• ℛ𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓃@pawb.social
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        10 months ago

        This is the best thing to do. Let them waste their money on printed, mailed ads, and use it to taunt them on the internet and expose how they badger and milk their cattle customers.

        • doctorcrimson@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Not very environmentally friendly. I just send it all back, then they need to waste space and personnel on sorting their own junk.

          • UnculturedSwine@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            I feel this is the most environmentally friendly thing to do in my experience because it was the only thing that stopped me from being spammed by Comcast, former house owners, etc. it’s amazing how quick businesses will stop sending you junk mail when you start sending it back.

    • moup@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      lol, I’ve done this, multiple times. the only thing that has changed was that my name was replaced by “Residential Consumer” for the subsequent spam.

      • DrQuickbeam@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Yup, and in my case they started sending door-to-door salespeople. They’re spending all the money to kill Google Fiber where I’m at.

        • EyesInTheBoat@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Which only works if you have a product that doesn’t suck. They should spend more money building their network out so it isn’t 2002-era DSL oversubscribed 😂

        • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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          10 months ago

          Oh, is that how I triggered that?

          It was like having a clingy boyfriend for a while.

  • slazer2au@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Call the number and ask for a pre paid return envelope to send a signed contract with.

    Then fill the return envelope with all this crap.

    Now they have paid 4 times for junk mailing you and they pay to toss out their own trash.

  • TheSlad@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    Spectrum still sends that much spam even if you are a customer already.

    No, i dont want your tv bundle i literally havent had any desire to watch cable tv for over a decade please stop asking!

    • TheGoldenGod@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I’ve seen advertisements fiber internet is in my area (Frontier), starting price is $59, guessing the price goes up eventually?

        • TheGoldenGod@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Nice, was it easy to talk them into the 5 year or is it standard? Spectrum is $79 and getting tired of it. Any comments on the equipment costs or suggestions?

          • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            At&t does the non-intro rate as standard for fiber. I’m not sure about other vendors, but it seems like maybe they’ve realized that most people are wise to their game at this point and have dropped the charade.

            • TheGoldenGod@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              Good to know! So are there monthly equipment charges? I do know there’s different equipment for fiber.

              • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                It’s included with the total for me. I only have two items on my bill: the exact amount they quoted me for 500/500 fiber, and tax.

                And I mean, it’s only been three months, so I’m not willing to get an AT&T tattoo yet or anything, but they are at least being above-board about everything so far.

                • TheGoldenGod@lemmy.world
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                  10 months ago

                  Oh that’s better, I hate “modem rental fees”. Knowing there aren’t any seems to good to be true these days lol.

          • holiday42@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Oh it is $79 now, sure. But next month it will be $84. The next month after that it will be $89.

      • Fuck spez@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        Only to business/enterprise customers AFAIK. It’s actually rock solid in terms of reliability in my experience with a couple dozen customers in the Midwest. Even their residential coax connections are fiber-uplinked from the nearest switch, and are reasonably reliable.

        Edit: None of which is to suggest that they aren’t still a shitty company in terms of their other business practices. They once included guest hotspots with every new business installation that used their customers’ power to sell more Spectrum services to anyone within WiFi range.

        • swarmingnarwhal@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          My area (rural maine) spectrum only offers coax. State recently paid fidium to install fiber internet across the state. Was paying 65$ for *up to 300mbps (really 20) now a rock steady 100mbps for 25$

    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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      10 months ago

      it’s so wild to me that america still views fiber as a new thing, it’s been standard in the nordics for like… 10 years maybe?

    • AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      As are modern sales.

      There should be a different name for people at a store that answer questions about a product on request.

      No one should be trying to convince anyone to buy anything as a job. What the hell is that? If you make a cool product/service/thing for a reasonable price, people will come to you. If you don’t, stop trying to pressure people into consuming it when they otherwise wouldn’t.

      • LufyCZ@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        There’s different types of marketing.

        One type is awareness marketing, which is exactly the type that’s the furthest from “forcing shit down your throat”.

        Then later, when you’re searching for something and see their name, your monkey brain will prefer the “familiar” option.

        And tbh I do have to disagree with “people will come to you”, it’s really hard to grow if people don’t know you exist.

        • AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          And tbh I do have to disagree with “people will come to you”, it’s really hard to grow if people don’t know you exist.

          I’m against the concept of unnecessary growth/metastasis. I prefer homeostasis/equilibrium.

          Unless you’re bringing something profoundly superior to what exists to the table that will have people who hear rumors of it coming to you, there’s no need for a 76th brand of chicken sandwich.

          We’re growing/metastasizing our species and a lot of other species into oblivion. It’s a shame our species is belligerently unwilling to consider a different strategy.

          • LufyCZ@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            What about a thing that would actually change your life for some reason?

            Would you prefer not knowing about it?

            Of course there’s no reason for the 76th brand of chicken sandwich, but that’s also not what I’m talking about at all.

