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Their email is a disaster, LITERALLY!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

PEN ARGYL, PENNSYLVANIA -- Lot's wrong with RCN. Let's start with the most recent.

I'd been having trouble sending and receiving email. They only really support their own web based email which barely has needed features. The only reason I was able to get a little bit of help was because the tech had outlook himself. If you want to use your own email program, particularly for business, stay away from them.

It turns out that RCN changed from POP to IMAP about 4-5 mo ago. This coincides with when I started having my email problems after 8 yrs w/ them. Now I'm getting 10s of thousand of old emails I'd previously deleted getting downloaded to my computer tying up my email program and using up computer and internet resources. Now when I'm trying to delete those emails I'm getting error messages telling me the program isn't responding and that the IMAP server disconnected me.

There service is now also slower when connected to the IMAP server. A decision to save $$$ that has ruined what was a half way decent service. Choose another IP provider.

RCN email service is a disaster and has cost me a lot of sales and money.

I'm also getting skips in their cable TV service. Their guides showing what's playing and coming up are inaccurate. Their recording of shows starts in the middle of some shows and ends in the middle of the next show sometimes.

They upgraded their HD TV system. I don't have HD. My bill increased about $30 for them to pay for that. They should only charge those who subscribe to HD TV service.

I'm moving in 4-6 months. I will include as a criteria for my search that FiOS be available. I can't live and work with these email problems. Avoid RCN, particularly if you need them for work or a business.

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RCN = Thieves
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA -- I've been a customer for 3 years. I currently have internet and only internet services, which I was quoted amount to $66.60/month. My current bill is $458, for 2 months. This is the equivalent of almost 7 months worth of the internet service I agreed to purchase. I'm told this is due to a balance I had in February, 2015 (that was 18 months ago), as well as their ludicrous, thieving fees (there's even a fee to pay your bill). I've made payments every month for the past 18 months, but no payments were applied to this mysterious balance from February, 2015 that RCN continues to milk. No customer service reps can provide an explanation, even when they "ask their managers." They will not help, and tell me to accept it. I've had better customer service from the electric company. That's embarrasssing for RCN. Their services are faulty and I've had to call often to have them troubleshoot, and even send a representative to my home (fee for that, even though it's their problem). This company is truly a bunch of scam artists and will be completely ambiguous about their reasoning for screwing you over. Their goal is to confuse you and rob you. I left them today and subscribed to another carrier. Do not patronize RCN.

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Overbilling
StarStarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 2/51

DREXEL HILL, PENNSYLVANIA -- My RCN Bill was just increased to $121.00 a month effective 1/1/15. I paid my first Bill on Jan 15th. Today I received a bill in the amount of $214.00. When I called customer service I was fed a line that I called to decrease my service and this bill was printed before that request was made. They said they would prorate my bill to $121 but for this month I have to pay $137??? I never made the call. They said I made and refused to answer me regarding why I have to pay $137. Customer service is not good and not knowledgeable. What a waste of time!!! How does a bill increase that much in a matter of weeks? $121.00 is my bill and should be what I pay for February.

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Bad Service and the Worst Customer Service Imaginable
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- Honestly, the WORST customer service I have ever dealt within my entire life. If you would like to be charged for services you're not even signed up for, spoken down to over the phone on a monthly basis, and burdened with having to call EACH MONTH to fix numerous shortcomings on RCN's end, then this company is perfect for you!

I moved into an apt on the East side in November and in the past 7 months, I have only received a correct bill ONCE from RCN. Some of their mistakes entail: Several months, we were charged for services we didn't even have/sign up for. One month, our wireless box died and we were instructed that we had to wait "2 weeks for someone to come out or travel to an RCN store to pick up a new one" (which we inevitably visited since we rely on wireless for our work) and were promised a discount for our services that month... which we never saw.

We called to program the RCN remote to our new TV and instead of walking us through the instructions, the RCN representative cancelled ALL of our services and then apologized as she transferred us to someone else so he/she could fix HER mistakes (we were, no joke, on the phone with RCN for 1.5 hours fixing the mistakes she made that night).

