Extortion - a criminal offense when a person unlawfully obtains money through through coercion.

We get at least 3 calls/week from Charter trying to get us to switch from Digital Cable + HD + 16Mbit Internet to a plan with Charter Telephone. My mother is the one who gets the calls. They have been getting increasingly nasty with her and when she answer's the phone she pleads with the rep to tell her whether they are offering anything without phone. The reps just keep going as if she never said anything and continue on with their spiel about adding Charter Telephone.

Well today was the last straw. She got a call, as soon as they told her it was charter, she told the rep that if they didn't have an offer without charter telephone that she would hang up and the rep told her that "if she didn't switch to charter telephone her bill would go up" just like that. I understand that Charter keeps people on 6 month promotions but the fact of the matter is, to sign someone to a 6 month promotion and then bully them into adding a service that they don't want or need under the threat of a price hike is extortion. Needless to say, I got the "we're switching to a dish" line today and this time - she's serious.