Although cable operators don't widely market it, a federal law requires them to allow consumers to tack on premium channels such as HBO or Showtime for roughly $17 a month, even if they only have the most basic cable package.
Really? In my last negotiating session, I spent time arguing with the agent about the benefit (to customers) of cafeteria pricing..letting us select what channels we want and paying only for them. I told him I wanted basic plus one HBO and one SHOWTIME, but was told that wasn't possible. He insisted it would be more expensive for customers. Hmmmm I'll have to look into that Federal regulation to quote it next time around.
Related: by now I'm sure you've read of Verizon's capitulation of it's $2 a month fee for customers who pay online without setting up an account or who pay by phone. I loved the tortured language used by the CEO to make the announcement that they were listening to customers:
"Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time."
How many suits and lawyers does it take to say we screwed up? About a hundred, if that's the best writing they could agree on.
And Verizon isn't alone...as I've blogged about before...AT&T charges a $5 fee if you want to pay your bill by phone using an actual real-live person. How is that not discriminatory against seniors, who may be more likely to need assistance with the complex bills companies use these days?
Add the bank's retreat from their monthly debit card fees and the lesson for 2011 is this: Social media is teaching companies how quickly their customers can turn on them.
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