Charter Communications Cable TV Consumer Reviews - Page 2

SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI -- In my entire life Charter has been the worst company I have ever dealt with. Their cable TV service is terrible. I have had techs to my house at least 20 times because I have been complaining about the tiling and picture cut offs for 3 years. Charter has checked my house wiring many many times and can never find a problem in my house yet they say there is no problem outside my house anywhere or along any 15 year old coaxial cable that runs hundreds of miles through Michigan. But every time I call and complain that the digital signal is tiling 8 times an hour they want to come into my house and blame it on my wiring.

Charter will never admit that it is because of their system and cable. Not only that their attitude is very plain. If you don't like our service than don't use it. Very POOR customer service. I have had some techs from Charter tell me the truth about their problems. The tech stated that "Our lines are old antiquated coaxial cable not good for digital signals. And Charter will not invest their money in replacing them". Charter will have 10 year contracts with each township to become the only cable service in your area so their attitude is "we are the only game in town so love it or leave it".

If you have Charter service and you are experiencing tiling (that is when the picture breaks off and comes back in little squares then you have tiling. And if you think Charter is going to fix that problem then you believe in the Easter Bunny. And if you do have problems that Charter will not correct then you must complain to the Missouri Attorney General's Office at 573-751-3321 where Charter is located. Also complain to the BBB in Missouri at 314-645-3300 or 314-584-6721. And here is a phone number that Charter will not give out and that goes to a ** at ** (Executive Escalation Mgr. in Simpsonville SC).

If you just call the normal Charter phone number you will go nowhere, believe me! Also file a complaint with your local township supervisor and let them know that Charter TV cable service is very poor. I am currently working with my township to get Charter out of my area because they refuse to fix the problem and I am paying over $100 a month for cable TV service.

ALBERTVILLE, ALABAMA -- Here goes. I wrote a book on the nightmare services we get from Charter but erased it, you don't need to know the details. All you needs to know is this; Charter Communications, be it Franchise (tack on $5 a mo.) or not, is a racket. Once they get your commitment for 2 yrs. they will hang you out to dry. For example, After a dozen young men in and out of my parents room trying to get the digital receiver to work, they came to a conclusion, "It was the light bulbs in the ceiling fan above interfering and we would just have to live with it."

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him smacking the box to see if that might make it work! To this day this nice flat screen TV has a distorted picture because the leased equipment stinks even the replacement couldn't help. Then there is the botched cable work, one tech said quote "Needs to be replaced, it's interfering with air traffic control." Now we are stuck with 2 yrs of $155.00 monthly fees for 4 TV's with no cable boxes because a credit rating of 705 wasn't good enough to lease more than 1. And remember, that ONE box has never worked, not even when we "removed the ceiling light bulbs" and wrapped "aluminum foil" around only God knows what???

Watching TV isn't even worth it anymore. The best channel you can select from is PBS. So there you have it. My experience is proof and my word is as solid as a rock when I tell you that Charter Communications is a dirty scam and their FALSE advertising is nothing but pure lies. All they will do is offer the same old rhetoric bull we have gotten since they got a signature. Don't be like me and get stuck with nice TV's (earned by blood, sweat & tears) that will only pick up a few non digital, as of this yr, channels.

It is so not fair to our family who have worked so hard to earn enough money just so we may be able to enjoy off time with a television. God knows the average American can't afford to go out to see a movie anymore.

SOUTH CAROLINA -- I have been communicating with Technical Support in Greenville, SC, and the technical support dept reached at the toll free number, for 10 months, and Customer Relations Specialists in St Louis for about a month. Every line and connector – and I mean every one, even the buried line - has been replaced at least twice! (Guess what - the problem is, as I said from the beginning, NOT AT MY HOUSE!)

I have many pages of ping tests showing packet loss, and high latency. I had a Tech Supervisor come to my house and run Charter diagnostics on MY computer for over an hour and see that there are problems on my line – that was I believe in Sept of 2010. It took months, but the technical department finally said that the problem is on node 4163, but I cannot get anyone in the line department to contact me. All I get from the line dept is second hand from a tech, or customer relations, "We can't find a problem."

**, I know you haven't found it yet, but since it is still there, KEEP LOOKING!! And then fix it! I have told everyone it is intermittent. Running an occasional line test is most likely NOT going to find the problem! My neighbor has the same problems, and a friend 2 miles away has the same as well. (All on node 4163!) My friend finally got tired of the techs coming to her house, tracking up and down her stairs and across her white carpet. Her husband told them after the 3rd or 4th visit that the problem was not in their house and that they were not allowed to come back inside their house. As far as we know, the line department never did anything.

