RCN Cable TV Consumer Reviews - Page 2

BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA -- Been a customer for 6 years and although suspended telephone and premium channels services, prices still continue to go up and up. Don't ever use this cable company!

ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. If you have a choice, DO NOT PICK RCN CABLE. It would take an entire book to describe everything that went wrong from when I first started service with them back in August, but a few things to point out: no shows. I waited an ENTIRE Saturday morning and afternoon waiting for a technician to come out who NEVER came. NEVER got a reply from RCN apologizing or explaining what happened or even to reschedule a later date/time.

Unreliable service. For an entire month my internet was so weak, it took 10 minutes to buffer a YouTube video (no joke, I ran multiple speed tests and got less than 1 mbps almost every time). To make a very long story short, it took an additional 2 weeks AFTER I upgraded from a 3 to 10mbps in attempts to improve the speed of internet I was getting, for them to get the signal through. In the end, I bought my own high-quality modem and router because I was convinced it was their crappy modem that was causing problems.

Turns out it had nothing to do with the modem, or the router, and they couldn't even tell me straight up what had happened. How much was I reimbursed for 5 weeks of LESS THAN 1mbps speed of internet service, when I originally paid for 3 and then later 10mbps? A whooping $8. And that was after arguing because they originally gave me $4. RIDICULOUS.

Crafted to cheat you of your money. To be fair, it's obviously the name of the game of any service company, regardless which one it is, to try to trick the customer in to paying more. I get that. But because I did, I thought I was extremely meticulous from day 1 when I insisted on having the representative explain every single detail of my bill. With my cable/internet package, came HBO that I didn't even care for, so a month in to my service, called to get it canceled.

I was told it would be, but later got a bill for $20 more than my usual bill. Another long story short, I called in again later when I realized what was going on, and was reimbursed just $3 for canceling the service that day (so I was charged for almost a month of "off-trial" HBO service). If you don't sit and wait by your phone the moment they activate paid channels you didn't want in the first place, then you'll be losing money.

RIDLEY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA -- I was working on my house one weekend. An RCN sales rep came to my door to inform me they were installing FIOS for a neighbor up the street and was I interested in receiving their Internet/Cable package for $75. I told him I would have to think about it, as I was currently getting the same deal from Comcast for $66. I gave him my name and phone number.

The next Saturday I was out all morning. I came home to a note on my door from RCN saying they were sorry they missed my scheduled installation for cable and internet. I called their phone number to see what the heck was going on, as I had told the rep to contact me the previous week. Their customer service is only open 9am-5pm, Monday through Friday.

Around 7pm I am getting ready to watch some movies with friends and an RCN tech comes to my door. He told me he had a work order to install cable and internet. He was very nice and apologized when I told him I never signed up for their services. I called their customer service the next day and was directed to the regional district manager. I told him that the company had shown me that they are a dishonest company to waste my time like they did.

HE apologized and agreed that the sales rep was very wrong to do what he did. I gave him the name of the sales rep and said disciplinary action would be taken. He said he hoped it would not deter me from thinking about switching in the future. Be very careful with RCN, as the door to door sales reps will sign you up to receive their services to meet their quota, whether you want their services or not.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- I live in a large highrise apartment in downtown Chicago. We have RCN cable - frequently the reception for individual cable channels does not function for extended periods of time. This time, the audio did not function for a large number of channels. At least 11 others in the building reported the same problem. I called and was told that it was a building problem - that someone would be coming out to check it.

When there was not resolution the next day, I phoned again - first, I was told there was no report the prior day - then when I persisted, they said well maybe there was a problem and they would send someone out. I was then asked to provide three channels on which the audio did not work - which I did.

Then they said, "well those channels do not match with three listed by other customers in the building." I tried to explain the obvious that they had asked for only three channels of over 100 and it would make sense that we would report different channels - and, we might still have the same channels not working - this logic was clearly beyond their comprehension.

I asked to speak with a supervisor who was of course "not on site". Someone showed up in my apartment - and, indicated that my TV would now work - that it must be a problem with my TV - they unplugged the TV - and plugged it back in. The issue is that they were excessively rude - made it look like it was my TV rather than a building issue - which in my understanding it was - mainly to cover up their extremely poor customer service.

I will make certain that the next building I live in has options other than RCN. The customer service is really, really bad - they are really deceptive - and, extremely manipulative in covering up their incompetencies in customer service. I am planning to.

NEEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS -- I had the RCN bundle for 2 1/2 years. At first it seemed quite good, but products and customer service have gone to hell in a handbasket. I'm amazed at the reviewer who was still OK with them because he didn't have to reboot his cable modem more than a dozen times a day!

My problems: Phones - OK. TV - occasional freezing or pixelating of images. Takes 3-4 secs to change channel. Often reports a channel is "off air" when it's not. Then that channel freezes the remote and you can't do anything for several minutes. Customer service sometimes helpful, sometimes not: go through time-consuming procedures with the set-top box.

Internet - abysmal. Go to the computer, crapshoot if there will be service or not. Rebooting cable model often didn't work. Philippines people say modem is offline? Hey. The coax is in the power is on, what the...Then they watch and say it's trying to connect but drops out. Yes, I've seen that already, thanks. Heavy packet loss. They don't know anything beyond their set procedures. Told one of them I seemed to be reaching the DNS but no further - obviously had no idea what DNS was, and supposed to be doing Internet support...

