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According to USPS Informed Delivery, I have another letter showing up today from Spectrum. No new emails from them since the 21st.
Spectrum and cable card
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I'm new to this whole thing as we're in the process of moving from the Chicago area (Comcast) to Reno, NV (Spectrum). Won't be in the Reno home until late this year. If I'm reading this topic correctly, we're going to be SOL on using our TiVo Roamio when we get to Reno.
Between now and then (we're already out of the old home and staying in an extended stay hotel until the new home is ready), I'm trying YouTube TV to see how well that works. First night worked well; last night not so well (hotel Internet seemed to be overloaded - a speed test showed download speed substantially below 1 Mbps). If nothing else, the next couple of months gives me a chance to see how well YouTube TV works as assuming I'm correct that our TiVo will not be usable at our new home (other than for what's already on it), I'd prefer to punish Spectrum for their CableCard decision and not give them any TV business (although they may be unavoidable for Internet). Plus I've read their DVR product is not all that great.
Between now and then (we're already out of the old home and staying in an extended stay hotel until the new home is ready), I'm trying YouTube TV to see how well that works. First night worked well; last night not so well (hotel Internet seemed to be overloaded - a speed test showed download speed substantially below 1 Mbps). If nothing else, the next couple of months gives me a chance to see how well YouTube TV works as assuming I'm correct that our TiVo will not be usable at our new home (other than for what's already on it), I'd prefer to punish Spectrum for their CableCard decision and not give them any TV business (although they may be unavoidable for Internet). Plus I've read their DVR product is not all that great.
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There is no guaranteed date when Spectrum will no longer support CC. And it could very greatly by region.
They also may prevent new signups before they pull support entirely.
So there’s really no way to say what the case will be when you move to Reno.
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5 hours ago I got maybe that 12th exact same form letter e-mail that keeps moving the date out for me to accept their fantastic equipment.... this time to August 28. I've received at least a dozen e-mails from them and a dozen phone calls from them where the phone call goes to message and they rarely leave a message. Anyone who tells you it's imminent is lying to you. The e-mails don't come from anyone technical... they come from a Vice President of Marketing in Connecticut. The phone calls are marketing phone calls. Don't fall for it.
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Same here, fourth postal mailing, dated 07/21/22, arrived yesterday, same deal, with 08/21/22 end date for the promotion.
Eight email arrived earlier today, with an 08/28/22 date for the end of the promotion deal.
Person on the emails is listed as Kathleen Griffin, VP of Marketing. When I check on Spectrum's website for their upper management, she's not listed there:
When I called their corporate office initially when this issue happened, I was able to get to an operator, though when I asked to speak with Kathleen Griffin by name, I ended up being put on hold and then dumped into the main customer service queue. Tried a couple of weeks later, the opt-out option on the auto-attendant wouldn't end up with a live person.
Eight email arrived earlier today, with an 08/28/22 date for the end of the promotion deal.
Person on the emails is listed as Kathleen Griffin, VP of Marketing. When I check on Spectrum's website for their upper management, she's not listed there:
Leadership | Charter Communications
Meet the executive leadership team at Charter Communications: Chris Winfrey, President and CEO; Tom Rutledge, Executive Chairman; and others.
corporate.charter.com
When I called their corporate office initially when this issue happened, I was able to get to an operator, though when I asked to speak with Kathleen Griffin by name, I ended up being put on hold and then dumped into the main customer service queue. Tried a couple of weeks later, the opt-out option on the auto-attendant wouldn't end up with a live person.
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It's not at all surprising she isn't listed on the page in the link you provided. Those are all top management. Everyone on that page with VP in their title is either an "executive VP", a "senior VP", or "senior executive VP". Found a reddit where Kathleen Griffin is mentioned as "VP of Marketing Communications". With titles like that, there's probably a hundred people with VP in their title at her level. Lol
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Yeah, that's the kind of title companies give to new MBAs and/or in lieu of pay.
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Probably thousands, knowing Spectrum.
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Looks like when the date is actually figured out, we should be getting emails with "Call To Action" in them, which is their terminology for when they sunset devices like old cable boxes, old cable modems and the like.
Since I think that if I call enough times, I might find the one person at Spectrum that has the whole story, though that of course never happens.
Highlights from today's phone call:
No one still knows when the date for the change is, which again, after six weeks+ of emails and postal mailings, someone has to have an idea for when this might happen.
I spoke with someone else who is in the Spectrum footprint, though is right over the river from me in Illinois, who had asked me previously about all this mess with Spectrum and to explain it to them. Which I did and we agreed that the easiest option would be to swap out to go the cable box route. Most of their content is watching via streaming, so going to a cable box would be easiest. They have older Premiere boxes, so they were just going to get the cable boxes from Spectrum to replace their Tivo units, so they called Spectrum about it. When they did, whomever they talked with said they were in a "legacy footprint", the mailings they were getting were sent by mistake and their Tivo units would continue to work.
