We own a lake home in a beautiful area in the north central mountains of Arkansas. This is a vacation area and our home is used as nightly rental property most of the year. About two years ago I contacted Rapid Cable and upgraded our service from Basic Cable (8 channels) to Expanded Cable, about 26 channels HBO. We thought that would be nicer for people spending a few days on vacation there.
I got several complaints through the rental agent that people were disappointed at the lack of variety in television there. We went down to Arkansas in June to supervise the building of a new deck and addition of a new roof on that property. I was surprised to learn that while we had been paying $70 a month for expanded service, we were, in fact, still receiving basic cable service with only 8 channels! The difference in cost is about $35/month so we had overpaid by over $400 for services actually received.
There was no local office to discuss this with in this small town so I waited until we had returned home to Kansas City, pulled a copy of my bill, and looked for a telephone number to contact the company. I called the number listed on the bill for several days and could never get a live person. We just kept getting a recording saying "mailbox is full". After a week of this frustration I gave up, called a satellite company, and had over 200 channels of programming for the same price Rapid Cable had allegedly been supplying me with 26. I wrote to the company at the P.O. Box address on their billing statement and asked for a refund. I got no response so I sent their bill back unpaid.
Subsequently they have sent the $133 they claim we owe to a collection company. I sent another letter and said in the spirit of things I would not ask for a refund nor file a federal complaint if they would zero my account and quit hassling me. The only response I received were more dunning notices threatening to report us to credit bureaus.
This is a flim-flam operation run from a P.O. Box somewhere in Iowa. Evidently they just go by now and then and pick up checks that have been mailed there because they never answer the phone. Apparently they specialize in small markets in rural America. I don't think they could make it in a competitive environment. I have now filed a formal FCC complaint against them for charging me for over a year for services not provided, then threatening me for stopping payment.
Take my advice; if you are in a market where these guys are the provider, vote with your feet and go to satellite. You will be much happier and receive far more for your money.
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