Not honoring advertised promotional rate
My sister just signed up for Cox HSI service within the last 2 weeks.
She signed up online, for the Preferred tier. The price quoted on the website, the "shopping cart", and the confirmation email were all $33.99/mo for 4 months. I believe there was supposed to be free activation too. Furthermore, the Terms & Conditions for that offer state the following:
$33.99/mo 4 months trial Offer expires 2/29/2012 and is available to new qualifying customers in Cox Central Region service areas who newly subscribe to Cox High Speed Internet Preferred service for the price of $33.99/mo for 4 months. Offer excludes existing services. Cannot be combined with any other offers.Offer not available to customers currently subscribed to any level of Cox High Speed Internet. 4 month offer available for online orders only. After promotional period, the regular monthly rate for services will apply as subscribed. $35 savings on installation for online ordering based on one-time charge for professional installation. Additional fees may be incurred for installation and activation of additional outlets or wiring of new outlets and excludes applicable taxes and franchise fees. Free install does not include wall fishes, amplifiers and advanced installations.. Other restrictions may apply.
As far as I can tell, she met all the requirements. So imagine her surprise when the first bill came, for $50.99 plus $9.99 for self-install and $35.00 for activation. When she called in, they told her she was not eligible for the $33.95 deal because it requires cable or phone service as well. She told the phone rep that neither the website nor the welcome/activation email said this, as it took the order with no cable or phone and still said $33.95. The issue was escalated it twice, but with no resolution. Finally the 3rd person she talked to said the website was wrong for not saying cable or phone were required and that they'd pass the word along to get the website updated to make it clear cable or phone are required to get the introductory price. They also suggested that maybe she was confused on the tier she wanted and actually should have signed up for the Essential tier.
I've recommended she cancel her service and go with a competitor in the area that will honor their activation specials and new subscriber discounts, without bait-and-switch tactics to also get video and voice services. She wants to hold out for now and see if someone will make things right before making a switch, since the Cox theoretical speed is faster than the nearest competitor available in the area.
