I got home last night after work only to discover that, quite unbelievably, Charter had turned off my internet AGAIN. I still can't quite believe it. To add insult to injury, I tried to call them but their 1-800 number was busy. For half an hour.
I'm going to reiterate everything that's happened with me and Charter in this post so I have it all neatly in writing somewhere. That way, if I do blow them up, no jury will convict me. I'm also going to ask all of you who read this to link to it. You know I never ask for links, but I'm asking now. I want this to get around. I want this article to be on the front page of a google search for Charter Communications. I am beyond anger and into a sort of deep, shaking, silent rage.
At some point during the first week of August, Charter turned my internet off. I called them the morning of August 3 to straighten this out. They claimed that my internet had been turned off because I had not paid my bill since May, when I moved. In actual fact, they had been siphoning $55 out of my bank account each month. When I pointed this out, they at first accused me of getting internet at two houses and then said, well, alright, we screwed up and we'll credit your account at the new house with all the money that we have removed. So that was an hour on the phone and some screaming and one would have thought, well, perils of modern life and all that, right, but it's over.
Wrong. It was not over. Charter would proceed to turn my internet off again for the same reason on Sunday, August 5: another hour long phone call, same resolution.
And again on Friday, August 10: another hour long phone call with bonus screaming which took place on Sunday, August 12 and ended up with them -
Turning it off again an hour later. On Monday, August 13 I called again and spoke for, yeah, about an hour, with a supervisor named Monica who assured me over and over that it was all taken care of now.
And it was until last night, when they turned it off again and I am even now summoning up my courage to call the assholes again. Even though what I need to do, clearly, is go down to their offices with a lawyer and sue the fuck out of them. We're going into 5 hours of phone and you know what? I charge. I charge $50 an hour (yeah, shut up. If I was a serious graphic designer I totally would.) and I figure at this point that Charter owes me $250 in lost time and an additional $250 pain and suffering. Or possibly more. And I am angry. Did I mention I was angry?
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Linkies! And you should totally send this to The Consumerist. They usually get favorable resolutions. Really, you'd think the person you talked to on the phone could actually type a note into the computer, attach it to your file, and that way, the next person you talked to wouldn't have to question you again. They did the same thing to me when I moved. But then I canceled my cable and kept my internet but they forgot to turn off my cable, so I forgave them. Free cable goes a long way.
If it were me?
I'd demand a month or so of FREE SERVICE for the hell they have put you through. (I got a free month out of Embarq when they messed us over when we moved. All I hadda do was ask.)
Well, I sent an email to their CEO and an email to the Consumerist and I spoke with yet another supervisor - Cynthia, this time - and now we'll see if anything happens. I'm totally asking for at least 2 weeks of free service - I mean, this whole thing has been totally insane and they OWE me.
A similar situation happened to us with AT&T. It was horrible! We almost couldn't buy a house because AT&T claimed we owed them $10,000!!! Which we didn't.
So sorry you're dealing with this shite.
If you're really lucky, they'll send you a card.
Hi, it's Danielle from DL & we spoke briefly Thursday night.
In a former life, I handled executive complaints for a large telecommunications company. Now if I have a customer service issue that isn't resolved in a reasonable amount of time, I contact the CEO's office. This has even worked for me with Charter.
Contact the corporate office & tell them that you want to file an executive complaint...
Corporate Communications
12405 Powerscourt Drive
St. Louis, MO 63131
Phone: (314) 965-0555
President, CEO, and Director: Neil Smit
If this doesn't work, then go to the NC Justice Dept.
Good luck!
Hey y'all, thanks to your help, it seems to be resolved! I sent an email to the Charter CEO and my boss, who knows someone at Charter, sent the same email to them and lo, about three hours later I got a phone call from a very nice, very apologetic guy named Andre, who gave me his own phone number, swore up and down that this would never, ever happen again, and so far? I am posting this from home on a Saturday night! Yay! Go straight to the CEO, boys and girls - that works!
Actually you should go down to their office and I would get an invoice together and hand them a bill for your time. I had round after round with them one time and told them I was going to bill them for my time and threatened to deduct it from their bill and you should too!!
I am having a similar experience with Peak Fitness--formerly "Spa Fitness" near Earthfare. I will write an entire post on that this week. They are crooks. Don't join!!!
Back to Charter: It's amazing they function at all. I think they spend most of their time & energy sending out advertisements; almost every day in the mail you get an announcement of a special deal. Then they terrorize elderly senile people on the telephone. My poor old mom, who's 96 & was doing fine living alone, until Charter started to undermine her sanity. She complained that every day the "same voice" called her (a machine) and told her she had to buy something from them. I told her "just hang up, you're speaking to a recording." But the new technology is beyond her and she was fearful if she hung up they were going to take her TV away. So I called the Charter & threatened to charge them with harrassment unless they removed my mother's number from their list. This is what they said: "Yes, it will take a few days, but that means she won't get any more opportunities for sales either in the mail or on the phone." Duh! No kidding!!!
The best part though is when my mom moved from one apt. in the bldg. to another. After many conversations with Charter about this, the day she moved in, there was no service. The super in the bldg. came up & just plugged the TV in and it worked! My mom got free cable for over a year!!! (Shhhh) Of course she lived in fear they'd find out. And one day, they discovered it but never figured out what happened.
I could go on with Charter stories and fill up this whole blog. I have my own, but it is too lengthy for right now. My present vendetta is with Peak Fitness!
I agree that Laundry Girl should go down to their office in S. Asheville in person and hand them a bill. Or send it by registered mail to the CEO.
I encourage anyone with Charter complaints to notify the commissioners responsible for giving Charter their contract in WNC.
I've never had poorer service than I have from Charter Communications and I've never heard more complaints about a cable company.
I'm not discouraging contacting Charter -- please do! I did via a letter to the CEO, COO, board chair, & copies to all of the Buncombe County commissioners.
The people who have the power to yank Charter's contract when it comes time to renew can be found here -- they need to hear from all of us:
http://www.buncombecounty.org/GOVERNING/commissioners/default.asp
or
http://snipurl.com/1pzz2
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