Guess my next step is to get their account info and call Spectrum on their behalf to find out if that's actually true or not.
Since I think that if I call enough times, I might find the one person at Spectrum that has the whole story, though that of course never happens.
Highlights from today's phone call:
- Supposedly there's 10% of the customer base that uses CableCards . My guess is that it's 9.5% cable boxes where they're integrated and the.0.5% are the people with Tivo units, HD HomeRun units and the like.
- When the day actually gets picked, the communications will supposedly change to include the "Call To Action" notice about the CableCard situation being sunset. Supposed to be via postal mail and email, like the current crop of deluge.
No one still knows when the date for the change is, which again, after six weeks+ of emails and postal mailings, someone has to have an idea for when this might happen.
I spoke with someone else who is in the Spectrum footprint, though is right over the river from me in Illinois, who had asked me previously about all this mess with Spectrum and to explain it to them. Which I did and we agreed that the easiest option would be to swap out to go the cable box route. Most of their content is watching via streaming, so going to a cable box would be easiest. They have older Premiere boxes, so they were just going to get the cable boxes from Spectrum to replace their Tivo units, so they called Spectrum about it. When they did, whomever they talked with said they were in a "legacy footprint", the mailings they were getting were sent by mistake and their Tivo units would continue to work.
Guess my next step is to get their account info and call Spectrum on their behalf to find out if that's actually true or not.
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@shrike4242 , good luck trying to extract order from chaos. Another illustration of why i’m so glad I have no further dealings with Spectrum.
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That is exactly who they must come from, i.e. someone who is actually responsible for communications (and for various reasons at Charter, that it the umbrella org responsible for such). No one else is going to be allowed to send you any official communications. It might not be what you want, but there are various legal and regulatory requirements involved that preclude others from making official statements that have not been vetted through the entire process. If you don't understand that, talk to your lawyer (as only your lawyer is responsible to you) who can explain the gory details.
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Long before most knew about that approach, almost every new bank employee was given the title VP in lieu of pay or any authority/responsibility. It was an open marketing ploy in the financial industry, as the customers thought they were being treated as special when they got to talk to a VP.
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And until the lowest of the low (the CSRs) are told you will never get the whole story. CSRs are the organizational mushrooms (left in the dark and fed crap). They only actually know what the training materials or the screens tell them, and typically not more than a few days in advance of changes (and only then if they need to learn something entirely new to be prepared). Sure, from time to time, you will get someone who heard something from someone from someone, and will be willing to share what they think they know (because being people they want to try to be helpful to get a score of 10 on the survey you get later), but just like a game of telephone, the information eventually shared (whether factual or guesses or absolutely wrong) got mixed into one confusing story. And do far the fat lady has not yet sung (although she does appear to be in the wings).
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I'm aware of how CSRs rank in the scheme of things, though as time goes on, eventually, the information will make it to the mushrooms being left in the dark and fed crap. Each time I've called, I've had more information get exposed, though as the repeated item being that next month seems to be when it may happen, when the emails and mailings change from what they are, we'll know when it happens.
I'm continuing on my process to divest from Charter, I have fiber in place in place of my Spectrum connection, my home number with Spectrum is going through a port to a new provider, as well as working on TV options with or without my Tivo units in some part. Assuming my number port happens as it should before my bill cut date, I'll drop Internet and phone service on that date, then see what happens with CableCard use by that timeframe.
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I'm in Reno and we started getting the emails and letters here a while back. I have two cable card/ta set ups and they still work fine. The best answer I've gotten was from somebody directly in that department and he told me that my equipment should continue to work fine, but they probably won't be issuing new hardware at some point, so if yours stop working you might be sol.
I hope like hell this doesn't change.
Wow.. jsut seeing this thread. I'm in Dallas, TX area and haven't seen the Spectrum Dear John letter yet. With my main tivo and 4 minis in my setup, that would be quite a jump in hardware cost if Spectrum does kill the CC for me. Of course, I'd just terminate their service and go with YouTube TV before I gave Spectrum money for that.
FWIW, I called Spectrum and talked to someone who after initially saying he’s never had a call about Cablecards before claims to have done some checking and that they are still available in Reno. We’ll see what happens when we actually move there later this year.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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I just wish they'd leave me alone with the emails and snail-mail letters! I probably get at least 3 emails a week and at least one letter in the mail. Same exact spiel. Leave me alone! It's just annoying. Every single one says the exact same, completely non-specific, stuff.
If the emails you are receiving, there should be an UNSUBSCRIBE link somewhere on them? I was receiving them as well, did the unsub and they stopped in about a week.
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