Beware of Bundle pricing and installation fees. Ordering the cable tv and internet service:
Called 3 different times within the week, and received 3 different bundles prices for the exact same services. The services I was interested in were Expanded basic cable and internet service. Finally I agreed to their bundle price of 99.98 a month for cable tv and internet. Sales person stated that this included all fees for a hd-dvr and 3 additional digital cable boxes for the other rooms, and internet service. I did not lease a cable modem and decided to purchase my own. Also, the sales person told me to have a check for 84.99 to give to the installer. 24.99 was the installation fee 30.00 for each service, and to think of it as a down payment for the first bill (cable 30.00 internet 30.00). Sales person said that the 60.00 would be credited to my first bill.
The installation (Nov 4):
Installer called me the morning of the scheduled installation. Was complaining that he did not know where I lived. I gave him detailed instructions on where to find my home. I asked myself, "why didn't he look it up prior to leaving?". If I don't know where something is, I always look at a map prior to leaving. It's just common sense.
Installer arrived, and ran a new line to my home (home is new construction, so we did not have an existing line). The installer then tried to start running new lines in the house. I explained 3 different times, that the house was prewired for cable. All he had to do was run the main line in, install a splitter, and connect all the existing in home wiring. This seemed to confuse him, so I ended up talking him through it.
When he started installing the actual cable boxes to the tv's, the installer then started to complain to me about his allergies and my cat. He said "if I get sick from your house then I'm going to be upset". Why should I care? He being paid to go to homes and perform installations. It's his job, deal with it.
Received the first bill (Nov 9):
Received my first bill less than one week after installation. The bill was for 165.00.in that bill I was being charged for 4 wall plate installations. And being charged again for installations for both cable tv and internet. I had already paid the agreed price of 24.99 for installation of both. And I was not receiving the prepaid 60.00 credit I was promised. And according to my math after this first bill, my "bundle" price was going to be 135.00 and not the 99.98 that I agreed to. I called the billing department explained the situation, and they would not reverse the charges and or give me credit of 60.00 I was promised. The billing agent was rude and insulting to me. And he would not put me in contact with a manager.
Returned the cable boxes to the local office (Nov 10):
I disconnected all the cable boxes. Took the boxes and my bill down to the local office. I smiled at the lady and said I would please like to terminate my cable tv services, and have my bill adjusted. (Charter offers a 30 day money back guarantee on all services). And I was greeted in the same charter fashion I remember. With insults and disgust. I explained again about the prepaid installation charges and that I should not be charged. And I should not be charged for wall plate installs (showed her my work order that stated the house was prewired). She asked me what was the price I was expecting to pay, I told her the price was supposed to be 99.98. She said the $135 was close enough. Close enough? I said $35/mo was too much of a deviation and not acceptable to me, since I'm paying the bill and not her. I did state that I wanted to keep the internet services. She told me that since I'm canceling my tv service they cannot offer me the introductory price on the internet service, and that it would be $10 more a month. At first she was not going to be willing to change my bill, and I reminded her of the guarantee, asked for her name, and employee number. Well, then she changed the bill.:-)
Just so everyone knows. My bill was not inflated due to taxes or anything of that nature.in fact, the cable service portion of the bill had 2 totals. One was itemized and totaled 79.00 (which was supposed to be 44.98), and on the line below was a new total of 99.00. No one could explain to me where the extra 20.00 was coming from.
Charter's bundle pricing is a bait and switch scam if I ever saw one. They also make sure that during the sign up process, you never receive any type of printed materials that states what you are ordering and what the prices are. I requested a print agreement from the sales person originally. She told me I would receive an email with all the agreed prices and services. The only email I received was one that said "Thanks for your order".
0 comments