Complaint Review: Charter Communications

Living in a small town does not offer many service providers for phone, internet, and cable. So, I was "happy" to think that I could go through Charter Communications and "bundle" 3 bills together for just $62.00 a month. I called to get my service connected in September of 2008. I was first told by the costumer service rep. that I was speaking to that I needed $70.00 on hand to pay the tech. worker after he completed my service. So, the appointment day came around, I had the money ready, I even went as far to have a friend pick my kids' up from school for me so I wouldn't miss my appointment with Charter. The tech guy comes out and surveys my line and says that he can't hook it up because the tree limbs are growing over the wires and he's not in his work truck. So, he calls his local office to reschedule the appointment. I call my husband home from work early to trim the tree. Charter calls me back to confirm my next scheduled appointment and says to have my fee of $30.00 ready. I told them that I was told by the first representative that it was $70.00, they said that it was incorrect, but they would put it down in the computer and I wouldn't have a first month's bill. Well, my next appointment day came around and again, I had to make arrangements so I could make sure all four of my kids' would be picked up from school. The tech hooked up everything, but it wasn't working correctly. So, I call the costumer service line and they asked if it was the same guy that came out the first time. I said, "No." So, they arranged yet another appointment and it was the guy that was first there. He said he had to call another tech with the Charter work truck because the last guy had ran the cable wrong and cross-wired. They had to proceed to call my electric company to come out to my house and fix the problem. The tech. said that he would have to call his supervisor to schedule another appointment for me so I could get my phone service hooked up next. Well, here we go for another appointment. I call the costumer service hotline to confirm that I wanted to keep the same telephone number. I make arrangements for the next appointment. And it's the same tech that came the first and third time. He's at my house for 3 hours trying to figure out why my phone service isn't working. He calls his supervisor and they check their records and Charter said that I had called and canceled my phone service. Which I DID NOT. So, they did a new work order over the phone and I had to call the costumer service line to verify that it's me and ended up having to get another number. So, after all that, everything was working and things went smoothly. For a while. I go online to register an online account and I noticed that I have my first bill in on the time that they said I would. Since I already had paid over the amount, my bill was only $14.00 for maintenance fees of the equipment. But, around November of 2008, I started noticing problems with my internet. I called to schedule for yet another tech to come out and check out the problem. The tech comes and everything was working fine until a week later, Charter trucks are coming around my neighborhood asking everybody questions and checking their lines. Come to find out, somebody in my neighborhood was stealing service, but when the techs came around to check my line, that wasn't the only problem, the last guy that came out to my house to "fix" my problem had actually created a problem. So, I spoke with the workers and they said that since I've had 4 different workers come out to my house and they created so many problems since my service had been connected that they will waiver any fees towards an upcoming bill. So, imagine my surprise when I get a bill in December of 2008 stating that I owe $265.00 and that my service is getting disconnected. Well, my husband is a landscaper and he wasn't working at the time. We were living off of our savings. So, I called the costumer service line to ask them what's going on. They said that I did owe and that I could make a payment to at least keep my phone service. So, I made a payment of $63.00 online. Then, I made another payment of $65.00 online. I called them and asked them if they had waivered my bill like I was told that they would, the rep that I was talking to at the time said that he will talk to my local office. So, I called back and they said that I would have to make another payment of $40.00 and then pay $29.99 to have my service cut back on. So, I payed $89.00 over the phone and the rep. said that the rest was waivered for my troubles and that there are no more over due fees. Which there shouldn't have been in the first place. Well, two weeks ago, I get a bill in the mail for $191.00. I call and can't get an answer out of anybody, so I talk to a supervisor, they say that there isn't a payment of $63.00 on the date that I said. And I proceed to tell them that I'm looking at my bank statement right now and it shows Charter Communications. Well, I try to explain that even if there is a missing payment, there still should not be a problem with overdue fees because my bill has been waived. Apparently, they don't understand what I was talking about because they never addressed the issue. So, they give me their fax number and tell me to fax my bank statements with the payments highlighted and we'll go from there and that my service will stay connected until proven otherwise. Friday, I get another bill in from them saying that I am $365.00 behind. I called last night and the rep. that I spoke to still would not address the fact that even though there is a missing payment, my future bills should be waivered because Charter Communications techs had messed up my lines. As I was told, I would not have to pay a bill until THIS month, because of all the technical problems. I did not cause them, the techs did and I was told that since my payment is missing, I'm going to have to pay more to keep my service on. And this is not the first time that Charter Communications has done this to us. But, like I said, I live in a very small town, we don't have much to choose from. And I am all for pushing Charter out of business!

Davbra
Hohenwald, Tennessee
U.S.A.

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