Bozzlife: A recent customer service chat
I will apologize straight away, this post is going to be a lot of text.
For a little background, our cable TV bill went up an additional $10 a month recently. We have Spectrum and like many of the other telecom monopolies they screw everyone over daily.
I am sure people outside of the US would be horrified at the $181/month price we pay for two cable boxes and high speed Internet service. Heck, even if you do live in the US, you should still be horrified.
So here is my recent conversation (I am in italics) with them (it starts with me talking to an automated service):
Welcome! What can we help you with today?
Why is my bill so high?
Your statement provides an overview of your billing history. Your charges may vary monthly based on your data plan, the devices you use, any changes made to your service, and any remaining balance from a previous bill.
Is there anything else we can help you with?
My question has not been answered
All of our agents are currently assisting other customers. We can connect you with an agent or you can ask another question.
Estimated wait less than5 minutes
I'd like to wait for an agent
Great, someone will be with you shortly.
You're connected with Anthony W
Thank you for chatting with Spectrum! My name is Anthony While I review your previous chat
history, may I have your full name and full address please?
xxxxxxxx
I need the full address please.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you. One moment while I pull up your account.
The adjustments reflect increased programming fees from suppliers as well as the overall cost of doing business. Our packages are designed to provide you with quality programming at a great value. If the package or service you currently have doesn't fit your budget or your needs, let's see if we can work together so we can find the one that will.
I am pretty sure I have the lowest package available. It looks like if I was a new customer my bill would be like $42 less per month though.
Seems kind of crappy :P
We can offer you 10.00 off for 12 months
That really just puts me back where I was last month.
$40 would be better.
I wish there was more that I could do
I have a feeling you say that to everyone. Actually all of you probably say that to everyone, so why doesn't the management do something about it?
Our services are competitively priced and we feel that the prices are still very fair considering the rates, channel packaging, and service features that we provide.
Well Spectrum feels that way, you don't because you said you wished there was more you can do.
how about $30 off per month?
I am a flexible guy
I am not able to offer that per month, I apologize.
Spectrum employees a lot of people where I live, I can respect that
Which is why I am willing to accept $25 off per month
Please hold.
We can only offer you 10.00 off for 12 months
Did you ask them three times?
I have heard that you need to hear no three times before they really mean it
I have reviewed this and that is all we can offer at this time is 10.00 off a month.
Man, you kind of have me over the couch arm here then.
Okay let's say I take the $10 off but I also want to get rid of my non DVR box. Can you guys send me a shipping box to send that back to you and take that $7.99 off my bill
Yes I can mail you a box and I will get the 10.00 off
Okay, and then the $7.99 will come off my bill once you receive the box back?
Correct!
You will receive it within 3-5 business days.
Yeah, lets do that.
Great!
So Spectrum must really make more money off attracting new customers than retaining old ones huh?
I cannot say.
Promotional pricing is a marketing tool used by most service providers operating in the US. The lower price allows new customers to make the switch or add a service without sacrificing so much in order to have the opportunity to sample the service before paying the full price.
Oh, see, now that was a canned response
You are just copying and pasting now.
I really feel more used than my aunt Sally right now, she has been married a lot
I am sorry that you feel that way.
See, I don't think you are
But you probably don't get paid enough to really feel bad about it.
Are you guys unionized?
You should think about it
I mean if you are really unhappy that you aren't able to give customers the service you think they deserve
Unfortunately I am unable to discuss that information, do you have any further questions for me?
I really feel like you wanted to give me the $40 off if you could.
Are you in China or North Korea? Like will they kill you if you discuss it with me?
I don't want you to die
I was just asking a question.
Thank you for your concern, But I am In Kentucky and we aren't able to discuss that information as it doesn't pertain to our business.
Do you have any further questions, xxxxx?
My sister used to live in Wilmore Kentucky nice place. Can you just remind me what you are going to do for me today so I can make sure we are on the same page? Then I will leave you alone
Oh Nice, I have sent you your return box for the DVR and I have applied the 10.00 off for 12 months.
No, not the DVR.
I am keeping the DVR box
I want to send back my standard box
My wife would freak if we lost our DVR service
It is a empty box for returns. It doesn't specifically state DVR
Oh, okay
Perfect
No problem. Do you have any further questions, xxxx?
Alright, sounds good. Thanks for trying
Nope I am set
Go Wildcats
That's the right attitude!!
