They cutoff service after payment received...
Ok, I admit, my payment was late, but I never received a bill. Yes, I could have contacted Charter, but didn't realize the missing payment. I noticed the mistake after receipt of a subsequent bill the following month which requested a double payment. After verifying my checking account and realizing the mistake, I wrote the check for the double payment. Cool.
That check was mailed on Saturday. Assuming the worse case with the US Postal System, it's safe to assume the check arrived on Wednesday, maybe even Thursday. Thursday night, the cable service was cutoff. Thinking it was because of a recent storm, I waited until the following afternoon to call Charter.
It was then I was told that the service was stopped for non-payment, however, the Representative I spoke with told me that a payment was "pending", which turned out to be the double payment I had sent in the previous Saturday.
When I asked when the check was received, the rep could not tell me. I am of the opinion that the truth would show the payment was received BEFORE the service was cut off, something the rep did not want to divulge. She told me that the order to disconnect was issued by the computer 5 days ago.
So, I asked if the payment had been received, why would the service be disconnected. Wouldn't something be done upon receipt of payment to stop a disconnect? The answer: "Not necessarily".
OK, then, what will it take to re-intall the service. Well, the first day they can come out is 5 days from now and it will cost me another $26 re-connect fee plus first month service up front. I told the kind lady that if the reconnect fee was not waived, I would be looking into DirectTV or Dish Network.
She told me that was the company policy for new orders. I'm not a new order, I've been a customer for over two years, have moved once and payed a second re-connect fee when I moved. Again, I asked, "Is it your company's policy to drive customer's away just because of $26?" She told me there was nothing she could do.
I went ahead and scheduled the re-connect, however, it left a bad taste in my mouth. This morning, after some investigation, I contacted Dish Network. They will be coming out on Christmas to install my new Dish system. The kicker is that not only will I be getting more channels, including local channels, I will be paying less per month to boot.
Now, I look forward to one more call to Charter to cancel my scheduled reconnect. I feel real good about now.
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