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 Expert
Posts: 3534
   
Location: Stuck in a cubicle having tropical thoughts | I'm at my wits end with these companies.
I had been a centurlink customer for about 5 years and a dish customer for 8 years. We had 1 tv, no DVR, HD and starz and 8Mbps internet with home WiFi. They were charging me $176 a month. This also included home phone that we didn't use. I'd called numerous times about the bill and they said there was nothing they could do to lower my bill. I also paid my bill on time every time. When we moved a month ago, I called to cancel service because cable was available where I moved to. Suddenly they were able to lower my bill to $90 a month and move everything for free. But my husband wanted to go back to cable.
I called Timewarner and told them what we wanted. They quoted me $127 a month plus tax for 200 channels, HD, DVR, STARZ and standard internet at 15Mbps. I also told them that previous companies would transfer for no cost so over the phone, they told me no equipment or installation fees and no contract. Husband was dead set on changing so we changed. Already shipped the dish box back. I get my bill and it's $138 plus $10 in tax and $50 installation fees for a total of $200 for the first month. I've been on the phone for over an hour and been switched to four different people (and finally hung up our of frustration). All of them tell me they don't know why the guy would tell me no installation fees. Plus in the itemized section there is $26 for home phone service. I don't need or want a home phone. They tell me if we cancel it, my bill will go up. So if I cancel a service, you are going to charge me more?????
On top of that we pay verizon $130 a month for two cell phones and only one of them has a data plan. We were paying $98 a month but the hinge on my flip phone broke so I finally upgraded to my first smart phone in May. They told us at the store if I upgrade to a smart phone, instead of getting another flip phone, since we hadn't changed our bill in 5.5 years that our bill would stay the same with the smart phone with the exception of the $10 a month insurance on the new phone............THEY ARE ALL LIARS!
I feel like i'm loosing my mind over this. I just can't wrap my head around spending this much money and we only have 1 tv and we have never used the DVR service (we didn't even have DVR before but they told us it comes standard but low and behold under itemized categories there are two charges for DVR totalling over $20) |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
 
Location: Oklahoma | We pay $108/month for Dish 250 pack. We have the Hopper with 1 Joey. Love, love, love it! If my husband didn't want the outdoor channels and I didn't want my stupid guilty pleasure Bravo shows we could get by with a lot less.
We have WildBlue internet that runs us $60/month. I do not know what kind of plan we have... but it gets us by just fine. We don't use Netflix or anything like that to tie up a lot data.
Cell phones (no home phone) are with US Cellular. We're both on the family business plan, but they run about $70/month for unlimited talk, text and data. We've been a customer for many, many years. We also use their "belief" points system occassionaly for phone upgrades. We have six lines and only four people actually using them so that frees up two lines for upgrades. My husband was able to upgrade using an open line and we had enough belief points built up for him to get an iPhone 5S for free. He obviously didn't get a 32GB phone or anything like that, but it was still a "free" iPhone.
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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | it is outrageous...
we live in an area where we can either get that terrible hughs net satellite internet(which is awful) or we could have a data plan with Verizon. Now we pay 120 dollars a month just for internet, but we can take our verizon jetpack anywhere under any circumstances and it is as quick as our internet when we lived in the city! (outrageous in my opinion, but our job requires us to have reliable internet since we both work from home as recruiters.) our TV is like 110 dollars from direcTV and then it goes up to 150 during football season when we get the NFL Sunday Ticket and can get ALL of the football games! We have noticed our bill starts slowly adding in more little $1-$10.00 charges every few bills... It's like WHAT ARE YOU CHARGING ME FOR!? we pay, what we got initially was what we wanted, why does my bill keep going up for things I don't add?????? |
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  Champ
Posts: 19623
Location: Peg-Leg Julia Grimm | Land line, cable TV and internet (not the highest but it is DSL) $127. I wish it weren't so high but I can't figure out a way to get it down and still have it all. I don't have a cell phone with a contract and data plan. Just a flip phone for emergencies. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Internet is Wild Blue--15 gigs for $80. Direct for TV--$90. My cell phone is on a group plan with the farm, so I don't pay that. The TV charges are ridiculous for no more than we use it. |
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Expert
Posts: 3534
Location: Stuck in a cubicle having tropical thoughts | Wow! Thank you for all the replies. I feel a lot better now that I know I'm not the only one with these outrageous charges. It's ridiculous what these companies charge us.
