Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Cable TV
Raised as a usability problem by 23 people on Hacker News over 17 years (2009–2025), in 22 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Cable service is next to impossible to cancelUnreviewed
20092026- Cancelling a cable subscription is made borderline impossible for customers2024-10-24
- Cancelling cable took almost two hours and four retention specialists2022-10-08
- Cable service is next to impossible to cancel2018-01-18
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 23 complaints
- Parents watch stretched SD channel instead of finding the HD channel, which is hard to locate2025-10-14
- Cancelling a cable subscription is made borderline impossible for customers2024-10-24
- Cancelling cable took almost two hours and four retention specialists2022-10-08
- Upgrading is easy online but there is no easy way to downgrade2022-04-18
- Cancelling took two calls to find the right number and a threat to get it done2021-08-13
- Unskippable ads now appear on menus, paused movies and recordings2021-06-13
- Unsubscribing requires calling, sales pitches, and verifying customer data, which is painful2019-05-22
- Menus show every channel you don't have, making them harder to use2018-08-23
- Cable DVR interfaces are so poor the commenter finds them unbearable to use2018-02-28
- Cable service is next to impossible to cancel2018-01-18
- Cable TV interface is terrible and picture quality is poor on basic tier2017-12-22
- Channel changes on the cable receiver lag noticeably, making it slow to use2017-03-27
- Cable TV interface is slow, unresponsive, and confusing, and pausing or rewinding is painful2017-02-16
- Cable box UI is slow, unresponsive and confusing, and gets slower the longer it's on2017-02-16
- Tuning to a channel requires many menu steps and waits, and switching or typing is cumbersome2016-08-05
- Choosing the cancel option led to a 30-minute hold, so the commenter called back and used a different option.2016-07-04
- Cable company makes it nearly impossible to use a better DVR solution2016-04-04
- Favorites are buried in menus and don't show in the guide, so users must dial channel numbers2013-11-19
- Guide is slow, looks dated, and offers very few customization options2013-05-29
- Channels get moved around, so users can't find CNN anymore2012-03-18
- Channels labeled by numbers and callsigns are hard to navigate and find2012-02-24
- On-demand interface is clunky and DVR requires planning recordings in advance2011-06-15
- Time Warner, Comcast and AT&T cable interfaces are poorly designed and hard to use2009-09-21