Price hikes causing cancellations in socal - Adelphia HSI (2024)

mike90069

Member

2003-Dec-1 1:11 pm

Just returned the digital cable box to the local "Fortress Adelphia" office in West Hollywood. A nice long line of folks adding to the considerable pile of digital boxes...and cable modems....already stacking up. When I asked if the recent rate rape had caused a lot of cancellations, the nice clerk replied "tons!".

Can't wait to dump basic cable once the condo complex installs satellite tv this month!

By the way, picture and sound quality has improved greatly without the digital box.

rains81

Member

2003-Dec-1 2:14 pm

It is ridiculous what Adelphia is doing.

" Raping" people left and right.

You pay for a service and then out of no where it changes and they use the old fav excuse "oh your area is being upgraded, that service is no longer available"

WTF Adelphia! You can't give someone something and then change it a month later and ask for more money!

I have already taken back my digital cable box since Adelphia took away my HBO channels.

So now I pay $91 a month for Powerlink and Cable Tv.

I can't wait till Feb when I can move and I can get something other than Adelphia.

Sharingan to mike90069

Member

2003-Dec-1 3:07 pm

chrisbmoore
join:2003-08-28
Elkins Park, PA

chrisbmoore

Member

2003-Dec-1 4:19 pm

Jabbu to mike90069

Premium Member

2003-Dec-1 5:04 pm

ashakouri1

Member

2003-Dec-1 6:14 pm

Where can I go online to see how much my rate is changing, I have called adelphia powerlink twice to ask about other options and both times they told me different things. The first time I called they said the price increase was $20 if I kept my Powerlink and digital cable box with the extra channels and another time the lady told me it was about $5 extra.

I currently have the adelphia powerlink package, I get powerlink and a digital cable box with the extra channels (not the HBO package), and I believe I am paying about $83-$85 a month. I pay I think about $77 for the service and then all the taxes and stuff like that add up to about mid $80's. So I was wondering how much the price would change and where I could get that info from.

Also I wanted to say that I have been looking into DirecTV or Dish for a long time now, my cable service sucks because I get all this static with the picture and for some reason at night some of the channels don't look clear and I get lines through them. And I was looking at the 100 plus package with local for dish and a similar one for Directv for about $34.99-$39.99. Which is relatively cheap compared to the price increase but the only thing is that if I cancel Adelphia cable my powerlink price would increase by I think $10 and it would come out basically the same.

antdude to mike90069

Premium Member

2003-Dec-1 6:58 pm

How about people don't use Adelphia for cable TV (even basic), just Internet?

I would leave too but I have no other decent broadband choices in my area.

Sunsetstrip

MVM

2003-Dec-1 7:04 pm

said by antdude:How about people don't use Adelphia for cable TV (even basic), just Internet?

because they "rape" you a extra $10 for not being a TV customer

Strange thing was I got a letter saying my package was going up $11 this month and got the bill and no increase...oh well it's just a matter of time before the digital box goes back,maybe the lines will be shorter ..........NOT !

antdude

Premium Member

2003-Dec-1 7:10 pm

said by Sunsetstrip:

said by antdude:How about people don't use Adelphia for cable TV (even basic), just Internet?

because they "rape" you a extra $10 for not being a TV customer

Strange thing was I got a letter saying my package was going up $11 this month and got the bill and no increase...oh well it's just a matter of time before the digital box goes back,maybe the lines will be shorter ..........NOT !

I didn't want to get the cable TV because Adelphia wasn't that great a few years ago (when @Home existed). I heard a lot of problems back then. I heard even if I get cable TV over my existing PowerLink service, I don't get 10 bucks cheaper. Well, I didn't know that back then (darnit!).

Robotics to Jabbu

Premium Member

2003-Dec-1 8:14 pm

Being a Ham Radio Operator, and love every bit of SWL (Short Wave Listening) I also have ample time to monitor my scanners, which are set to many local communications. (listen to them all day long at home and at work)
One being all three frequencies Adelphia uses out here in my neck of the woods.
By law Im not able to go into detail (divulge) of the conversations I here.
But I am able to say I have heard literally 100's of Adelphia's customer's "downgrade" their service. And the things I hear them road tech's say, along with the dispatcher, is something you probably could'nt even dream up thinking. And Im not joking. I'd say at least 30+ a day, 6 day's a week, in the last 4 weeks. It's amazing. 80% are going to the basic channels with and without powerlink.
The area out here has serious problems with powerlink, and cable reception on the TV's.

