Unsubscribing from CableTV

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jan 2003
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    hk
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    Unsubscribing from CableTV

    Hi,
    INterested to know whether anybody has had trouble unsubscribing from CableTV. I relate my experiences below. I personally find it quite amusing that any company can behave like this.


    I have been a CableTV subscriber for years, mostly due to English Football. I switched to nowTV earlier this year, and realised there wasnt much point in continuing with CableTV. Called them up and requested that I wanted to cancel subscription. They said that I have a contract for 18 months. As far as I recollected, my original contract ( years ago) had been for an initial period, and I had never signed anything which commits me to a minimum contract period after that.
    So I asked them whether they can fax me a copy of the contract where I have signed up for a minimum period.
    Comes the answer " This is an oral contract where we told you on the phone". I flatly denied this and asked for evidence.
    They said that this may take a few days, as they have to retrieve the taped conversation - this was perfectly fine by me, and I insisted that I had to listen to this evidence.
    Two weeks later ( today), they called me up , and advised me that they have listened to the taped conversation , and that very definitely I have an oral contract.
    Quite amused, I requested to listen to the conversation.
    After a prolonged silence, ( I Think the agent was consulting with supervisor),they said they can cal me back a few hours later and play back the conversation.
    I requested that I needed a copy of the conversation to be sent to me. They refused, and said that they can play ot back, I was at liberty to copy the conversation over the phone!
    I Reminded them that te Data Privacy Act required them to provide me this conversation. THe agent contested this, ( it seemed as though they had indeed researched the legal points of this! ) and as good as told me I could do anythng that I wished, thank you very much, but I need not be provided a copy of the conversation.


    I am curious to know from forum users whether
    (a) any similar experience with CableTV unsubscription
    (b) any legal mind has an opinion on whether I can force them to hand over the taped conversation under Data Privacy act

    I intend to send them a letter and will post the results here

    Also find it really amusng that a firm can go to such lengths to "keep" its customers. WHat are they going to do after 18 months? they have lost the customer for ever.
    BY the way, it is not just CableTV, now and pccw are quite similar in their attitudes too. Is this the case in other cities as well, or is this a HOng Kong corporate characteristic?


  2. #2
    deleteduser

    We're about to go through something similar with PCCW Mobile. We had 2 phone numbers with them, starting out with no contract. About 6 months in, they called my gf's number and offered a contract for one of the numbers. The deal was good, and we didn't foresee that we'd be switching carriers, so she agreed to the new deal.

    Fast forward to now, and I switched MY number to CSL (to pick up an HTC Touch for $2400). After the number was switched, she called PCCW to cancel my number. They said that it was on a contract! She tried to explain that only ONE number was on a contract, and the other should have remained month-to-month. But they denied this. She even explained that the contract terms didn't change on my number, even though they changed on hers (lower price, more minutes per month). They said they would call back after looking up the conversation recording.

    So now we're waiting to hear back from them. No way are we going to continue paying for this contract, or the $500 fee for canceling early.

    My feeling is that the person who signed her up to their agreed contract went ahead and plugged his name in for the second number, to pick up some extra commission. Considering that someone came right into our home and attempted to deceive her to get her to sign a contract, I am pretty sure this is the case.

    Good luck out there. These companies are a bunch of scammers and liars, and will do anything to make just a few extra bucks. The whole idea of being bound to a contract over the phone is absurd to me; something like that would definitely not fly in Canada or USA.


  3. #3

    Don't even get me started with CableTV.

    I first signed up for their internet in 2005 and later committed to their pay TV service in the summer of 2006. Knowing I would be moving within a year to our new home (brand new building) I made sure both contracts had a clause where I could cancel if service was not available at our new home.

    Fast forward to April of 2007. We move in to our new home only to find PCCW as our sole internet and cable provider. We called I-Cable and Cable TV requesting the transfer but was told they do not have service for our building nor did they expect to (which was strange considering we are in West Kowloon). Our first phone call was over 1 hour long.

    I started off asking to cancel our internet and was told we could not because (surprise, surprise) I renewed over the phone. I pointed to the clause where I was entitled to cancel if service was not available at my new residence. The catch was the verbal renewal contract did not include that particular clause, nor do the 'new' written contracts. That got me fuming so I asked for their manager but was told they do not handle phone calls. After 2 hours of waiting and bickering over the phone they offered to investigate and play me a recording of my verbal contract. 3 more phone calls and 2 weeks later they called me back saying the case was closed and that the verbal contract holds. I asked to listen to the verbal contract but they said "sorry, the case is closed and that is the final decision". They even tried to convince me to transfer my the remainder of the contract to a friend. I could not believe my verbal renewal contract was different to my original written contract. I called back a day later asking them to re-open the case but got into a heated argument when they refused to do anything about it. So I decided to go find a I-Cable salesman on the street and asked if I signed up with him whether or not I could cancel the contract if I later moved to a non-servicable area. Sure enough he said "yes" right into my mobile phone voice recorder. It was now becoming personal so I called them back and waited for another 2 hours before getting a hold of a rep to play back the recording. They put me on hold for about a minute and responded with a "we can't be responsible for what these contracted sales reps say, all we have to go by is the contract on hand".

