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Charter Communications Complaint - Charter Communications Customer Service Nightmare... - Cable/Internet
Cable/Internet - Complaint
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI -- Charter cable customer service is absolutely terrible. Over the last 4-5 years that we have had Charter we have experienced several nightmares. First a tree fell across the street and brought down the power and cable lines. Charter connected the service by laying a cable in my front yard in the grass and it took me about 14 calls and several personal visits to their office over nearly a year to get them out to hang the cable.
Second our internet service never worked properly. A tech came out and ran a new cable from the house to the pole and it worked better for a while. After a year, the cable is still laying in our yard.
Third, about 8 months ago they called to ask if I wanted to upgrade to a digital package with a six month "trial rate" lower rate than we already had, so I accepted. They told me the tech would be out a few days later and we arranged a time. He never showed at the stated time and they never called to confirm or check it out. I noticed several statements later that this upgrade was on my bill but since I was getting a better rate for six months, I blew it off until the "trial rate" was over.
Forth, and the best. At the same time our internet was still not getting good reception so I called on 11-03-08 to cancel both the digital package that I never received mentioned above and our internet service. I was told that I could not cancel my internet because I had an "outstanding balance" ($171.21) and that they "would cancel my internet once it had been paid". I immediately paid it and the 171.21 payment cleared my bank 4 days later. Guess what, my December statement STILL HAD BOTH SERVICES, NEITHER HAD BEEN CANCELED. When I called a couple of days ago (12-31-08) to question this and get it resolved the customer service person "Anthony" advised that when my outstanding balance was paid "I was supposed to have called them back to tell them back to remind them that I still wanted my internet service canceled".
When I told him that no one had told me I had to "call back after my payment had cleared" and asked why I had to call them back he said that they couldn't cancel my service "without my authorization". I said "WHAT"?!!! I just told them 4 days before the payment cleared that I wanted it canceled and asked did they have record of that conversation? He said yes, but I was still supposed to call and tell them again and that "that was the way their system was set up". I told him its not my problem the way their system is set up. I lived up to my end of the agreement by paying in full like I was asked to. I went through TWO supervisors, "Diana" and "Charline" and they all sounded like robots telling me the same thing and even adding that they STILL would not cancel it even now (12-31-08) nearly 2 months later because I had another "outstanding balance" ($105.65) which included the 2 services that I asked them to cancel nearly two months ago!
In other words, they are now charging me money for 2 services that I have already asked them to cancel nearly two months ago and no longer use (I have had AT&T internet since October) and one I never had, and STILL will not cancel because they want payment for those 2 services which I told them that I did not want nearly 2 months ago in the first place! It was absolutely incredible display of customer disservice and I feel may have even breached a few consumer protection laws. I Am looking into that.
I felt like I was talking to people from another planet. I have never heard of someone not being able to cancel their service anytime they wanted without a contract. I was so upset I immediately paid the $105.65 and told them to cancel my cable TV now as well and did not ever want to do business with them again.
Charter has been criticized for poor customer support and frequent billing consistency issues, causing the Better Business Bureau to post a warning to consumers about the company:
The Better Business Bureau has received numerous complaints regarding this cable, digital TV, and high speed internet access provider. Complainants primarily allege that the firm had improper billing practices, referred customer bills to collection agencies in error, provided poor customer service, used misleading advertising, provided defective internet or cable performance, used improper sales tactics or misrepresented the actual costs of installation and service, failed to properly install or maintain service, damaged customers' property, and failed to honor service appointments.
According to Wikipedia, PCWorld also ranked Charter's cable Internet service as worst among 14 major Internet service providers.[10] Charter High-Speed is the second-worst-rated cable ISP on DSLreports.com [11] and Consumer Reports indicated in their February 2008 issue that Charter's television/Internet/telephone bundle collectively is the worst of all major national carriers.
Bottom line.... DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS, YOU WILL LIVE TO REGRET IT!
Second our internet service never worked properly. A tech came out and ran a new cable from the house to the pole and it worked better for a while. After a year, the cable is still laying in our yard.
Third, about 8 months ago they called to ask if I wanted to upgrade to a digital package with a six month "trial rate" lower rate than we already had, so I accepted. They told me the tech would be out a few days later and we arranged a time. He never showed at the stated time and they never called to confirm or check it out. I noticed several statements later that this upgrade was on my bill but since I was getting a better rate for six months, I blew it off until the "trial rate" was over.
Forth, and the best. At the same time our internet was still not getting good reception so I called on 11-03-08 to cancel both the digital package that I never received mentioned above and our internet service. I was told that I could not cancel my internet because I had an "outstanding balance" ($171.21) and that they "would cancel my internet once it had been paid". I immediately paid it and the 171.21 payment cleared my bank 4 days later. Guess what, my December statement STILL HAD BOTH SERVICES, NEITHER HAD BEEN CANCELED. When I called a couple of days ago (12-31-08) to question this and get it resolved the customer service person "Anthony" advised that when my outstanding balance was paid "I was supposed to have called them back to tell them back to remind them that I still wanted my internet service canceled".
