I had been a Charter internet customer for some time. I had some issues that were frustrating until a tech support rep finally realized my modem needed to be updated so I would get the 10 meg service I was paying for! She advised me to contact billing for a credit... Here's where I should have cancelled everything but nooooo! I contacted Billing and I got credit for 2 days service despite the fact that I had paid for high speed service for months and not gotten it. Time went by and I decided to add cable tv to my bundle as I really missed having HBO. I know, I know. I shouldn't have done it! But I did. I called Charter and spoke at length with rep who set me up with a nice digital package with HBO and internet, told me my total would be $95.00 per month plus tax, which she figured would have made my bill no more than $110.00 mo. Great! Except for my bill was NEVER $110 a month. Then my channels started to pixelate and then I completely lost the use of On Demand. I called Charter, had to schedule a tech to come out. Took days for an appointment and then he comes out. Tells me I need a new box outside house and runs a pretty little green line from it. It worked for exactly 10 minutes, long enough for him to leave, and then wham! No on demand and channels all wonky. Called Charter back. Another tech appointment. More days to wait. This time, tech was running behind. Was to be there between 4 and 5. Called me at 630 to say he would head my way in another 15 minutes. He got to house and told me the other guy was an idiot. He asked for a physical description of the guy. I told him, as the other guy had long hair and tats that would make him stand out somewhat. He said yep, he's an idiot and I have to clean up his mess all the time. He calls another guy to come help him out. They had to run new lines. Said something to me about having the old 150s that do not support digital. No idea what that meant, but they did fix problem an hour later. Then after this, wireless signal from router suddenly starts to get weak. My Netflix streaming from wifi blu ray player was hit and miss, mostly miss. I calle tech support. They had no idea why it just suddenly started. Told me it was probably something in my house and I needed to run an ehternet cable or move blu ray closer to pc. Funny how this was all working fine before huh? After this issue, I was fairly well fed up. Especially since my download times for music suddenly started to become lengthy but yet I have new lines, new equipment, nothing wrong with pc, and am paying for high speed net.
So, after being injured in an accident and having bills mount up, I decided to give Charter the heave ho. I contacted them via live chat and have the transcripts to prove it, advising service to be disconnect on 4/3 and I will be liable for no further charges. I told them I understood that I had a past due balance on my account and would pay in full once account disconnected and adjusted accordingly. I was advised service would be disconnected that day. Well, signals were all blocked that day, but as of 4/6, no adjustments to account and no one had come to collect equipment. I called this time and have THE RECORDED CONVERSATION, which is great because in the first 2 minutes of it you get to hear rep telling me how it is illegal to record them after I advised I was doing just that. She then tells me someone will be at house between 3-7 to pick up equipment and disconnect from pole. No one showed. I called again and scheduled yet ANOTHER time for the service folks to come disconnect service and get equipment. 20 minutes for this RECORDED CALL. They will call me before they come and they will be there that very day between 4 and 5. No one showed.in the meantime, I have contacted Direct TV to come set up their service and Century Link for internet. Direct TV is at my house on a Saturday morning when the Charter guys shows. He said he was there for last disconnect request, but no one told him a certain time and he came by while I was at work. He goes on to tell me what a great move I made ditching Charter because their billing and customer service is ridiculous and they lie even when you get it in writing. Their own rep telling me this. I told him that a phone rep had adivsed I would owe something like $600 to reconnect if I chose to do so in midst of waiting for a disconnect request to process. He said balance was ridiculous and I needed to fight tooth and nail to get account adjusted as his records showed I was to be disconnected on 4/3. I received 2 more outlandish billing statements from Charter which were well above what I owed. Final bill I got from them was $258. However, it had $36.02 in charges from April 3-May 2. My service was disconnected on 4/3 and I have a RECORDED CALL with a Charter rep advising me that I will owe nothing beyond 4/2. I called Charter and they told me that as balance was past due, I had already been sent to CPA, which is their outside collections agency and that they could not help me. As I had not received anything from this agency yet, I filed a complaint with the BBB.
A Charter Executive Rep called me. Said she would send me all the billing statements and I have her recorded saying if you want to go to court, we will because you owe the $36.02, although she had no explanation as to why I was being billed for services after I disconnected. She marked the complaint resolved and BBB sent back to me. I disagreed so it went to her again. Same thing. She sent emails and left voicemails, all of which I saved, giving me the runaround, telling me I owe these charges and that despite what other reps had told me or what I had recorded, that full balance was due and was sent to CPA for collections as I refused to pay. I finally got a statement from CPA and I sent them letter requesting validity of debt. They sent it back to Charter and just called me this morning to advise that Charter has said I owe the full $258, they will not remove the $36.02, this is being sent to all 3 credit bureaus, no way to stop it now, and a rep named Marlene advised me that if I do not pay the $36.02 Charter has the right to sue me. For $36.02! She said that CPA cannot discount a balance at all and that Charter would have to agree to drop the $36.02. I recorded this call as well, with her telling me that it was not allowed and that if I continued she would have to hang up. When I refused to discuss anything with hr on other than a recorded line, she agreed. How about that? She suggested that I pay the $222 and then I can dispute the $36.02 AGAIN, they will send to Charter AGAIN, and maybe with the rest paid, they will zero out the balance to settle dispute. And then I would have to contact all 3 credit bureaus to add statements to my credit report as this has already been reported.
I just CANNOT get over this. You have recorded calls, chat transcripts, verbal agreements, and still you CANNOT win with these people. And they continue to get by with it! Since I disconnected, I have 6 friends and family members at 6 different locations who have all disconnected and gone with satellite services. And all for similar issues as mine. Ridiculous.
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