Credit Protection Association, Charter Communications.

Charter Communications, Wallace, NC

I received a letter in the mail from Credit Protection Association about =

a $307.07 payment due to Charter Communications. I refuse to pay any =

debt I owe to Charter due to the time spent, stress caused, and money =

lost from days taken off work waiting around for they're horrible sub =

contractors and charter technicians. Let me inform you from beginning to =

end my relationship with Charter.

I purchased my first house in Wallace, NC in February. Closed on the =

house at the end of February. 2 months before the closing I had =

contacted Charter about availability of they're cable internet services =

for that property. They had to do a inspection of the property to find =

out wither it was possible or not as the property is a hundred feet or =

so from the nearest street. They informed me they would call me back =

once they found out the results. After that first phone call, I wait =

over 1 month for a return phone call that I never received. I call again =

and go thru the same hoops again to find out the test was never done and =

they had to go do it again. Again I was told to wait for a phone call =

with results. Again I waited until the day of closing and decided to =

call them again. During this call I found out the answer was no, but not =

only did they say the answer was no, they inspected the wrong house. I =

again had them come out and inspect the property this time giving them a =

very exaggerated description of the property where I wanted this =

service. Please note that every single time I called Charter, I was on =

hold for at least 30 minutes at a time, and transferred at least 2-5 =

times at this point before the call was finally finished. Finally after =

2-3 months I get a yes and they set my account up to come hook up the =

line to the house. They give me a install date and tell me to be home =

between am-5pm on that date. 12pm comes around on that date and some kid =

shows up at me door with a cable modem and some coax cable in hand and =

says "I'm here to hook up your internet." I look at him confused as if =

the guy was "The Flash" and had already hooked up my cable line, and I =

say to him, you already hooked up the cable line? Then he looks around =

and goes "uh...no." So I try to stay calm and say to him "Aren't you =

going to hook up the cable line today?" and he says "No, I was called =

here to hook up your cable modem" and I reply with "Well ya can't really =

do that without having cable at the house now can ya?" and I ask him =

when can he get it done and he replies with in 4 weeks. I look at him =

like WTF? Here is this kid with a Ford Ranger with a big spool of coax =

in the back and tools in a belt wrapped around his waist and he can't =

hook up my cable? So I lose it and tell the kid to get off my property =

and don't come back till he is ready to hook up my cable. So I walk back =

in, call up Charter Communications and tell them what happened. (Please =

note I was on the phone for at least 2 hours during this call and =

transferred at least 5 times and talking to god knows who in =

Afghanistan) so he reschedules the hookup date (yet again for am-5pm on =

that date) and decides to wave my install fees for my troubles (after I =

had to ask him several times to do so). 2 weeks later the utility guy =

comes to mark up my yard like he should have over a month ago. Then =

another week later the same dumb kid shows up at my door to hook my =

cable lines up. The entire time this kid is here, he's complaining about =

how late he is to his next job and how he wishes for this and that. Not =

only does he do a sloppy job installing the cable around my house with =

the lines drooping all over the siding, but 2 weeks later I have to call =

up Charter again due to really shitty internet quality due to excessive =

packet loss and slow speeds, and there is really bad ghosting or =

something going on with the TV channels. (Please note this time I was on =

the phone for at least 3 hours and transferred over 15 times and ended =

up talking to Hung whoever in China this time). This time they send out =

a actual Charter technician who knows what the hell he is talking about. =

He is polite, and the only person who works for Charter who seems to =

give a damn about his job and knows what hes doing. He tells me hes been =

going behind that kid redoing all his work cause he never does it right. =

Everything is all dandy and I am happy again...for the moment. Please =

note that I got Charter for they're internet services as I am a PC =

technician and I need the internet. I do not watch much TV if any at =

all. I get a busy month to where I work from am-9pm never being home. I =

get home and realize the problem with the internet is still there and =

just as bad. I never notice anything going on with the TV cause I never =

watch it. It goes on for another month like this and one night my girl =

gets home from work, and turns on the TV to watch American Idol and =

cant. Its the ONLY channel we cant get and its the ONLY thing on TV that =

she cares to watch. She is obsessed with those "lets see who is last to =

vote off" shows. I get pissed off and call up Charter again. I am on the =

