My wife and I have been customers of Charter Communications in Smyrna for nearly 3 years. I was had no other choice but to terminate our service on December 12th.
My 3-year experience with Charter Communications has been nothing short of a nightmare. Unavailable equipment, missed appointments, inept technicians and fraudulent billing practices scar my experience with this unjust and corrupt organization.
My cable box equipment has been replaced 3 times due to Charter Communications inability to deliver on services advertised, or malfunctioning equipment. During the second installation of my equipment in October of a Charter technician installed a new HD-DVR box and removed the standard HD box that was previously installed. This technician NEVER reported that the box was returned from the customer to Charter at the time of his visit.
Six months later I realized that I had been charged every subsequent month for a 3rd cable box that was no longer in my possession I only have 2 televisions and cable outlets in my home!
After hours spent on the phone with their support personnel, they removed the line item from my bill, but my problems were far from over.
One month later, in November of I was charged over $75 for XXX adult pay per view titles that neither myself, nor my wife ever authorized. These titles were all purchased on the same day, within a period of a few hours (all of which were on a weekday during business hours when NO ONE was at my home).
After hours on hold speaking with numerous support agents who were rude and chastising, I was told that there was nothing they could do about the charges. More than one Charter employee had the audacity to tell me that someone was breaking in to my home to order these adult movies. It was later determined that the pay per view order originated from the box that I returned one month prior. There was still nothing they were willing to do to fix my bill. Charter promised more than once to investigate the missing cable box and follow up with me.
Months later, after countless hours spent on the phone and incredible levels of stress and frustration, nothing was resolved and I paid the fraudulent bill to simply end the nightmare.
Other than constant increases to my monthly bill, everything was relatively normal until last week, 13 months since the last incident.
On my December bill, once again I had exactly $75 of charges for XX adult pay per view movies that WE DID NOT ORDER. All were in the same week day, all during hours when my wife and I are at work. Same dollar amount, same number of movies strange, huh?
Rather than risking a heart attack or additional grey hairs from dealing with this dishonest corporate monster, I took all of my equipment (2 cable boxes, 1 modem) to my local Charter office in Smyrna. I gave them one last opportunity to resolve my issues with the missing box and fraudulent charges. There were no other customers in the office at the time, but the office manager told me that it would take an astonishing 24-48 hours to make a simple local phone call that could have resolved all of my issues.
At that time, I could not endeavor to pay Charter Communications another dime for their services. I paid the $75 bill for movies I did not order. I paid the remaining balance on my bill and returned all of the equipment that was still in my possession.
The manager at the Smyrna office promised to call me in 1-2 days after they had resolved the missing 3rd box issue. It is now 6 days later and I haven't heard from them. Most likely, I will never hear from them. There is still a line item for unreturned equipment in the amount of $195.00 on my closing statement.
I have already paid $150 of my hard earned income to this pitiful excuse for a company. There is still the possibility that they will seek the additional $195 for unreturned equipment that was DEFINITELY picked up by a Charter technician at my home.
I walked into the Charter office that day hoping to resolve my problem and still leave as a customer. Charter Communications simply does not care about their long-term customers, nor do they care about the future revenue they could have received from me, had they made a simple phone call in a timely manner to fix my ongoing problem.
The very next day, I called our local satellite dish providers, only to discover that there is no clear line of sight for the dish at my home.
The cable company monopoly in our city must be stopped. With no competition, there is no reason for ANY level of customer service to be entertained. My list of woes with Charter Communications could go on much longer if I mentioned all of the missed appointments (including days I had to take off work to meet the technician), incorrect billing and rude employees.
I now have no options whatsoever to enjoy television in my home. Charter Communications is an unethical corporation that simply made it too difficult for me to be their customer. Where are my rights as a consumer?
Rich
Smyrna, Georgia
U.S.A.
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