[mythtv-users] Comcast SF Bay Area Raised Cablecard Fees

[Kirk Bocek]

On 7/14/2016 10:01 AM, Kirk Bocek wrote:
>
>
> On 7/14/2016 9:58 AM, Peter Bennett wrote:
>> Where I am in Massachusetts we are charged $0.00 for each cablecard,
>> plus digital additional outlet fee of $7.45, so it is really $7.45. The
>> first cable card has no outlet fee if you do not have a set top box. By
>> not having any set top box I also save having to pay the HD 
>> Technology Fee.
>>
>> Peter
>>
>>
>
> When I got my first card, it counted as my "free" box, so no fee. When 
> I got my second one, they counted it as being in the same device. I 
> guess Tivo has a two-card model and that's all the rep could 
> understand. I any case, I managed to avoid the "outlet" fee.

I just got off the phone with Comcast. Surprise, surprise! The rep said 
he would remove the charge altogether. (Wait for cardio-paddles to take 
effect...) I asked he to make sure the *cards* are not disabled. My 
channels disappeared anyway.  Called back and got it fixed. The new rep 
talked about a "Tivo Price". They should be giving me the first card 
free. But the new price for a second card is $9.95. <sigh>

Got a nice off-list email from a Robert from the Consumer Video Choice 
Coalition. I'll let him post directly here if he wants to. I'd like to 
know more about any organizations looking out for this subject.

He asked:

·         Do you have more than one CableCARD in the house? (I thought 
their uniform policy was 0 charge for the first one.)

·         If not, did you ever have a TiVo (for the old TiVo models that 
needed two single-stream cards, they would charge $.80 for the second 
card – maybe that’s where they got the prior $.80 charge).

·         Did they send you any notice of an increase?  Say that they 
had reviewed your account & were making a “correction”? Or did your bill 
just change one month?

  Yes, two cards. Never had a Tivo, it was just the easiest way to talk 
to the reps. They have no idea what an HD Homerun Prime is.

No notice of any price increase. But the rep talked about a system 
change that wouldn't allow whatever billing setup I previously had. So 
this might not be a price change. Related to this, I asked for a price 
list detailing all possible charges. He said it wasn't available. That 
doesn't seem right.