Charter Cable Company (Charter Communications) it's accountability time! After it took SIXTEEN HOURS to get my cable, internet, and telephone services correctly installed and billed, I started to complain to the Better Business Bureaus in our area, but found that were already listed as unsatisfactory. The following is a copy of the email I sent to the Board of Directors and the CEO and his staff that recounts exactly how this nightmare took place. It is very lengthy, but the public has a right to know just how terrible this company is. Caution! Reading this account is sure to make your frustration level rise:
Memo to:
Neil Smit
Paul G. Allen
W. Lance Conn
Nathaniel Davis
Jonathan Dolgen
Rajive Johri
Robert P. May
David C. Merritt
Marc Nathanson
Jo Allen Patton
John Tory
Larry Wangberg
Marwan Fawaz
Jeffrey Fisher
Sue Ann Hamilton
Michael Lovett
Robert Quigley
Grier Raclin
Lynne Ramsey
Eric Brown
Joshua Jameson
Mary White
Eloise Schmitz
Kevin Howard
Paula Trustdorf My husband and I recently chose to switch from phone and internet service with Frontier to the bundle package with Charter Communications. Unfortunately, the last three weeks I have come to deeply regret that decision. After approximately eight hours of telephone calls, two visits to the local Charter office, and three days of service calls, a total of around sixteen hours, there is some probability that my personal problems with Charter are over. However, I cannot in good conscience let this matter rest until there have been some assurances that the multiple problems are being rectified. My husband has been blessed with a good income that allows me to stay at home unless I choose to work part-time outside of the home. Because of this, all the time I have spent dealing with these problems with Charter did not cause me to lose pay or time away from my family. However, we live in a small, close-knit community that I dearly love and feel a great responsibility toward. Because of our positions at work and in the community, we know literally thousands of people in Tennessee. Many of these people have low incomes (less than $20,000/year) and are single parents. Whereas the $99.97 bundle package does not represent a big percentage of our income, if one of these people choose to invest in your services, they are sacrificing almost TEN PERCENT of their take home pay to make sure their children have access to modern technology. If any one of these people faced the same problems I encountered, they would have lost parts of five days wages as they either waited for technicians to come to the house or visited the local Charter office, a minimum loss of eight hours and up to forty hours if the employer would not allow the employee to take off in hourly increments. Hopefully, some of the eight hours of telephone time would have been able to be made during their off hours, but that would have meant loss of family time, which is as valuable as the wages. This situation is totally unacceptable! Mr. Allen and Mr. Smit, as top leadership in your corporation you are used to answering to no one. No one except your customers. As you read the following account of my personal nightmare with your company, you will understand why I am expecting within the next two weeks to receive an initial report of how you plan to eliminate these problems and then monthly follow-up reports until I am confident that customer service has greatly improved. This account will be lengthy, but I make no apologies for the time it takes to read it. It will be less than the time it took me type it up and considerably less time than it took to live through it.
[Unfortunately, all events were not meticulously documented. When this process began, I still trusted your company and felt there was no need for notations.]
~7-18-07 I called your 1-877-940-7186 number to inquire about the bundle package that was advertised on your brochure, offer code ED-WM-1624-12509. After speaking to Lauren, the sales person, I agreed to purchase the bundle package which would include high speed internet, cable service (Extended Basic plus Disney at no additional charge), and telephone with unlimited long distance calling plus ten telephone benefits.in addition to the bundle, I agreed to rent a DVR for one television, add a wireless router, and purchase a $40.00 battery back-up for the telephone. She said that the telephone would have to be installed by a technician at a $49.99 charge, but that I could save $79.99 in installation charges by going to the local Charter office and picking up a self-install kit for the DVR and internet. We agreed that I would go to the local Charter office to pick up the self-install kit on July 23 and that a technician would come on July 25 to install the telephone system with a battery back-up.
