Charter Communications

Cable and internet company in Greenville/Spartanburg SC area.

A letter I sent to Charter Cable:

I am writing to express my displeasure and disappointment with the service I received from Charter Cable. I had decided to switch to Charter, from Dish Network, after my recent move in order to consolidate my internet and TV service and attempt to cut costs.

However, within hours after, finally, having my service installed I have now returned the television equipment to my local office and only regret that because DSL is not offered in my area, I have no alternative but to keep my Charter internet for the foreseeable future.

The problems with my account began almost immediately. I had been looking at some of the packages on Charter’s website but had not yet ordered when I called Duke Power to set up electric service at my new home. Afterwards the operator offered to assist me with the set-up of cable service for my house. Since I had pretty much decided to give Charter a try I agreed to do this. I inquired about the “Winter Bundle” package and soon was set up to have it installed. I made arrangements to have installation on Saturday June 3 in the morning. I then made arrangements to be home during this time period. Later in the day, according to AllConnect, they sent a total of 5 email, none of which I received, informing me that they rescheduled my appointment for Monday. Though they were able to tell me on the phone that they were aware that the email were never opened they at no time during the next week, from May 26-June 3, attempted to call the phone number I gave them to inform me of the change.

After waiting for several hours on June 3 I finally called Charter cable to confirm my appointment. It was at that time that I was informed that my appointment was scheduled for Monday. Because of work obligations I was unable to keep that appointment and was also informed that because I might need an additional wall connection installed that the appointment would have to be moved to another slot. The Charter rep told me that I could have an appointment between 5-8 on Wednesday evening June 7.

On Wednesday afternoon I called Charter to confirm my appointment and was told that my installation was scheduled for between 1pm and 5pm. I was at work at the time and I had the choice of making arrangements to leave work early or to be forced to reschedule my appointment for next week. So, I chose to leave work early to preserve the appointment. (I was told at this time that Charter doesn’t schedule appointments in the time period I had been told, 5pm to 8pm, but I later learned from the installation technician who came to my house that this was not accurate.)

During this conversation the representative asked to confirm my order. As he did so he said that there was a promotion that would allow me to keep the approximately $70 price for cable and internet for 12 months instead of only 6. I agreed to this change.

The installation person arrived at about 4:30pm. He was courteous and professional. As he brought in the equipment I noticed that the boxes he brought me were used and appeared to be stripped down models of the box I was expecting. As I consulted Charter’s website in the days before installation, in order to know what cables I might need to use with my system, the PDF manual for standard (NOT HDTV) digital cable boxes showed that I would have digital audio outputs available as well as “S-Video”. The boxes I was given had neither.

The hook-up itself went fine. My cable modem was able to be hooked up instantly and the TV service was right behind. As I began becoming familiar with my new TV service I was instantly concerned with what I saw.

Having been a satellite user for about 6 years I am used to a certain level of functionality and quality from the provided hardware. Among the most important features to me is the onscreen guide. I found Charter’s guide to be absolutely horrible in comparison to others I have used. The logos and banner adds that take up approximately 1/3 of the screen reduce what little functionality there is from the guide. I found the inability to cull the list down just to favorite channels, or even only channels I actually subscribe to, to be very frustrating. As I explored the “Menu” I did find some guide options that helped a little but for the most part I found the guide clunky, difficult to use and that if failed to provide the information I wanted in the forms I could best use it.

It was while I was attempting to learn how to use the “Favorites” button that I discovered that I did not have access to some channels that I expected to have. As I look back at the names of the packages and review the paper copy of the channel guide I was given I now understand what I had contracted for a bit better, however I found that the format of the channel listing online is confusing and unclear.

I would suggest that in the future you should have a separate channel listing made up for each offered package rather than forcing a new user to try and figure out what the proper channel line-up is for the package they bought.

For me, the confusion came when I looked at the online listing back when I was researching Charter cable. The first mention of “digital” is with the Family and Information Tier. As none of those channels were premium by any means and many of them were included in my basic packages back when I was on satellite TV I assumed that those were included as well.

Let me make it clear that I fully realize, now that I am more familiar with the terminology and names for Charter’s cable services, that I did not contract for those channels, however I was disappointed to find out that I was going to have to pay an additional fee for what really were only 3 or 4 channels that I was missing.

According to the information provided to me with my start-up packet I was expecting these additional channels to be an extra $4 per month. At this point, while I wasn’t happy with the cable box or the on-screen guide I was still willing to continue the service and add the additional channels.

It was when I called Charter Cable to add the additional channels that I became concerned about some other issues. First of all, the additional tier was going to be more than listed in the brochure that I had. Secondly, as my customer service rep read through my information to confirm my services I realized that I had not had the $70 price locked in for one year.