One day, we were called and told that we needed to update our phone. Fine. We signed up for the 11AM-2PM window and the RCN representative came at 8 AM! Once I was informed of this by our doorman, I called the company and informed them of their mistake, to which they apologized and offered to send someone else out.

The next person begrudgingly paid us a visit and insisted that we needed a new phone number for the new phone cables he was installing (we were never told about this in advance). Fine. He replaces the phone and instructs us to call RCN sometime later that month to ensure we're not getting billed for 2 phone lines... really? This is our responsibility? We recently switched the main name on the account since a roommate of mine was moving out and RCN DOUBLE-BILLED us!

When I called and asked why we received a bill for the same amount the following week (we had paid the total last week under my roommate's name since we are very punctual about bill payments) assuming this was the last bill under her name, we were told that we would have to pay the second bill we received, that RCN would not cancel our old checks (we would have to wait on them to issue us a refund check... like THAT would ever happen... or pay out of pocket to cancel our checks when all we were doing was following orders!), and that we would be charged a late fee if we chose to wait for the refund before we paid that month's bill.

The representative also warned us that we may have to call RCN and remind them next month since "they're likely to forget" even though she wrote this down in the notes section of our account!!! Essentially, RCN mistakenly double-billed us, we responsibly paid the first bill on time, and they threatened US with a late fee if we didn't pay the "correct" bill on time. They refused to transfer the funds over to the new account. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

Our last bill was FOUR TIMES higher than it's supposed to be, and we added ZERO services nor did any promotion expire. Why are we suddenly being charged more? Your guess is as good as mine. All in all, YOU will be penalized for RCN's shortcomings. The company is absolutely horrendous and the customer service is appalling. We are desperately searching for a new cable/wireless provider because dealing with RCN has proven to be more of a nightmare than any of us would've ever imagined. Please, spare yourselves the trouble. Even if it costs a bit more money to track down a different provider, it will be well worth it in the end.

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Can They Do Anything They Promise?
By -

Recently I decided to hook cable up in my apartment for my husband who is a HUGE hockey fan. I have heard a lot of bad things about RCN in the past, but I thought it would not hurt to give them a chance. My husband called RCN one day not too long after setting up our service to add the NHL Center Ice Package to our account. We were already almost half way through the season and he asked the representative on the other end if we can have a prorated amount for the service. We were surprised at how easily this could be done. We were also informed by this representative that the package would not only be prorated but broken up into 4 installments.

We confirmed with the agent several times before hanging our call up that we would be receiving the NHL Center Ice Package for $120 total and pay that by 4 installments of $30, one installment for the next 4 bills. Thinking this was reasonable and not too good to be true, we happily accepted and not too long after the call my husband was plopped right on the couch watching the Washington Capitals.

A few weeks later the RCN arrives in the mail and I almost hit the floor when I saw the bill. It was $90 more than what I expected!!! They had charged me the whole $120 right then and there! My husband who is much more reasonable and even tempered than me handled the task of calling customer service to square this mess away. He spent nearly 2 full hours on the phone with several different people. He first spoke to a young lady, she reviewed our account for him and did advise my husband that, yes, in fact the package was added incorrectly and our account was not billed correctly either.

However, she explained to my husband that she cannot change the feature now and that we would have to pay the entire amount out or services will be shut off for lack of payment. Of course my husband politely fought back on this and eventually she did place him on hold to speak to a supervisor. After 20 MINUTES, yes MINUTES! She came back explaining that neither she or her supervisor can make the adjustments. My husband calmly escalated to her supervisor.

Now my husband is speaking with a gentleman who is the first representative's supervisor. He begins to explain to my husband that when sports packages are added to a customer's account they are NOT able to be broken up or there will be double charges. My husband could not understand how on earth you could be double charged if you are making a certain number of payments of a specific amount that will equal to the total cost of what you are buying, how you may be double charged. This supervisor however did offer us a $5 credit on all of our bills for a year. Rather than arguing with this supervisor he escalated over him. He held for 43 minutes this time.

