Charter Communications
False Advertising

I have been a customer of Charter for years. I have gone through the surprise rate hikes, the advertisements for non-existent services, the poor service and the absolutely horrible customer service. I cancelled my TV service with them when I got a surprise bill of over $150 and was told, too bad, that's just our price now.

Over the past few years I have have received numerous "deals" for telephone service from them just to be told it's not available in my area. Even though the adds were sent to my physical mailing address.

I recently received a phone call from charter offering me 2 years of TV, internet, and telephone service for $29.99 each. Supposedly no hidden fees, no contract, and no rate hike. When I said I would like to sign up for the service the person on the phone asked for my account info to verify who he was talking to. I told him I don't give out personal info over the phone to people who have cold called me and that I would call Charter myself and sign up for it.

At this point the person told me the deal was only available right now over the phone and I would have to provide this info to get it so I ended the call anyway and contacted Charter. The person I spoke to said that what I had been told was probably correct but that he could not offer the same deal for 2 years. I would have thought that a customer would be rewarded for not risking identity theft, not punished, but so be it. I gave up.

Over the last week or so I have been having issues with my phone service so I decided to give Charter another try. I went to there website and saw a deal for $29.99/mo for each service, a $200 dollar gift card and a chance to win a kindle. So after work I went to my local office to ask about it.

When I got to the office the person behind the desk didn't even bother to look up at me. She asked what I wanted and told me that the gift card was online only, actually helpful information. I then asked about cablecards and was told that they are $2 a month and can be used to receive Charter TV programming, still without ever looking up from her computer. I then thanked her and told her to have a nice day. At this point her demeanor completely changed. She spoke up, looked up, and smiled. Apparently the thought of a customer leaving was all it took to brighten her day.

When I got home I started a chat with a Charter rep. And was informed that the gift card was only for new customers not loyal customers, apparently in the small print on another page. Not exactly a way paying, loyal customers should be treated but par for the course with Charter so, so be it. Then she started telling me about the $89.97 advertised "deal", and this is were the false advertisement comes in. Apparently even though the ad clearly states $29.99/mo for each of three services, the price is not $29.99 x 3, because even though I want to use a cablecard not a Charter receiver I am still required to pay $5 a month for one. I don't want it, I won't use it, it isn't listed in the "deal", but I am required to pay for it.

When asked why the rep. Simply said that it is required to receive the serviced (which is a lie), and is not included. When I complained that the ad didn't mention this her response was that it didn't say I didn't have to get it. To be fair the ad doesn't say that. It doesn't say I don't have to do a lot of things. For instance, it doesn't say that I don't have to sacrifice my first born child, but now, who knows. Normally, and I'm pretty sure legally, when an ad doesn't say something, it isn't required.

Now is $60 a year for something you don't want, or need a lot of money? No, but it was not part of the advertised price and it is not the first time they have intentionally misled their customers. When it is all said and done I will likely shut and pay just like they want, because like most cable customers I don't have a lot of other options around my home. This makes me their ideal customer, few options. They will continue to lie to their customers and treat them with little more than disdain, but I can at least post this warning for other before they contact them and are met with the same kind of lies and false claims.

Company: Charter Communications
Country: USA
State: New York
City: Plattsburgh
Site: charter.com

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