7-23-07 I went to the local Charter office on Highway 431 in Martin, Tennessee, to pick up the DVR, the router for the internet and the self-install kit. The lady at the window replied, "We don't have those here. They know that." She then turned back to her computer and left me standing at the window as though I would just leave now. After waiting a moment to see if one of the other two ladies in the office or one of the two technicians who were walking through would give me more assistance, I said, "Excuse me. Where do I go to get them?" The lady looked up again and said, "We don't have the self-install kit and we have been out of the DVRs for a long time. We keep telling them that." Again she dismissed me by turning back to her work. Appalled that any employee would do nothing to rectify this problem, it was apparent to me that this Martin office has no value for their customers. If I were going to have any service at all, I would have to be more assertive. Using my "school teacher voice", I again asked the lady at the window with the spiked dark hair, "Excuse me. What am I suppose to do now? A technician is coming in two days to install the telephone, but I am suppose to self-install the rest. How will I get this equipment?" She seemed annoyed that I was still there, so she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Just let the technician who puts in the phone do the rest." I replied, "Will he have the equipment with him?" She nodded her head in assent as she worked at her computer. Again I interrupted her work, "And what about the installation charge for his services. I am only supposed to be billed for installation of the phone services." Turning her back to me in her chair, she waved her hand and flippantly replied, "That's their problem. You won't be charged anything for their mistake." After looking at the other two ladies to see if I should do anything else and finding no response, I left the office.
7-25-07 The technician, Steve (#5923), arrived at 1:30 pm. Immediately, I explained to him what had happened at the local office. He emphatically stated that he would not be able to install the DVR or the internet because it was not on the work order. I repeated the local office's instructions that he would be installing that equipment, and he stated flatly that he would not. When I pressed him further, he said that I would need to call about that. Knowing what I know now, I should have insisted that he take care of the arrangements, but chaffing at his lack of sensitivity to the needs of the customer, I called Customer Service. Eventually, after much transferring from voice mail boxes and live agents, I was able to talk to a nice girl who apologized for the delay and arranged to set up for another technician to come to our home. Because we would all be out of town on Friday, the technician was scheduled to come on Monday, July 30, between 8 am-12 pm. Although my husband and I would be in Wisconsin, my 21-year-old daughter was going to be at home in her basement apartment, and she agreed to be available. The customer service agent made mention of the installation charges, but I repeated to her the promise made by the local Charter office employees. After I pressed the issue, she agreed to uphold the bargain for no charge for that installation. Meanwhile, Steve was having trouble deciding where to put the telephone box, but finally decided to put it in the basement living area. After he finished, he brought up the paperwork for me to sign. He also informed me that I would have to have copies of my husband's credit card, driver's license, and Social Security card to show the installer when he comes with the DVR and internet. I informed Steve that my husband is a lawyer and will not agree to having his Social Security number given out in such a non-secured manner, but Steve insisted that I must. At this point I am feeling very uncomfortable about the reliability of Charter Communications. Just moments before, my daughter had quietly asked me, "We are having all this trouble, so we are switching to this new service because...???" Since I no longer trust this company, I started asking Steve a lot of questions as I signed the paperwork. Steve was impatient to leave, but I kept looking at the paperwork and asked him, "You DID install the battery back-up for the telephone that I requested, right?" He emphatically replied, "No! The new phone equipment we have doesn't take a battery back-up." I questioned, "But I bought a battery back-up, so will I still be charged for it?" He confidently stated, "Of course not, because I don't have one to install!" However, the bill I had signed had an entry for $40.00 for "MTAWSLT", so I pointed that out and asked, "What about this? The sales person said the cost would be $40.00, so this $40.00 charge is probably for the battery." As Steve is walking out the door, he said, "Well, you'll just have to call and tell them to take it off. And tell them to talk to the sales department because they keep selling these things, and we don't have them!" I watched in exasperation as Steve drove away around 3:00 pm, thinking that it was very inconvenient that I should have to call about this instead of him. I had no idea just how inconvenient it would really be! Again I called Customer Service and was