Buyer Beware With NFL RedZone Channel
By Scott Allen
The NFL RedZone channel. Probably one of the best inventions ever, well, if you are an NFL football fan.
Last season, the channel debuted on DirectTV and on several cable service companies. If you live in the Phoenix area though, most of you that don’t have satellite, have Cox Cable as your cable provider. I use the term provider in this article VERY loosely.
When it was announced last month that Cox Communications had come to an agreement to carry the NFL RedZone channel, I was excited! I was disappointed that it wasn’t carried last year, but with it being in the first year, I understood. A spin-off of Sunday NFL Ticket, this channel is the bomb! It gives you live in the red zone action from every game every Sunday.
I had read online that the RedZone channel was being offered for $39.99. Not too bad. However I also read on where there was going to be an early bird special for $24, which would be billed in four separate installments. I called, I was denied the offer. Why? Because I live in the Phoenix area, not San Diego.
Apparently, according to Cox, is each market has different prices, different pricing structures, agreements, blah blah blah. What a bunch of crap! The Red Zone channel is ONE channel, offered by Cox in several different markets. Why should that channel be priced differently just because I live in Arizona. Why do they get a break in San Diego? Not that they don’t deserve it either. I’m just saying, what fits for one, should fit for all. Apparently the demand is so high, call volumes are high, or so I am told by a supervisor that totes the company line.
I called Cox and was told I could order over the phone or online. I decided to order online so I could take a closer look at it, except I couldn’t find it. I got on an email chat with a Cox representative that had no time for me and disconnected his chat screen after 15 minutes without saying anything but “one moment please”.
I got back on with another rep of Cox and that person just toted the company line ” oh sorry for the confusion blah blah blah….” I was told I could not get it for $24. I was told I had to pay the $39.99 and pay it all at once. Again, what a bunch of crap. Only Pay-Per-View do you have to pay everything like that at once.
You can go get ESPN Gameplan, NHL Center ICE, MLB Extra Innings, and NBA Center Court all on installments. Heck you can even get Sunday NFL Ticket that way as well. I complained about it on Cox’s Facebook page and was told I could get help by emailing supervisors at Cox. I was provided an email address. I emailed. I got the company line of “sorry, but..”. Exactly the response I expected to get. Bottom line is, your local Cox representative doesn’t care about anything other than their bottom line.
Customer service these days is awful. I work in customer service everyday, so I can spot good and bad service rather quickly. Now, I don’t ask for the world. I just want the same piece of it that someone, say, in San Diego gets. Is that too much to ask? I don’t think so. So, buyer beware if you have Cox in Arizona and were thinking about getting NFL RedZone.
It’s either a switch to DirectTV or off to the sports bars for me!!! Two days till kickoff!