Yeah, it's been a while...however something good has come out of it....Starting Monday I'll no longer be a Comcast Cable customer.
Long story but here goes.
About a month ago, somebody stole my bank card number and tried to process about 15 internet transactions in about a minute. My bank (National City...highly recommended) caught the activity and put a stop on my card. I didn't realize this though because when they tried to call me to verify the activity, their voice mail did not identify them as being from National City, they were identified as from another company and they needed to "verify activity on my credit card"...I just have my bank card, I don't have a credit card so I thought it was a scammer and ignored it. That weekend when I tried to use the card at the gas station, the transaction was declined. When I called the bank, they said there was a fraud stop on the card and that they had tried to call me to verify. The person on the phone listed a bunch of websites that I'd never heard of. They were nice enough to keep the debit (PIN required) portion of my card open so I could get gas and food, but at 5pm the card would be completely closed off and a new card issued. Until the new card arrived and was activated, and the fraud transactions had a chance to run through my account, I couldn't use it. This took about a week.
Since I couldn't use my account during this time (I could have gone to a branch, filled out a withdrawel request, showed ID to get cash, but that's a lot of trouble to go through for a few bucks), I called the companies who had bills due that week and told them of the situation. One was Comcast. What did they do? They shut off my account for non-payment! It was off for a week until I could access my account again (after my next direct deposit) and call in a payment. Plus, they raised my rates...again. I started 2 years ago with the $99 per month triple play. My last bill was for $175.
Before I get into changing companies, there's another company I need to warn about...Rent a Center. I needed a video camera to tape some church functions. Living paycheck to paycheck, there's not a spare $300 lying round to buy a new one outright, so I went to RAC to rent to own one. The rental was $30 per week. I paid faithfully every week, sometimes a little more than needed. When I called them about not being able to pay that one week, they weren't happy about it. They called every day that week wanting to know when I was going to come pay, then that Friday while I was at work they came to my house looking for the payment, then showed up at 8:30am on Saturday looking for the payment. I paid every week for 10 months, miss one and they treat me like a thief. I packed up the video camera and took it back to the store and told them their collection practices were illegal (in Illinois, you cannot go to somebody's house looking for the payment) and they would be very lucky if I decided not to report them for it.
Back to changing cable companies: My parents have always used AT&T for their phone line. I change mine when I find a better deal. Dad had some odd charges on his bill, so he called AT&T about it. Of course when you call any company, they'll try to sell you on their other services. They tried to sell Dad on U-Verse. He had no need for U-Verse since I paid for the TV and he doesn't have a computer. The woman on the phone was persistant, so Dad told her "My daughter takes care of all that"...since I was home (day off), Dad put me on the phone. I could get U-Verse for $109 a month for 6 months, and it'll only go up about $30 after that. That's the final rate and won't go up unless utility rates go up. I'll have phone service, internet, and TV comparable with Comcast, plus DVR is included (that was an extra charge of about $30 with Comcast) on as many TVs as I wanted to put it on (Comcast charged me extra for more than one TV). They're coming on Monday to change everything over.
SO....my product recommendations for this post:
Comcast: Not recommended
Rent a Center: Not recommended
National City Bank: Highly Recommended
AT&T U-Verse: I'll let you know after I've had it for a while :)
