I had a fraud issue with my bank account in June for which I had to close my bank account and open another one. Part of that was getting all my bills that are automaticly debited from my account swtiched over to my new checking account. The day I closed my account, Cox tried to debit my closed acount for the bill amount, which for obvious reasons didn't go through. The day after my checking account closed, I cancelled the automatic debit from Cox and set an automatic debit request for the new checking account I just opened. The next week I got a very nasty letter from Cox stating that not only was my bill past due but I had to pay it in cash at their office upon receipt of the bill.
I'm not hurting for money, and paying the bill in cash wasn't a problem, but I'm a doctor and finding the time to to go by their office to pay it was a problem. But to make sure I took care of my end, I scrambled find the time during business hours the next day and paid the bill at Cox's convenience. Thinking this was a one-time issue, I didn't think much of it the whole thing until I got my next bill from Cox and got the same "your payment is late and it's due now in cash."
I called customer service to see what the issue was and was told by customer service that my automatic debit was cancelled due to a closed checking account. When I asked the Cox rep what happened to the automatic debit agreement I set up for my new checking account, I got the usual run around with the customer service rep dening that such a thing had never been done, then when she realized that she was miskeying some info and that there really was a request to set up a new automatic debit, she didn't apologize and she told me that I had to be in good standing with my bill, which meant I had to pay my bill at their office. So I again scrambled to find the time and paid the bill. This time after paying the bill, I asked the customer service rep who was assiting me at the Cox office if I was in good standing and if she could ok my automatic debit. She said she couldn't ok the automatic debit, but that I was in good standing and assured me that I wouldn't have a problem with my next bill.
I called the next week just to assure that the automatic billing was set up, and was told "it was not a problem." Wouldn't you know it, the next bill arrived stating the same thing like the previous two, that there was no automatic debit in place, that I needed to pay in cash and it was due now.
Now I have been a customer of Cox Commications in the South Louisiana in some capacity or another for the last 7 years and never had so much as a late payment until now.By now, I am confused and incensed since I was told the automatic debit was not a problem twice. So I call customer service for a third time, get the usual run around again and am told I am not in good standing with my account and that to get in good standing I would have to pay my bill at thier office.
By now, I am a little suspicious of what is going on and the Cox's ability to get this solved correctly as it seems to be an ongoing problem, but not with me as I am consistently doing what they ask me to do when they ask me to. So I reported them to the Better Business Bureau of Baton Rouge for this issue, thinking at least I'll have some record of this whole mess happening.
When I paid the third bill for which I again had to scramble to find the time, I insisted on having someone at an upper level help me. I had the pleasure of having Angel who although provided excellent customer service, managed to perform it such in a way as to insinuate that I was making an issue out of nothing, when I came to find out that the problem was Cox not telling me that I needed to pay not only the money that was due, but also the next month's bill to attain good standing and have the automatic debit request be accepted, and that was discovered only after I insisted on having Cox put the automatic debit in place while I was present at their office.
The worst part about it was that I never heard an, "I'm sorry for your inconvenience" even after I explained numerous times what was a true inconvenience this whole mess was. It took them two months to respond to the BBB complaint saying only that it had been resolved with an insinuation that I had made a premature complaint.
0 comments