<![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure - Consumerist Comments]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure - Consumerist Comments]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> I contracted for cable tv, telephone and internet at the rate of $119.00 a month. The billing has been as high as $230 for a month. The company when you contact them directs your call to the Phillipines, and they have no clue what to do. I have had my tv turned off as many as 6 times in one week, then they charge a service charge to turn it back on. I have had many instances where the internet went down for days, and when I request an offset they laugh, or say they will credit the bill and do not. This past week they stated that I owed $350.00 for past due and current billing. I requested a copy of the billing and have not recieved one as of this date. There are several credits that have not been credited to my account. Now I am going to get a different ISP and Vonage and Direct TV as that would only cost me $95.00 a month for better service and less aggrevation. They think they are a monopoly and their actions reveal it. Filed June 19, 2007

brianmeyer

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> I was double billed and told on numerous occasions by their lame customer service that my next bill would be show a corrected amount. LIES & more lies!! I finally got aggravated enough to get creative. Just do a google search on Charter Communications and some other term such a media relations, legal department, etc. The internet can be very useful if your creative enough. The first number of an actual Charter employee that I could find happened to be their media representative at corporate. I dialed the long distance number, and to my surprise someone other than a computer actually answered. Needless to say, my call was immediately taken seriously. I wound up with Lois Martin in Corporate Customer Escalations. Her number is 314-288-3086. My internet search also resulted in lots of phone numbers to real individuals in the U.S. Customer service should not be lacking to the point I had to do this. I hope this information will help someone else who is as frustrated as I was. It was all public information available on the internet.

Some other numbers and/or emails I found were:

Curtis Shaw, Charter General Counsel
314-543-2308

Trudi Foushee, V.P. & Sr. Counsel
Email: tfoushee@chartercom.com

Suzanne Curtis
suzanne.curtis@Chartercom.com

Ralph Kelly, Debt Analyst
314-543-2388

Even if these aren't the correct people to help you, there is a good chance they can direct you in the right direction. Dealing with 1-200-572-2328 and 1-888-GET-CHARTER is simply a waste of time. Their only purpose is to raise your blood pressure!!

IF YOUR CONSIDERING CHARTER.......RUN FAST!!!!

hatecharter

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> My Charter internet service is (and always has been) up and down like a toaster in a Manhattan diner. I have documented 537 telephone minutes spent with Charter in the past 9 months, and recently presented a carefully calculated "bill" to them in amount $533.20, for my "labor". I hope you're sitting down before you read the next sentence. They haven't responded to my request! Here are a few direct line telephone numbers for some of Charter's Management Team. As one might expect, they do not respond, but I prefer to voice my dissatisfaction here in the US, rather than to Call Centers halfway around the globe.

Corporate Escalations
800.955.7766
-They know you're on the verge of a mental breakdown before you even call, but they DO speak English, after a long hold. I think their lunch time is something like 10am to 4pm Eastern.

Michael Henry
864.254.7260
-This gentleman seems to really impress his colleagues as "the guy who can get it done." I can't tell that he is anything more than a voicemail greeting, and he certainly hasn't "gotten anything done" for me, but you can ALWAYS leave a message.

Joshua Jamison (Divisional President/East)
203.304.4071
-Mr Jamison was out of the office when I tried to ocntact him, but his assistant seemed patronizing enough.

Michael Lovett (Executive VP & COO)
314.543.2301
-Mr. Lovett's Charter bio states that he has "responsibility for oversight of Charter's three operating divisions and Company-wide customer care." I haven't ever reached him... I presume he spends a lot of time in their many, many Customer Service Centers overseas. I've talked with a number of people who answer his line. Watch out for "Jill", there. I envision 4 packs a day, straw hair, and flip flops.

Good luck to all in your pursuit for service in exchange for your dollars.


Nader4President

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> If Charter's customer service wasn't so bad, it would almost be very funny. They are lucky, so far, that they have a monopoly in my area and I detest satellite, else I would be long gone. Not because of their product, but because I am rather tired of trying to communicate with a telephone menu; a cast of foreigners from Canada to the Phillipines with a limited command of English; and just plain old lies---they say they will give you a credit but then do not. Never, ever trust what they tell you they will do. When they actually do something correctly, it is the exception, not the rule. We need more competition in the cable industry.

nikalseyn

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> If you are willing to do this, it worked for me.
I cancelled my service, returned the box, modem, and after a week I was offered my previous deal as a permanent monthly charge. Of course, I had to go without cable and internet for a week.
But if you can live with the week of no tv...?

louisianaredsoxfan

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]>
In general, Rudina made no attempt to resolve Andy's concern except by a garbled parroting of company policy.

