Billing Honor & Minutia

It's been a long time since one of my boring blogs on technology, customer service and billing - but here goes:

Of course, everyone knows (because I verbally tell the story to everyone that will listen) how much I despise Time Warner and their contractual shenanigans.  That is why, I patiently waited and struggled with Cincinnati Bell on DSL with bundled Direct TV .  Well ---- back in September I was able to sign up for a Fioptics bundle (Phone, Internet, and TV) with Cincinnati Bell.

The story of getting the  Cincinnati billing correct is long ... longer .... and even longest of my stories of dealing with technology providers.  Getting the bill to equal the promotional pricing is an exercise in detail auditing. The story ends well (however there is one last credit I will have to verify next month.

The good news is that Cincinnati Bell has consistently met my expectations (even if it requires a large investment of my time with a rep on the phone).  My bundle is $145.37 per month before fees and taxes.  Naturally those add up to nearly $13.75 (another 9.4%) that are the first "got cha".  But then.....  the fine print in this month's billing  (and I mean really fine print) was the price increases effective 12/15/14  -  $1.99 for Home Pak Lite and $3.00 for Fioptics Internet.  But there was hope - "Your promotional and contractual rate will apply until the expiration date. 

Wow - maybe Cincinnati Bell is different from Time Warner in honoring their negotiated deal.  Sure enough,  Michelle the Cincinnati Bell rep verified that my contractual rate was valid until Sept. 2016!

Now there are other details I could quibble with about Cincinnati Bell's customer service stumbles.  But in the end..... and that's what counts - they honored the expectation I had.

However - it requires extreme attention to billing minutia.