I am frugalizing today. Ok, it may not be a word, but it’s something I made up to describe the act of handling my financial business. As I’ve mentioned before, I just got cable. I got some bundled package with phone, internet and cable. But ever since I wrote a check to the installation guy, there’s always a new charge. First, it was the bill for $7.36. I never quite figured out what that was about. Then, I got the big bill for $148.44. When the cable company sold me the bundle, the customer service rep said my monthly bill would only be about $117 per month. WTF?
One big problem is that the cable company says that there’s a $17.60 carpet fishing fee. WTF? I explained on the phone that I barely have carpet. I live in a one bedroom. No one mentioned it would take $17.60 to run a wire underneath the carpet. I only got one TV hooked up. I am waiting for a call back from the cable company. I want that fishing fee off. It’s, ahem, fishy to me.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
That is some foolishness. Carpet Fishing, are you serious? It looks like I’ll have to keep my eyes open and my senses sharp when I get cable this spring. They’ll have to fish 18 bucks out of somebody else if that’s the case.
I’ll watch out for that one if I ever get cable. I’m telling them to get the line in the apartment and be on their way. Of course this is coming from a woman who ran DSL/phone lines to 3 different rooms. The gaffer’s tape across the kitchen doorway is just wrong, but everything else is cool.
Another blog idea for you…isn’t it funny that in 12 years of schooling plus 4 years of college we have never been required to take a personal finance class. I talk to people all the time about how they wished in school we had a class on personal finance…what gross pay vs net pay is…how to determine how much you can afford in rent…401K basics…things that most people don’t talk about/learn about at home but are essential to being an adult.
I would strongly recommend getting a different internet phone than the one from the cable company. It’s too expensive and it is still going to be out if your service is out (at least as far as I can tell). There are much cheaper options out there for VIOP. Magicjack costs $20/year (plus $20 for the device) and can call anywhere in the US for free. Also, its portable since it plugs into your USB drive. The only downside is that you must have your computer on and it loads the software on your computer. There are many others Broadvoice, etc.. that cost a fraction of the $30-35 that the cable phone service costs.
Josh, I think you are on to something. I saw that VIOP on an infomercial. It really works, eh? Wednesday morning, my phone service was out with the cable service. That is SO not fun. Time to debundle, I say.
Josh, you rock!