Ten months of calls and emails and the problems are STILL not resolved!! I have had it!! I am tired of my phone, Internet and TV disconnecting or giving poor signal/reception. I am going on every forum I can find to blast this company as much as I possibly can. I am filing a formal complaint with the state Consumer Services in Columbia, SC on Monday. If there is ever an opportunity to go with another company I will be gone - even if it is double the price! Save yourself from poor service, aggravation and wasted time, and go with another company if one is available.

Absolutely the worst. Nice customer service persons, I have talked with them over 8x and had the service less than 30 days. I am contacting the Public Utilities Commission with my complaints due to the misrepresentations and outright fraud of the people that do their marketing and customer service. After the first communication with one of the many people marketing Charter Communications Triple bundle, it has been an ongoing nightmare being told one lie after another.

Each time I ask how much per month, is my bill going to increase. And then the new billing arrives and I start over again with yet another person lying to me as to how much it is going to cost and what services I will get. Then the computers go down due to Charter Communication signal issues. All of this in less than 30 days of service. I may yet sign up for another service provider. I am now waiting for 2 different techs to show up.

BTW If you sign up for their phone service be aware, at least according to the last tech I talked to that you have to rent their modem or the phone will not work. @ $5 a month plus taxes. So you buy the 69.99 bundle plus you have $5 a month for the modem and where I am about $15 in taxes and fees. God help you if you go for digital TV where you pay another $25, $30 if you count the $5 monthly rental fee digital, as basic is only about 12 channels, none of which I watch yet due to the costs the 12 month deal is cheaper to have the 3x bundle locked in for a year then to have only 6 months at the discounted price for the phone and internet.

I had Charter Basic Extended service and was willing to upgrade to digital, internet and phone... I should have known I was in for problems when I had trouble setting up the appointment. I was told that they did not have service staff on Saturday only to find out later they do. Well, I got the internet and digital installed... only to find out upon returning home that we could not change channels, the technician did not change the channels while he was there. Then the first of hours on the phone to service with rude non-caring staff and lots of "I am sorry..." to the point I finally said apology was not solving my problem.

Finally found one service tech that cared and after about 45 minutes (I was on phone) we got the channel to change... we got to watch TV for a short time. The next issue was that we could only receive 3 of the hundreds of channels offered... again back on the phone, and finally after an hour plus with a service rep, I was transferred to a "special" customer service person who told me that I would have an emergency tech come to my home... never got the promised phone call (at the number I provided them) and I was told they would come in AM after I informed Charter that the 3-5 time they he was unacceptable since we were leaving town.

So, guess when the appointment was scheduled... yep 3-5 PM. I found this out when I returned all of their equipment at their store on my way out of town. Now I guess the fight starts not to get charged for 3 days of internet and no TV... As soon as I can I will change to another service provider and get Charter out of my life!! They have no idea what SERVICE is. They do not deserve to be in business.

WAUPACA, WISCONSIN -- A few months ago I made the mistake of bundling my telephone, TV and internet service with Charter Communications. We don't really have any other options where I live. Recently, we lost all our services before 8 am on a Friday morning. Starting about 10 am I began to phone Charter-- 3 times on Friday, twice on Saturday, once Sunday. Monday we gave up. They showed up late morning on Tuesday.

Each time I called, I explained that we especially needed to have phone service restored. Our cell phone coverage is spotty and never works in our house. I am disabled & have a sick father in a nursing home. Phone service is essential for us. Each time I got a different reason why this was happening and a promise that someone would be out to correct the problem within the next few hours. Someone was always here & we waited & waited. No one ever came until that Tuesday. The repairman who came said the weekend worker phoned in each am and was told there were no issues for him to attend to. Not sure if he was telling the truth or not but it seemed like it.

Now that things are working I'd like to at least get a refund for the days lost however I suspect that will be a huge headache too. At least once a month we lose internet service. When we phone in we are told we need to replace our modem. We never have replaced it and typically our service resumes between 2 and 24 hours. I guess Charter Communications treats customers like me poorly because they can get away with it. They know we have no other options. All I can say is if you can, go with anyone else -- do not use Charter.

