Beginning in June we moved to a new location and signed up for a local internet and cable TV service known as SuddenLink. Under this company, we were signed up with a one year service agreement for the price of 54.35 each month. This price was to cover our cable television services and cable internet services.in July SuddenLink was purchased by JetBroadband. Our service agreement rates continued until February. At this point, we got a bill that was in the amount of 91.00, up nearly 40.00 from the past month's bills. Whenever we called the company, they claimed that they had sent out several notices that prices were going to increase whenever they digitized everything. We got nothing from them, I checked out past bills and there were no notations on those either.
I reminded them that they had a one year service agreement that would not end until June 16 under which they were obligated to provide services until that date at 54.35 per month. Ok, so after several subsequent transfers, disconnections and discussions with the most incompetent of people, I was finally told that I could e-mail in a copy of my service agreement that would be placed on file with my account and would be honored for the remaining term. I thought things had been corrected. No. The next month, we got a bill for 137.00 which reflected that we had not paid the previous month's bill in full and therefore had late charges added on. Of course we didn't pay it in full. We were told to pay 54.35!
Again, I called the company and explained to several people through a series of transfers and such that I had been overcharged again and that there was an error on my bill that should be corrected. It was at this point that I asked them to mail me or e-mail me a corrected billing statement reflecting their adjustments so that I would have something for my own records since it seemed to be a habit with them to screw up billing. They failed to send this but told me to pay only 46.85. I questioned them as to why this was such a strange amount and was less than what we normally pay. They said that they had applied some credits to my account and this had brought it down just a bit lower than normal. I didn't question it but asked them if they could send me a billing statement to reflect this. Once again, I was told that they would send on. It never came. I sent them their check in the mail. The following month (April) we got yet another incorrect bill complete with all the late charges mounting up that had not been removed from our account with a nasty notation on the bottom saying that if we failed to pay it we would be disconnected.
I was furious at this point and called them again for the third time. This time I told them about the same problems again and explained to them that they were still under a service agreement and I wasn't sure why it was so difficult for them to communicate the changes to my billing statements from my account that they claim to have been adjusting. I also requested another written bill reflecting changes. This time they told me it would be reflected on the next month's bill and that they couldn't send out bills unless they were generated automatically. What happened to hitting the print button? This time I informed them that I wanted to set up a disconnect for June 16th because I was tired of their constant errors and I feared for the safety of my credit given the late charge accusations. They set that up for me and then told me that paying a final payment of 50.85 should pay me through the 16th of June. This made no sense because they were essentially giving me a free month of services. I told them I wanted a notation placed on the account for a zero-balance statement to be mailed to me once the account was closed so that I would have something to file proving that the account was paid. They agreed.
One June 16th, I called to follow up with the removal of the cable services and the pickup of the equipment. We were told that someone would be coming by our home between the hours of 1PM and 5PM and that it was mandatory that someone be there to sign off on the work order whenever the tech person came to pick up the equipment. My husband took 1/2 day off work to be there for these idiots. They never showed up. At 5:05 PM, We placed a call to their office asking why no one had showed up to pick up the equipment during the time specified and explaining that one of us had stayed home from work to be there thus costing a vacation day for nothing. They then told me that someone would be by between 5-7 PM that night. I told the person on the other end of the phone that if someone did not come to pick it up tonight that I wouldn't guarantee that someone would be there in the future to sign off on the work order and the equipment would be left outside on the porch because we couldn't afford the missed days of work and that we would not be responsible for the damages since they had their opportunity to pick up the equipment. They droned on about how we weren't allowed to do that and they would charge us no matter what if we done that. I insisted that we would do that and that we would not pay any late charges or equipment fees whatsoever but I would make sure that they paid for our missed time off work if they continued to insinuate harassment by billing us for services/equipment.
It was around 6:30 whenever someone finally came by to pick up the equipment. We had already put it out on the porch because we had little faith that anyone would be coming to pick it up. The guy who came walked right past both myself and my husband while we were in the yard, walked up on the porch and proceeded to knock on the door then saw the equipment, picked it up and started to walk off with it without saying a word. I let him get almost back to the van before I called him back asking where the paper work was on his pickup and explaining to him that I needed proof that he had picked it up because I wasn't going to pay any equipment fees whenever his company made a mistake. His response to this was "well, I don't have any work order paper but you can take my picture if you have a camera" I thought this was a little snide of him to do this so I did whip out a cell phone and take his picture as he walked to the van.
The next day, we were scheduled to have Comcast install THEIR cable services to replace our TV and internet. We had already been told that we could get the services in our area and were prepared to have it connected whenever I got a phone call at work from the dreaded JetBroadband people. This was a rather nasty call. They told me how *they* had conditioned those cable lines and because they had done so, we wouldn't be able to get another company's services since they now owned the lines. They went on about how they had detected someone else testing those lines and had took it upon themselves to assert their dominance and thwart my getting another cable service. I wasn't too pleased with this so I laid into them about how I don't think it's wise for them to tell me what to do as a consumer. I demanded that they remove any lines they may own from our property and disassociate themselves with our address. We had already went through several services who wouldn't provide service and finally Comcast said they did serve the area. They refused, we didn't get Comcast.
During this phone call, I was also told that I still had equipment. We discussed that matter and it ended with them still saying I had equipment as long as they didn't have my signature on a work order.
I called Direct TV because they had a bundle deal with Verizon for DSL internet. My thinking was that if I get the services off the cable lines, JetBroadband will have nothing to do with it or say about it. WRONG! Direct TV informed me that I had late charges pending from another cable provider and that this had shown up on a credit report. I had PERFECT credit up to this point. I was able to eventually get my services on their way and we did get television services but not internet. Upon not getting internet services on the date they were to be available (June 20th) I contacted Verizon. They explained to me that my address was not in their system as a serviceable address and that I may not qualify for their services. This is interesting because Verizon is the only phone service in the area, other residents in our sub division are able to get Verizon DSL but we aren't. I asked them if perhaps there could be a problem with JetBroadband and their little monopoly on the lines. They said they didn't think so but I really believe that they are still preventing us from getting services. Also, a slam on my credit showed up for late payments whenever the phone company ran it.
We went to our local JetBroadband payment office and had them bring up our account where they showed a zero balance account and that all equipment had been returned. They called their credit reporting group and apparently showed nothing on my credit history either. This is all very strange considering I am having problems as a result of it.
They are running a monopoly on the Radford/Christiansburg area and disallowing other companies that would provide competition to come in and provide services. They are doing this because it's a college town.
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