I have had Charter Communications as my cable company for the last four and one half years. Not because I prefer them, but because they are the only cable company in the town I live in. They have lied to me time and time again. I have been a very good customer, never have had a late bill.
It started out as small things such as raising my bill on my basic service until it was just as cost benefical to me to get expanded service. Then shortly after I got expanded service they raised the rates of that. Every time I change my service they wait 2-4 months to add on the extra so eventually I wind up getting a bill over double the usual rate and it is so confusing that I have no idea what they are billing me for.
Of course I then call the "customer service" line (what a freakin joke) and some horribly rude person (I am quite certain that is the only type of person they hire) answers and can never give me a straight answer. I have put up with it for a while now, but yeasterday was the straw that broke the camels back. I got a computer and had tried lots of dial up services that were so slow and I kept getting bumped off all the time and low and behold who calls me with this excellent deal but Charter (by this time I have digital cable)
They tell me that since I am already a digital customer I can get the digital service which includes all the channels through 300 and something and movie channels plus the charter pipeline service for a mere $69.95 a month. I am already paying them $45.00/mo plus $30.00 for my present internet service so this sounds like a great deal but I am very leary from my past experiences. They call me serveral times and I keep telling them I want to think about it.
In the meantime I get totally disgusted with my internet service and call Charter back (big mistake). I go throught the whole thing with the service rep and verify the services I will receive and the price about a half dozen times. She then tells me it will be verified by another person and taped. Another person comes on the line and verifies and I repeat back everything and make sure I am understanding what I am getting.
Two days later the internet guys and the cable guys set me all up. I verify the price and service with the guy that has me signing all the papers and we even discuss what a great deal this is. On the work order it has my price of $3.95 for my modem which I had agreed to and $69.95/mo for my expanded channels and my HBO and Cinemax. I sign every thing and they leave.
That very day I go to watch a cartoon channel with my son that is channel 109 and get that you must subscribe to watch message. I call them and they apologize and get it working. This was May 11 maybe a week later my internet and all channels past 79 start going out completly and my other channels are so fuzzy you can barely see them. They send a guy out and they fix it.
Well this is Sept 6 and it is still happening half the time I don't even call anymore because I am on hold forever. They have told me everytime they know there is a problem in my area and they have been unable to figure out what it is. They are out here on at least a weekly basis when I call and tell them I feel that my bill should be pro-rated they tell me I must speak with a manager and then I get a voice mail and no one calls me back.
Any ways I normally pay around $85.00/mo, but yeasterday after being at the ER all day for and asthma attack I open my mail and find a $188.00 bill from them. I already can't breath and this really does not help. I did not feel like calling them so I called today. I am told that because I got the service in May and had paid my bill in April for May that I had not paid for May 11 and on. I got my May bill and it is for June and still not on there so therfore I owe them for May 11 and all of June. Same with June bill and so on.
Finally on my bill in which I am paying for Sept. 8- Oct. 7 I get charged, $79.00. Ok I can understand this but my digital package that if you remember was told to me would cost $69.95 plus my modem which is $3.95 is now $84.95 plus the $3.95 charge when I question this she starts saying all this stuff that I have not idea what she is talking about but after much argument I am told that I was recieving my HBO and Cinemax at a promotional price and now it has gone up.
Well this was not told to me when I spoke with the customer service rep not is it on my work order (which I have a copy of) I demand she pull the tape of my recorded call and she gives my a bunch of crap. They are having a promotion until the end of December on Starz and Encore for $5.95/mo. So I tell her to take off the HBO and Cinemax and replace it with that package. This lowers my bill to $179.51. I am not happy but resign myself to this.
I then get off the phone and go to turn on my sons favorite channel (remember ch 109) I cannot get anything past 80 something (regular expanded service) I call them back and this girl tells me that this was also a promotional deal but for another $5.00/ mo I can get this back. I am like this is not what I was just told and go into the spill about talking to the rep that tape recorded my call and how I had told her that this sounded great because I could get all the kid shows in the 100 channels and how I verified with her over and over that I would be getting the channels with my digital pipeline package and this was all included in one price and that there would be no surprise charges and how this was all taped and I wanted the tape pulled.
She tells me I must talk to a surpervisor and there are none there from 5-9. I tell her there are obviously none there during the day either because when I call about my horrible service and want my bill pro-rated I always get a voice mail and no one ever calls my back. I then say to her "You are telling my you have no boss there, you are totally unsupervised?" She say, "yes." I tell her that is impossible for me to imagine, but am fed up and tell her I am beyond mad and would be calling back tommorrow to speak with a suprevisor and I wante it noted that I called two times this evening and am very displeased.
Someone help, surely there must be something that can be done about these criminals!!!
Mary
Clarksville, Tennessee
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