Cox’s Residential Price Lock Guarantee (PLG) gives you the option to have a fixed monthly cost, protected from price increases. In exchange, you are locked in to a two year contract with Cox.

While it has a fancy name and fancy benefits, the bottom line is that the PLG turns your month-to-month service contract with Cox into a long-term, two year contract. Remember, as buddy-buddy as companies like to be (especially large telecom companies), a company generally will not act unless it is in their best interest. Why would a company promise you a low (arguably) price--guaranteed!--for two years? Because you give Cox a guarantee profit for two years! Cox doesn’t have to fight or claw or do anything above and beyond providing you service to your home. Well, you say, what if you decide to get out of the contract and deny Cox of its sweet sweet profits? My friend, you have just entered into the realm of early termination fees, or ETFs.

ETFs are a little built in safety net that helps companies guarantee it’ll reap the profits from your service contract one way or another. If you stay in the contract for two years, great news for Cox. But if you cancel early, Cox hits you with a fee as high as $120 for your untimely escape. ETFs also play a starring role in many other service contracts, especially cell phone contracts.

With Cox’s PLG, you get a fixed guaranteed price. And in light of Cox’ recent 20% hike on basic tier service, a fixed price sounds pretty great. But with the guarantee and its added rigidity comes a loss of flexibility. Check out the language of the PLG agreement that a member so kindly provided to us. After the initial 30 day cancellation period, Cox imposes an ETF if you cancel your service before the end of your two year contract.

So is this a good deal for consumers? Perhaps, if you know that you are going to stick with your service for two years and want to lock in a low price. To be fair, Cox’s PLG is pretty much the same as the service contracts offered by cell phone companies. Cell phone companies offer you a fixed month rate for phone service in exchange for you being locked into a two year contract, which is exactly what Cox is doing.

However, here at UCAN, we hate to see consumers penalized for changing their mind. If you like the rigidity and stability of two years contracts, go ahead and sign up for Cox’s PLG. You may save a bit of money when Cox raises its rates. But, if you like the freedom and flexibility offered by not being in a long-term contract, Cox’s PLG might be a good thing to pass on. Besides, with Netflix and Hulu streaming to your phone, who needs cable TV service?

If you want some more information, check out the attached PLG agreement and some more information from Cox’s website.

Questions about your cable bill? Give the Fraud Squad a call at (619) 696-6966 or fill out our online complaint form.

Things aren’t always as they seem... if it’s too good to be true, it probably is... how many more cliches can I use to begin this blog post? In troubling economic times, consumers are counting their pennies to make sure they can squeeze as much value out of the services they purchase. Items once considered a necessity are now luxuries, like cable television. To combat the slowdown in consumer spending, many companies are using tantalizing offers to entice consumers into their service gingerbread house. However, these offers could be the breadcrumbs that lead you into the hell-hot oven of customer service headaches and unanticipated charges.

For example, Time Warner recently had a web promotion that guaranteed a certain price for an Internet and TV bundle for 12 months. It seems like a great deal, but buried on a separate web page of terms and conditions lie the catch--the cost of equipment needed to access all the TV channels is not included in the guaranteed price.

The TV service includes DVR and HDTV features; in order to access these features, the consumer needs to subscribe to the DVR service and pay the equipment rental fee for the HDTV receiver. These two costs are not included in the 12 month guaranteed price.

To make matters worse, Time Warner does not charge you for DVR service or an equipment rental fee for the first three months of service. Once that “trial period” expires, Time Warner adds over $20 of fees to your bill. This additional charge is usually the only way consumers find out that the 12 month guaranteed price is much lower than they anticipated.

How can you avoid these sneaky fees and charges? Make sure you carefully comb through the terms and conditions of all potential offers. Time Warner’s particular offer was tricky because the language that referred to the “trial period” of free DVR service and equipment rental was on a completely separate web page than the initial offer.

Questions about a promotional offer? Complaints about a service contract that was completely different than than an offer? Call the Fraud Squad at (619) 696-6966 or fill out our online complaint form.

Since AT&T's decision to introduce tiered data plans, consumers have been waiting with bated breath to see what other cell phone providers would do in response. Sprint came out and said that it would not do away with unlimited data. However, it looks like Verizon may be the first to follow in AT&T's footsteps and introduce tiered data plans.

Businessweek.com quoted John Killian, Verizon's CFO, as saying, “We will probably need to change the design of our pricing where it will not be totally unlimited, flat rate.” Unfortunately, this might not be good news for consumers and cell phone users accustomed to getting unlimited data.

I understand the need to drop price point for entry level data plans to allow more casual data users access to next generation smart phones. However, cell phone providers need to make a tiered price system that is equitable for all its users. And so far, AT&T's tiered data plan is not. Sure, casual iPhone users can now get a relatively inexpensive monthly plan for their iPhone. But now higher data users will pay almost twice as much for the exact same service they received prior to the new data plan introduction.

What are your thoughts on tiered data plans? Are they great because they open up smartphones to a larger share of people? Or do they hinder those who actually need to check their e-mail more than twice a week?

Free! Free! Free! Everybody loves free things! Or, as the wonderful double negative writing marketers who came up with Sara Lee's slogan, nobody doesn't like free things. To celebrate Father's Day this weekend, T-Mobile is offering every single phone in its store for FREE. Yes, that's right, sports fans. But, before you walk into a T-Mobile store and start stuffing phones in your pocket, there are some caveats.

First, you need to go on the right day: June 19, 2010. Second, you need to switch to a family plan or add a new line to an existing family plan. Third, you need to sign up for a new two-year agreement.

While there are some caveats, those who are already in the market for a T-Mobile telephone and don't mind singing up for a two-year contract can get a pretty good deal. However, it not only requires a two-year agreement, but either a new family plan or another line on an existing family plan. This is a bit more involved than just signing up for a contract. Personally, I'd prefer consumers to avoid getting locked into two-year service contracts. But, it is hard to pass up free.

Thanks to Engadget Mobile for the story. Here's a link to T-Mobile's press release: http://mobile.engadget.com/2010/06/15/t-mobile-confirms-free-phone-offer...