Now my husband was talking to a manager who really seemed as though she wanted to help. She was able to make adjustments to our account so the total amount will be broken up as follows. On the next bill we would be paying 1/3 of the cost of the package, and on the next bill we will pay the remaining balance (2/3 of the cost of the package) along with the $5 credit for the rest of the year (which we did not ask for). Exhausted but happy with some sort of solution where we were able to meet them halfway, although I do not believe we should have, we agreed and thought the nightmare was over.

Now I am looking at my RCN bill that I just pulled out of the mailbox no more than 1 hour ago, and I swear if I were Mount St. Helen I would destroy earth! I am about to blow! Not only do we still owe the whole $120ish for the package but we did not receive that $5 credit we were promised.

I working for customer service for a cell phone company have a understanding of how billing works. Maybe this bill was produced before the issue was allegedly resolved. I gave them a benefit of the doubt and just called into the automated system to hear my account balance. I was assuring myself the whole time I punched in my 13 digit account number that I would not hear the same amount printed on this paper, it would be lower and I could just kick off my shoes and relax... I was wrong.

Nothing had been fixed! I'm fuming mad, I filed a complaint with the BBB. I am calling RCN first thing Monday morning and they will not be speaking to my husband. They will get the wrath of the account holder and I will make sure I get what I was promised. If I do not, I will rip all of their equipment from my entertainment center and return it right to their customer service office and cancel my service right then and there. They will not see a penny from me, but they will get a taste of legal action. My advice, if you have a choice, do not choose RCN.

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Awful Customer Service & Representatives Lacking Knowledge & Professionalism
By -

WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS -- I'm not sure even where to begin but just want to be sure my opinion of this absolutely awful customer service is logged onto the web somewhere. I had called in the beginning of July to request a shut off date of 7/31 because I was moving. I came home on 7/17 to no channels above 11. Called the technical support # on my bill & was told that I had no cable because of a pending work order for termination & I needed to call billing in the morning because they may have terminated it early in error. I called billing in the morning & was told that my acct looked fine, I'd need to call technical support.

I called technical support again & spoke with someone who went through LOTS of different steps to try to correct my issue. From unplugging everything, making sure things are "tight", holding my power button for 5 seconds, waiting for it to turn on & off (which it never did), sending a signal to my box, then sending "the strongest signal" to my box, which could take 15 minutes to 2 hours to work. I'd have to call back in 2 hours if it didn't work & start the explanation process all over again. Oh & by the way, once we tried all her special tricks I ended up with no channels at all, never mind only 11.

She also told me that "they removed the most important part of your package. The premium channels." I explained nothing should have been removed & this was an error. She rudely came back at me stating she could put it back for a $48 activation fee. She said I'd need to speak with billing about the fee if I didn't agree but there'd be a charge.

I then called billing & was told that this person did see something on my acct, not the premium issue but that I was on the recent "crush list" (a list of people with analog boxes, which I did not have). She said "you were part of the crush, but shouldn't have been part of the crush, but actually haven't been crushed yet. I'll email the team handling this." She couldn't give me a timeframe that I'd have my cable back on. Since this was 7/18 (no cable for 2 days already) and I was scheduled to move & end service on the 31st anyway, I then asked to terminate service effective immediately instead as it wasn't worth waiting to see when they could fix it.

I then had to speak w/ "Darla" in the termination dept who was really helpful & understanding. She said she'd "end the billing as of 7/18 & then put in a backdated adjustment for 2 days back to the 16th." She told me to return the equipment asap so there'd be no problems receiving credit. She gave me her # & I forgot to write down her extension. BIG MISTAKE! Returned everything the next day, Saturday. Received 2 more bills after this even though I had already paid through 7/20 before any of this even happened.

I called today & was told to speak with billing. The billing rep couldn't do anything for me because I "was being billed still because there is a 10 notice required for service termination requests" so when asking for a supervisor she said she'd call her "lead billing team". After another lovely lengthy hold, came back to tell me that they'll credit my acct $23 which will go back to 7/19, the date that I returned my equipment, "Leaving a balance of $23." Not understanding how I could have a balance due & was not due back $, I had to ask for a supervisor. "Only 2 were taking calls so it will be a long hold."