My favorite was when the girl was telling me what a really good rate I was getting and she sounded all excited about it.
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 California Cowgirl
Posts: 14973
Location: California | $29.99 for Dish w/ more channels than I know what to do with (but this is a new customer deal) Prior we were paying over $100 for the same package.
Internet is only one option here and it is $34.99
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | Dish TV with HBO and Starz almost $140.00. (1) iPhone and WiFi internet with Verizon $188.00. |
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 Ms. Marine
Posts: 4641
Location: Texas | I'm paying $60 for just wifi internet through Time Warner Cable. Unfortunately they are the only ones who provide service in my location at the moment. |
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Miracle in the Making
Posts: 4013
| ok 19.95 dish phone and internet 129. BUT its a business landline and high speed |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 534
Location: Where the road leads me | After 13 loyal years with Directv I fired them too! Called frequently for a better deal always to be told sorry we can't do anything. So I finally had it and cancelled the service. To add insult to injury they responded with an "ok" and proceeded to tell me about returning my equipment blah blah blah. Wow! Should have cancelled sooner since my business apparently didnt mean that much to them. Well then, we now watch all our local channels for free via antenna and we stream netflix and hulu thru our Wii game console, I was paying for internet anyway so why not. TV cost me about 18.00 a month for Hulu and Netflix and Internet is about $65 with century link. Which reminds me I need to contact them Moosetwits and renew my contract for the lower rate last two bills were a tad higher. Anyway! Sure, we miss out on some of our favorite programming but the feeling of not give any of our money to Directv or Dish is very gratifying :) |
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 Veteran
Posts: 292
Location: Northeast Nebraska | Land line and internet is $84 a month. I have an antique flip cell phone that is for emergency use on the road or if the land line is down, no plan, just add $5 every couple of months. Direct TV Xtra with HBO, Starz, Showtime is about $120 if he doesn't rent any movies. And he has Netflix streaming at $8 or so. He's disabled and sick and watching TV is about all he can do. If it was just me, I would have a lot less. I would rather read than watch TV. Only a few shows interest me. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Wow!! I watch TV via WiFi.. which is free all over town.. |
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 Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | You sound a lot like my hubby and I....even down to the flip phone. 
We have CenturyLink for internet at $34/Month. DirectTv at $85/month. We have the smallest package they offer. No DVR. Only one TV. However they upgraded us to the HD for "free" AKA $10/month. We want to downgrade that to a regular box, but then we have to send the HD box back and wait for them to send service out to change the dish. So we just pay it.
At one point, we had CenturyLink, TV and Verizon bundled. Our bill was over $300 every month. And they were sending me two bills (one for a previous address) for the internet and expected them both paid. So I unbundled.
Verizon, for two phones, is right around $130-$140. I have a smartphone with a data package. Hubby has a flip phone that has somehow lasted him 4 years. I'm sure it will need replaced soon.
I have been tempted (still am) to have the tv shut off. We don't need it. It takes up more time then anything. But they will charge an over $300 disconnect fee. BLAH.
They will get your money any way they can.... |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 915
Location: SE KS | No land line
US Cellular: $203/ mnth 3 lines with 5gigs data each line, unlimited talk & Text.
Dishnetwork: $102/mnth
Interenet (wireless): $40/mnth
Edited by lhighquality 2014-09-05 2:12 PM
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 Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | $88 for Dish TV. I love the American Hero's channel (used to be the Military channel) and my husband likes his foot ball channels. We have 2 recievers and DVR or it could be a tad cheaper.
$49 for internet with Wild Blue. |
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 I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3314
Location: Jersey Girl | Internet and basic cable + HBO, $125. |
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 Texas Lone Star
Posts: 5318
Location: where ever my L/Q trl is parked | I don't look I just pay it... but I did get rid of Direct Tv only because I never watch it and I'm by myself. So it's just the DSL internet & cell phone unlimited text and calls both come to about $175. But I do buy lots of audio books to listen on my computer and also some DVDs. |
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Expert
Posts: 1255
| 60 internet and t.v is free.
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Expert
Posts: 1432
| $22.00 for the dish and $65 for my iPhone a month. I don't hve a home phone or internet so I just use my iPhone if I need to look up anything. |
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Folks on-line