When I told him that no one had told me I had to "call back after my payment had cleared" and asked why I had to call them back he said that they couldn't cancel my service "without my authorization". I said "WHAT"?!!! I just told them 4 days before the payment cleared that I wanted it canceled and asked did they have record of that conversation? He said yes, but I was still supposed to call and tell them again and that "that was the way their system was set up". I told him its not my problem the way their system is set up. I lived up to my end of the agreement by paying in full like I was asked to. I went through TWO supervisors, "Diana" and "Charline" and they all sounded like robots telling me the same thing and even adding that they STILL would not cancel it even now (12-31-08) nearly 2 months later because I had another "outstanding balance" ($105.65) which included the 2 services that I asked them to cancel nearly two months ago!
In other words, they are now charging me money for 2 services that I have already asked them to cancel nearly two months ago and no longer use (I have had AT&T internet since October) and one I never had, and STILL will not cancel because they want payment for those 2 services which I told them that I did not want nearly 2 months ago in the first place! It was absolutely incredible display of customer disservice and I feel may have even breached a few consumer protection laws. I Am looking into that.
I felt like I was talking to people from another planet. I have never heard of someone not being able to cancel their service anytime they wanted without a contract. I was so upset I immediately paid the $105.65 and told them to cancel my cable TV now as well and did not ever want to do business with them again.
Charter has been criticized for poor customer support and frequent billing consistency issues, causing the Better Business Bureau to post a warning to consumers about the company:
The Better Business Bureau has received numerous complaints regarding this cable, digital TV, and high speed internet access provider. Complainants primarily allege that the firm had improper billing practices, referred customer bills to collection agencies in error, provided poor customer service, used misleading advertising, provided defective internet or cable performance, used improper sales tactics or misrepresented the actual costs of installation and service, failed to properly install or maintain service, damaged customers' property, and failed to honor service appointments.
According to Wikipedia, PCWorld also ranked Charter's cable Internet service as worst among 14 major Internet service providers.[10] Charter High-Speed is the second-worst-rated cable ISP on DSLreports.com [11] and Consumer Reports indicated in their February 2008 issue that Charter's television/Internet/telephone bundle collectively is the worst of all major national carriers.
Bottom line.... DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS, YOU WILL LIVE TO REGRET IT!
Comments:
Posted by Lifemates on 2010-10-11:
Always best to check out the BBB first. For most of these bad companies they have a long track record of bad business ethics.
Posted by Andrew S on 2011-12-12:
I came back to charter because I needed internet where I was moving and Frontier could not get my services installed when I needed. So on the day of the move charter was scheduled to install between 3pm and 5pm. The installer shows up an hour late. He thinks he is installing phone, internet and TV when the order was only for phone and internet. He hooks up the services and leaves the equipment laying on the floor with cords everywhere. Didn't even ask me if I where I wanted the equipment. Then he leaves without giving me a receipt with my account number or security code. So I try to setup an online account for email and to view my bill and you need the account number and security code to do this. I call customer service and of course they are closed. I do the online chat and of course they can't provide account number or security code via chat even after verifying my phone number, address, and last 4 of ss#. The chat rep who I'm sure was in India (which is a whole other rant, don't get me started) said that I would have to do one of these options. Let her send the information to me via snail mail which she indicated would take 7 to 10 days, or I would need to go to a local charter office with two forms of ID one being a photo ID, or I would need to call customer service during normal business hours and they will be able to verify other information to provide the information on the phone. I am dubious about this since they have not opened yet, I have a feeling that I will not be able to get the information over the phone either since I can't think of what other type of verification they will do, unless they are going to ask for my blood type or sample of my DNA which I will not be able to provide over the phone anyway. What is the reason for this level of security I mean they act as though they are protecting State secretes or something. My bank does not even provide this level of security and I would imagine that someone accessing my bank would be able to do a lot more damage than someone getting access to my charter internet, and phone account. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. Then the chat rep sited that this is not their policy it is some new FCC regulation that they must follow to protect private customer data. I guess that could be true since it sounds crazy enough to be something the government would come up with, but why does it not work the same for other telecommunication companies, never had this problem with frontier or DirecTV. Anyway I will be calling charter when they open today and I will report back with my experience with the phone jockey I deal with. This whole issue could have been solved if they just would have provided this information in an email or at the time of install. I mean as a customer shouldn't I be able to use all of my services on the day they are installed? This will result in my getting a credit on my first bill and if it does not I will be canceling my services and finding another option.
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