After quite sometime then got the rudest person yet. She claimed to "not be stupid" and "when she was able to read notes that matched what I was saying she'd then be able to help me". "You've already received a lot of credit. They even credited you for your prorated month 7/28-8/20." She kept saying there was "no call on 7/16"... I know this but she couldn't get past that to even understand the problem that existed. I asked for her supervisor's name... "we don't give that information out." After rattling off rude, attitude filled remarks and comments, she then was angry enough to give in & "get another supervisor because we really aren't going to get anywhere with this."

I then spoke to Moe the "lead supervisor" who was helpful. He calculated what 3 days of service would be & rounded up to give me "a $5 credit onto my account bringing my balance to..." YEP!! Still not understanding I've already paid through 7/20, no service as of 7/16 & still owe $??? It REALLY doesn't take a genius here!! Finally, he realized my point & took additional time to review further & came back advising that he "brought the account to zero and cleared the balance due."

Mind you I still paid 4 days of service that I didn't have! Yes it adds up to be a small amount of $ but it's more the principle. AND never mind the minutes used making all these calls!! I spent well over 4 hours altogether. Just today & the 18 calls took over 3 hrs! THIS IS THE WORST SERVICE I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED!!! I will pay the extra $ & be switching to Comcast!

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Worst Service Ever
By -

WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS -- This is an actual email I sent to RCN CEO/few board members. Here are their email addresses below. ir@rcn.com, InvestorRelations@rcn.net, sales@rcn.com, cablemodemhelp@rcn.com. I'm sure by looking at the subject line you know what this is all about. Well I will start from the beginning and I will try not to bore you too much. About 5 months ago I signed up for a Static IP Service with you people. It means that your IP address is Dynamic and does not change for any reason at all.

About a week into the service my internet service went down, I called your support line 1-800 RING-RCN, I spent about 2 1/2 hours on the phone, they said they were very sorry this will be resolved and will never happen again. Two weeks go by and sure enough it happened again. This actually continued to happen for about 5 months every 2 weeks. I was credited money back on the service twice, once they gave me a full month of services for free because I got so fed up and wanted to cancel the service. Another time I had to stay home from work because you sent out a "Level 3 Engineer" who wasn't even sure why he was there.

But finally what drove me to write this email, was my experience with 1800 RING RCN today. Here is a brief outline of what happened. I called RCN around 8:30 am. I waited for about 15 minutes before talking to anyone, which is actually pretty quick because normally it's about 30 minutes before you actually speak to someone.

Someone picks up, I get connected with the canceling services dept. I explain to them that I wish to cancel my static IP address. They said, "I'm sorry we don't handle that cancellation, I will have to transfer you to our tech support dept." I said fine and they put me on hold... for 36 minutes and 42 seconds before my call was just dropped.

So like an idiot I decide to call back. This time I called back and requested tech support directly, I explained to them that I wanted to cancel my static IP service, they said (you guessed it) "I'm sorry we don't handle that. Let me transfer you to our billing dept." This went on for about 2 hours, one dept transferred me to another, the other dept said, "Sorry this is not our dept", etc.. You get the picture.

Finally someone had the heart to tell me. "I'm not really sure who I can transfer you to." Her name was Phyllis. I remember this because in the midst of get stuck in your massive phone system I got transferred to her twice and she remembered me and said "I can't believe you still haven't talked to anyone" and she was right, 2 1/2 hours later I had not talked with anyone. All together I think I have spent about 40 hours in 5 months talking to you customer support and still nothing gets resolved. At this point I am letting know that I will never ever use RCN again. I should have done my research before I signed up.

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Wiring always a problem. Tech Service- idiots. Customer Service- useless. Cost of useless service $150.00
By -

CHICAGO -- I have had technicians out multiple times. The service will just stop working and it is always a problem with their wiring, their converter boxes, etc. I have never been charged for a visit because it has always been their equipment or wiring. Having said that- there's only so many times you can deal with horrible service no matter whose fault it is. So I came back from out of town and figured that I must have forgot to pay the bill because the broadband and cable weren't working.

I called tech service as it was too late to call customer service as they only have 9-5 hours (which are useless for working people- but I digress), so while speaking to a tech rep they told me that they weren't able to send a signal and getting no response so they would have to schedule a tech visit, that there was something wrong on my end. I told them it would have to be a Saturday since I work for a living. That was on a Monday or Tuesday so the next day I got one of those automated calls- "your service has been suspended for past due amount of $150.00", so I called and made the payment.