            Marketing itself is fine and a healthy tool for growth, showing ads into people’s eyeholes every chance you get is not.

            • AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              Marketing itself is fine and a healthy tool for growth

              I reiterate, our species is growing/metastasizing itself and it’s habitat into oblivion.

              This is a finite world with finite resources, and 3,000 or so assholes have already claimed most of its finite resources at gunpoint and are at this point swallowing one another’s empires whole in their desperation to keep growing/metastasizing on a conquered board.

              We can’t grow/metastasize our way out of our species many crises caused by reckless growth/metastasis to begin with, any more than my country can solve its school shooting problem by handing every teacher and student a loaded glock.

              If we cared about survival, if we cared about our children, we don’t btw, we’d be planning to reduce our species size and footprint for the next several generations to a scale this world can sustainability support without hundreds of millions living in squalor.

              • LufyCZ@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                So you’re hating on the 3000 assholes who’ve already cornered the market and now you want a world where new companies possibly founded by someone no-as-assholish are doomed to stay unknown and fail?

                People will keep choosing what they know, if you don’t allow new players to enter the market, these old massive conglomerates will keep on growing, keep on consuming the competition.

                It’s a hyperbole, but only a small one.

                • AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world
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                  10 months ago

                  New players largely can’t “enter the market” without being bought out unless they have very uncharacteristic in business leaders unwilling to sell to a conglomerate, that’s usually considered victory these days, and literally every company that grows to the point of being and agrees to be publically traded must do every sociopathic thing they can to increase profit or they will be sued.

                  I don’t think a new group of people playing at this sick game will be any better than the last. If they were, the market ensures they won’t be better for long by design. Growth isn’t the answer. Growth is the problem. Our species needs to shrink or it will continue to suffer until it perishes by its own hands, and that is what we will do. I don’t think there is a solution, but I do know if there is, it won’t be found in economic growth/metastasis.

                  That’s just saying the cure to a poison is to drink… More of the same poison.

      • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        Well in more technologically advanced sales, there are reps who understand the technology deeply and try to explain it to execs and other engineering folk who might be interested. This is a role I find pretty valuable, since some engineers don’t have good communication skills.

    • Emerald@lemmy.worldOP
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      10 months ago

      They aren’t even getting their target market right, sending me “move-in” offers when I haven’t moved.

  • Alexstarfire@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I still get all that and I have Spectrum. It’s also common for the envelope to say it’s “important.” No, ads are not important.

  • Ohi@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Words can’t describe the inner joy I felt making that call to cancel after I had Google Fiber installed. “No sir, there is no package or temporary deal you can offer me that’s going to change the outcome of this conversation.”

        • scoobford@lemmy.one
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          10 months ago

          Hey, I’d just use VPN anyways. I sure as shit didn’t trust spectrum not to sell my data.

    • Marxism-Fennekinism@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      So ISP CSRs get commission? I assume they don’t, in which case they were probably super relieved. I work in a customer service call centre and I vastly prefer those outright cancellation calls to anything with strings attached because it’s less work for me, though in my case the company lets me just process the cancellation outright with minimal groveling.

    • Sciaphobia@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      I actually bought a stamp that prints that specifically to return Spectrum’s trash.

    • doctorcrimson@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Most people don’t know this but the USPS has their own official stamp for that purpose and any marked or drawn on letters they receive likely go to the trash. Try attaching a sticky note and putting it in the outgoing mail, or talking to the post office directly (although many offices go to great lengths not to give you time).

      TLDR: Don’t write on the envelope or it won’t be returned.

  • arin@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Got fiber and never looked back, 1gb both up and download at the same time(yes full speed on 2 different tests), no throttling, advanced email notifications for maintenance that’s past midnight. it’s so much freedom, no datacaps too !

    • rxin@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      10 months ago

      lmaoo they remotely update router software whenever they feel like it here. that means losing internet for half an hour without any warning :)

    • castlepeak@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Lucky mate. Which service do you have and where? My apartment complex sadly has coaxial hardwired so no recourse other than xfinity :/

      • arin@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Small local fiber and wireless provider that worked with the large multi unit condo building I’m in

  • 0110010001100010@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I’m a current customer and still get shit like the frequently, usually they want me to add cable TV and/or phone to my internet-only package. It’s really obnoxious. You’d think after me ignoring it for 8 years they would give up but nope, still at least once a month one pops up in my mailbox.

  • eclectic_electron@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    They even ambush me every time I go to the grocery store. And they’ve doubled my bill since I signed up. Why bother marketing when you can raise rates whenever you want? They could save so much money by not mailing every day and hiring people to hunt me

    • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      They could save so much money by not mailing every day and hiring people to hunt me

      At the scale these mailings are conducted, it all averages out into a net win for Spectrum. It suggests that enough people really do suck it up with the rate hike for some reason or another. Otherwise, they wouldn’t do it. Also, from their perspective, the wasted time, energy, and paper is all someone else’s problem.