Complaint Review: WOW Cable - Englewood Colorado

Hello,

I am in desperate need of your help. I am a small business based in Schaumburg who’s has been drastically affected by COVID19. That is only part of the story.

My companies The Keith Christopher Entertainment Group, Aberdeen’s Wedding Florists, and Fred Fox Studios switched tele-communication services to WOW Cable roughly two years ago. At some point and  time being a customer they stopped billing us and continued to provide us with their services. This happened for 14 months accruing a bill over $9,000.

In October of 2019 a field technician came into our offices and introduced himself and told us he was there to disconnect our services. We had no idea we were even behind. It was only then that we were informed that we owed $9,000 in past due services. We have paid our Sprint and AT&T bills and never noticed that WOW had stopped billing us. He was kind enough to ask his dispatcher to reassign him to make our company his last call of the day in an effort to allow me to call WOW to find out what happened. It was only then that we discovered their mistake as we had no bills from them and as I said, they went 14 months without any phone calls, emails, etc. letting us know we were behind. There was also no interruption in service. The field technician even said he had never seen anything like this before.

Ultimately, he came back later that day and had to interrupt our services because I couldn’t get anyone with any authority on the phone to discuss this issue. During the next few days, I put together roughly $4,500 and they restored our services. During the following two months we negotiated a payment plan and by the end of December, a plan was in place to pay $1,000 per month due on the 15th of each month to cover the current bill and to chip away at the remaining balance.

We paid $950 of January 16, 2020, $1,000, on February 16, 2020, and then COVID19 hit and we paid $300 on March 16, 2020 as a good will gesture. Governor Pritzker then closed down the state to non-essential businesses and we were temporarily closed. Since then we have had to reschedule every wedding that was scheduled to happen through August of 2020 to a later date or until 2021. This has destroyed our cash flow.

I personally have moved back into my parents house at the age of 50 in an effort to lower my personal expenses in order to keep my businesses.

Two days ago while working in my office until roughly midnight, my internet services went down. I tried calling WOW but their commercial services office was closed.

The next morning I called at 7:15 in the morning and was told that I my services were interrupted for non-payment. I called Gina Gasperini who was the person I had negotiated the payment plan with. I received her voice mail. I then called again an hour later, and she texted me back saying “Keith it is out of my hands.” I asked her who I can contact, and she said to call Customer Care. She also informed me that she couldn’t talk because she was in training all day. I spent an hour on the phone with an awesome customer service person who asked every supervisor in his department how they could help me, and they all said I need to take this up with Gina Gasperini. She informed me via text message that I would need to email the Executive Response team. Her only suggestion was that I cancel my cable tv service that I have in my office which allows me to get the news in the morning and allows me some company while I am working late in the evenings and on the weekends. How this will help me get my services restored is still beyond me. She told me I would have to find the emails myself on the WOW website since I had emailed them back in October when this all started.

I sent the following email to Debra Havins Senior Director, Corporate Communications [email protected] (p) 303-927-4913, (c) 720-527-8214 as well as Lucas Binder Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations [email protected] (p) 303-927-4951 (c) 720-390-2637. I also left messages when possible as some of their voicemails are full and I am not sure if Debra even works for WOW any longer as her voice mail says she will be out of the office for vacation from November 25th through December 5th. Based on WOW using first name.last [email protected] as an email protocol, I sent the same email to Teresa Elder Chief Executive Officer and Director, Henry Hryckiewicz Chief Technology Officer, Nancy Mcgee Chief Marketing and Sales Officer, Don Schena Chief Customer Experience Officer, Bill Case Chief Information Officer, David Brunick Chief Human Resources Officer, Craig Martin General Counsel, Gina Gasperini 630-803-9667, and her boss Derek Herider.

To whom it may concern,

I am writing you today as a small business owner whose business has been drastically affected by CoVid 19.

Prior to the Governor of Illinois shutting down our company as a nonessential business, WOW Cable neglected to bill my company for 14 months and also proceeded to allow my company to run up a bill of around $9,000.00. WOW went 14 months with no service interruption of any kind. 

One day a field technician just showed up to disconnect services with no warning, email, phone call, or mailing. It took an obscene amount of phone calls and emails to get a logical payment plan set up with WOW in order to move forward.

I have been able to pay down more than ½ of the original bill and make payments each month. My past due bill is at $5,793.51 which I am unable to pay at this time because of CoVid. I have already made the personal choice to give up my home and move back in with my parents in order to save my business and keep members of my staff working and fulfill my contracts with my clients.

I have not been able to collect unemployment or get any PPP money. I have come to terms with that and I am doing everything I can to keep my business moving forward.

Last night, I was at the office until my internet services went out around 11:45 pm and then tried calling for technical help and was never able to get anyone on the phone in the commercial department. I called this morning and was told that I would need to pay the past due amount or speak with Gina Gasperini. She didn’t take my call but instead texted me to tell me that it was out of her hands and that she couldn't talk.

The most frustrating part of this entire situation is the complete lack of communication with WOW about any of this. When this first happened, no one called me to discuss anything, they just sent a field technician out. Then this time, no one called, they just interrupted services. Then when I called in, all I have heard on the hold message was about how WOW is here to help and if you need billing assistance with your phone or internet services, speak to a representative. I am asking for help for not one, but two difference situations that I didn’t personally cause and WOW doesn’t even want to speak with me. Gina told me she was in training all day and that I needed to email the Executive Response team. She wouldn’t even give me a name to email directly.