The guy at customer service told me that there wasn't a technical issue, that the service was suspended because I didn't pay. The rep then cancelled the tech visit. I went home that night and guess what? No service. So I called tech support (customer service was closed of course) and the girl says "your payment just didn't go through yet, give it another day". So guess what happened the next day? Right, NO SERVICE! So I went to work, and called customer service. I gave her the whole story. She tells me there have been multiple outages in my area (the first time I heard that).

She told me that my service was down prior to the payment being late or service being suspended so that had nothing to do with the problem (first time someone gave me that information) and she told me she couldn't help me refresh or send a signal to the converter until I was home, even though no one else was home and the TV was off. I told her "when I'm at home- so are all of you!" She said I would have to wait and call tech support then. I told her to reschedule my appointment that was cancelled erroneously by the RCN tech support because more than likely someone still needs to come out.

She said, that Saturday was now full and I would have to wait another week until another Saturday would be available! I said, "surely since I wasn't to blame you can squeeze me in. I mean your people cancelled it because they didn't know what they were doing. No dice, too bad lady, deal with it! " I have premium service, all movie channels, plus broadband wireless service. I order pay per view once or twice a month. I would think I was a valuable customer but none of that mattered.

They treated me like crap, none of them seemed to give a rat's..., one rep could hardly speak English, and uuhhhed and ohhhhed so much they sounded like a moron. Not exactly award winning, loyal inspiring customer service. In fact there was no customer service at all and all of them were aloof and obtuse. Oh and during all my calls I asked for the 800 or 888 number where I can automatically refresh or have the system send a signal to my converter boxes- without talking to someone- but no one could ever give me that number. Don't that have computers, access to RCN numbers? What kind of place are they running?

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Unethical Car Rental Company
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

CALIFORNIA -- Cancelled my reservation 1 hour 10 minutes past scheduled pickup time AND CHARGED MY CREDIT CARD. NU told it's in the fine print of the contract and that I should have called. I told them reputable car companies give 24 hour grace period. NU representative told me and I quote, “We are not other rental car companies." Masquerading on Expedia and Orbitz as a reputable car company. (Interesting how there is a 5 star review here and there among all the 1 stars.)

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Typical Complaint, with TWIST - (Actually a positive outcome.)
By -

UNKNOWN -- Due to a problem on their behalf RCN cut off my email yesterday morning, and I spent a day and a half on 30 minutes hold --> disconnect, multiple 10-20 minute holds, listening to a recording raving about how great their service is, especially online, with occasional semi-conversations with virtually incomprehensible, incompetent, rude customer service people, 4 call backs not received, on and on and on... to the tune of at least a day and a half of wasted time, only to be told that maybe it would be fixed tomorrow (after one tomorrow came and went with no resolution).

Finally, I called the Headquarters in Herndon and talked to a lady in their executive escalation resolution team, who had a terrible cold, and was obviously not feeling good while she was listening to someone "straining to be civil" after all I had been through. She asked if I could give her a few minutes and that she would call me back in 10 to 20 minutes...

Within about 15 minutes I got a call that said she had sent me an email and asked if I got it, I told her I would check, and found that it was the first email received since they capriciously cut off my service. (I had sent myself "test" messages 3 or 4 times from another account -- all of which "bounced" as undeliverable within 1-5 seconds. She obviously got the problem resolved in 10 minutes where everyone else I had been attempting to deal with for 1 1/2 days had been unable to do so.

So the moral of my story is Please for your sake, and sanity if you have a problem you can't get resolved call their headquarters and talk to the executive escalation team and give them a chance. If all of them are like the lady I dealt with, I would bet the can solve your problem without being short, rude, incomprehensible, or wasting​ your time. It was GREAT to deal with a competent, pleasant person for a change!!!

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RCN Rating:
Star Empty star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.1 out of 5, based on 7 ratings and
30 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
RCN
105 Carnegie Center
Princeton, NJ 08540
800-746-4726 (ph)
609-734-6164 (fax)
www.rcn.com
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