transferred to many different people. I truly wish I had documented just how many people I ended up talking to and how many times I was "accidentally" disconnected. Each time I had to repeat the entire story up to this point. Finally, I was sent to the repair department. From the man's accent I think I could rightly assume that this was at a call center in India. This gentleman asked me, "Did the technician remove the item from the signed copy?" I replied, "No, he said that I should call and take care of this matter." The agent replied, "Well, unless the technician calls to say that he didn't install this battery, I cannot remove it from the bill. You shouldn't have signed the bill with it on there. You'll just have to call back tomorrow and talk to the technician." Knowing that it would be a near impossibility to reach Steve before we left town, I again tried to calmly explain the situation, that I couldn't have received a battery, but his response was even more insulting, "How do I know that you didn't actually have the battery installed and are just calling me to have the charges removed? If it really wasn't installed, then why did you sign for it?" Frustrated, I asked, "How was I suppose to know that 'MTASWALT' was a battery? And why was I supposed to think that the technician didn't do exactly what I ordered? And why was I asked to make this call to fix a company problem? And why am I suppose to have confidence in a company who does business this way? May I please speak to a supervisor!" After the supervisor heard my story and repeatedly asked the same questions as above, he put me on hold several times. Eventually, he determined that the technician had told the truth, and that it was impossible for me to have a battery back-up installed on the new equipment. We left it that the technician who came on Monday would bring an old style phone box with a battery back-up and the $40.00 charge would stay on the bill. I was on the phone at this time from around 3:00 - 4:40 pm. To say that I was frustrated would be an extreme understatement. It was at some point during this time that I resolved to do everything in my power to see that this nightmare never happened to another person!!!
7-26-07 Because I have absolutely no confidence in this company, I decided to double check with the installation people to make sure that the work orders are correct. I was eventually connected to Al from the cable department who could not access my order because the computers were down. However, he wrote down the information and assured me that on Monday the technician would deliver and install a DVR and install 3MG HiSpeed internet with a wireless modem with no installation charges. I called back immediately and was eventually connected with Jason in the telephone department, who accessed my order on the computer and verified that the technician would bring an old MTA system with a battery back-up. At this point, I decided to call and talk to as high ranking supervisor as I was allowed to reach to relate this entire tale of woe. Unfortunately, I was so distressed that I forgot to write down the man's name, but he was exceptionally receptive and kind. After I told him the whole story, he just sat quietly for a moment before saying, "I don't even know where to begin to tell you how sorry I am for all that you have been through. I will be talking to people in different departments to see how we can correct these problems. I have to admit to you that I did not know about the incompatibility issues with our new phone equipment. It is my understanding that it is an FCC requirement that all phones installed be able to have a battery back-up." After apologizing many times, he assured me that all my problems would be taken care of.
7-30-07 While in Wisconsin, I received a call from my daughter. She related that a Charter technician, (I could not read his name from the order form, but his number appears to be 943), had arrived at our home around 9:15 am. However, he only had the old phone equipment and the battery back-up to install. He did not know anything about the DVR or the internet installation. Jana reported that another appointment would be made to during the week to come install that equipment. I asked Jana to tell the technician to make the service call for Monday, August 6, because I wanted to be there.
8-3-07 As we were in the car returning from Wisconsin, I called to verify that the correct information was on the work order. When I was connected with the right department, I asked them to read to me exactly what was on the work order so that there could be no more excuses for mix-ups. At this point, she said that there were no installation charges assessed, so someone that I talked to recently must have tried to compensate for our problems by giving us this discount. I wish I knew who was responsible for this act of compassion so that I could thank them personally, but the act is greatly appreciated.
8-6-07 At 8:30 am, Steve (#5923) arrived and installed the DVR and the internet with wireless router. All the equipment seems to be working fine, although the instruction book left for the DVR isn't helpful at all because it describes a different remote. Fortunately, there is a tutorial available through the television which is helping us to figure things out.
