Mom Puts her Foot Down, and Simultaneously Puts Her Money Where Her Mouth Is

My mom has gone and done it! She canceled her cable service yesterday. I was in shock. She hadn't mentioned her obvious vendetta against that company since she was all up in arms about their new one box/one TV policy, in which they required EVERYBODY to update their receivers, and to pay an additional monthly fee of five dollars per converter box. Even though many people did not want the upgrade.

I might have related how one of my co-workers said her husband went to the cable office to get the boxes, and saw an armed guard in the lobby. And how the clerk told him that since he had been polite, he could have his for half price. That's no way to run a business. Either you can afford to give everybody a break, or you require everybody to pay the full amount. Pardon my barnyard linguistics, but that's horsepoo.

So, out of the blue yesterday, my mom left me a message. "I've gone to town to stop my cable service. Be back later in case you're trying to reach me." Huh. So unlike Mom, to do something without discussing it for several hundred hours first. AND...the Cardinals were playing at 6:00 p.m. Surely Mom would not cancel her cable and go without TV until she found another provider!

I gave her time to complete her mission, and rang her up. "Mom! What's going on? You haven't talked about this cable thing for a while. Did something happen?"

"No. It's been bothering me for a while. Yesterday, I called and got AT & T back as my phone service. Then I called DISH Network and they're coming out Thursday morning to install a dish and get me all set up. I'm still keeping that high-speed cable internet for The Pony, because he enjoys it so much. But I'm just tired of the way that cable company treats people. I don't care if I don't save ANY money, I will be happier like this."

"But...don't the Cardinals play tonight? You'll be without TV!"

"No I won't. I am paid with cable through the 18th. So I will have everything ready to switch over when my cable is disconnected. I still have it now to watch the Cardinals. After I went over to the cable office and told them what I wanted, a lady called me. She wanted to know why I was cancelling my service. I told her I did not like having to pay that extra five dollars per TV. I said it was just too much now that they'd increased their rates also. I said, 'I didn't mind too much paying up to $150 a month. But now it's $179, and I won't pay that.' And do you know what she said? She said, 'Well, we can reduce your phone bill to $19.99, and that will give you a monthly bill of $143. Let's do that, and you can keep our service.' And I told her no. Why didn't they offer me that in the beginning when I complained about the boxes? I'm not playing around with them any more. I don't care if my bill is higher now. I'm done with them."

"I know what you mean. Either they can afford to have lower rates or they can't. That's bull, giving some people cheaper bills. Hey! You may be the only person who was actually paying the full amount! Maybe everyone else complained and got theirs lowered."

"That may be. But I'm done with them! Except for the internet. For The Pony."

"He will be happy that you thought of him. I hope you like DISH. I'll help you with the remote, until you learn how to use it."

"That would be great. They're coming between 8:00 and noon on Thursday. I'll let you know what they say about switching over on the 18th."

"Yeah. Genius is gone. The Pony is gone. I guess Hick can help you out when he comes to mow your yard. Show you what you have to take back to the cable office."

"I feel so good now that I finally got rid of the cable."

Yep. My mom. She'll gladly pay more to teach that cable company a lesson. I'm about ready to do the same thing with SPRINT concerning my internet.

Like mother, like daughter. We are two peas in a pod. Two gals in holey sweatpants. We'll teach those companies a lesson in customer service.