If you’ve ever seen the advertisements for cable TV, you may wonder why you can’t ever seem to get a good rate like that. After all, according to the back and forth commercials between satellite TV and cable television, it seems like a $99.99 per month cable TV bill would be an easy score, and yet, no one ever seems to pay that much. Is it all part of a big cable TV scam?
Real Cable Bill
The problem, of course, with those advertised cable TV rates, like those from Comcast and Time Warner, and those from satellite TV companies like Dish Network and DirecTV, is that they have plenty of fine print typed neatly at the bottom of the page where you won’t notice it. So, when you are offered a $99.99 cable TV bundle of some sort, you are actually agreeing to pay far more than the rate advertised in big, bold letters.
So, just how do cable companies trick you into paying higher rates than they advertise?
The answer, as always, is fine print and long disclosures. That advertised rate is a just a base rate, and there are several add-ons that will jack your final bill up higher and higher.
Limited-Time Offer Cable Package
The trick to legally advertising one rate and then charging a higher amount is disclosing additional fees and charges in such a way that most customers won’t notice them, but also in such a way so as to be legally sufficient.
The key to hidden fees is the difference between bold, front-page text and small, buried text. Go to the Comcast website, the DirecTV website, or pickup a brochure from Time Warner or Dish Network and you’ll see the same things. Most noticeable is a bold, color price in big font. You’ll notice something like $79.95 per month for an internet and cable bundle.
Sounds good, right?
You can upgrade to faster internet or add premium channels like HBO. Of course, those aren’t hidden fees, those are choices you make. If HBO is worth $10 per month to you, then by all means add it. Just don’t blame the cable company for that one.
It is worth nothing that adding HBO is $10 per month, but right beside that price in slightly smaller gray text are the words, “For 12 Months.” A savvy customer should have a light blinking in their head, and be asking how much it is after 12 months. In fact, if you click through to the next page and get the details you’ll notice that your $99.95 deal is also just for 12 months.
The bread and butter of all cable TV and satellite TV scams is the limited-time offer. After you’ve been a customer for a while, and you’ve stopped paying attention to the competitor’s packages, your monthly fee goes up, and it does so silently. With no additional notice, your bill is just higher the month after your package expires. Many customers don’t even notice. They are even less likely to notice if they have set up automatic payment. After all, for a lot of people, the difference between $100 and $135 isn’t enough to throw off their budget. If you don’t closely watch your expenses, you could be paying a higher rate for months before you even catch it.
If customers do notice, they put their bill aside to call about it later, then they forget all about it. Pretty soon, months have gone by, and the new, higher rate, starts to transform into the “normal” rate in your mind.
The good news is that if you do call to inquire about your bill, chances are that the cable company will sign you up on a new package that has a similar rate. Of course, that will be a limited-time deal as well. It’s a game the company’s computers are willing to play forever, hoping that one-day, most people will end up quitting and just paying the higher rate.
Hidden Fees on Cable Bills
Even if you are diligent and keep that cable bill from rising every six months or twelve months, the cable company has other tricks up its sleeve.
Unlike the cell phone companies, the cable guys don’t rely on filling your bill with fake government fees. Those taxes and the franchise fees on most cable bills, as well as any 911 service fees, are legit. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t have other hidden charges to pad your bill with.
While you are examining a TV package, you’ll probably notice that DVR service is free. That should make you happy. After all, DVRs have become pretty much standard for most TV watchers. However, you just missed the trick. Even though the service is free, the DVR box is not.
At last look, DISH charges around $10 per month for a basic DVR and Comcast charges $11 or $17 per month depending upon whether or not it is a high-definition DVR box. Your $80 monthly package just increased in price by more than 11 percent! And, that’s just for one DVR. Think each additional DVR box is free?
Guess again, Naïve Pants.
But, wait, there’s even more hidden fees. That internet access requires a cable modem to connect. Comcast charges $7 per month for their cable modem at last look.
All in, you are looking at $18 to $25 extra each month, at minimum. That means your $100 package is now a $118 or $125 package, and that is before any other bells and whistles you might add on.
