I had cancer surgery and am disabled and the only income I have is Social Security Disability which I receive one time a month on the fourth Wednesday of every month. I have two children, my son who just turned 16 and my daughter who is 14. It cost me over $700.00 to register them to go to a public Jefferson County High School (this is the free education our great government supplies for us while shipping millions of dollars in aid to foreign countries).
Anyway, due to this large sum of money for school fees, etc. I was behind on paying a few of my bills. I contacted Charter Communications on August 17 by e-mail and explained to them my situation and that I would pay my bill on-line on August 25 when I got my disability check.
I received a reply from one of their representatives saying that my account would be notated with this information and everything would be fine. Well, I get up on Friday morning, August 20 and turn on the television to find only a very snowy, static picture. I called Charter Communication to find out what the problem was. Well, it didn't take them long to look up my account and advise me that it had been disconnected for nonpayment of services. I explained to her about the e-mail I had sent. The person on the other end of the phone said that the account was notated that I could pay on August 25th, but that did not mean they would not disconnect service. I could not believe what I was hearing.
Why would I want my account notated that I could pay on August 25th if it was going to be disconnected anyway? After arguing with this female customer service person, they put a man on the phone who said he was the supervisor. He said he would waive the reconnect fee because of the "misunderstanding". I asked him when my cable would be reconnected. He started talking about batches and other things I didn't understand. He finally said that the quicker I made the payment, the quicker it would be reconnected. I had grocery money to last us until August 25th.
I finally got out my debit card and gave him the information because going without cable for a weekend with two teenagers at home is unbearable. After I gave him this information, he said he would call me back with reconnection information. He called back and said my cable would be reconnected on August 24th.
I couldn't believe it. I just gave up my grocery money for cable that would not be connected until one day before I got my check anyway. I was so mad. I called and talked to several people and got the same information everytime. No one was sympathetic or cared to help (sure, it was Friday, they were going to go home to their televisions and watch cable while I sat in the house all weekend with two teenagers and no television). They said even though my account was notated with payment arrangements, that they were not required in the State of Alabama to continue service because of previous payment arrangements.
Well, we sat through the weekend and I was very depressed. I couldn't wait until Monday morning because I felt sure that if I could talk to the right person that they could possibly get someone to come out that day and reconnect the service. No such luck. There I was, no cable, no groceries and no money. They did finally connect the service on Tuesday, August 24th and I did get my check on August 25th. It was like Christmas, finally, television, money and food appearing within 24 hours of each other.
However, the ordeal of 8/20 and 8/25 took its toll on me. I live within the four walls of my home and very seldom go out. Reading and television are my only entertainment. I explained this to their "caring (ha, ha) customer service representatives but they did not care. Some of them just started hollering their rules and I finally hung up on them and cried.
I just want everyone in the "State of Alabama" to know what they told me about being able to disconnect service anytime they wanted to even if you have made payment arrangements. I used to think some of the other utility companies were cruel and cold but I think this experience has been the "cream of the crop".
Karla
Mulga, Alabama
U.S.A.
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