Ever Heard the Word, "Churning?"

Okay, lets define the word churn. I personally have never heard the phrase, but recently I learned it refers to people who threaten to switch services, such as cell phone, cable, etc. Now I’m not sure if when a company looks at churners (which kind of sounds negative), if they really consider the reasons why a person would want to change. I’d certainly hope so. I’m thinking that maybe they think churners just do it to be doing it…I guess that’s possible, but it’s usually too much of a hassle to do such a thing. The last time I called to change something, it was Dish Network. For years I really wanted to try them out. Once I got my HD big screen television, I was really excited about the prospect. First off, they advertise that it’s cheaper than cable and secondly, and to me most importantly, they had bought the Rainbow satellite which offers over 30 high def channels. Well ordering it was simple enough and it was quickly installed. I picked the lower end bronze package so I could have the 30 high def channels and I thought the normal cable selection. I remember that first day I was in awe. However, I quickly realized that this package was not going to be sufficient (and it was already equal to what I had been paying with the local cable company). I called them and the rep was extremely pleasant and was empathetic to the fact that I needed Lifetime and the SCI FI channel. Before I realized it, my request to cancel ended up with me being on the Silver plan. Okay, it’s a bit higher, but the picture is great and I have all those High def channels, so what if its $20 more…it’s okay. Well….I was browsing through the channels looking to see what was the National Geographic channel, found it, clicked it and that damn blue screen came up saying I wasn’t subscribed! Crap…so alright, I’ll just watch a movie on Bravo….click, blue screen….that’s it!!! I call the number again….I want out. Another nice rep, this time talking gold or platinum…I’m not sure…I was focused. I want out. One hour of explaining over and over to multiple people why I want out and I finally got to a person who would let me cancel! I’ll give them credit they are persistent. They gave me instructions on how to return everything and said they would give me a refund, all of which worked as advertised, but it has now been seven months and they still send me letters inviting me back and I still get an occasional call asking why I didn’t like their program line up. If they ever get it right….I might go back.

 

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