said by CXM_Splicer:No, what bothers me is that companies will raise rates simply because they know many people aren't willing to waste time and aggravation fighting them and going through the inconvenience to switch to another company (assuming there is one). It is simply exploitation of customer's time which has nothing to do with ability to pay.
I disagree. If you don't have 30 minutes a year to negotiate your annual contract, then you can afford whatever increase is applied. Where I come from, we call that "lazy" - even as we might agree with some of your sentiment.
You don't have to switch to another company.
Most firms in this country are not charities. They're in business to make a profit. In order to attract capital to invest in the expansion of their network that you and others so often call for, those profits need to be maintained, in a world where costs continue to climb (labor, benefits, taxes, rent, etc). Rate hikes are going to happen.
If the firm applies them in a way that requires customers to be diligent, so what?
There is nothing wrong with that.