charter communications

November 6, 2006

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Carrie Cessaro and I have been a Charter high speed internet customer since January of 2006. Now, while I realize this isn’t a great amount of time, I think it only makes my concerns more valid. I am extremely dissatisfied with not only my technical services, but more importantly the customer service I have received on countless occasions over the phone and by the contracted installer of my high speed cable internet services.

My initial concerns started about four months after initially receiving services when I realized that my bills were nearly double what I agreed upon in my contract. I contacted charter via phone about these concerns and found out that I was being charged for various products and services that I neither asked for, nor needed. The person who had installed the products for your company had not only given me wireless internet, but a wireless router so that I could have five or more computers routed to the internet in my home. Again, I was not asked whether I wanted these services, they were simply given to me at double my initial contract agreement. Now, not only do I not need wireless internet, but my apartment is maybe all of 500 square feet, and that is being generous. If that doesn’t make it obvious enough that this is a one computer home, a simple question from the installer could have solved these problems, and kept me a much happier customer. I understand that the people who are contracted out by charter to install your products may not be direct employees of charter, however they are still an extension of the services you provide and therefore the experiences of the customer with these people is highly important to your business. I am appalled that these people, who are entrusted to enter peoples homes and install services for your company, for your customers, who may or may not understand the dynamics of computers and high speed internet, would not be taught the basics of asking said customers simple questions, such as, “do you want wireless internet?” or, “do you need a router so that you can access the internet from multiple computers in your home?”.

My next concern is the lack of technical support and customer service skills I have received on numerous occasions from your telephone staff. On October 25, 2006, my internet services went down. I need the internet for my job and was a bit frantic to find it out of commission. I waited it out a day, and made a call to your technical services line on October 26, 2005. After spending nearly half an hour talking to the automated help line, and trying everything it suggested I do, I was finally connected to a real person. After getting my name and phone number the person quickly told me that the internet was down in my area and would be available shortly.

On October 27, 2006, my internet was still down and so I made the call again to your technical services division. After spending another fifteen minutes “talking” to the automated helper, I was connected to a real person. This person informed me that not only had my modem never been down for more than sixty seconds at time, but that it was currently up and working. I was confused since the person I had talked to the previous day said that the internet was down in my area. I inquired about this and the person said that some of your staff is working from different countries and so they might have different information about outages. At this point I was getting a little frustrated because not only was my internet still not working, but I was being told two different stories within two days. I asked for technical assistance, and gave the person on the other line the names of the various products that had been installed in my home. Currently I have a webstar cable modem and a netgear wireless router and wireless card for my laptop, all of which had been installed for me. Your employee told me that I wasn’t being charged for a wireless router and so in order for someone to come out and look at the product, they would have to add that to my bill. So, now I was being asked to pay more for services on products that were not even working correctly in the first place. I told the customer service representative I did not want to pay additional fees, I simply wanted them to fix my internet, and I was told that they couldn’t do anything for me unless they added another $10 a month to my bill for the wireless router. After being put on hold for about fifteen minutes, another staff member picked up and asked me about the situation. I explained again my entire predicament and was asked again which products I had. I told him about the webstar cable modem and the netgear wireless router. He asked me if these were two separate pieces of equipment, and I let him know they were. Upon hearing this, he told me the wireless router was not a piece of charter’s equipment, and so they couldn’t help me. Now, I told him that the person who installed my products installed both the modem and router. He said that the router must belong to me, and I let him know that it didn’t. He said that there was no way the router was your product, that charter only carries cable modem/wireless routers that are all one component. The product was installed by someone contracted out to work for your company, and therefore is your product.

Now, not only had I been given false information on the prior day, and been told that in order to have someone come out and service your products I would need to pay additional fees each month, but that the two pieces of equipment I was staring at did not exist. By now, I had been on the phone for over an hour and asked to talk to someone about canceling my services. He said he would transfer me to the billing department. Another five minutes on hold and then my call was disconnected. I called again and went through your automated menu. When I was given the option to press 1 for billing, I did so, but this only took me back to the initial menu. I tried it again with the same result, finally just pushing zero to get to an operator. I told the person who answered I was trying to talk to someone about canceling my services and he asked if I wanted to talk to someone in billing. I said yes, and tried to explain to him that your automated menu had a glitch and that when you push number 1 to go to billing, it simply starts the menu over again. In an agitated tone, he said flatly, “so then you want to talk to someone in billing?” Finally, I just said yes and was transferred to the billing dept.

