- Report: #557085
Complaint Review: CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS - Internet
Reported By:
Magnolialabelle -
Cleveland, Tennessee, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS
St Louis, Missouri Internet, United States of America
Phone:
Web:
www.charter.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
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CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS CHARTER STATES THEY BILL MONTHLY BUT DEMANDS PAYMENT AT 3 WEEKS OF SERVICE Internet
After comparing internet service providers in my area (the pickings are mighty slim), I chose Charter Communications as my provider. The installer came 24 December (yes, that's right, he was working on Christmas Eve) and set up my internet. On the 28 December, I received a bill from Charter Communications requesting payment for a month's services on 17 January or added late fees would be charged. (Do note that if you pay by phone, there is a $1.99 added fee so this requires you to make sure that your payment is in even earlier. I always send in my payments 7 days from time it is due so logically, I've withdrew funds with only 16 days worth of "monthly service." Of course I concede, by sending my funds 7 days early to hopefully guarantee the USPS delivers it on time to their billing offices, this is my financial problem, not theirs...)
Now, when I do my math, there were 6 days in December and 17 in January, totaling 22 days that I had Charter service. I contracted for a month's worth of service, yet Charter is clearly skimming off 8-9 days of service they did not provide in the "monthly contract."
Query: "Is Charter Communications routinely cheating new customers out of days within a contracted month on a regular basis?" If so, do the math. They are taking in millions of dollars each year without providing service they have contracted with the customer to provide.
Now, when I do my math, there were 6 days in December and 17 in January, totaling 22 days that I had Charter service. I contracted for a month's worth of service, yet Charter is clearly skimming off 8-9 days of service they did not provide in the "monthly contract."
Query: "Is Charter Communications routinely cheating new customers out of days within a contracted month on a regular basis?" If so, do the math. They are taking in millions of dollars each year without providing service they have contracted with the customer to provide.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Magnolialabelle
Cleveland,Tennessee,
United States of America
CHARTER STATES THEY BILL MONTHLY BUT DEMANDS PRE-PAYMENT WITHIN 3 WEEKS OF SERVICE
#2Author of original report
Wed, January 20, 2010
A representative of Charter stated (and I quote):
"The policy with Charter is to bill 1 month in advance."
This is not what the bill states. I'll attach a photo with my details aired out for privacy reasons.
The representative of Charter also wrote (except for the added numbers, again, I quote): "(1) The due date of that is normally 7 days before. (2)The reason we do that
is so you don't receive double bills and give you a 7 day buffer to pay
your account."
(1) If you bill me with a due date 7 days prior to my service agreement then logically this means that a new customer must sent 14 days prior to Charter's billing due date. It must reach Charter billing offices before/on the Charter billing date or incur late charges applied by your company to the account.
(2) Why would a customer receive double bills (you don't mind sending loads of promotional postal mail -- I've received at least 12 this month alone. This does not count the phone calls to upgrade and the plethora of emails)?
(2) Also you state that you give a 7-day buffer to pay your account. No! Nana! Net! Sorry but Charter does not. If the Charter bill is due 7 days prior to the contract date, this is no buffer. The word "buffer" means to protect from impact. If you buffered the billing, then you would offer 7 days after the contractual monthly agreement, not 7 days prior with penalties if not met. Charter will "impact my account" by billing me with additional fees if you do not have my funds a week prior to the contractual agreement. Again, it is simple as counting days on a calendar --> do the math!!!
Charter is not living up to their part of the contractual agreement with new customers by demanding early pre-payment for services not yet rendered.
Report Attachments
Umatter2charter
Town and Country,Missouri,
U.S.A.
Bill in Advance
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, January 20, 2010
The policy with Charter is to bill 1 month in advance.
If you were installed on the 24th of decemeber you were paying for December 24th to Jan 24th.
The due date of that is normally 7 days before. The reason we do that is so you don't receive double bills and give you a 7 day buffer to pay your account.