8-7-07 I received a call from a Charter sales representative asking me if I wanted to buy a bundle package. My heart sank, because I realized that if she was calling, I am not in the system as receiving the discount I have gone to all this trouble to receive. She connected me with another department who verified that I do not have this discount. I was instructed to call the billing department to get things straightened out. After talking to the lady from billing for a short time, she informed me that because my name is not listed on the account, she is not allowed to talk to me about this service.incredulous, I explain that I have spent literally hours talking to people from Tennessee to India about the account, but she replied, "I am sorry that no one has told you before this. You will have to have your husband call Customer Service and have your name added as an authorized user."
8-8-07 I go again to the local Charter office and ask to speak to a supervisor. The lady at the window informs me that the supervisor is in Jackson. I ask when the supervisor will return, and she tells me that they don't have a supervisor at this office. I look at all three ladies and ask, "Are you telling me that not one of you is in charge?" to which they all nod in affirmation. I ask how I can contact a supervisor, and after much talking between themselves, they ask me to leave my name which they will give to the appropriate person. At one point one of the ladies started to give me a card with the supervisor's name on it, but the other employees stopped her from doing so. Fortunately, after hearing my story, one of the ladies took it upon herself to look up my information on the computer and determined that they had not bundled my services. She told me that they could correct that problem right then.
8-9-07 I decided to research the corporate infrastructure of Charter Communications to see who was in leadership positions. On the internet I was able to find the names of the Board of Directors, the CEO and other leadership positions along with biographical data. I was also able to research many documents regarding the past five years of activity within the company and found many reports of bad customer service. Unfortunately, the only contact telephone number I could find was the various toll-free customer service numbers. After some persistence, I found a corporate office telephone linked to CEO Neil Smit, with instructions to call and ask for "the office of Mr. Smit". After calling that number, I was told that I would not be allowed to be connected to that office because "Mr. Smit does not take these kinds of calls." Instead I was connected to Ms. Jenny Brennan, a prize corporate asset who understands the value of good public relations. After listening to my lengthy story, Ms. Brennan expressed heartfelt sorrow at my problems and repeatedly thanked me in all sincerity for taking the time to address this problem so that others will not have to suffer the same fate. Ms. Brennan asked me to type up this entire report and send it to the email address she provided. Later in the day I received a message on my cell phone voice mail from Kim, the supervisor from Jackson, TN, who was returning the call I had requested on Tuesday. She explained my bill on the voice mail message and left a number where I could return the call. Since I had already talked to Ms. Brennan, I did not return her call. [After I posted this email, I did have numerous communications with Ms. Brennan who seems to be doing everything possible to correct the rude behavior at the local office.]
8-10-07 As I was typing up this report, I received a call from a Charter Corporate spokesman, Mr. Terrance Mathis. He asked to listen to my complaint, so I read to him the portion I had already typed, and then told him the rest of the story. Because he had asked how he could help me, I explained that I expected to receive within the next two weeks a report of how this problem is to be rectified. He explained that my report would be passed on to the various departments and that steps would be taken to keep this from happening again, but that customers do not receive reports of internal measures. I explained to him that I understood that he would not have the authority to provide me with the report, but that I am addressing my concerns to the top leadership personnel. Although it is understandable that it is not normal policy, under these circumstances it would be in the best interest of Mr. Allen and Mr. Smit to choose the do so. It is imperative that everyone involved understand that this is no longer about my personal problems and what the company is doing to resolve them. Mr. Mathis did choose at the end of our conversation to erase the $40.00 battery back-up charge from my bill as partial compensation for the hours I have spent, and that was a wise public relations move on his part. Now when I talk to people about Charter, I can indicate that consolatory efforts were made. This, however, does not abdicate me from the responsibility of protecting my community. Perhaps, it is also in your best interest for me to add that feelings against Charter in this community are already very low. It is only because there is no alternative cable service in this area that many people have not left your company. About half way through this process, I started asking your own employees if the problems I was experiencing happened frequently. Not one person denied my query. I also noticed that at least half of your employees showed various degrees of job dissatisfaction. These problems could cause the quick fall of your entire corporation should a bright entrepreneur recognize these weaknesses and establish a cable alternative. But these are not my problems. I seek only to assure that ALL you serve will be treated with respect and integrity, and I will do all in my power to see that end accomplished.
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