How To Cut Your Cable Bill
There are some things that you can do to lower your cable bill each month.
First, and foremost, watch your bill diligently. Know what you pay each month, and investigate any increase, regardless of amount. Most cable companies prorate their bills, so if your trial offer period has expired, your bill might only go up a little bit the first month. For example, if your trial offer expires on the 15th, and your billing cycle ends on the 30th, you’ll only see half of the increase on that first bill. If your offer ended on the 28th, the increase might be very small. If you see any change, call.
Second, see if you can replace the equipment that costs a monthly fee with equipment you can purchase yourself. For example, watch for a good deal on a cable modem and you can buy one and then save the $7 per month. You’re savings will add up in no time
In the end, the key to a reasonable cable bills is being watchful and making smart decisions. Otherwise you can always try cutting the cord to the cable companies.
The same apply to all services supplied by cable, phone and other communications companies. In the last thirty years it has been my experience that no matter what the advertised rate is, your actual bill will be almost exactly three times that amount and I have lived in four states, in seven markets and dealt with over a dozen communications companies in that time. Also, I have found that whatever the advertised upload and download speeds are that you are paying for what you actually get is about 20% of those speeds. One final caveat, do not enter into any kind of automatic payment system where they bill your bank account or credit card every month automatically. When I moved from Rhode Island I gave notice to the cable company. I called them up on the first Monday in October to cancel my service. The first horror came when they never showed up to collect the equipment. I took a day off work and sat around at home all day waiting and they never showed. I called and they said they came by but nobody answered the door. That was of course a lie as I sat on my front step from all day from sun up to sun down waiting. They then insisted I either re schedule which I could not do or drive to their location forty miles away to return the equipment which I could not do and they absolutely refused to let me ship it to them they would not give me an address to ship it to. So I ended up quitting my job a day earlier costing me a day’s pay and drove the 80 mile round trip to return their equipment. But that was not where the actual horror story begins.
They billed me for all of October. I paid pro rated so I paid on September 1st for all of September. I was not expecting them to take that money from my checking account. But it didn’t stop there. Despite the fact that I repeatedly called to remind them that I canceled my account, each time I called they insisted it was the first they heard of the order and that they would send someone out to collect the equipment which I already returned. But wait, it gets better. They billed me for November, then they billed me for December, each time collecting the amount from my checking account, $280 each bill. I threatened legal action. I threatened to file a police report for fraud/theft. They kept billing me and taking money from my checking account. I went to my bank the first time it happened and they said they couldn’t do much and even if I closed my account the act of attempting to collect the amount, by the cable company would reactivate my account and would put me in arrears by that amount and i would have to reimburse the bank for paying the cable company. I then tried to fill out a form to inform the bank that the cable company was not authorized to take any money from my bank account every again. I moved to another state in December yet they kept sending the bills and collecting the money from my bank. January, February, March, April they kept it up. I got an Email from my old banker in April informing me that they paid the cable company the $280 and I had to pay them. When I reminded them of the form I filled out they told me it expired at 90 days. I told them them I was informed I would not have to worry again. they told me I had to fill out another form for the next 90 days. I told them send it to me and I would. They said no that I have to fill it out in person in the presence of a bank officer. I told them that I don’t live in that state any more, I live 1500 miles away and will not and cannot travel every three months to the other side of the country to fill out a form. The cable company collected the $280 from my bank in May, June, July, August, Sept and October of 2015. Each time I made multiple phone calls to my bank and to the cable company and each time every body pretended to be dumb. Now the bank informs me that they filed a law suit against me. I told them sue yourself for being an idiot and I’m not going back to Rhode Island over this. Meanwhile I did file a police report over the phone for each time the cable company stole money from my canceled bank account. They finally stopped trying to take money from that defunct account in December of 2015. I have the work order to cancel service and the receipt for return of equipment and the police told me that is all I need but they expressed doubts about anything happening since the cable company purchased the Rhode Island government about 20 years ago and can do anything they want.
Bottom line, do not ever do automatic payments with any communications company. Just pay each bill as it comes.
Basic cable services should be free for everybody.