You mean a piggish squealing of company policy? That photo is going to give me nightmares.

shoegazer

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> I've experienced the same from Charter. They really just don't care, especially, since in my neighborhood, they have a monopoly on high speed internet since the phone company hasn't bothered with DSL (it's available down the street though). Our cable internet craps out whenever it drops below a certain temperature. It affects us and the neighbors, and we've called, and they just don't seem to care. Why should they? I can't cancel their service and go somewhere else, there is nowhere else, and they're well aware of that.

And getting a billing error changed? Ha, good luck with that. Luckily, we're about 5 minutes away from their customer service center, so we can just drive up there and talk to someone in person, rather than talk to someone on the phone halfway around the world who knows no English. Interestingly, last time we were up there, there was a line out the door of maybe 15 people are so that either had a billing problem or broken equipment (another problem with Charter, their modems and cable boxes suck.)

yg17

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> Going to say one thing here that crosses my mind.

'Rudina: Your login is lisaxxxxxxx and your password is chtrxxxxx.
Rudina: Please try your login and password.
Andy: no.
Andy: my login is xxxxxxxxxx'

I know around here if you have Bell Sympatico and call for help with ANYTHING password related, (Loging, email, router set up) that the tecks are REQIRED to type any password into our logs. You didn't you got in trouble on your reviews. Reason being some people would forget their password within 10 minutes. ESPECIALLY bad when we had to pass off a router setup to a higher level to set up wireless.

I didn't agree with it, but it was the company's call.

Firstborn Dragon

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> Charter's service went out in Madison during the Grammys and in Michigan during the Oscars. It took me about a half hour to find this because I was searching for the Oscars and not the Grammys. I think a lot of people share this frustration with Charter's customer service:
http://www.dailycardinal.com/arts/sending-out-an-sos.html<...

cothebadger

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> If you cancel before you use it or before you use it all, the refund it all at every cable system by law. Who cares about the fine print? Don't use, don't pay for it. Get real people!

mikelotus

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> It's actually not how all promotional rates work. Some are worse: I once got a free month of internet on my phone (Alltel), only to find out later that they charged me for the time between receiving the promotion and the end of the billing cycle. Only the next full month did I get the free internet.

tmweber

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> By the way, I really like this Customer Service Bill of Rights.

loquaciousmusic

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> At least Andy got through to the "Chatbot." I'm usually told that the connection was refused and that I have to try again. The few times that I have gotten through, I've been pleased and have had a better experience with them than Andy has. But that doesn't mean that I like Charter or anything. No, not in the least.

loquaciousmusic

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> @TedSez: I did see that, and then forgot it.

But looking back at it, I think it wasn't clear: "cancel that month" -- what does that actually mean? Saying "terminate my subscription" to a CSR whose language skills are sub-par might not be the best method of accomplishing your goal. And Andy didn't get clear confirmation of his request.

But you're right that he did make that statement, even if it was oddly phrased.

Antediluvian

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> Really, what's he doing trying to argue billing in a chat session anyway? Pick up the phone, already.

I had Charter for 6-7 years, and never had any issue with their service. Every time I got some sort of promo rate for new/upgraded service, they never failed to give me the terms and conditions.

And really, I'm not sure I see the point in complaining about the Rep's English comprehension. Clearly, Andy isn't completely on top of his game either.

"Rudina: The 99.77 bill is your current account. According to our database the charge of your services dated 2/28 will carry now the regular rates because your promotion will end this 2/27/"

Seems pretty clear to me, broken English or not.

DAK

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> why would a chatbot be programmed with incorrect grammar? it's true, the converstion sounds totally context-free, but there's no reason for chatbot software to have to do complex generation (that would cause the severe grammatical errors we're seeing). It looks like a non-native speaker using a dictionary for unfamiliar words (and thus getting weird translations) and simultaneously handling lots and lots of customers, so that context is totally skewed.

rachmanut

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> I had the same thing happen to me, my promotional rate was NOT over and they put me up to the regular rate. I was on the phone for 2 hours with a slew of awful CSR's. Some who could barely speak English and some who were downright rude. They told me there was nothing they could do. The only way I resolved the problem was by going in person to the local Charter Comm. Office. A helpful person there cleared up the problem in 2 minutes, of course I had to lose work time to do this. But overall it was the worst customer service I have ever had. I wish I had been able to somehow tape the conversations so everyone could hear for themselves how horrible Charter is.

rogergaudi

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> Me thinks that you were talking to a chatbot.

Front_Towards_Enemy

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> I have charter cable/internet. I signed up for a 6 month promotional package and switched to a higher price a month into the promotion. i complained, i got another promotion. That second promotion also did not last the full time.

