Charter Communications Shenanigans

I am sending the following letter to Charter Communications due to continued problems. 

I took out my address, although, I'm sure if you really wanted to know, you could find it.

Katie Grimes Rotton

XXXX My Street

Montgomery, AL  36117

Acct # ___________________

Security Code _____________

January 15, 2013

Charter Communications

941 Charter Commons Dr.

Town & Country, MO  63017

ATTN:  CCA – Charter Phone

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is in reference to the service at the above address being interrupted and completely out for several weeks, now.  The original call was on Sunday, December 9^th, when first noticing the phone didn’t have a dial tone.  I am not sure how long it had been out but it hadn’t been over a day or so at that time.  We had just not used it yet, that day, until I noticed it was out. 

Anyway, after spending close to an hour on the phone with someone who walked me through unplugging and plugging back things, she finally said she was going to have to schedule someone to come out.  I told her that I work during the day and the only day I would have was the following Friday (the 14^th) available for anyone to come out because I was already off that day due to prior plans.  Due to THOSE plans, I could only hang out at home in the morning that day, so she scheduled someone to come Friday, Dec. 14^th between 8-10 AM.  After she scheduled that, I also told her how the cable had never been buried since June, either, because I was told originally that someone COULD come on a Saturday and was told they would have it done either the first or second Saturday after installing services.  No one ever called or showed up to bury cable and I had already called about it once earlier when I was having another issue.  I was told again that someone could come out on a Saturday.  She also had me sign up for some kind of service insurance or something even though I told her no one had touched the inside wiring and there shouldn’t be anything wrong with it.  So, I ended up adding more stuff to my already expensive bill for a service that isn’t working.

After my call on Sunday, Dec. 9^th, I received a call early the next morning from a worker who was at my door saying no one was there to let them in the house.  I told them no one was supposed to be there and that they weren’t supposed to come until Friday.  He asked, “Did I want to reschedule?” I didn’t WANT to reschedule….it was already scheduled for Friday, not Monday.  So he had someone else call me and stay on the phone while I was at work, being pretty snippy with me because they acted like it was my fault for the rescheduling.   Then, as I’m going over everything with new person on phone, she says there was never a work order put in for the cable (EVER) and it wasn’t scheduled on a weekend and they couldn’t do it on a weekend.  I had never been told that previously and I went through the WHOLE story again.       I finally had to tell person that I had to hang up now, because I had people waiting in front of me.  I asked her to do what she could.  That next weekend, someone DID come to bury the cable.  I was very surprised and they got it down pretty quickly.  So, I had been checking the phone & internet all week and it would work one time and then go out again.  So, on Thursday night (the night prior to scheduled visit), I checked the phone and it worked.  Again, Friday morning, it worked so I went ahead and canceled the work order because I didn’t want to get charged for a visit if everything was working.  Well, of course, after canceling, the phone and everything went out again later and hasn’t been back on since. 

Now, though, it isn’t just the phone and internet that isn’t working.  Now, the DVR/cable in one room is not working at all.  We can pick up just a few basic channels but the rest is either “unavailable at this moment” or the signal isn’t coming through and the channel is scrambled.  There is only a handful of lower channels that aren’t scrambled.  THIS has been going on for almost over 3 weeks, but again, I can NOT be there for anyone to come inside, nor do I have someone who can take time out of their day to come sit at my house.  It really seems as if Charter would be able to do something about all of the above listed issues, from outside the home or at cable boxes or from your office.  You are able to do SO much stuff and are “the best” this and that (according to your advertisements) but if you can’t fix an issue without coming inside someone’s home.  That is really a shame.  It is extremely inconvenient and even impossible most of the time for some people to take off work to deal with these issues.  Furthermore, there isn’t a thing that could have touched ANY of the plugs or outlets, inside or out, so if everything was working for a few months, nothing should need to be changed just “because” unless that is the only way to correct problem. 

I was sent a bill and went ahead and paid it so there wouldn’t be any issues concerning payment.  However, I am very unhappy that I am being charged for service that is not working. 

Phone – Hasn’t worked since December 9, 2012  (except for the night prior to & the morning of  the scheduled work visit but was back out before end of that day). 

Internet—Same as phone. 

Cable TV—The main DVR in the Living Room has the time on it but that TV isn’t working right now so I can’t check the signal strength.  However, the 2^nd DVR in another bedroom is completely out and has been for almost 2 weeks.  There are only a few channels that work w/o being scrambled.  ZERO premium channels are working and I have been charged for all of this. 

It would be more than appropriate to be credited for this service that hasn’t been working, from December 9, 2012 – January 16,  2013 at a minimum.  Any days after the 16^th that it is not working properly, will be documented and should be credited, as well.  This should be reflected on my online, as well as paper billing.  It would also be in everyone’s best interest if this service was fixed promptly so as to prevent further monthly fees from being credited to my account due to nonworking services.  If the above account is not promptly credited and the problem remedied, further action will be necessary to resolve this disappointing issue.   Further action may involve, but is not limited to dropping Charter service due to Charter not fulfilling its agreement and the continued bad service and repetitive need to troubleshoot and call for tech support; publishing this and future letters on complaint boards, Facebook, Twitter (I manage 4 accounts now & about to add 4 more), blog, and other Social Media venues; informing investors of these and other known consistent problems; and other actions to be determined by customer.   

Furthermore, it has come to my attention that this could be “the norm” with Charter.  I wish I had known about a website solely devoted to the disappointing service of Charter.  Charter customers all over the United States have voiced their frustrations concerning Charter and I plan to voice mine, as well, and will start promoting this website so that others can do the same.  What an embarrassment to your company to have a website created just because Charter can’t perform its services as stated in the advertisements and by the sales representatives.  There are also local venues to voice complaints about issues such as these and if the problem persists with my service and is not resolved quickly, I plan to make it known so hopefully, I can save someone else the frustrations of dealing with Charter Communications.

Sincerely,

Katie G. Rotton

334-XXX-XXXX  (This is the house number provided by Charter that is NOT working.)

334-XXX-XXXX (cell, may leave message)

Cc:  Charter Communications, Montgomery Office, 5990 Monticello Dr, 36117

        General Inquiry Office, 12405 Powerscourt Dr., St. Louis, MO  63131

        Robin Gutzler, Charter Investor Inquiries

        Anita Lamont, Communications and Media Relations

        John Miller, Communications and Media Relations