Wednesday, February 11, 2009

KICKED OUT OF THE FAMILY


Two weeks ago we made the decision to get rid of the cable in our home. It's been a long time coming on mom's part, but I also understood that it had to be a family decision. So when Kevin told me that he was okay with it if I wanted to get rid of the dish cable, I jumped at the chance. We have had a few interesting things happen since we decided to do that though...including getting it shut off. We have Dish Network, which come with the "dish" attached to your home when you have it installed. The dish is ours, always will be, and never gets taken away, because we "own" it now. I'm okay with that...it doesn't mean we have to use it. So I got online to disconnect our service, but when I look the website over, there is no where to be found a place that tells you how to do that online. So I call the customer service number, talk to a real guy, and explain to him that we have decided to discontinue our cable service. I think I put him into a coronary, because he is sounding a little dumbfounded about the whole idea. He asks me right back (after I just told him) if we want to shut our cable off, in kind of a question form. I told him again that, yes, we want to shut our cable off. He still couldn't believe it, and asked me why we were having that done (which, now that I think of it, was none of his business.) I told him that we had decided that we wanted to simplify our lives and get rid of the things in our home that were not essential. He was polite, but STILL could not figure out why. (Like you cannot be living if you don't have TV.) After a few more explanations, and he trying to give me a better package for cheaper, free months, etc., I was able to get off the phone, with our cable gone, and a nice empty dish stuck to the side of our house, forever... The crazy thing is, that a week later, Kevin got a call from Dish Network trying to talk him into signing back up for 3 months free with all kinds of goodies to go along with it. People are funny...but we are free at last! And we haven't missed it a bit - although I think that the TV is getting pretty lonely.

8 comments:

Karena said...

People can be such a pain when you're trying to cancel a card, sort out insurance junk, and the like. Kudos to you for sticking to your guns when they put on the pressure!

GrandmaLori said...

You may have been kicked out of one "Family" but you are certainly welcome into "Our NO TV or CABLE FAMILY"

The Waters household has been TV / Cable free for 14 months now and we haven't missed it a bit (although we still get calls from Dish wanting us back too, even 14 months later). You will find that there is so much to talk about when you don't have a TV distracting your conversations. Board games are great too!! CONGULATIONS on your decision!!

GrandmaLori said...

I MEAN CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! (Just noticed my spelling in the previous comment. I really must do a better job of checking my spelling before I hit the "PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT" button. I was afraid CONGULATIONS may have meant something bad!) hehe

Lexie & Sharrid said...

yeah, it totally was none of his business. Too bad the Dish always has to be there but if it saves you money every month and makes life a lot better (and I'm sure it does 99/100 times) then it's worth it all the way!

Connie said...

I'm sure that guy had to say all of those things, but still- what an idiot. "I'm calling to cancel our cable tv." "So, you want to cancel your cable tv?" Umm, YES!

Yeah, good for you, and don't give in to their dumb "deals" either! We have been cable-free since the beginning of our marriage (actually before) and never have known what we're missing. It's great!

Lisa said...

we don't have tv or cable either and people think im crazy like im missing the world and cant possibly live but i've survived perfectly fine. this way when i watch a movie i know what i'm watching... so kudos! sales people drive me nuts. thanks for checking out my blog nobody looks at it anymore. I know crazy huh but i'm loving it... i definitely have to be cautious actually the other day i was walking at the cross walk with everyone stopped and this grandma sped past i just back or i would've been road kill some people need to learn to drive again lol. well i miss you and love ya mom

Michaela said...

Good job Mother! I'll miss HGTV though :)And I do actually feel bad for Landon not being able to watch games.

Kira said...

Its unfortunate that you can't just get sports games and maybe the food network. But even still, you're not missing much. I remember the tv being shut off for 7 years while growing up. I think it was middle school-highschool time for me. And I don't ever remember missing it or missing out. I never felt deprived at all and I'm sure we all spent our time doing cool things rather than watching other people do cool things on tv.