I think there is something here.

phildeaux

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> "Lastly, someone with the name Rudina is probably not destined for customer service greatness."

Huh? I don't get it. Why not? Rudina is a perfectly legit name. This Rudina got a Harvard MBA and is a manager at microsoft. And this one plays basketball for a community college in Maryland. What's wrong with Rudina? Rudinas can do anything non-Rudinas can do, or at least they should be given the chance. I think you owe people named Rudina an apology.

rachmanut

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> I use my own router with Charter's high speed internet service and after a year I noticed a modem lease fee on my bill. I asked them to take it off because I have my own cable modem and they could see in the past bills that I have never had a modem lease fee.

Guess what, they charged me again the next month. And then they never refunded me the difference until 2 months after that. Idiots I say.

RandyRhythm

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> I think one of the most staggering things is that she even had access to passwords. That's just shoddy system design there. The password should only be known to the user. Not the CSRs. Not even the admins or the president of the freaking company. You hash that thing as soon as it comes in and store the hash. The actual password should never ever ever ever ever be stored. Ever.

Framling

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> If his billing cycle runs 28 Feb to 28 March he should be able to cancel today without paying for March, since the bill is for services that have not yet been rendered. Of course he will be hit up with the disconnect fee. Sure, that lady was no good, but why not call and talk to someone on the phone? Charter's customer service is bad, but the phone reps are (usually) more helpful than the webchat reps are.

ganzhimself

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> Since I used to work for a contractor for Charter in Fort Worth and actually got to work in their office, I can tell you this is pretty typical of the level of training they received in Customer Service. I was on the contractor dispatch side, but had to deal with these people quite frequently. You'll have some problems getting your money back because they will tell you that you should have called in to disconnect at the beginning of Feb and they would have scheduled you to be disconnected on the last day of Feb. What I would suggest is calling in to disconnect. When they get a disconnect call, they immediately transfer you to retention. Retention's job is to get you to not disconnect, so they have lots of packages and I'm sure if you hemmed and hawed enough with them, you could end up paying the same amount for another six months. Just a thought.

Addison

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> @Antediluvian:

Andy: I am not going to pay 99.77 for a month I didn't sign up for...
Andy: Can you cancel that month and terminate my subscription?
Rudina: Andy, are you aware that billing system in charter are 1 month advance?
Andy: Yes.
Rudina: Ok.

TedSez

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> But the best part of all of this is the CSR named "Rudina"! Only one I can think of that'd be better is Rudy.

Antediluvian

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> @TedSez: The customer never said he wanted to cancel or close his account. Charter was up front that they bill a month in advance, which in this case is good -- he hasn't received any service yet (still Feb here in Boston) and so should be able to cancel without owning any of March's bill. There might be other penalties or fees from the contract he entered into, but that's separate from the issue of March's higher rate.

I'd be interested in seeing a follow-up after the customer actually tries to cancel his service, rather than just saying odd things to a confused CSR.

Antediluvian

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> @thejbs: Actually, another aspect of introductory rate offers is that perhaps you actually want the service after the intro period is over, or you want the service anyway and the intro discount was bonus. In these cases there is nothing to do w/ laziness.

Antediluvian

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> His promotional rate actually hadn't run out yet. While they had already billed him at the higher rate for March, his six-month introductory period ran through February -- and he was contacting them during February.

When he saw that he was being billed for the higher rate in March, he asked the rep to cancel that month and terminate his service. She basically ignored the request, stating Charter's policy of billing a month in advance.

At that point, he should have asked for a supervisor or gone to the customer-retention department. It's possible that Charter has a policy that will allow them to refuse to revoke the March bill, but it seems as if someone there would want to offer him a new deal that would keep him as a customer.

TedSez

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> service does look pretty horrible, but I'm with ganzhimself, the thing that doesn't make sense is why the customer thought that the contract was over after 6 months. The whole point of inrto offers is to get you to sign up and then hope that you're too lazy to cancel.

thejbs

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> @ganzhimself: That was exactly my thought, ganzhimself. This is how all promotional rates work. If you do not cancel before the promotional rate expires, then you are going to be charged at the regular rate. Signing a contract for a promotional rate does not automatically cancel your service after that promo rate expires.

So what we have here is more than just a failure to communicate. We have a customer service associate who has little to no communication ability, and a customer who has a very flawed understanding of the way cable companies and their promotions work. Simply blaming this on the sucky customer service agent is not fair. The customer himself needs to make sure he understands how his service works.