    My Cable TV experience was even more horrendous. The longest wait time I had on the phone was 6 hours from 9am - 3pm on a weekday (thank god for speaker phones). I suspect they knew it was me because we have to enter our HKIDs before we get put on hold. Again I was screwed because the clause for a no penalty cancellation in a non-servicable area was not valid for my "special value" package. Yes it was a discounted package but no where did it say on the contract that that clause was package specific. My first call to Cable TV lasted 4 hours and would have lasted MUCH longer if they hadn't cut me off!!! Apparently the system hangs you up when the customer service center closes. I'm sure he was thrilled because my wife and I really worked him over 2 hours each. He was playing like a broken record as we asked him the same questions over and over again. Over the course of the month we conservatively spent 26 hours on the phone with these guys (including wait time). In the end, they again told me as I-Cable did, that their decision was final.

    After 1 week of cooling down I decided to give in and ask where I could return both the internet modem and cable tv box. It was interesting to see that each successive call to a connected rep took longer than the previous presumably because they needed to read my extensive history of call-ins. The rep had the balls to ask me once again why I was canceling and warned me that there would be a penalty. Without giving her a chance to finish I told her I understand there would be a penalty so just give me the final invoice. The kicker was after 3 weeks I STILL did not receive a final invoice but instead a regular monthly charge on my cc. After 2 more complaints, in as many weeks, to their billing department and a threat that I was leaving the country, they finally faxed me my invoice 1 day after my supposed departure.

    The whole ordeal had created unnecessary and trivial stress between my wife and I. Several calls I made at night even led me to lose sleep because I was so furious. At some point it got personal which is why I am holding off the final payment as long as possible. I like the fact that they keep calling to remind me to pay.

    Just as I thought this was all behind me, sales reps have just begun promoting I-Cable and Cable TV service around our estate. One even stuck around going door to door after an installation before security guards carried him out fighting.

    I'm with PCCW now (100mbps soothes the soul) and while they're sales tactics are just as dodgy, they at least pick up the phone and cancel the services when asked.

    Last edited by navybeans; 23-09-2007 at 01:40 AM.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jun 2005
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    Quote Originally Posted by navybeans:
    I'm with PCCW now (100mbps soothes the soul)
    Well sad to say if this is indicative of your knowledge of what you are buying then it rather casts the rest of this rant in a new light. PCCW's maximum speed for residential service is 8M (except for a few locations running the HDTV).

  5. #5

    Join Date
    May 2007
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    1,006

    my cable tv is up for renewal and i am not renewing it any longer..... do you think 2 months notice is sufficient?

    do they have an office in town or is it all by fone?


  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    Well sad to say if this is indicative of your knowledge of what you are buying then it rather casts the rest of this rant in a new light. PCCW's maximum speed for residential service is 8M (except for a few locations running the HDTV).
    I actually live in the few estates that have residential 100M. I guess it's because the building is new. Needless to say real world speeds are nowhere near that.

  7. #7

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    Once you hit the internet it's all "best efforts". The public internet is simply not architected to deliver sustained real-time bit streams.


  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Star Gazer:
    my cable tv is up for renewal and i am not renewing it any longer..... do you think 2 months notice is sufficient?

    do they have an office in town or is it all by fone?
    2 Months is risky if you ask me. I would begin the cancellation process 2 billing cycles and a few days ahead to be safe. If it's not done by the time your contract is up, you will be dinged with a non-contracted monthly fee which is likely to be double what you pay now.

    There is no office to go to for cancellations, you will need to do this by phone. After they send you a cancellation confirmation by post, you can bring your cable box or modem back to several contracted offices in town or arrange for pick up which may take up to a month. If you do return it in person, make sure you get a receipt. My colleague was charged around $2000 because they claimed she did not return her cable box. It took her another few weeks to sort it out by faxing in her receipt.
    Last edited by navybeans; 23-09-2007 at 01:07 PM. Reason: Answer 2nd question

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    Once you hit the internet it's all "best efforts". The public internet is simply not architected to deliver sustained real-time bit streams.
    I suspect my contract has this clause in light grey 1pts font on yellow carbon tinted paper.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    May 2007
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    1,006
    Quote Originally Posted by navybeans:
    2 Months is risky if you ask me. I would begin the cancellation process 2 billing cycles and a few days ahead to be safe. .
    so okay, if my statement date is every 3rd of the month and say expires in dec 2007. then i need to give my notice about by mid october - did i get you right?

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