I am a former charter employee. I was with the company for 10 years. I was forced to resign in 2001. My job was in the warehouse preparing and keeping inventory of converters and modems. My workload was dramatically increased with the aqquisition of other cable systems and the introduction of digital converters but they would not increase the number of employees, to help with the extra work. Because of this it was impossible to keep up. Management would then accuse me of slacking on the job.
When I tried to explain this to my direct supervisor I was written up. I was told that I had plenty of time to do my job and that I just wasn't pulling my weight. Funny that none of my supervisors even had the slightest clue of what my job was. I had been doing my job many years before many of my supervisors had even been hired. My vacation hours were at the maximum because they would deny any time off requests that I submitted. I was losing money every pay period. I was constantly harrassed, belittled, humiliated in front of others, and the management at Charter loved to let you know that you were beneath them, and that they could fire you at anytime and that you would respect them.
This did not only happen to me but to many others. I saw a supervisor threaten a dipacher's job just because they wouldn't send a technician to his own house instead of customers who had trouble calls scheduled. They loved to use fear, intimidation, and humiliation just to fuel their arrogance and egos. It started to affect my health and decided that it wasn't worth it and I quit in 2001.
I then was offered a job with an installation contractor who worked for Charter doing pretty much the same thing that I did before. I was responsible for picking up loads of installation parts, converters and modems from Charter from Charter's warehouse where I used to work and distributing them to installers.
It was a daily battle to get the equipment we needed. Charter's new warehouse guy (my old job) would say that we had converters missing and that they had to be accounted for before they would issue anymore equipment. Since I had been doing this guys job for many years I knew exactly what was going on. Their paperwork and accounting for equipment was so bad that they couldn't keep up with who had what. Knowing the way things were after working with them so many years, I would pull old work orders and would always find the missing equipment in a cusomers home.
I would turn this information over to Charter but this was still not enough to satisy them and we would recieve no boxes. The contracting company that I worked for would then be blamed because installs would have to be cancelled because of lack of equipment. My supervisor at the contracting company would go over the warehouse's head to their superiors and tell them that we couldn't get equipment when we needed it. The warehouse employees at Charter would retaliate by going to their boss and a meeting would then be called by Chater and we would have our contract and jobs threatend for not doing our job.
On May 14 I was confronted by Charter's installation supervisor and was physically threatened. At this time I had taken all I was going to. I immediately went to Charter's general manager to tell him that I would not be talked to like that and that I would quit before I would be threatened physically. I was then told that I was expected to admit that I was wrong. When I refused I was thrown out of his office and was forbidden to step foot on Charter's property again. I was told this even though I am a paying customer.
I am still not allowed to the office even to pay my bill. This incident happened on a Saturday and the following Monday I was fired even though I had never recieved a write-up or warning of any kind. That same day I called Charter's corporate office and told them about what had happened. Two days later, the supervisor who threatend me showed up on my doorstep of my home pounding on my door to threaten me again.
I hope this will shed some light on the kind of company Charter really is and maybe the general consumer will think twice before becoming a Charter customer. I have a friend who had to leave Charter after 19 years because she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Charter employees recieve free cable and she was promised free cable even though she was on sick leave. Her condition is getting worse and it's certain that she will not be able to return to work so Charter has now decided that she will be disconnected unless she pays for her cable even though the mayor, city council members, and other city officials get cable for free. It does not surprise me that I see so many complaints from customers and employees on the internet.
At the time I worked for Charter, customer service reps were local instead of at a call center in another city and state. They were encouraged to make a sell no matter what. Customers would call in to Charter to order service and if they asked for just basic they would add movie channels and other services after they hung up that they did not ask for just to make commision on a sell. This was mostly done to the elderly and nursing home patients or any one that they think they could fool. No surprise since Charter would lie to their stockholders and hold off on disconnects just so their numbers would look good on paper. Four corporate executives pled guilty to fraud and a lawsuit is pending. Consumers beware. Charter is only after the almighty dollar and doesn't care what they have to do to get it.
Shane
clarksville, Tennessee
U.S.A.
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