Hi,
I don't usually post/email things like this as I am a firm believer in "caveat emptor" (buyer beware), and when I make a dumb purchase, I usually blame no one but myself. However, this was "done" to my 80+ year old mother-in-law (Mom), who is neither technical, nor rich.
We begin....
My mother in law recently purchased an old color TV at a garage sale ("Coaxial cable connection built in" old) and put it in her guest room. As a faithful customer of Brighthouse (now rectum Spectrum, henceforth referred to as the "scammers"), she called to request an additional cable box for the new TV. Despite explaining to the "salesperson" ("scammer") that this was an old TV, the person on the other end insisted that what she "really" needed was a "new type of device that would enable her to get all sorts of additional media besides just the cable channels". This device didn't even need a cable drop and it would only cost her one dollar more than what they would charge her for a regular old cable box. Mom explained that she didn't need any additional channels and that the cable box would be just fine but the scammer insisted that the old cable boxes were being phased out in favor of this new device and that if she didn't get it, she would have to upgrade again in a few months at an additional cost. So much was the insistence that my Mom caved and went ahead with the purchase. The scammer dutifully rattled off all the legalese at top speed, glossing over many of the details so he could get her to the "dotted line" at top speed.
So, $183.00 on her bill and several days later, the box arrived, and a couple of days after that I came over to install the device. The "new device" turned out to be an Apple TV.... the 4K Apple TV (did I mention she told them it was an old TV?) with the Siri controller. (BTW, this sells online for under 180 dollars so there's even a markup they throw in for free....) So now I had to go to the local tech store and buy a coax to HDMI adapter at additional cost (32$) so I could actually connect it to the TV. I hooked it up and spent the next 10 minutes trying to understand how to even get to her regular cable channels. I've been in the technical fields since I was 17 and, after 30 minutes, I still couldn't figure out how to go back to a previous menu. To say that this device was technologically WAY beyond my 80-year old Mom (as well as myself, apparently) would be a gross understatement.
We quickly decided that this was not the device she needed and that we would return it for a "regular old cable box". The label on the cover of the shipping box spoke at length about where the device could be returned if needed, but there was no explanation of how to return it.
When we called "the scammers" to ask how we should be returning the device for the cable box as was originally requested, they dropped the bomb that, "if the seal on the package was broken, the device could not be returned". "Not THEIR fault", they said. They assured us that they had disclosed this information on the call and followed that up with an email to my Mom's ancient Yahoo account that hasn't been active since 2004. No, they couldn't re-send the email and no, they couldn't play back the actual phone call for us to prove they had communicated this trap door to her as this was "Spectrum private material". When asked if they would consider just taking it back as a favor for a years-long customer, they said they "would, but APPLE, isn't letting them..." (boohoo)
So now my Mom has a useless, unintuitive 4K Apple TV that she's paying for in 700 easy payments of $7.99 for the next 2 years AND, if she drops the service, she's still liable for the two years contract AND the cost of the Apple TV.
Now before you go on to explain that she should have cut the cable, or that there's better remotes for the Apple TV than the Siri one, or that she should have called someone more technical (namely, me), the point of the story is to let you know that Brighthouse/Spectrum is in the practice of LOCKING CUSTOMERS INTO A TWO YEAR CONTRACT BY "UPGRADING YOU TO A NEW DEVICE TO REPLACE YOUR OLD CABLE BOX", and then making it impossible for you to back out of it. As far as I can tell, this is a close to "predatory practices" as you can get and not cross the line. and worse, they are doing this to senior citizens, knowing that they are a target for this type of scam as they are most likely not tech-savvy enough to see it for the scam it is.n
I have already sworn NEVER to use Spectrum again as soon as I can find a new Internet provider and am actively looking for one.
Warn your family members, especially the older ones, that the advertising line they use of "no contracts ever..." is just B.S. if they can somehow lasso you into this SCAM "deal".
Please share this with anyone considering Spectrum as a provider of any service. read more