Complaint Review: Advance/Newhouse Communications Inc.

I am currently working for this company. I am at the point of not caring if I get fired. In fact, if I do get fired, I would feel more compelled to take action against them.

If you have cable and you live in the Bay Area, you may have experienced more than enough price hikes. Unfortunately, the employees at Bright House Networks have yet to realize the rewards of all the money the company rakes in.

The money earned from price increases do not go towards a nice bonus or even a decent wage raise. No, it goes towards useless upgrades on an unfit work environment and towards a new building that was supposed to be completed years ago by the previous GM. Oh, and they bring us food... ALL THE TIME. As if that compensates for not making any money.

The building is infested with bugs, roaches, refridgerators filled with rotten food and the bathrooms are always out of paper towels or toilet paper. I have sat on chairs in the lunch room only to have them collapse under me. I am not a heavy person where this would be my fault. Everyone in the building constantly sneezes from all the dust in the air ducts and the cold air causes people to become ill several times per year.

I have moved through three deparments at Bright House. Every move I made meant a decrease in pay. That's right, they do not let you keep your pay grade and in a way punnish you for escaping the misery in your current department. One woman who has worked at the company for 12 years after her raise this past december now makes $9.75.

I was being harrassed by my lead in customer service so I moved to the credit department where I was racially discriminated against and I then moved to business operations where I was harrassed for being on FMLA, for which Human Resources did nothing. I then applied for two other positions to try and escape and my manager had a hand in making sure I was not chosen. She has done this to several other people.

We have in previous years received two pathetic bonuses per year. One in June and the other in December. So far, we have not received one and June is just about over. When questioned, administration said they "didn't know". There is however a huge company picnic planned for September. Perhaps that is where our bonuses went.

The amount of overtime being worked by the lesser paid employees is bordering on cruel. In business operations for example, the data entry personnel typically work from 8 in the morning until 9 or later at night for several nights every week. This has been going on for over a year since they implemented an inefficient computer system. Management has yet to give them any sign of hope that this might end. Customer service is frequently under mandatory overtime which can fluctuate anywhere from no lunch to 4 hours.

My statement to you is that if you use the cable services provided by Bright House Networks, you are in a way contributing to this mistreatment. Perhaps if they received more phone calls or if people were to cancel their services on the grounds of not wanting to endorse such a mismanaged company, they might change their ways.

Oh, and if you get someone that doesn't know how to help you, don't be surprised. They have not even a month long training program and they don't train them correctly.

Concerned
Tampa, Florida
U.S.A.