I would bet money that "Rudina" was making fun of this guy with her other harpies devil spawn customer service associate friends for not knowing that a promotional period expiring does not automatically cancel service.

adamondi

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> I have had the EXACT same response from Charter Cable's Online Chat tool. (Emphasis on "Tool") Total bastardization of the English language, misinformation, and ridiculously long response times. (At one point, I was waiting 10 minutes for answers to very simple questions.) Eventually, I was told someone would call me regarding the matter. (Over-billing on cable/internet bundle) Of course, no one called. Several days later, I spent 45 minutes on the phone with customer service, only to be told that the only person who could credit my bill was "unavailable" and would have to call me back. I was promised a call within 12 hours. It's been 3 weeks. When the next bill arrives, I'm going to submit this exact argument, and let them know I will pay my bill when a live human being calls to rectify the previous over-billing.

Shizznid

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> Yeah, um, horrible customer service aside, Charter's actually right on this one. I've never met a company that just killed a service after the promotional period ended; you automatically get kicked into the regular rate plan and stay there until you cancel.

Andy should've known better.

BillyShears

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> Do you have any idea how "introductory" or "promotional" rates work? You sign up for that service at the promotional price, and if you don't cancel before the end of the specified period of time you're going to get billed at the "standard" rate. You can't just expect a company to cancel the service automatically at the end of the promotional period if it wasn't specifically outlined in the contract. For example, I have Charter (and yes, their customer support is sub par, I'm not defending them), and when my promo ended I knew that my bill was going to go up to the normal rates. They told me this when the service was installed. Next time, read the fine print. Also, they bill a month in advance, my last bill was for service from Feb 19 - March 19. You can cancel and you should only have to pay for the part of the service you used in that billing cycle, plus any cancellation/disconnect fees.

ganzhimself

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> Charter Communications has the most horrible customer service ever. They are impossible to deal with,will flat out lie to you and seem to just not want to get anything done.

EvilTapioca

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> I think that she is saying (1) his promotional rate has ended and his bill has changed to the regular rate (not charged) and (2) the program automatically renews at the regular rate after the trial period ends. He should look into his contract to see if that is correct.

Charles Star

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> @Angiol: take it to the bbb and then you'll have a nice day.

no.no.notorious

]]> <![CDATA[Charter Communications' Customer Service Is An Abject Failure]]> With line breaks:

Rudina: What is your phone number?
Andy: 1-906-XXX-XXXX
Rudina: Thank you.
Andy: Am I going to be billed any more?
Andy: Are you still there?
Rudina: You still have a current balance od 99.77.
Andy: Can that be taken off? I only signed up for 6 months and I paid for all 6 months already.
Rudina: Andy, you mean that you already paid the packages for the whole 6 months.
Andy: Yes. Sept.-Feb.
Rudina: How much you paid?
Andy: It was .91 each month.
Andy: and I paid 6 times.
Rudina: Andy, your bill is high because you are already been charge to our regular rates.
Andy: What?
Rudina: Andy, your bill is high because you are already been charge to our regular rates.
Andy: What?
Rudina: Sorry.
Rudina: It is ok because I am looking to your current account. This is for march account.
Andy: But I signed up for 6 months, paid for 6 months, and am now expected to pay 99.77 for the seventh month that I didn't sign up for?
Rudina: andy, yes you signed up and you still avialing the promotion however, your promotion will end this 2/27.
Rudina: Allyou payments are ok.
Andy: I am not going to pay 99.77 for a month I didn't sign up for...
Andy: Can you cancel that month and terminate my subscription?
Rudina: Andy, are you aware that billing system in charter are 1 month advance?
Andy: Yes.
Rudina: Ok.
Andy: What I am saying is that I was billed for March, but my contract only went to February.
Rudina: The 99.77 bill is your current account. According to our database the charge of your services dated 2/28 will carry now the regular rates because your promotion will end this 2/27/
Rudina: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Andy: I signed a contract to pay .91 for 6 months and now I am being charged for a 7th month at a rate of 99.77?
Rudina: Yes you had signed that contract. I don't that one.
Andy: What?
Rudina: I can also see all your payments made.
Andy: then why am I still expected to pay for something that I didn't sign up for?
Rudina: Your login is lisaxxxxxxx and your password is chtrxxxxx.
Rudina: Please try your login and password.
Andy: no.
Andy: my login is xxxxxxxxxx
Rudina: Sorry.
Rudina: Sorry.
Rudina: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Andy: are you kidding me?
Andy: I want that bill retracted immediately.
Rudina: I will send your current bill.
Rudina: Thank you for using Charter Communications' Chat Support. Have a great day!
[Rudina - user has closed this session]

Angiol

]]>