I was told the following information, and I want to stress I was hearing all of this for the first time:

1. My “bundle” price was good for 6 months after which I was obligated to an additional 6 months of service at “regular” prices. (At no time…not when AllConnect first made my order or during discussions with any Charter rep was I told that there was any further obligation beyond that 6 months.)

2. I was going to be charged approximately $5 per month more for the second digital receiver. (When I had asked how many connections I could have under the program I was told that I could have 4. No additional cost for boxes was ever mentioned.)

3. I was being charged for something called “line maintenance” . (The CSR I spoke with earlier on Wednesday had mentioned this but implied that it was included in my package and never mentioned a price for value for the service.)

By my reconing, I was now being told that, after adding the additional channels, I would be paying about $15 more per month that the $70 advertised package price. I had been informed of none of this before and my perception was that Charter was simply hoping that between inconvenience, annoyance, fear of high repair bills or simply carelessness I would allow these charges to be added on a monthly basis.

I also took this opportunity to complain about the quality of the boxes and the almost unusable channel guide. It was suggested to me that I could improve some of these issues by electing to add more expensive HD equipment. So, yet again, the “solution” to getting my Charter Cable service to work the way I expected it should have to begin with was for me to pay additional money.

The CSR I spoke to after installation was most frustrating to deal with. As we began to review my services all he would do is repeat, over and over again, what services he showed I was signed up for. He ignored the fact that I was told something different by a CSR earlier in the day. I kept attempting to explain to him that I was well aware of what his computer apparently showed. I wanted to move on towards a resolution of the misunderstandings and mistakes. However, all he would do was to keep asking me not to get upset with him and to continue to verify over and over again my wrong order without offering anything useful to help. My final request to him was for him to simply add the channels I was requesting and to transfer me to a more senior CSR who could perhaps help me straighten this out. At this point he said that he “did not want to touch my account” and suggested that he transfer me immediately. I was happy to agree to this.

I was transferred to an automated CSR system and I ended up speaking with a young lady with an accent that I found very difficult to understand. Had this been a simply inquiry I would have been happy to deal with her but my perception was that I was speaking to a “first line” CSR who was not a supervisor and due to the complex nature of my problem I did not wish to fight an apparent language barrier.

After she asked a few questions that made it quickly apparent that this conversation was going to go more or less the same direction as my previous one, I politely explained that I thought that I needed to speak to a supervisor. She agree to find one for me.

I was kept on hold for a total of about 15 minutes. The CSR came on the line three times to let me know that the supervisor was aware of me but was busy. The final time she came on I told her I would call back later and hung up.

After more consideration and discussion with my wife I decided to terminate services from Charter Cable. My intention was to end all services but I later found out that Charter is currently my only high-speed option for internet access.\

I called back and spoke to a CSR who worked towards trying to convince me not to drop my services. He also offered me the $70 price for 12 months. However, he was unable to do anything about the lack of quality of the Cable TV product. His only suggestions for this included buying additional or more expensive versions of the services.

I informed him that I was expecting a full refund and he informed me that installation costs were not refundable. (However, I would point out that on the literature I was given at the time of installation included a flyer for a “30 Day Money Back Guarantee” that makes no mention that I can find about the exclusion of installation fees from the “guarantee”.

I agreed to bring the TV equipment to my local Charter Office the next day.

After this call was when I learned that DSL was not available in my area so I was forced to call back and request to continue my high speed internet access without cable service. Of course I learned that it would be much more expensive but having no choice I agreed to it.

I’d like to point out that this final CSR was the most pleasant one I dealt with all day. She was most helpful and understanding. She encouraged me to talk with someone at my local office the next day when I returned my equipment and give them a chance to see if they could make things right. I was refreshed by her helpful attitude and assured her that I would indeed do that.

Today, Thursday June 8, I returned the equipment to the Charter office near Laurens Road in Greenville. No interest was taken in me whatsoever. As I returned the equipment the agent at the desk barely spoke. Had little interest when I volunteered that I was ending service that I had only had installed the day before and when I offered her a written statement of why I was upset and ending service It was obvious that she didn’t really care. After I pointed out that somebody at Charter might possibly be interested in the reasons I was ending service she finally took it and said she would enter some notes in my file. Never did she offer any assistance or to help resolve my problem. She didn’t offer to find someone for me to talk with about my issues.

I collected my receipt and left.

My next step, I suppose is to attempt to get some manner of credit added to my account to compensate for the change in service. I plan to call in on Monday to verify that my account has been handled properly and to learn how the $119 I originally paid will be applied to my current account which is Internet only.

I had heard few good stories about the customer service from Charter when I began investigating making a change from satellite however I personally know several Charter employees that I know to be people of honesty, reliability and good character so I chose to give Charter a try anyway. I’m profoundly disappointed to find that the poor reports I and my wife had heard about Charter’s product and service were true.

I will actively let others know about the service I have gotten from Charter. I can only hope that for as long as I am forced to use Charter for my internet service that things will go better.

Sincerely,

Joel