Not long ago I wrote an article about my transition from Direct TV to Suddenlink Cable and Internet. It was a difficult and emotional decision, but one that required a practical solution rather than a comfortable one. At the time my article first appeared I was satisfied with the customer service I had received. While my television picture was not what I was used to, I was prepared to live with the difference for the time being… that is until receiving a call from the Suddenlink promotions department about a week into my new subscription. The magical disembodied voice on the other end of the cellular call offered me all of my hearts digital desires, five plus movie channels, digital HD boxes, a digital recorder, ten meg internet and an overall more fulfilling life, all for about the same price or only slightly higher than what I was currently paying. After an extensive interview, I settled, not on the full movie channel option, (my lifestyle does not allow for my becoming a professional shut-in), but instead on the advance tier option, (supposedly around two hundred channels if I understood the voice correctly), a new digital cable box and the ten meg internet. I was pleased beyond words. I had essentially added a service to my home while paying less money for it! My monthly rate had just gone from ninety one dollars, to eighty four dollars. The installer was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday morning with my digital box and all my missing channels. Little did I realize that in a few short days the corporate machine would put the skids on my new found enthusiasm.

Saturday morning while participating in an annual school fund raiser, I was interrupted by a call from my new television and internet provider, advising me that the wealth of services the voice had promised me a mere four days previous could not be provided, for reasons that were murky at best. “What? I don’t understand!” I protested. “Your office called me!” A long and painful series of negotiations and holding periods followed. At the end of the call most of my promised goodies were restored but only at a significant rate increase. My eighty four dollar a month rate had just gone up to ninety seven dollars! I determined then and there to carry my fight to the cable giant’s corporate office!

On my way home that afternoon, I called back. I informed the customer service rep that he would not be able to solve my problem and that he should immediately transfer my call to his supervisor. He evidently did not believe me because he first attempted to explain the charges on my account… unsuccessfully I should add. I finally broke in “Would you just transfer me please?!” When “Sarah” in the Minneapolis office finally picked up, I did my level best to suppress my frustration, and explained the situation for at least the fourth time. After looking at my account Sarah assured me that the local office had made a mistake and that I did indeed qualify for the eighty four dollar rate, with one proviso. I would have to scale back my internet from ten megs to eight. After consulting with my tech-y friends, (including Donny Eisenbach), I agreed to the small concession. When I arrived home from school I called the number Sarah had given me.

I have now had Tyler TX Suddenlink’s services for nearly three weeks. I have spent four hours on the phone with the company’s reps, have been through a series of rate changes and have yet make a single payment. When I called the customer service number one last time to request the change in my internet service, I was informed that the company was no longer offering the eight meg service. Furthermore, the representative informed me that I was due to receive my digital box Tuesday morning, and that my monthly bill would be ninety one dollars a month. I have come full circle. Like a character in some great epic I have fought my way through. Now I find myself asking, “What was it all for?” The fact is, no one knows, not the company’s local office, not the mysterious voice that promised me the world, not Sarah in Minneapolis and certainly not the Suddenlink corporate center. All I know is Tuesday afternoon I’m back to digital TV at the original rate of ninety one dollars a month.

For more information on Suddenlink, see their websites at www.suddenlink.com.