Bait-and-switch on phone call, then called “rude” for asking about wait times at the store. Is this what a billion-dollar company calls customer service?
Post to: r/Spectrum | Cross-post to: r/consumerrights*,* r/mildlyinfuriating*,* r/Carlsbad
TITLE: Bait-and-switch on phone call, then called “rude” for asking about wait times at the store. Is this what a billion-dollar company calls customer service?
BODY:
I’m a 63-year-old retiree in Carlsbad, CA, on a fixed Social Security income. In February, I called Spectrum to see if there was a package deal. I was looking to switch two cellular lines from T-Mobile and lower my internet bill, which had ballooned from $50 pre-COVID to $91.25 — almost double in five years. And this is a complete monopoly area. No other cable internet provider is available where I live. Spectrum raised prices twice in just the last 12 months. Pure greed with zero competition to stop them.
The sales rep on the phone promised me two cellular lines plus internet for $100/month total. The math made sense. I agreed. I transferred both lines from T-Mobile. Then the confirmation emails arrived: $80/month for just the cell lines, $91.25 for internet with no discount, plus $20 in activation fees nobody mentioned on the call. The first month cost me $191.25. Every month after that: $171.25. Instead of saving money, I am paying almost the same as before — and I lost two perfectly working T-Mobile lines in the process. Classic bait-and-switch.
I filed complaints with the California Attorney General, the California Department of Consumer Affairs, and the FCC. Spectrum left me a voicemail saying they want to settle. Good.
But today I went to the Spectrum store to deal with my account in person. I signed in at the check-in system, sat down, and waited. Twenty minutes passed. The line barely moved. Two clerks were working at a glacial pace. No screen showing estimated wait times. No indication of where I was in the queue or how long the visit would take. I had already lost my entire morning to this — on top of the hours I had already lost researching the bait-and-switch, documenting the fraud, and filing complaints with three government agencies. I needed to know how much more of my day this would cost me, so I could plan the rest of my morning productively.
So I politely asked how long the wait would be and suggested they display estimated wait times — basic customer service that every DMV, deli counter, and urgent care clinic in America figured out years ago.
The response? The clerk told me I was being “rude.”
I was not rude. I was not judging anyone. I had signed in, waited my turn for 20 minutes, and offered feedback — a constructive suggestion to improve the experience for every customer who walks through that door. I did not raise my voice. I did not insult anyone. I was trying to make the best of a frustrating morning and turn the visit into something positive.
And here is what makes the situation so tricky. When someone labels you as “rude,” and you know you weren't being rude, it takes real effort to stay calm. Because the natural reaction is to get upset — and the moment you get upset, they feel validated. So you are standing there, being told you are something you are not, and the only way to prove them wrong is to absorb the disrespect and stay composed. I was not judging them. I was giving them feedback. The clerk could have said “I appreciate the feedback, I’ll pass it along to my manager.” That is what a trained employee does. Instead, the word “rude” came out — and once that word is in the air, the customer is on the defensive no matter what.
I am not someone who disrespects employees. I spent years as a manager, and my staff appreciated working with me. I built teams where people grew professionally, enriched their resumes, and felt their time at work had value. I know what good management looks like. I know what good training looks like. And I know the difference between a rude customer and a customer who offers feedback because they want the experience to be better for everyone.
What I saw in that store was the opposite of good management. Where was the store manager? In a back office somewhere? If there is a manager on duty, that person should be on the floor managing the line, reading the room, and coaching the staff — not hiding behind a desk while two clerks handle a packed store with zero crowd management and potentially two-hour wait times. A manager who lets customers sit for hours without any communication about wait times and then lets the staff call those customers “rude” for asking about it — that is a management failure, not a customer failure.
The bigger picture: why does this keep getting worse?
I am not complaining. I am reporting reality.
