RCN Raises Rates, Adds 'Downgrade Fee' > TWC Has a downgrade fee too they charge $2.99 fee

TWC Has a downgrade fee too they charge $2.99 fee

The ISP I use at home has this type of fee. They give you one change per 6 months and then I think it's a $5 fee. I asked why they had the fee and they said they had a good number of customers who would call and change their plan monthly.

reply to Anonymous_
whats wrong with a downgrade or change of service fee? People would change packages ALL of the time to get certain channels in for events or particular shows. Get bored with HBO, just call in a switch to TMC for a week, then switch to STARZ for a week... it keeps people from doing that

reply to Anonymous_
Dish has done that for as long as I can remember. Don't charge you for upgrading, but ding you for downgrading..

reply to Anonymous_

Not Comcast IME

reply to aparis99

Re: TWC Has a downgrade fee too they charge $2.99 fee

Completely disagree. The customers who cost the company money with silly phone calls are the ones playing the nickel-and-dime game, and should have to pay if they want to flip-flop back and forth between plans. It costs money to have people answering the phone and making adjustments to bills, so charging for frequent account changes makes sense to me.

reply to aparis99

reply to Anonymous_
What would be the fee if i told them to take there stuff and shove it up there ass?

reply to jester121
Yes, those pesky, inconvenient customers... They're really a problem. If it wasn't for them, these companies wouldn't have to have customer service. Think of all the money they could save then!

jester121, I respect your disagreement. Some people are unreasonable. Most people aren't unreasonable. Frankly, the customers wouldn't play the nickel-and-dime game if they felt they were getting appropriate value for their services. Most people wouldn't play the nickel-and-dime game if THEY weren't being nickeled-and-dimed for things that have historically been gratis and accepted as part of the service. It seems like our society has gotten away from being customer-centric and gone towards being corporate-centric. The signs are everywhere. It's kind of sad... Your sentiment kinds of summed up what the corporations seem to feel about the customer. Screw the customer. They need us more than we need them.... Thanks.

reply to battleop
That seems reasonable (or at least not wacky). If you're combatting that problem, a fee is a decent way to do it (as is a 3-mo. commitment). But $5 for any change, as opposed to more than one downgrade in a 3 (or 6) month period is just nasty.

Boo RCN.

reply to jjeffeory
I don't disagree with much of what you're saying, but it's kind of pointless to wistfully remember those good old days. Companies that refused to accept the fact that customers are not only sometimes wrong, but in fact that a large number of customers go out of their way to screw over companies, are no longer in business. Just like any number of other competitive advantages, those that chose not to adapt chose to fail, and aren't around. Companies that are smart enough to cut loose their unprofitable/bothersome customers and quit taking their crap will survive just fine, because bosses finally realized that for certain markets it's a zero sum game and they're content to shuffle market share back and forth.

We can argue all day about chicken vs. egg -- did some customers ruin it for everyone by scamming and trying to take advantage, or did companies "deserve" to get screwed over since they're inherently evil. However, it's not something I care deeply about, and I don't think I'm going to change anyone's mind one way or another.

reply to aparis99
Punker, do you work for the cablecos? Why shouldn't customers be able to change their minds when they want to without being treated as some kind of sinners? AFAIK, you can't switch for a week anyway -- what exactly is wrong with switching from HBO to Starz for a month, or dropping it altogether? You seem to think it's self-evident that whatever "keeps people from doing that" is obviously a fine thing.

RCN is pulling a scam here, raising rates and skimming extra bucks off of those who decide the new menu is no longer worth the money. It's a shame -- RCN is pretty good at the tech end, but habitually try to nickel and dime their customers at every turn.

ATT Universe and FIOS both say they're coming to my area soon. I'll be eagerly waiting to make the switch.

reply to jester121
This is supposed to be a tech company, not a corner store. If RCN were not run so badly it could easily let customers change their plan online. As it is, you have to spend half an hour minimum just to get some guy in India to switch your phone features (after RCN arbitrarily changed them without notice).