I am not asking for anything for free. I am not asking to have my bill forgiven. I am asking for a reasonable payment plan be re-established. My business supplies dj, photography, video, floral services to weddings. If you know anyone getting married or have seen the news, everyone is pushing their weddings back until the government allows them to gather in groups of 100 or more. These weddings ARE NOT BEING CANCELLED. They are simply being rescheduled which means our business is still viable, we simply don’t have the cash flow we normally do.

Is it possible to set up a payment plan of $1,000 per month until things open up again and larger number of people are allowed to gather? Our last payment was on March 16, 2020 in the amount of $300.00 as a good will gesture as that was what we could afford at the time.

Please advise asap.

Keith KoKoruz

847-774-8910

Phone # attached to my account is 773-282-8272

WOW! Account Number: 14868990

What is even more disappointing is that during my time on the WOW website, I discovered a press release dated three days ago. In the press release was this paragraph.

"In an effort to support its customers in this economically stressful time, WOW! recently renewed its commitment to the FCC Pledge to Keep Americans Connected through the end of June. Two months ago, WOW! was part of the inaugural group of cable industry leaders that agreed to not disconnect essential services for customers having financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic."

Clearly, I am not being included in this statement.

This was the response that I got this morning.

Hello Mr. KoKoruz,

Thank you for reaching out to Wow! to review your recent concerns.  We take every customer situation seriously and do our due diligence to provide the best possible solution.  Reviewing your account we see many conversations with several different teams in Wow! dating back to October 2019 regarding the status of your account.  In those conversations we have gone above and beyond to provide options to allow services to remain active.  In the final months of 2019 we made several arrangements with you and in good faith even allowed you to renegotiate them to remain active.  In addition we added Whole Business Wi-Fi services to provide your business a better experience. 

We had terms agreed on to allow your services to continue by paying $1,000 each month. This would allow you to cover the current charges and start to catch up on the past due balance that was over $5,600 at the beginning of 2020.  Since these arrangements were made in late December there have been several payments ($950 on 1/16, $1,000 on 2/16 & $300 on 3/16), but only 1 of them has covered the agreed amount of $1,000. No payments have been made since 3/16 and no additional contact has been made to wow until your account was suspended on 5/21.

At this time due to multiple payments being missed and not meeting the previously agreed upon terms we have suspended your account.  In order to restore services we would need to collect the past due balance in full of $5,793.51. If the past due balance is not paid in full by 5/28, the account will be completely disconnected in our systems.

Thank you for your time.

Leslie Brinson

ERT/Offline Supervisor

God is the Author of My Life!

This was my response.

Leslie,

It is interesting that you are so incredibly clear about how WOW “takes every customer situation seriously and do our due diligence to provide the best possible solution.” You seem to have completely neglected the fact that WOW created this problem in the first place by not billing my company nor did you interrupt our services for 14 months allowing a ridiculous bill to accrue.

 WOW never went above and beyond for anything. The payment plans that were first asked for were so ridiculous that even Gina Gasperini said she couldn’t afford them.

 WOW only added Whole Business Wi-Fi services to provide me with a business a better experience because their field technicians couldn’t figure out how the initial field technician set up our original wifi. This even took multiple field technicians multiple trips to figure out. No credit was ever given to us for any of this either.

 You are correct our first payment was $50 short and one day late. You didn’t however interrupt services. Our second payment was one day late and for the full amount however you didn’t interrupt services. Our third payment was made on March 16 in the amount of $300 as a good faith gesture which was when COVID-19 was exploding, and Governor Pritzker shut down the state of Illinois deeming my business non-essential. You still didn’t interrupt services.

 This leads me to your company statement on your website dated three days ago.

 "In an effort to support its customers in this economically stressful time, WOW! recently renewed its commitment to the FCC Pledge to Keep Americans Connected through the end of June. Two months ago, WOW! was part of the inaugural group of cable industry leaders that agreed to not disconnect essential services for customers having financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic."

Here I am clearly having financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic yet you are telling me if payment is not made in full by May 28, 2020 my services will be permanently disconnected.

The second sentence of your email to me ends with “to provide the best possible solution.” Please explain to me how not working with your existing customer regarding a problem that WOW created and instead demanding payment in 6 days during an international pandemic is the best possible solution for me as your customer or even you as service provider. Neither one of us wins if I am unable to come up with the money to pay the bill.

 Your entire email disregards the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic is happening and that my business has been deemed non-essential by the Governor of Illinois.

 I am requesting the name of someone that I can actually speak with in an effort to resolve this situation.

 Sincerely,

 Keith KoKoruz

 I am in desperate need of your help. I am not looking for a handout. I am not looking for any services for free. I am looking to set up a reasonable payment plan starting in July when the world has reopened based on WOW’s own statement about not interrupting anyone’s essential services. I am looking to have my services restored ASAP as I am unable to conduct any business even as small as it is right now. I am currently using my cell phone and the hot spot on it to get by. WOW is giving me 6 days to come up with almost $6,000 or they will permanently disconnect my services for a problem that they created in the first place.

Thank You for your time and attention to this horrific situation.

Keith KoKoruz

Small Business Owner

Cell 847-774-8910

1173 Tower Road

Schaumburg Illinois 60173

[email protected]