Cable=EVIL

I was going to write about something a bit more intelligent, but seeing as I spent more than a few hours of my life dealing with the evilness that is Charter I must vent now. Cable TV is one of the great monopolies and evils left in modern day life. I wish I could do without them, but the idea of watching only channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 (yikes UPN!) just doesn't seem like a doable option.

First, they really don't want you to pay them. I have tried paying Charter for 2 months, but my online account will not log on. I've tried resetting the password and user id twice to no avail. And since I was trying to save a tree I no longer receive paper bills. Every time I speak with one of their customer service reps, they ask me the most ridiculous questions e.g. "Was the person you spoke with in technical service?" I don't know! All I know is they said they reset my information. Don't they have logs of when you called last and who you spoke to? Next time I'll ask for their position description and resume.

Second, they don't care if their service works. A little over 3 months ago I signed up for internet from Charter. Its faster than DSL and the only company I hate more than Charter is Verizon (they didn't send me a bill for over 6 months!). The internet was at snail speed for the first 6 weeks and after a total of 4 service calls, no one could tell me why it wasn't working. Each of the guys would come out and look at the wires and call the guy who had come out before. The conversation would go like this:

Service Guy: "Heyyyy. Did you come to Acacia last week? What's wrong with it? Yeah it looks like everything is cool. I don't know why they f****ing called me out here. Aight, I'll put in for further maintenance.

Finally, I found one customer service guy who for whatever reason actually wants to do his job well to figure out how to get it fixed.

But the worst is probably there blatant lies. The prices quoted on their website are totally different than the ones online, and unless you ask for the package they won't automatically give it to you. I was also told I would get OnDemand only to find out that it wasn't available in my area.

I guess I could switch to Satellite, but that seems like a lot more work, plus who wants all of their tv on East coast time? I really hope that technology catches up with cable soon, and we can all say goodbye to their monopoly on bad service and high prices.