Thought I'd throw that in.......As much faith as I have in this company, I cant see how they are going to make it financially (even with the price hike, and less channels) something just isn't adding up, beside's...they haven't fixed many issue's out here in the last 6 month's.
Time will tell..........

mike90069

Member

2003-Dec-1 8:23 pm

As far as the price increase goes, it's tricky.

The old "Adelphia Advantage" package (basic+digital+powerlink) ran $87, with some variations due to local taxes. Adelphia will tell you that the new "Bronze" pac is equivalent. NOT TRUE. Not all the old digital channels are included in the Bronze Pac. In fact, only the crappy "basic cable repeat" channels (discovery science, Goodlife, etc) are included in the Bronze. If you want all the digital channels, including the good ones (History International, IFC, Sundance) you have to buy the next level up and they FORCE you to take HBO or another premium.

The price for the Bronze Pac, which is less channels, rises from $87 to $110, with some local tax variation. The Silver goes for $117. That's a 20-30% increase. RIDICULOUS!

If you're getting Powerlink on it's own, it's $55 plus taxes. At least four of my friends who had Powerlink alone are switching to SBC DSL. The install went off flawlessly..absolutely no problems. They do notice the speed difference a little.....but the $20 price differential is even more noticeable.

Fortunately, my condo complex is installing DirecTV later this month, so I'll be dumping Adelphia Cable completely.

Nice to know that the customer revolt isn't limited to California!

Sharingan to mike90069

Member

2003-Dec-1 9:45 pm

mike90069

Member

2003-Dec-1 9:48 pm

In the more bad news dept, some Adelphia areas have been informed that there will be a 7% rate hike in January...I would expect them to jack rates about that amount in every area. This is on top of the "rate hike that isn't a rate hike" they raped us with in December.

These guys are really, really stupid.

kfsutops to mike90069

Premium Member

2003-Dec-1 10:11 pm

Where are the Adelphia boys to defend their company. No nice arguments that people aren't really turning in their boxes? I really would like to see the numbers of people that either cancelled or downgraded their service.

I'm out of town for 3 weeks and if my system hasn't been upgraded. Goodbye (probably make a few people here happy)Adelphia! Completely and never again. Breaking out the old dish and will figure a way to make it work.

I was in my local office late last week and a couple of people were doing the same. My dumb arse was getting another box because mine all of a sudden didn't work anymore.

It's funny watching the people in the local office try so hard to make people happy. I kind of feel sorry for them for having to spill out the Adelphia garbage.

RR Conductor to mike90069

Premium Member

2003-Dec-1 10:17 pm

chrisbmoore
join:2003-08-28
Elkins Park, PA

chrisbmoore to ashakouri1

Member

2003-Dec-1 11:53 pm

chrisbmoore to Sharingan

Member

2003-Dec-1 11:57 pm

hobgoblin to mike90069

Premium Member

2003-Dec-2 12:26 am

Kfsutops asked

"Where are the Adelphia boys to defend their company."

Actually most, in fact all of "the Adelphia Boys" that hang in here are engaged in Tech support functions. Most Techies have very little idea of prices of cable TV packages prefering actually to concentrate on the Technical aspect of the Powerlink service which I believe this forum is mostly about.

I have Dish Network, America's everything package. The total cost is about $95 once you add Local Networks, 2 boxes etc. It serves it's purpose. I have no high speed option, I wish I could pick up a cable package that gave me one..I'd consider downgrading my TV Channels to pick up a Broadband package.

I do however take offense at the term "rape" in relation to cable TV Pricing. The term has been used by 3 different posters in this thread. I am sure there is a more appropriate word that could be used.

Hob

Jabbu

Premium Member

2003-Dec-2 12:36 am

said by hobgoblin:I do however take offense at the term "rape" in relation to cable TV Pricing. The term has been used by 3 different posters in this thread. I am sure there is a more appropriate word that could be used.

