Cox Clobbers Competitor’s Customers

If you’re one of those lucky folks who has a real choice in broadband providers, savor the moment while you can. As one reluctant Cox customer just discovered, the “last mile” cable and/or phone monopolists aren’t going to give up their stranglehold easily.

“Cox Cable bought the local CableAmerica company in the Phoenix area this last summer,” the reader wrote. “Cox was not buying new territory, as the vast majority of CableAmerica customers here also had Cox available and had made a decision to NOT buy Cox’s services. As far as I know, there were no public hearings, no advanced notices, etc. — it was just announced as a done deal. We had just been sold to the evil empire and that was it. Sigh.”

The reader, who had both cable and Internet service through CableAmerica, tried to get information on what the acquisition would mean for his account. “After the announcement, I tried calling both companies to find out just what would happen. Would we be able to keep our current e-mail addresses? Would we keep our current station lineup? To these and more questions, the answer was ‘We don’t know.’ I was out of town for an extended period. When I returned my e-mail boxes were full of e-mails telling me that I had until October 18th — then just 10 days away — to activate my Cox email account as ALL CableAmerica accounts would cease as of that date. I called Cox and was told that everything would be shut down — i.e. no forwarding or anything after that date.”

Cox reps told the reader they’d started sending out the notice. 30 days in advance of the shutdown deadline. Even if he’d had the additional 20 days to make the transition, though, the reader would have been in a difficult situation because of Cox’s decision not to forward CableAmerica e-mails after the deadline. The reader asked Cox why it couldn’t forward the old addresses for a year or so — as would be the normal practice — but didn’t get a very satisfactory explanation.

“All I could ever get out of them was a lame excuse that the CableAmerica equipment and infrastructure was too old and wouldn’t allow for forwarding,” the reader wrote. “It doesn’t ring true since all of the infrastructure for CableAmerica was put in at least five years AFTER Cox put their system in. The worst-case scenario is that they could have allowed us six months to a year to run both email systems so we could do a smooth transfer. Maybe it would have cost them a little more, but they’re charging us more, too.”

As it was, the reader had to scramble to do the best he could before Cox’s deadline. “I spent the whole weekend and many more hours trying to remember all my contacts and companies that are using my CableAmerica e-mail addresses,” the reader wrote. “Some have been sending me information every so often for many years, but not always on a regular basis, so remembering them was not easy. And after all of this, I know there must be quite a few e-mail contacts that I have missed.”

Even after Oct. 18th, Cox had more grief in store for the reader. “When Cox changed the e-mail system, they also changed the way the whole broadband network operated. All of a sudden, the modem I was using for CableAmerica was dropping the connection at random times and for random periods. When I finally called Cox they wanted to schedule an appointment and charge me $50 plus the cost of a new modem. By the way, CableAmerica had free repair calls and would have replaced the modem for free. I persisted and found out that I had been scheduled — unbeknownst to me — to have my modem replaced some time in late November as it was not compatible with the Cox network.”

After some argument, the reader was able to get Cox to get him a replacement modem sooner without charge. In the process, though, he also found that Cox is making some other changes. “They have already cut the number of TV channels and raised the total monthly bill by $7. I also found out that they will no longer repair any of the cable lines that both they (I had Cox originally many years ago) and/or CableAmerica had installed in my house. Anything inside will be a $50 or more repair bill.”

So less service for more money seems to sum up what Cox is offering its newly acquired, or re-acquired, customers. “If you want to see how a monopoly works, just look at Cox,” the reader wrote. “Customer service is a concept they would have to look up as they really have absolutely no clue. Cox should have never been allowed to purchase a competing cable company. Now, they can do just what they want and the customer has no options. Lack of customer service plus their increased rates rank them up there with such giants of customer service as Micro$oft, Symantec and Qwest.”

The reader has also struck out in terms of finding any public servants who will temper Cox’s retribution on those customers who spurned them before. “The city cable office says they have no control about any of this,” the reader wrote. “They only collect fees and make sure the cable companies restore any damage they might have done in installing the cable. The FCC doesn’t care at all and will do nothing. Believe me, I did try. You can bet that I will be talking to my city councilperson about the licensing agreement with Cox the next time it is up for renewal. I think it would be a great time to hit Cox with a shrinkwrap-type license agreement. Now, that would be justice.”

Any company that will only give customers 30-days notice that long-time e-mail addresses are being eliminated sure seems like one that thinks it can do whatever it wants. “From here it looks like a pure convenience and/or profit motive for Cox, and the customer can just live with it,” the reader concluded. “Where else do we have to go?”

Where indeed? And how do any of us, wherever we live, make sure that we’ll have more and better broadband choices in the future rather than what the last-mile monopolies like Cox want to offer us? You tell me. Post your comments about this column on my website, write me at Foster@gripe2ed.com, or phone my voice mail at 1 888 875-7916.

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