One day I received an E-bill from these speed demons. My year was up so they jumped the price up 40 dollars. This calls for action and I don’t mean phone action. This calls for up close and personal action. So I loaded myself in the car and paid a friendly visit to this place. She told me that they have another ‘Special’ going on and she can get me into that. She quoted a price that was ten dollars less per month than I am paying now. I said, "Good deal Lucille, sign me up!" I was standing there humming a happy tune while she was clicking away on her keyboard. She looked up at me and said, "You do realize this is before taxes, don’t you?"
Well, that took care of the happy tune because this is the most, taxed to the max, state in the union. We even pay tax on tax. If they need money for something, the tax goes up some more. "How much will that be?" I asked. She did some more clicking on her keyboard and came back with a figure that is ten dollars more than I am now paying. It’s a game, I tell you. A GAME. First they make you think they are raising your price 40 dollars and then after all the wheeling and dealing they make you think you are getting an even less price than you were paying before. Now that they have you in this calm submissive state they spring the truth on you. It’s just like Cesar Milan training a dog. I’m going to start calling them "The Internet Whisperer". By the way, what ever happened to Cesar? 

The above is something I posted in 2010. It’s a rerun, but the game is still going on. I just called again the other day, and they no longer offer basic TV. It’s now expanded basic or nothing. They have no concern for the lower income folks who would be happy to get ten channels instead of 900 or so. The other companies do the same thing, they offer you the moon until they get you hooked, and the offers keep going off until they have you up to the max. I used to jump from one to the other trying to keep ahead of them, but I got tired of having new holes drilled in my walls, and fourteen disc nailed to the top of the house. They can never use the one that is already up there. Most of us keep a landline and a cell phone. 

 About the only calls I get on the landline are telemarketers. I can’t seem to bring myself to get rid of it.  I am on the do not call list, but they still call. I very seldom answer it. The mailbox these days is mainly for ads, and other junk, but it is a good thing when you order something.