Interesting exchange with Cox (sales, 2015, home)

[Voebe]

Despite my dislike (putting it mildly!) of Cox, I had to call them and found they've done something clever. As I recall, it used to be that if you wanted to add or subtract from your service, they'd connect you to the sales department; now, the telephone menu distinguishes between adding and subtracting - and if you want to downgrade they transfer you instead to the retention people who try to cajole you.

I had someone staying with me who wanted more TV, so I'd temporarily upgraded from the basic first tier of cable to the third tier. And I wanted to downgrade now. Here's what seems odd to me: If you want their "economy" second tier, they've set it up so that it requires a cable-box. And then naturally they charge you extra for the box. They claim that it's necessary to shut out the other premium channels. But I don't think they used to need that for the second tier. Does anyone know if it's the norm with other companies in other cities?

Because coincidentally, I was just reading this:

The Cable-Box Boondoggle
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/31/op...oxes.html?_r=0

Oh, and another funny thing. I was going on Cox's website, and found that if you look under prices, first, all they give you is the low-ball installation costs. Second, as far as I can tell, they will tell you nothing, absolutely nothing, until they collect your precise personal information. They will not even describe the available options. That reminds me that several years ago, on the telephone, even as I ordered, they kept telling me it would be "around" a certain rices but said they were unable to give an exact price until I had formalized the order.

[azriverfan.]

I know people who call Cox every month and speak to their retention department to lower their bills and it works. It's chip and charge. Chip away at reducing your monthly bill

[Bummer]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

I know people who call Cox every month and speak to their retention department to lower their bills and it works. It's chip and charge. Chip away at reducing your monthly bill

Me too, AZRiverFan . . .

Such crap wouldn't be necessary if only Cox would show some respect to their loyal customers who have been with them for years and pay their bills on time . . . cut the greed and leave well enough alone.

Personally, I feel Cox should "reward" me every time I am forced to watch one of their idiotic TV commercials which is about four to six times an hour.

[azdr0710]

yeah, everybody loves to hate the cable company!....me too!

I've been slowly phasing out my connection to Cox....I cut cable TV entirely a couple years ago and got an HD antenna for the basic networks...yeah, I don't get all the CNN, Weather Channel, Discovery stuff, but never really watched anyway....and I'll be cutting my landlines soon and finally getting a smartphone.....

I admit my internet "experience" with Cox has been very good.....outages that appear to be their fault are very, very rare.....

does anybody get mailings from Cox touting some bundle plan about every week??.....what a waste of postage and paper......

[yukon]

Why not totally cut Comcast out of the picture? Get Chromecast. Or go to the network websites, hulu, netflicks, amazon etc. and pay for monthly memberships. MUCH cheaper than cable.

[Voebe]

Just to get back to the original question, I was wondering about the cable boxes...it had been my impression that if you had a cable-ready TV, you shouldn't need them.

Wondering what other people's experience was.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Voebe

Just to get back to the original question, I was wondering about the cable boxes...it had been my impression that if you had a cable-ready TV, you shouldn't need them.

Wondering what other people's experience was.

They are going to encryption like everyone else. Don't think of it as a "cable" box, think of it as an encryption tool. Too many people stealing cable and that will fix it.

[Ztonyg]

I don't have the box yet.

[Voebe]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

They are going to encryption like everyone else. Don't think of it as a "cable" box, think of it as an encryption tool. Too many people stealing cable and that will fix it.

But why ONLY on the second tier, and especially when it wasn't done that way before? What about other providers, other cities?

[Bummer]

Originally Posted by Voebe

Just to get back to the original question, I was wondering about the cable boxes...it had been my impression that if you had a cable-ready TV, you shouldn't need them.

Wondering what other people's experience was.

Three "Cable Ready TVs" in my home and not one requires / needs a Cable Box.