anon2020 wrote:
POdfurreal wrote:my bill is $184.61 a month, but wait, here's what i get for that extravagant fee: 15 mpbs, basic cable w/Bravo, etc (not HBO, STARZ, etc), and phone w/o VM (who needs that??). When i first ordered at $100/mo a couple of years ago i was told phone didn't affect the cost. Hmmm, and now i'm paying this ridiculous amount so i called to get a discount. Nope, all they had was $119 with movie channels (CAN YOU HEAR ME TWC, I DON'T WANT MOVIE CHANNELS??!!!), DVR (I DON'T WANT THIS EITHER!!!!), phone (does it still cost nothing??!!) and 30 mpbs. OR i could get a plan with all 3 + 6 mpbs. That's it. BUH BYE TWC, you suck at customer retention.
Prices "a couple of years ago" don't apply TODAY. You can't have everything for a reduced price and expect to keep it at a reduced price. Example: You don't go into the store and ask the cashier to ring up your favorite bag of chips for the price you paid 4 years ago instead of the retail rate [stores DO offer 'special pricing' for that bag of chips for a LIMITED TIME and then they go back to retail rate]. A store would simply lose money if they did that; the same applies here with TWC. TWC all ready pays out the rear end for the right to even broadcast the channels you currently receive. Customers are offered a special price, then over time the specialty pricing goes away, you have to deal with it and I have to deal with it. So you can either deal with it, or do what you are going to do anyway, cancel. But be warned, you WILL suffer the same problems as you did with TWC, you get a promo rate and then it goes UP and unfortunately for most providers you'll be locked into a "commitment" agreement that forces you to pay for retail rates after the second or third year lest you suffer their ETF.
Exactly,
You can always flip flop between providers, but even than, Direct TV has a one of two year contract requirement or early withdrawal termination fee. Not to mention issues with trees that can cause problems with such programing. With packages, you are still getting some pretty strong discounts over ala-carte pricing.
Many people want ala carte channels too, but the problem is that each provider would think they have the best channels and would think that the others are crap. With ESPN owned by Disney, you could wind up paying $10 a month for just that one channel, Than programing greed from the other providers would set in, and before long, your cable TV bill just for cable TV would be $200 or more a month.
Perhaps a compromising solution would be for TWC to start offering smaller packages compared to what Direct TV has done. TWC doesn't really have a price range between Starter TV, Standard TV, and Triple Play Packages. Some providers have Silver, Gold, and Platinum Packages where you could get something like this: (Note: The "Bronze Package" and the packages below are illustrated examples to show how TWC could benefit from more packages, providing more customer choice. Only Triple Play to my knowledge exists for their "Cable/Phone/Internet bundles.)
Bronze Package- 150 Digital Channels plus Free DVR Upgrade for one year and choice of one premium channel.
Silver Package- 200 Digital Channels, plus Free DVR upgrade for one year and choice of two premium channels.
Gold Package- 250 Digital Channels, Free DVR upgrade, for one year all premium channels plus choice of high speed Internet or Phone.
Platinum Package- 300+ Digital Channels, Free DVR upgrade for one year, plus all premium channels, and high speed Internet and Phone. (Like Triple Play is now. But you would get all Premium Channels and Movie Pass/Sports Pass.)
This gives the customer a better variety of packages that allows for greater selection and value. TWC used to have Double Play Packages, where you could combine two services like Surf and Talk or (Internet and Phone) or Watch and Talk (TV and Phone) or Surf and Watch (TV and Internet.) What happened to those packages? Maybe they need to go back to that, in addition to the variety of packages I talked about above. Right now, there's nothing between Standard TV and Triple Play. Give customers more packages from which to choose, and have it clearly defined on your webpage for ALL customers, (not just new ones.)
Each year, customers could trade up or down to clearer set of defined packages and services for both new and existing subscribers. In fact, Charter is doing this now. But is this only for new customers? See here:
https://www.charter.com/browse/content/packages
TWC needs more package options. It would make everyone happier.
Satch