Thank you for working with me today. A survey will appear once this chat is ended, on MY performance only. I really appreciate your feedback.
Thank you, have a great day!
Your chat has ended
There you have it. Once again they basically made me feel good about eating my own crap. If I didn't watch so many live sports I would seriously cut the cord...
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i'm a little frightened by the "intelligence" that exists inside the automated robots that answer the phone at the few USA phone numbers I still have to deal with these days.
I'm curious as to how the system handled "Go Wildcats!" though.
When i get a voice automated system that forces me to use a phone these days i just say "operator" over and over and over again until i get to talk to a person... i'm old school. Normally they are in India or the Philippines anyway.
It started out as an automated system, but I think after the first couple of exchanges it switched to the "guy" named Anthony. For all I know it could have still been some form of AI... The reply to Go Wildcats was "That's the right attitude!!" which again is benign enough that it could totally have been AI. I am the same as you. If I have to call in, I either hit the '0' button repeatedly or say operator over and over so I can finally talk to a person. I had to do this just the other day in fact.
Haha, made me chuckle.
$181 a month, does this include the 'old fashioned' phone line too?
I have just renegotiated my internet monthly charge to around $25.99 a month, but with calls its more like £35 a month.
I don't pay for TV as we barely watch it, going for FreeView and FreeSat, neither are pay subs.
You get a lot of channels, but nothing premium. No sports etc..
Oh and we have to pay that laughable TV license..., else the TV detector vans come around, and see through the walls and to the inside of your house.
They are manned by extra-terrestrial beings.., what can I say?
No, I think if we had a VoIP line through them we could get a lower bundled price, but then we would be adding a service too, so who knows. The break down is really about $74 for our TV portion and $60 for the 100 MBps Internet, then all of the taxes and fees. It is just ridiculous.
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$181 a month that's too much,
Where i live Internet service + tv connection + my mobile bill, roughly cost around $20 a month.
Dang, I wish. What speed Internet does that give you? I like it fast!
About 4-5 mbps.
100 mbps plans are available with $20.
Good old American capitalism. We are getting screwed so badly!
Haha, that's a conversation at least interesting lol
I try to be nice because I know it isn't really their fault and they are just following a script and try to get there job done. Nothing says I can't have a little fun while doing it too.
You did a great job, haha
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That was funny-not funny. Sorry that you were getting the run-around. That is frustrating, especially when there are no other reasonable options to turn to.
It is pretty frustrating. Back in the day you could call them once a year or so and get all of the new promotios that were going on. As long as you were willing to play the game, they were pretty accommodating with you. Now, they don't budge even an inch!
This is exactly why I stopped watching TV in 2012! OK, so I don't watch much live sports (though I do watch loads of non-live climbing on YouTube).
I was running a business at the time, and I rarely had time to watch TV. The price increases were ridiculous (mainly because the Olympics was coming up). I intended to watch all my favourite programmes on catchup, but surprisingly, once I stopped having a TV, I just lost interest in it. I really didn't expect that. I saved a lot of money. And I had some great evenings watching the Olympics at my parents' house.
I wish I were at the point that I could do that. I'd love to read more, but I enjoy watching shows too. It is very rare I watch movies anymore. Not all in one sitting anyway.
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I probably wouldn't have even considered it if I hadn't been crazily busy running my business. It amazed me how quickly I lost interest in TV after breaking away from it. Now I just watch YouTubes instead - there's a lot of good stuff on there. I've also lost my attention span for long movies.
I usually only hit up Youtube when I need to learn something or I need to fix something. I just can't do it as my daily entertainment like a lot of people do these days. I respect those that can though.
It's probably just because I'm obsessed with climbing and bouldering! 😂
Ohh dealing with them is so frustrating for sure whichever company it is with their canned answers, and I agree there all about getting new customers and don't worry too much about holding onto customers
That's the main reason I left Verizon. After 25 years of loyal service they were willing to give me nothing in terms of a discount...
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I have been lucky with t-mobile for phone, been there before they wer eeven t-mobile and have a reasonable deal, but for internet Optimum is the best option we have here and they know it so screw us all
T mobile is what we moved to from Verizon. Very happy so far.
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I have 6 Phones onmy plan with them, with the kids and grandkids so a big bill but very happy with them
Oh dang, we just have the one, my phone gets paid for by my work.
I used to walk with two phone sone Work one, but I gave that up a year ago and just use my Personal one