I have been a customer of Charter Communications for a very long time without incident, using cable television services and broadband. One particular afternoon, this past summer, thunderstorms rumbled through our area.
I have never had to worry about my electronics equipment during lightning storms, even though I USE my surge protectors. My family had been to the lake when the storms rolled through. That evening, when we came home, our normal routine is, my husband with the TV remote and I am on my computer. He hits "power" on his remote, and the TV comes on, but, with the changing of the channels, the numbers are changing, but with a snowy screen, you can make out, the Mexican channel. Every channel number is the same. A
Bout the same time, I turn on the computer tower, and nothing. No power. I see there is power to my monitor and my speakers. The lamp, that's plugged into the same surge protector as the tower and TV, is working. Then the investigation. My husband removed the side cover on my tower. The ethernet card that the high-speed cable runs directly into, was badly smutted and burned. The television, only 2 months old, showed the same, the tuner showed a black spot on the outside. (Where the cable plugs into the back, there is a small cable that runs to the tuner.)
Let me also point out, that a month or two prior, Charter came out and installed a new surge protector onto my power pole and tied into the power company's ground cable.
I immediately called Charter and explained the problem. They placed a repair order for a repair man to come out the next day.
The repair man that finally came out 3 days later, came out was not helpful at all, so I took the next morning off work to go into the main office in Montgomery (about 25 miles away.)
When I entered the Montgomery office, I asked for a particular supervisor and within 10 minutes, was told that, (1) he was on vacation, (2) no, he just returned from vacation, it may be awhile, and (3) he's out working in the field today, and is not available. I inquired about a cell phone, and was told that he didn't have one. Totally frustrated, I left a message, that he needed to contact me that afternoon.
He had called and left a message before I was able to make it home. I returned the call and made an appointment for him to come out the next morning and check it out for himself.
He came out and looked at the spots of concern on both pieces of equipment. His only response the whole time, was that"it wasn't the cable, it was power."
I tried to explain, I am not an electrician, by any means, but these two pieces, the television and the computer tower, both have very small fuses in them. Neither of the fuses had been blown. My surge protector had not been tripped. All the other equipment in the house was fine, except what was on that piece of cable.
That particular cable line, was the newest that was run. The lightning ran through this cable and into my bedroom. It went to the furthest point it could go in both pieces of equipment and "blew out".
I was told before Mr. Supervisor left, he would make a couple calls and let me know.
I never heard from him again.
I tried to contact him and left a couple of messages, he never returned my calls.
I called the office on two different occassions, giving them the same, old story each time, and they sent through a repair order. They informed me, when someone came out for the repair, they would be able to help contact the supervisor.
They actually sent out a sub-contractor to pick up my cable modem. He knew nothing of the problem and couldn't contact the supervisor.
I took both TV and computer into three different shops and just told them that I didn't know what happened to them and wanted to get estimates on repairs.
Immediately on looking at the tower, two of the three shops told me I might as well replace the computer. It could be repaired for $600-$700. They specifically told me that lightning ran through the cable, at the ethernet port, and probably jumped across the motherboard. Chances were that the whole system would have to be replaced.
The TV had about the same story. The tuner had been burned by a surge through the cable port. The tuner could be replaced on this piece and should be fine.
I do still have more details about this whole mess. About the surge-protector that was installed (when I asked what that was for, I was told it would keep lightning from running in on my cable line and "frying" my equipment) and other frustating experiences in this whole ordeal, but that gives you the jest of it all.
Charter has made the statement on three different times, that I just need to file it on my homeowner's policy. I don't feel that I should have to.
There's no telling how many times this has happened in the past, and the customer's have just given in and filed on their insurance.
I think Charter should have to take responsibility for using sub-standard equipment, such as the "Regal surge-protector", and trying to save a buck or two. On top of, management not having to be honest when they work with the public, or even having common courtesy to return phone calls of customers that have had problems. It just seemed to me like this was all in a day's work to them. They weren't worried about being caught in something, this was an everyday occurence for them. They evidentally blow off customers everyday without giving them straight answers.
As long as they keep paying that bill every month...
Tammy
Deatsville, Alabama
U.S.A.
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