channels removed

[doh1]

we have had fios extreme hd since may 2009. we get an offer for faster internet plus $300 gift card.guy said we had an old bundle,we would improved phone too.he said tv would remain the same. well now we dont get backbelt tv,the two horse racing channels ,mavtv and a few others.ugh!

[Keyboards · Accepted solution]

Whenever changing bundles you have to carefully see what channels may or may not be included or deleted -

       EVEN IF THE NAME OF THE BUNDLE IS "THE SAME".

There are 2 flavors of EXTREME.  The old EXTREME 2009 and the current tier also called EXTREME and the channels included in each are different.  Verizon's phone CSRs are notorioius for being poorly informed and making assumptions (incorrectly many times) when providing information to a customer.  Frustrating, yes, but search through the forums and you will see it is is pervasive.

[retiredme]

Keyboards is correct. All of the service providers do this from time to time as contracts and bundles that are negotiated with content suppliers change. When content is purchased by Verizon or anybody, there is always the desired channels but a bunch of lesser known, niche channels that would not otherwise pay for themselves to be carried. This way they spread the cost around to every one by having us pay for channels we don't watch just to get the ones we do. Last year about this time there was a furor over the fact that MGM HD and the Hallmark Channel were dropped from the Extreme package, yet were standard for the lesser Prime package. It usually works the other way around, where you get more as you pay more. There was great outrage and feedback, yet the situation persisted. Unknown to many was that the negativity was such that Verizon established an unspoken policy to reinstate these two channels upon request by the customer. I found this out when I went to a Verizon store to swap out defective equipment and chatted up the lady attendant. She promptly reinstated MGM and Hallmark to me, and even gave me a choice of those channels or some others. I would like to think it was my charm that did the trick, but alas I suspect it was merely customer relations.

[doh1]

thanks for your replies. wish i would have known all this earlier but buyer beware and all of that. just bummed that it was 10 channels. at least last time when they took off mgm,cars and pets...they said they informed us.too bad i didn't call like you to get mgm back. but this is my first real beef with fios. you should hear the problems my sister is having with comcast.