I explained, for the fourth time, my situation to the person in the billing dept. and told them I wanted to cancel services, at which point I was told I would have to pay $150 cancellation fee for services that did not work and a technical services help line that was unwilling to give me technical assistance. I explained, in detail, why I felt I shouldn’t have to pay the $150 cancellation fee, but she said since I was on contract I would have to pay it. I asked to speak to her supervisor, and after remaining on hold for another good length of time, I once more recounted my dissatisfaction and my frustrations with my customer service experience and technical service experience. The supervisor said that since I was on contract there was nothing he could. I questioned him about my contract, which he told me ended in March. I was confused as to why my one year contract, that I assumed started when I began receiving services in January, would end in March. He looked over my account and told me I was given a “special promotion” in which I paid $19.95 a month for services for the first three months, after which time I could either cancel or sign a contract. In March, I had already experienced dissatisfaction about being overcharged for products and services I clearly was in no need of, with no compensation. I questioned the supervisor as to why a person should sign a contract charging them $10 more a month for services, when they could get the promotion without a contract. He said he was sorry and that all he could do was give me $10 off a month, until the end of the year which equated to a whopping $20 off. I asked that if I had called earlier in the year about these concerns would he have given me $10 off a month from that point in time. He said that unfortunately all he could do for me was the aforementioned $20 deduction and that he shouldn’t even be giving me that. He also told me that in the future if I needed technical assistance that I just shouldn’t mention about the wireless router and if I did that no one would be able to help me. I think it is very poor standards if the supervisor is telling a customer to misinform the staff about what products they have in order to simply get technical assistance. Am I to assume from this statement that he is telling to lie every time I call in with an issue? I mentioned that in the future your company needs to make sure that the people they are having install their products need to be taught to ask basic questions such as, “do you want wireless internet?” and “do you need a router for multiple computers?”. The supervisor agreed, but added that not every person who comes to install services is going to have excellent customer service. Now, I pose to you this: is asking such simple questions as the ones mentioned above excellent customer service? I think that it is very basic customer service, and questions that can reflect very negatively on your company if they are not asked. I believe that customers being overcharged for products and services that they did not ask for could and will most definitely come back as a negative response to your services.

I would hope that even to a large company such as charter, each and every customer would be important. I believe that customers at the very least deserve adequate technical support and basic customer service. I feel as though my entire experience with your company has been one problem after another and that I have been disrespected and treated as if my continued patronage of your company did not matter. In conclusion, I would like to restate that I wasted all toll over five hours on the phone not to mention the time spent composing this letter, I was transferred, put on hold, hung up on, given inconsistent information about problems with my internet, told that the products someone installed for your company which were in front of my eyes did not exist to your company, that I could not receive assistance unless I paid more money and if I did not pay the extra money I could not be helped, and I was told to disclose only partial information in the future if I wanted someone to help me by phone, or come to my home to service your products. Your automated phone service says that my call may be monitored for quality assurance. If this is true I would encourage you to review these phone conversations. At this point, as much as I need internet services, I do not have the time, energy, nor patience to continue receiving such poor service from charter and cannot believe I would be expected to pay a $150 early cancellation fee for customer service experiences such as those mentioned above. I would appreciate some sort of resolution.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Carrie

(805) 540-4sss

Email User

It is now December 28, 2006 and I have sent this letter to the corporate office, the Human Resources Department, my local Charter provider and the billing department and haven’t heard back from a single representative of the company.

Comment On This

I have a similar problem here in Reno, the city wasn't going to renew charters business license, but even the executives lied to the city. They told them they were improving their expertise and training customer service/technical support reps. But as soon as the city signed their business license they went to old ways. So now we are stock with them. Did you file a complaint with your local BBB?

Comment On This

I don't think this problem is exclusive to Charter. I had a horrible experience with Verizon High Speed, which is similar to yours. Thier customer service and technical support staff are rude once they cannot help you by simply re starting your modem. It is very difficult to understand their English, all they are concerned with is selling you more services. On numerous times, I called for technical assistance because my DSL connection just wouldn't work. Each of those times I was offered a higher speed at of course a higher price for a DSL service that wasn't working. Each time they had me re-start the modem, unplug all cables, re-connect them (switching the ends), and each time no solution was reached. They scheduled a technician to come and look at the jack, that maybe it was bad, I had my mother wait in the house, told her not to go out the whole day, three times she waited from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm which is the timeframe they gave me for the technician to be here, but no one ever showed up and no one ever called. Subsequent calls produced the same results. I finally contracted Roadrunner with Time/Warner and am still fighting the cancellation fee with Verizon. I think these companies are so big that they feel customers are just a drop in the bucket and each customers is less important than the next.

Comment On This

I am with yo charter sucks. Thier service is customer horrible! I have had problems wiht my cable, Internet and phone. So far there shooting 0 for 3 with me. I wish I could get high speed internet in Sun Prairie through anyone else. God I miss Time Warner!