Americans pay on average 3 to 5 times more than Europeans for comparable internet and cellular service. In many EU countries, a mobile plan with generous data costs around 14 euros a month. In the United States, a single line runs $40 to $80 or more. The US ranks among the most expensive countries in the world for mobile data — higher than most of Europe, Asia, and South America (source: Cable.co.uk Worldwide Mobile Data Pricing study, CelleSIM 2026 report). Why? Because the European Union broke the telecommunications monopoly years ago. They forced open competition, regulated pricing, and put consumers first. Prices dropped to where they should be.
In the United States, we are sprinting in the opposite direction. Corporations merge, monopolies grow, and consumers pay more every year for the same product. My internet went from $50 to $91.25 with no improvement in speed or reliability. Two price increases in the last 12 months alone. Charter Communications reported $13.8 billion in quarterly revenue. Where does that money come from? From customers like me who have no alternative.
And where are the politicians who are supposed to take our side? The consumer protection agencies that are supposed to keep corporations honest — the FTC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — are facing massive budget cuts and staffing reductions. The referees are being pulled off the field while the game gets dirtier. Are we going to see more mergers, more monopolies, more political control by corporate lobbies, and higher prices month after month while the agencies meant to protect us get gutted? Is this what consumer protection looks like in 2026?
The politicians who are supposed to represent us got richer with the corporate lobby sponsorships. They approved the mergers. They defunded the watchdogs. And every month, ordinary people like me open their bill and get a little poorer for it. I look at what Europeans pay for the same service and I look at what I pay, and I have to ask: where did the money go? It went into corporate revenue. It went into lobbying. It went into the pockets of the people who were supposed to protect us.
The taxpayer-funded heist
And let’s talk about where the money actually comes from. Charter Communications — Spectrum’s parent company — received $3.01 billion from the federal Affordable Connectivity Program, the largest share of any company from a $12.82 billion taxpayer-funded program (source: Benton Institute for Broadband & Society). Charter received another $1.2 billion from the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (source: Charter’s own SEC filing). Charter’s own policy page admits that over $2 billion in government funding offsets its costs for rural broadband construction. And when the $65 billion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed to expand broadband — a bill Charter actively lobbied against — Charter made sure to position itself as the primary recipient of those taxpayer dollars too (source: Techdirt).
Add it up: billions of dollars in taxpayer money have flowed directly into Charter Communications to build and expand infrastructure that they then charge us monopoly prices to use. The American taxpayer funded the construction. The American consumer pays the monthly bill. And Charter reports $13.8 billion in quarterly revenue. The infrastructure investment has already been subsidized by the government. The operating costs are covered many times over by what they charge. So, where is all the money going? Not back to the customers. Not into lower prices. Not into better service. Not into training employees to treat customers with respect. It is going into corporate profits, executive compensation, and lobbying to make sure no competitor ever gets a chance to offer an alternative. This is not a business model. This is a heist — a multi-billion-dollar heist funded by the same taxpayers who are getting overcharged every month for the privilege of having no choice.
Monopolies don’t last forever. Blockbuster thought they were untouchable, too. Somewhere out there, a competitor is building the service that will do to Spectrum what Netflix did to Blockbuster. And when that day comes, Charter Communications will be a penny stock filing for bankruptcy, wondering why all their customers left. I am waiting for that day.
I am not complaining. I am supposed to live in the most advanced economy in the world. Instead, I am a 63-year-old retiree on Social Security who called to ask about a package deal and got scammed, overcharged by $192.50, and called rude for asking how long the wait was at the store. I am just reporting what I see. And what I see is a system where corporate greed is slowly bleeding consumers dry because nobody with the power to stop it has the incentive to stop it. They are all getting paid.
I currently have formal complaints filed with the CA Attorney General, the CA Department of Consumer Affairs, and the FCC, citing violations of California Civil Code §1770, Business and Professions Code §17200 and §17500, and FCC Truth-in-Billing Rules. If you have experienced similar deceptive sales practices from Spectrum, file your own complaints. The more complaints these agencies receive, the harder it becomes for Spectrum to keep getting away with this.
Has anyone else been called “rude” for giving feedback at a Spectrum store? Has anyone else watched their internet price double with no improvement and no alternative? Has anyone else compared what Europeans pay for the same service and wondered how we ended up here?
Does all this make sense to you?