Misleading Customers Can Backfire

I logged in to my Cox Cable account today intending to add voicemail to my telephone service. I already have their triple play -- tv + internet + phone -- and wanted to leave my old answering machine in the past where it belongs.

I was please to see there was a promotion going on that would reduce the price of the upgrade for a few months, and even more please to see an invitation to "Go Faster with an Internet Speed Upgrade" too. I was ready to upgrade my internet package for a special price of only $5.00 extra per month, and excitedly pressed the happy blue ORDER NOW button, like an obedient consumer.

But my excitement faded when I went to check out and saw that upgrade would be $33.00 more per month AND there would be an additional $75 one time fee. 

Funny how it didn't say any of that before I was ready to check out. I've always had a good experience with Cox, and was surprised by the disconnect. I figured it was just a problem with the website, so I called the toll-free number to speak with someone, fully expecting them to straighten things out.

Ruh-Roh

What I was told was that the $5.00 upgrade doesn't apply to me, since I already have the second-best internet service. That offer is only good for people with slower service than I already have. I was logged in to my account when I got the offer. It seems to me the site should have known what I already had, and not offered me something it couldn't make good on. Or at the very least, there should have been an asterisk next to the offer leading to some fine print saying, "Doesn't apply to the Ultimate service."

What's That Now?

But leaving that aside, I asked what the one time charge was all about. After all, it didn't say anything about that on the page offering me to upgrade. Not even in asterisked fine print. The agent told me that was an error. It should have been $60 not $75. 

Apparently, to get the "Ultimate" internet service, Cox needs to send a technician to your house. Not to install any equipment -- I already have the required DOCSIS 3 modem. No, he has to come out to check the lines and make sure everything is working properly.  

And I have to pay for that? 

Yes, according to Cox. Although it's not necessary for any of the other service changes -- just the one I wanted.

Fool Me Once -- I Trash My Shopping Cart

Feeling like I'd been the victim of a bait and switch, I decided not to upgrade my internet service -- nor my phone service. So Cox missed out on what would have earned them hundreds and hundreds of dollars over the next few years -- I've been a customer since 1994 -- and left a bitter taste in the mouth of a long-time customer all because they chose  not to be up-front with the real charges.

A poor choice for them to have made, in my opinion.