Hob

Taking it up the arse, maybe?

hobgoblin

Premium Member

2003-Dec-2 12:43 am

Jabbu used profanity posting

"Taking it up the arse, maybe?"

No that was not quite what I was thinking of at all.
Isn't there a more pleasant term that we could use?

Hob

RR Conductor

Premium Member

2003-Dec-2 12:46 am

Jabbu to mike90069

Premium Member

2003-Dec-2 12:46 am

Sunsetstrip to hobgoblin

MVM

2003-Dec-2 12:46 am

"Raked over the coals,exact, pinch, screw, shake down, squeeze, wrench, wrest, wring"

and I apologize for my use,as you noticed I was quoting prior posts

RR Conductor

Premium Member

2003-Dec-2 12:49 am

rickten to mike90069

Member

2003-Dec-2 3:33 am

yep just went home for the holiday weekend. After being home for only two hours my mom asks me to take a look at some info she got from adelphia because she was sure she had read something wrong. Taking channels away and raising the price just didn't seem to make sense to her especially when they were calling it upgrades in service packages. The letter was VERY decieving in the way they showed the future pricing structure. They had a breakdown of previous service and prices and then right next to it what the future plans would be called and the prices. The totals at the bottom lead my mom to believe that she was going to be paying an increase of about 3 bucks for the same service as before but with simply a different billing structure. However after closer inspection and looking through the info about what the packages actually included one came to realize hbo was gone along with many other channels. The next day we saw an ad for directv 4 room hookup free equipment and installation and called right away. Good riddance adelphia.

my mom is not a technical person, all she wants to do is check her email, check her stocks for her investment club, watch the news and the occasion movie of the week. She was telling me how she just could not believe the horrible service adelphia was providing that for those menial tasks she wasn't even satisfied. She's 55 and said she can't remember ever having so many problems with a cable company and commented on how they couldnt' even get the ghosting and lines floating across the screen to go away on channels 2-10 even after sending the tech out to replace cables and our digital box.

RR Conductor

Premium Member

2003-Dec-2 4:49 am

bjbjusmc to mike90069

Premium Member

2003-Dec-2 5:17 am

RR Conductor

Premium Member

2003-Dec-2 5:35 am

CableMan1
join:2002-01-22

CableMan1 to mike90069

Member

2003-Dec-2 6:50 am

"Where are the Adelphia boys to defend their company."

well, i've been reading this all along. to be honest i haven't said anything because i hear this every day and i get tired of answering it.

do i agree with the rates? totally. why because according to the releases we've received in our office we have been one of the cheapest cable providers in this region(northeast). i think the reason everyone think's it's so terrible is because it was such a drastic change. the newspaper ran an article last week posting that another cable company in the area was about to raise their rates again. this one was so much softer spoken than when adelphia was in huge bold print on the front cover expressing their new rates.

i'm doing more disco's and downgrades than before which hurts us locally. a person i know made a comment that when you pay for local business that $$$ is going to end up going back into that area. kinda hurts me to know that joe blow wants to pay the dish man's salary over in the next state. i know it doesn't seem like much but start adding more joe blows and you get the point.

maybe it's just me but i wouldn't want to sign a contract for a year or two into something that may just be as bad after that contract comes up.

oh well that's my input for now. maybe i'll post something special later on. off to fight another day.

ashakouri1 to RR Conductor

Member

2003-Dec-2 6:51 am

I honestly believe that some if not most of the problem arises from the merger that would have taken place if DirecTV could have merged with Echostar if it was not for the FCC. It was not too long ago when DirecTV and Echostar wanted to merge to better compete with the cable companies but the merger was put aside by the FCC because it would be a monopoly. But I think DirecTV and Echostar don't compete with each other but compete with cable and if the merger would have happened I think we would have seen lower satellite prices and the competition might have given a wake up call to the cable companies.

But as it is right now I am seriously looking to switching to DirecTV or Echostar. I saw a deal for a 3 system plus dish with activation and once the price for cable settles and I know what I am exactly paying, I will look into the other options and maybe even switch to DSL. Therefore, I think that DirecTV and Verizon should applaud Adelphia for the price increase because they will probably be getting my business very soon.