:(hello everyone,
well, here I am a mostly satisfied cox customer, that is until last month. Then I was notified that cox was going all digital. Ok, so no biggie, get a mini box and call it done. WRONG!
The packages I was previously paying for were not available via the mini box and the other digital box I had (for less than a year) also wouldn't work. Now, I did get the mini-box at no extra charge (for the first year). Still, it was that second digital box that started the issues.
Firstly, it had to be changed out. New box rental was $12 (same as before). ok, so no problem there.
secondly, the Tivo DVR that was on the 2nd TV was not compatible with either unit.
thirdly, as a result of the second point above, I was forced to have to acquire a cox DVR with the same capabilities. THe nearest to that was the contour 2 (with blind accessible controls) and 6 program record capability. This is where things really get tense.
the cox box (contour 2) has a box rental cost of $19 (recurring). The DVR feature enabled is $12 (not a 1 time setup either, but recurring)
basically, when you ad up all the fees, taxes, etc. my bill went from $150 to $225. What is wrong with this picture? It just seems to me that the FCC mandate for all cable providers to cease analog video is costing customers more than before.
here is a breakdown of the current monthly bill:
taxes: $24.07
telephone: $23.98
internet: $71.98
tv: $142.97
total: $224.61.
the above price already reflects the bundled discounts of $38.40
here is the may bill (before I was forced to convert to all digital):
tV: $102.48
internet: $71.98
telephone: $23.98
taxes: $19.67
Total (including a bundled discount of $63.50): $154.71
please note the huge change. Most of this is in the TV part of the bill. Aside from the $5 for taxes, the difference is $69.90
breakdown of the additional cost:
dvr feature fee (recurring): $19.99
DVR box rental: $8.50
contour receiver rental: $8.50
Mini box rental: $2.99
broadcast surcharge: $3.00
cox service protection plan: $6.99
yet, there is nothing left to account for the additional $19.93 left over that isn't detailed anywhere else in the bill.
It's not in the taxes, one time fees ($0), discounts or even a late fee ($0). It's not accounted for ANYWHERE!
Also, the DVR-6 service (listed above as a DVR feature dee) is monthly. Shouldn't this be a 1 time fee? Seriously, this feature is remote enabled and managed locally on the DVR unit itself. why the recurring fee? I can understand the recurring box rental for 3 total units (2 contour boxes and a mini box) and the broadcast surcharge. Still, there is no valid reason for this stupidly high level increase I am forced to suffer. If I weren't on a 2 year pricelock contract, I would dump the video completely, move the phone to magic jack plus and have an apple tV unit and strictly the internet.
I also do not see a valid reason for why the basic service package (first 99 channels) should cost so much. Seriously, I don't watch ESPN (which I am being charged $40 as part of the basic package) nor should I be paying for an average of 24 minutes of commercial interruption in each hour Hell! for 50%of the current tv services price at cox, I could go to Dish Network and get all the same features and equipment (and thats regular price folks!).
on top of everything else, I am a long term cox customer (23 years) and should be seeing some kind of customer loyalty discount for all of that time. Do they offer this? NOPE! In fact, every time I have tried to LOWER my bill (reduction of internet speed, etc.) it kills the bundled discount and actually causes an increase in the bill. Honestly, something here just doesn't add up!
Anyone Else seeing this?
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