I know everyone wants to talk about Hillary Clinton every minute of every day. Let's quit drinking from the same old koolaid cup for a while. For years, I've been getting offers from DirecTV to switch from cable to them. I'd like to present to you why they still can't get it right. It's a little about how my warped mind works.
I am a pretty straightforward guy in many ways. I like most things to be kept simple. At least those things that should be simple. Like your cell phone plan and bill; those should be simple. But they are not. That's a topic for another day.
On the topic of simple, I have a rule that there must only be a single remote control. I will not tolerate a separate remote to control some box that adds more cables and complexity.
I've been a cable subscriber in my current location for the last 9 years. I get basic cable which cost me around $63 a month. I don't get HBO or any of those pay channels. We don't get any HD channels. We've managed quite nicely. But, I'm always open to changing. If I could get a better deal, I'm all for it. So every time I get an offer from DirecTV for $29.99 a month or whatever the latest offer is, I'm always intrigued. And every time, I get stuck on one thing. I currently have 4 TVs hooked up in the house. And my cable company doesn't care if I have 20. The last few times I got an offer from DirectTV, hooking up 4 tvs was part of the deal. Cool. A chance to lower my monthly TV entertainment costs. I have no interest in having a million channels. So their scheming little plan to upsell me to all the fancy HD channels won't fly. The thing that caught me though is that the part that said I get 4 hookups had a little 5 next to it. So I got out the magnifying glass and found that the little 5 meant that I had to cough up an extra $5 a month for each additional hookup. So that means an extra $15 a month. then I read a little more I find that the $29.99 is for 12 months. Nothing said what would happen after that. It implies that the regular rate is an additional $23 a month. So the regular monthly price would be $29.99
So, I'm expected to put up with another remote and more system complexity, for a 12 month period after which my monthly cost would be unknown. Let's add up.
29.99 + 15.00 = $54/month (+ taxes etc)
Then starting in year 2
29.99 + 15.00 + 23.00 = $77/month (+ taxes etc)
Looking only at year 1, I would be saving a few dollars a month. I'm assuming that taxes would take the $54 closer to the $63 I'm paying for cable. I would save a few dollars.
Then in year 2, I would be behind.