I saw a TV commercial today that struck me as very odd.  It was supposedly for a service that would send you a brochure on how to choose a satellite provider.  Given that DirecTV and Dish Network wouldn’t be likely to get together for a commercial that would make satellite sound complicated, I was immediately suspicious.  At the end they give the number 1-888-DISH-HELP.  So I decided to hit Google to see what turned up. 

There were two relevant entries.  The first was a blog posting from Krazy Dad.  He had seen the commercial a couple of weeks ago and transcribed it.  Follow the link to read the whole thing.

The second entry was more sinister.  As Krazy Dad discovered, this number is a service of “Independent Brokerage, Inc” provided on behalf of the cable company.  If you call the number they take your contact information and give you a survey.  They will then send your information to the cable company so their “retention” specialists can go to work on you.

Quoting from their own information:

DISH HELP addresses a concern of many cable television operators. Many subscribers are being lured away from traditional cable by satellite dish systems. By the time a cable operator learns of a subscriber’s interest in purchasing a satellite system, it’s too late. This program was created to identify each subscriber before they purchase a dish and disconnect their cable service. DISH HELP begins an active process for retention of cable television subscribers.

This comes at an interesting time for me, as I have been weighing my options now that Verizon’s Fios TV is available in Keller.  I’ve been with Charter for a long time, since the only other option was satellite.  As part of the comparison of my options, I also looked into satellite.  Given that I abhor Dish Network because of their sleazy marketing tactics (especially the anonymous automated phone spam), my only option for satellite is DirecTV. 

I’ve got a lot of experience with DirecTV, since my mother has had it for quite a few years.  The picture quality is good, and if you’re willing to make a commitment, you can get a good deal on a DirecTV DVR (Tivo) and their Total Choice package.  It would be slightly less expensive than my current Charter costs.  The downside of satellite is that you often lose signal during heavy storms.

I suppose Charter has improved their customer service over time, but only because they have been forced to do so via competition.  I have many unhappy memories of having to deal with them during their monopoly days.  They were arrogant, slow to respond, and inconsiderate of your time.  Back then you pretty much had to give up a whole day to get an installation done.  My chief gripe now is that you can’t individually select HBO, Cinemax, or Showtime.  I used to be on a package where I could do that, but they discontinued it and forced me to take Showtime to get HBO.  Between that and the billing hassles I’ve had with them, I’d just as soon dump them.  Both FiosTV and DirecTV allow you to select HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime individually.  To be honest, I’m actually considering dropping the premium channels altogether.  Since Dead Like Me was cancelled I don’t have any reason to have Showtime, and the only thing I watch on HBO is the Sopranos.  At this point I could just wait for the final season to come out on DVD and get it from Netflix. 

I’m leaning towards FiosTV because I can get a two-tuner HD DVR and a pretty good expanded basic package for about the same as I’m paying Charter now.  It’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, since I’m not getting HD right now.  However, I couldn’t get any information on Charter’s rates for HD, since their website is broken (it said that digital cable is not available in my area, so I couldn’t get any rate information; which is funny since I have digital cable right now). 

Anyhow, I think this sleazy fishing operation is the last straw for Charter.  Any company that would use this sort of sneaky backdoor to try to stop a customer from switching doesn’t deserve my business.  I know it’s a novel idea, but Charter might want to consider competing with satellite, instead of trying to fool customers into identifying themselves as potential switchers.  Instead of taking the high road (i.e. running a proactive above-board retention program), they chose the low, sneaky road, and thereby frittered away what little good will they’d been building over the past few years.