Help me cancel my cable and not pay an extra month

October 2, 2015 3:22 PM

I need to change cable companies and last time I did it, we ended up basically paying an extra month. Help me understand how not to do this again.

Well it's that time again. The cable company has increased our bill and the competitor is lower now. Last time I switched cable providers, we ended up paying an extra month for the company we cancelled. How do I cancel so that one service ends and I'm not paying overlapping cable companies?

Current cable/internet is with wowway.com, the new one will be Brighhouse network. They screwed me when I cancelled them a few years ago and I don't want wowway to do that too, it basically negates the savings imo.

The wowway bill is coming due and we are intentionally not paying it until I figure out how to do this right. I feel dense because it seems like everybody does this, but I don't know how to finesse it. Wowway said they bill for the past month but I don't trust them, or any cable company really. I hate having to play these games, if only they'd charge a fair price to all customers, life would be so much easier.

We are not under any contract that we need to break so there shouldn't be any cancellation fees. Can someone who has cancelled service from wowway tell me if they will be decent to deal with at the end of service?

posted by RichardHenryYarbo to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Best answer: What does the most recent bill say about the period it covers? It should have explicit start and end dates for the billing period. If that period is entirely past and you're into the next period already then you will probably have to pay both this bill and the next.
posted by jon1270 at 4:21 PM on October 2, 2015

Best answer: i.e. you should schedule the switch for before, but as close as possible to, the end of one of your current provider's billing periods.
posted by jon1270 at 4:22 PM on October 2, 2015

Sounds like a hassle I'd try calling and telling them you're going to switch because you're getting a better price and see if they'll beat it. Its fairly common to do that in this industry.


(unless its not just a price thing)
posted by bitdamaged at 8:26 PM on October 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Cable companies are regulated. If you aren't under a contract with early termination penalties your service is canceled the day you cancel it, and they should prorate the month and refund the difference if you pay in advance. When I canceled Comcast they tried to tell me it would take two weeks and when I told them if it wasn't canceled in the next 5 minutes I'd be calling the county utility commissioner they miraculously figured out how to cancel my service on demand.
posted by COD at 6:05 AM on October 3, 2015 [3 favorites]