Charter Communications
Charter Communications Incompetant Business Practices

My husband and I just bought our home in Fort Worth, Tx June our service provider that we had in our previous town did not have service at our new city so I called Charter to order service. I had a few minor issues with my service so I had called tech support and recieved help fairly quickly without too much problems, then one day in July one of the techs asked why I did not have my other services (i.E.internet and telephone) with Charter, I explained that they were with ATT. He then stated that if I were to let Charter take over these services he could give me a combined bill of $120.00 for all three for exactly what I had then (high speed wireless internet, unlimited phone calls to U.S. And Canada, and my cable with all the imenities that I currently had DVR, all premium movie channels and Karaoke.) I basically was to get the full boat for a low rate guaranteed for 1 full year with no contract. I told him that I would need to discuss the matter with my husband but it sounded good (in fact too good to be true) at that point he let me know that I would have to let him know then because the sales dept did not have the same deal. So I relented and agreed to transfer all services to Charter.

I then was transferred to another person to verify my order, before that call was over I was told that my wireless would cost $10.00 more and my DVR service would also be another $10.00, I explained that was not what was we had agreed upon and asked to be transferred back so as to clear up the matter, that could not be done, so once again I relented and continued to sign up. I waited two weeks for sevice to get connected. The tech came out and hooked phone up first, he did it pretty fast then gathered his things and left. My phone did not ring all day or night which I was relieved by until the next morning when cable stopped working correctly and I went to phone the 1-888-get-charter and low and behold I could not get my phone to work. So I had to pull out my cell phone and use it to call instead. I reached the first customer service rep (she hung up on me) I called back was transferred 3 times (then suddenly I was talking to myself) Disconnected once again. So I waited a couple days as I knew if I called back immediately someone would've been cussed out. So when I called back again I went through everything with the new rep and she patiently walked me through with all things that could be the problem. It turned out that the filter that was needed when I had ATT was not removed and henceforth causing my phone line not to work. With that done the phone would work most of the time but would periodically have no dial tone for me to be able to use it. I called and reported my issues several times.

Finally the day came for my internet to be installed and when the tech arrived my computer was at the shop being repaired and tech said that to call when it was sent back to me and they would get a new tech out within 24 hours to install. So I called and they came back out. As soon as that was done my phone did not work again. So once again I called tech support for phone. Then cable started tiling in and out so badly it sounded as if my shows were full of stuttering people. You could not understand a word, nor did my internet have the speed that I was promised. It was running super slow (dial up would have been faster). So I called internet support they made an appointment the tech came out and said he did not handle that issue and left. The next day another tech still having problems said a new line had to be put from pole to house. That was supposed to clear problem, NOT! The next day another tech, This time a nice man (manager of the contracted company.) Problem stopped for a few hours so he could not locate exact problem. A few hours later I called him again because it started to tile out again. The next day two more techs came out dropped a new line in my kitchen for phone and internet stating that that would clear up all issues, in one week alone I had a tech at my home 6 days out of the seven and on the one day I did not have a tech there I had to call with issues on my phone and so Sunday they were there again.in total I have had a tech to my home at least 16 times in 3 short months I don't know about the rest of the world but to me this is ridiculous. I continually call almost every single day with some issue.

This last week I recieved a bill that was horrendous for one month of service my bill was $487.00!!! Very angry I tried to chat live with a rep and I was one in que for 2 hours come on that was very ridiculous that no one in 2 hours could manage to help me, the next morning I spoke to customer service and was told there was not an error that my services were that price when I told them that was not what I agreed to I was disconnected. I called back once again I was disconnected by the 6th time of being transferred back and forth and then eventually getting disconnected. I called back one more time and demanded to speak to a supervisor because I was going to yell. The supervisor got on and lowered my bill $50.00 for a fee that was supposed to be waived in the first place. When I asked why I was charged for the bundled services, then individually for each service he said that was how my bill was and I would have to pay the full amount there was nothing I could do to lower my bill unless I chose to remove services. At that point I was very angry and called the corporate office the moment that it opened and spoke to Kim, she said that she would research the situation and get back to me. Later that afternoon I still had not heard anything so I called back again. My bill was lowered to $199. And change. And she informed me that in the future my bill would not be higher than $150.00 with taxes and fees.
Two days later my services stopped working again. So I called back and I kept getting this message telling me that I needed to call information for tech support for CHARTER. So I called back to corporate and spoke to Kevin. He got a tech support person on the line who made an appointment to come out but told me if my box started working again to call and let her know, which it eventually powered on again, so I called back and let a rep know, without asking if I wanted to cancel my appointment, she cancelled it and said if I had problems again to to call back. Well of course I did, it was beginning to become the norm that I spend more time on the phone with Charter then I do with my own husband or any other person. I called back and again I was being disconnected. So I called back to corporate and told them if my problems are not fixed today 9/18/08 I was going to ditch my cable equip, phone and internet. I have cell phones, wireless internet card and plenty of DVDs to watch. The tech came out today but could not fix the problem, but told me what the problem was and it is not in my house, my box, phone or internet modems. It is a problem with an outside line having too much power. Now I am being told it could be 5-7 days for problem to be fixed, the techs that came today told me that my internet connection, speed problems, phone not working and cable VOD and the tiling was all being caused by this same issue. What kind of incompetence does a company have when they continually have calls from a customer complaining that the services he/she pays for hardly ever work correctly, and they cannot fix them.
I called to check out other service providers for internet, phone and cable with Time Warner and was notified that Charter has the monopoly in Fort Worth (at least in my zipcode) That my only other option is satelite which really is not an option since I have a backyard full of trees. So I either have Charter or no TV, what a choice. I have requested to speak to the CEO regarding my problem but I highly doubt that Veronica will pass the message on to Lydia who is supposed to be handling my situation. Nor will it probally ever get to the CEO, but in case they have not noticed I call everyday anyway so lets see how many times I have to call until they finally let me speak to the man who is running one of the worst companies that I have ever done business with. I expect nothing less than have at least 1 full months credit to my bill. Or they can get their crap out of my home. Because frankly I have been paying far too much for services that I do not get to use when I want to. And that is something I will not do any longer.

Ruby
Fort Worth, Texas
U.S.A.

Company: Charter Communications
Country: USA
State: Missouri
City: St. louis
Address: 12405 Powerscout Drive
Phone: 3149650555

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