CONNECTICUT, CONNECTICUT -- OK so this is the best yet. I have rented a garage apartment that was off the main house and was already wired for cable. I call the cable company (charter) to set up new service. I take the day off work, the guy comes late as usual, he trots up the driveway with cable box in hand, walks in, hooks the cable to the box, box to TV and says have a nice day... OK so I find out yesterday that my landlord already had the whole house wired and my cable was running off of his. SO IF I HAD just plugged the cable into the TV when I moved in it would have been on for basic cable. If I wanted an extra box, I would have had to THEN pay charter.

SO 2 years goes by. After many fights with them over service issues I decided to forget them. SO I didn't pay the bill... so blink the box goes off, so they say the cable still works to just plug it directly into the TV so I did and it worked for basic. THEY Came yesterday to turn me off at the pole as I told them they would get paid MONDAY so here he comes pulls the plug at the pole and my landlord's cable goes out. HE runs out and says what the hell? The tech calls me and says your apartment was never wired for standalone cable, it was always there, the other tech just jumped it.

SO NOW my cable is in the hands of my landlord. HE has been paying his bill so they cannot terminate at the pole PLUS they never should have charged me for any services as we already had it. I called the FCC and the state's attorney general's office and the cable company. The Tech asked if he could come into the house to unscrew the wire. Disconnects are done outside not inside... Charter now owes me 2 years of payments as they were charging me and the landlord for services run out of ONE wire... AMAZING!!! PS I GOT A LAWYER.

WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS -- First, I will mention an experience I had with these clowns about a year ago. I wanted to get DVR service. No problem they said. Since I am perfectly capable of hooking up a cable box, I told them I'd pick it up at my local office rather than pay for a technician. No problem. They supposedly put one on reserve, and I could come get it anytime. I went to the local branch and waited in line for 45 minutes. The line was filled with the dregs of society, and I was afraid of walking away with TB.

Needless to say, once I got to the counter, the DVR box I had on "reserve" was gone and they had no replacement. Not happy. So I explained to them that I now expected them to come to my house with a DVR box, for free, with some percentage of my bill reduced for a while. They did all of this, and in a week or so, my DVR was set up, and everything was fine.

Fast forward to this week. I bought a new HD TV. If I upgraded my cable service to HD through Best Buy, I got $100 off of my TV. Great. Charter is supposed to call within 48 hrs to set up an appointment to set me up. No call. When I call to get the lowdown, I'm told not only do they not have any HD DVR cable boxes in stock, but there is a shortage in my area and they DON"T KNOW WHEN it will be available. To make matters worse, the CS rep I was speaking with laughed when I told her I thought the situation was ridiculous. SO, not only can I not upgrade my service, they can't even tell me when I CAN upgrade my service.

Now, I didn't go to Harvard business school, but I do know that if I ever own a business, if people WANT to spend money, I will find a way to help them in that endeavor. Call me crazy. To tell customers that WANT to stay with your service that they cannot have it, is a good way to get them checking out the DirecTV website. Good business plan Charter. Maybe that's why your stock is just under $3.50 a share and dropping like a stone.

RUSSELLVILLE, ALABAMA -- Yesterday, I went to pay my cable bill (at my local Charter Communications' office) in person, with CASH; and the person at the counter insisted I show him my photo ID!! Keep in mind, I made NO inquiries into my account, nor did I try to make any changes to my account. I only wanted to pay my bill and leave. When I asked why I had to do this, the clerk fed me some bull about identity theft and FCC rules. I was sooooo mad!! I also found this to be very disturbing and made sure to call main headquarters and complain.

I can understand if a person inquires about an account (the balance, etc), but otherwise, the clerk at the counter needs to just take a person's money and give them a receipt. Who gives a crap who is actually paying the dang bill as long as it's paid!!! Their job is not to question who is PAYING!! So... now my question is... What if I send a relative or a trusted friend to pay my bill, how will they be hassled? What about the elderly, who depend on others to go pay their bills, how will those people be treated?

I don't think the people at the cable company desk should ask for ID, unless or UNTIL you actually ask for account information. Enough with this!! If people can't wake the heck up and see that we are now in a Big Brother state, this should be some kind of hint. All I know is I want it to STOP!!

ST LOUIS, MISSOURI -- Their cable boxes break every 3 months so you have to either pay $40 and take a day off work for them to send somebody out to fix their equipment or spend an hour standing in line at one of their stores to trade it in for a different box. I've had their service for a year and a half and every few months I'm back in line for a "new" box.

Also, their customer service is terrible. I transferred service from one address to another, they told me to keep my equipment to set up at the new address but then charged me over $400 because my equipment was not returned from the original address. It took 4 phone calls to correct plus the several calls I got asking why I had cancelled my service at the original address.