phone with these guys for 4+ hours total. The first two hours I try to =

keep my calm as much as possible, and not say anything negative other =

than I am having problems can you come fix it, and I get hung up on. I =

really have no clue whatsoever as to why I get hung up on. This happens =

another 4 times before I get seriously ill and want to cut someone's =

head off. Every single time I call these people back I have to reenter =

my phone number, go thru a string of "press 1 for this, 2 for that" and =

stay on hold for at least 30 minutes. It gets to the point to where I =

instantly start cussing these people out I'm so pissed off. I eventually =

cool down and call them back. To put it short, they say they'll have a =

tech come out between am-5pm on this date and that I have to take off =

work to make sure he can come in and do his job. So I take that day off =

and reschedule my service calls for the next day for my job. The Charter =

technician never shows up. I call up Charter and ask them what the hell =

happened and I tell them that I lost out on $400 worth of work because I =

took this day off. They don't care of course and I end up scheduling =

another call for a tech to come out to my house. 4 days later a tech =

finally comes out to my house. But by this time I owe Charter for a =

month or two of "service." and he just happens to come out on the date =

they decide to cut my services off, and they wont turn it back on for =

him to troubleshoot till I pay them $200 for services. So I get in this =

heated conversation with some Yokohama in Japan about this vicious =

circle they're business runs in. The circle goes like this "I order =

services for x dollars at charter, and they get the services up and =

running, yet not a single day do the services ever work right without =

something going wrong, so technically I cant even use these services =

they charge me for, so why would I want to pay for services I am not =

getting?, yet they refuse to credit me for these services and expect me =

to pay these services that I am not even getting, so eventually they =

just cut me off and expect me to hand out money for nothing in return" I =

eventually pay the guy and the services come back on instantly. The =

technician ends up telling me all he can do is go to the pole outside =

and turn up the power on the amp and thats it. He leaves and I guess he =

goes and does that. It did helped, a very little bit. This time it =

changes it so that instead of having horrible internet all the time, I =

only have internet right after 5pm until 3 or 4am in the morning, every =

single day of the week. By this time I am so pissed off and frustrated =

with this horrible excuse for a company I call up Embarq. Within 3 weeks =

Embarq and Dish Networks have all my services hooked up and I am happily =

paying my bill with them. Right after first calling Embarq to get my =

services started, I call up Charter to cancel my services. By this time =

I owe them a months worth. I explain my story (for like the 6th time to =

Jin Kang or whatever he name is in Nigeria) I tell him I refuse to pay a =

penny for this and that they should be owing me money for the time I =

took off work to deal with this crap that shouldn't be happening in the =

first place. He tells me he clears my account of any charges and that he =

will ship me a UPS return label for the cable equipment. I tell him he =

better ship a box with it too cause I don't leave boxes sitting around =

for times like this. Well its been almost 3 months now and I am very =

happily an Embarq/Dish Networks customer and I get a letter in the mail =

today from "Credit Protection Association, L.P." telling me I owe them =

$307.07, as so:

Service balance: $67.01

Collection Fee: $12.06

Equipment at: $228.00

So I call the 800-955-776 number on this letter (which leads back to =

Charter again, "DAMNIT!") and end up talking to some lady who then until =

after I describe my story to her once again, transfers me to LunChow in =

Korea, for me to discuss my billing errors to. I tell the guy I am not =

going to pay this and that the last guy told me it was all removed from =

my account and that he would send me a shipping label which never came. =

Mr. LunChow or whatever his name is, promptly tells me he cannot clear =

my account and that nobody there would be able to do that for me. I even =

ask for a supervisor and Mr. LunChow responds with even a supervisor =

wont be able to help you. So I promptly get even more pissed, exchange =

some kind "Fuck yous" and hang up the phone. Now here I am trying to =

relieve some anger by writing it out in this email.

Please note that a lot of these people I spoke to, half of them were =

actual Charter supervisors for they're respective departments. I was =

even given a Corporate number by the supervisor that I described "The =

vicious circle" to, which ended up being a number to some company that =

had nothing to do with Charter whatsoever. I will never do business with =

this company even if they are my only choice of internet ever again.

Thank you for providing me with the space on the internet for others to =

see what has happened here. I do not know any other people who would be =

THIS patient with such an incompetent company as Charter Communications.

~Greg Rogers.