I switched to Verizon FIOS and it's like night and day - so far, excellent. When I called RCN to ask a couple of questions about the cancellation, the agent offered me all sorts of upgrades, though at more that I was going to pay for FIOS! No luck there! Then when I actually did the cancellation, I got a lower offer, but I could tell the agent wasn't expecting me to bite. When I went to return my RCN equipment there were other people at the RCN center doing the same thing. A friend who runs a quilting bee of about 100 people says everyone she knows who has RCN is cancelling.

Basically it seems RCN is being run by ignorant bean-counters or greed-hogs - trying to squeeze out maximum profit by skimping on service investment, outsourcing support to lowest bidder, etc. This will run it into the ground, but probably the high-ups don't care - would be interesting to see how much they have made out of it.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- I got service in January 2007. I have 2 TVs, so I have 2 Digital Set Top Boxes. Both of them continually cut out - like I'm watching HD television on the internet, and I get a hiccup. It makes no sense - even when the shows are fully recorded - which means its hardware - and we've had it on both boxes - not just one.

Now here comes the horror story. I tried ordering some cable cards so I could use my new Tivo 3 PVR. I called them on the 16th, and after almost 90 minutes on the phone, waiting for a live person, and then waiting them to update the system so they could give me 2 cable cards per television they told me people would come on the 20th to install them.

On the 20th 2 engineers came, but they told me they only came to tell me that they are out of stock. I called their Customer Service number immediately, and after another hour I finally got to a supervisor who told me that they are out of stock, but I should get a call in the next couple of days when their shipment comes in.

It's now the 22nd. I not only called, but I emailed their support team as well. They tell me that people came to my apartment building on the 21st, and that since no one was home I should reschedule. After this email, I call customer service again and simply ask them - do you have the cards in stock or not. They don't have them in stock. So why would they tell me someone came to the house? They are full of BS - that's why.

Finally a customer service rep tells me that it could take one week, or 4 weeks, or 6 months. They have no idea how long it will take to get an order of cable cards. I was so annoyed with their LACK of customer service, incompetence, and general rudeness I called Time Warner today and switched over. I'll have the cable cards and the service up and running on the 28th - 6 days (including the weekend) is not so bad - and their customer service is much friendlier.

NEEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS -- RCN has some shady business practices when it comes time for you to cancel service, whether you are moving, or are just fed up with them. Service can only be cancelled by reaching their so called "Service Department" which does not have operating hours convenient for anyone with a day job. When you do have time to call, you will be on hold for as much as 45 minutes or as long as you can stand it. So expect to be making multiple calls. The only other option is to take all of the equipment (cable box + modem) to a specified RCN office, in which case they still attempt to bill you for the next billing cycle.

In October 2007 there was a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of consumers in the state of New York against RCN specifically for such practices. (It would be nice if there was a filing here in the Boston area on behalf of Massachusetts consumers). If you are shopping for a Cable provider, I would not recommend RCN based solely upon my experience with them. Their practices actively and deliberately place consumers at a serious disadvantage.

Do not subscribe to RCN. Their customer service is the worst. They have a contract with my housing provider, so they are the only cable TV service available. When I tried to set up my appointment, they never came, twice! They have a horrible message saying how you will be charged for missing an appointment, but they wasted two full days of my time. Each time we called customer service they said the same thing. The person is running late and will be there in a half hour to an hour. The person finally did show up and yelled at my husband for not going to a remote location to pick up the cable box!

Every time we have a problem, it takes forever to talk to a person. By the time I get through to someone, I am seething with anger, and when I tell the reps that the phone system/service is horrible, they hang up on me! I just tried to deal with a representative and she was rude, interrupted me, and was not listening to me. I had to repeat myself several times just to get through to her.

Our TV is regularly missing BRAVO in HD. Why are we paying for TV Channels they do not provide?! They couldn't figure out what's wrong, so now they're "sending a stronger signal" to my box. I can't imagine having to do this stupid routine every time a channel is missing. They are unreliable, rude, and unhelpful. I would cancel my cable if my husband didn't love sports.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA -- On July 14 RCN came to replace my building's cable backbone. I've had no service since then, despite multiple calls to an unresponsive customer service number. RCN refuses to acknowledge the work they were doing. Caused the service outage or take action to fix the problem. When our building manager called RCN he was told each resident would have to schedule separate service visits.

This is absurd. The next available service visit is 7-20 with a requirement the resident be home for a five-hour window (on a work day) to wait for the tech when it's obvious the problem is at a building-level. This will mean SIX DAYS without service for a problem RCN itself caused. Go with Comcast. Or just go with regular digital broadcast. If you must subscribe to RCN, expect zero customer service support other than "We'll send a truck in a week or so. Maybe."

RCN seems appealing because of its low rates. Just cross your fingers that nothing every goes wrong with their equipment!!! After months of connection issues with our internet service, the modem finally gave out. We rent the modem from RCN. After waiting 5 days for a service call, the repair man claimed the issue was a bad splitter not the modem. Everything was fine for a day, but then the internet was inaccessible again.

When we called to report that it was indeed the modem, RCN agreed to send another repair man...but it would take 6 days before one would be available. Also, to get a refund for the days the service was inaccessible you have to call another department and wait on hold again. SO BASICALLY THE SERVICE/REPAIRS ARE HORRIBLE AND THE COMPANY IS COMPLETELY DISORGANIZED!!!