Upon returning home from a day of running errands, we walked into our house to finds that someone had called and left a message on our answering machine. The call turned out to be someone higher up in Charter Communications food chain. The message left for me mentioned their receipt of the Better Business Bureau written complaint that I had file on line at the BBB web site. My complaint had been approved by the BBB a couple of days ago and the BBB sent it to Charter Communications...I believe the corporate offices.
Yesterday evening this Charter Communications representative and I discussed the issues and the issues were resolved.
We will be getting our $50.00 refund and it will be applied to our next Charter Communications statement.
There was an additional issue that I discovered yesterday before talking to this Charter Communications representative.
Last week Veronica and I got up early so that we would be one of the first in line at our locale Charter office in order to turn in one type of table top box and get a different one.
We were 3rd in line and were able to get service at the counter in a very reasonable length of time once the doors opened.
When we were turning in our large box, we asked for a smaller one that had an HDMI hookup in the back of the much smaller units. We were told that they did not have any more of the smaller units but instead we could have a new DVR box "free". there was no mention that it would be free for only 12 months and then there would be a charge. The rep at the counter just said "free". The rep went into out account on her computer and switched out the equipment that we current had with this new "free" DVR. I just received my new Charter statement and lo and behold...I had been charged the usual $6.99 for my first DVR that we have had for a long time, the $19.99 DVR Service and then another $6.99 was charged for the supposedly "free" box.
I mentioned this to the Charter rep that I was talking to about the original issue. She told me that the box was "free" as far as us being charged for it for the first 12 months but after that we would incur a monthly $6.99 charge. This rep stated that we would get a credit for the $6.99 that we have paid on this extra DVR and it would be applied to our next Charter Communications statement.
This phone call conversation addressed and resolved all current issue with Charter Communications.
It is really a shame that I had to spend my valuable time trying to get Charter Communications to do the right thing...something that they could have easily handled much earlier.
Hopefully this will be our last issue dealing with Charter Communications.
I am currently looking into the possibilities of dumping Charter and going with either DirectTV and Dish. I know that DirectTV has a bundled package that includes Cable, Telephone and Internet.
I will check prices and compare those prices with services offered to what we currently have with Charter. Might keep the Charter internet service because they will be doubling up speed with no additional cost to its customers. But of course I have learned my lesson with Charter as far as "free" anything. I am sure that this doubling up of internet speed will cost us a bundle of money once the "free" runs out.
Showing posts with label Charter Communications. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charter Communications. Show all posts
Problems With Charter Communications
Recently Veronica and I have had some issues with Charter Communications. We have all of our cable, internet and telephone services through them. We currently have the top tier of their cable television offerings and are paying good money for their services. Unfortunately their services were not top tier for a 7 day period. Below is something I wrote on Charter Communications Facebook page. They really should reconsider and be fair about a refund/reimbursement issue dealing with less than stellar services that we received over a 7 day period recently. This is what was written on Charter Communications Facebook wall:
To Whom It May concern,
We are paying top price for the the top tiers of cable programming along with internet and telephone services. Recently over a 7 day period, we were having problems off and on with our cable service. It began during the transition period when we were going to this new all digital television programming. When we would turn on our television we would automatically be on channel 12. This is the channel when the Charter girl us is telling everyone how Charter Communications is improving everything for the customers benefit....going all digital and customers needing to get a new box etc. When we would go to another channel, there was a screen that told us we needed to put in our PIN. We would type in our PIN and we would be allowed to view the channel that we were trying to change to. When we wanted to change from that channel to another, we would again have to type in our PIN. This was not occurring all of the time but enough to make it aggravating and very inconvenient. It also got worse and occurred more frequently near the end of this 7 day period. So during this 7 day period we originally had 2 issues that occurred off and on...automatically getting diverted to channel 12 upon television start up and also having to type our PIN to get to another channel. During the last 2 days of this 7 day period, we started experiencing a new problem. After going through the aforementioned 2 issues and steps to watch television, we had no sound. Changing channels, after typing in our PIN, did not fix the issue. We had to turn the television and DVR off and restart everything, go through the aforementioned 2 steps and then we were able to have sound...be advised that the sound did not return all of the times after a restart be it did return more often than not. I waited a day to see if the sound issue would completely clear up. After it did not completely clear up, it was time for me to call Charter and see if they could help fix the issues we were having. After completely explaining what issues we were having, tech support was able to fix all of our issues. I told tech support that this these issues had been going occurring off and on over a previous 7 day period and that we were paying top dollar for the highest level of cable services provided on that date and that I felt that we should be reimbursed a portion of our cable bill for the time and inconvenience that these issues had been occurring. I was then transferred to the billing department and spoke to a young man. After completely explaining the situation, this Charter representative stated that he would calculate how much he would be able to reimburse us for the week that these issues were occurring in. I was told that he would be requesting a $50 reimbursement from my next bill. This Charter Representative stated that because the $50
reimbursement was the highest level reimbursement that he was allowed to give, that he would have to send up the $50 reimbursement request to a supervisor for his/her approval. The Charter representative told me that he has never had a supervisor reject any of his request, because he always had the proper documentation in order to get the request approved and that his request for my reimbursement was no different from requests that he had previously submitted. I was told that if for any reason his request...my reimbursement...was denied that I would be notified. This Charter representative was very confident that they would be no issues regarding my reimbursement. With the cable and sound issues finally being completely resolved and knowing that I would most likely be receiving a fair and equitable reimbursement due to the aforementioned issues, I stayed on the line and completed the telephone survey giving all involved with these issue high marks.
This morning I received my monthly Charter Communications statement that contained my bill for the services that Charter Communications is providing me. Based on the total of this bill, it was obvious that I had not received my refund for the 1 weeks worth of cable related problems. I proceeded to call the Charter Communications Billing Department. After explaining the situation, I was put on hold for a brief period of time so that the representative could review the notes in my account. Upon returning, this Charter Communications representative told me that the refund /reimbursement request had been denied because I did not immediately call Charter Communications as soon as the issue started. I told this Charter Communications representative the same thing that I had told all of the other representatives involved in this situation...I figured that the on and off issues that were occurring over this 7 day period were due to the transitioning to the all new digital cable services that we were getting. I also told each representative that I spoke to that the issues progressively got worse and occurred more frequently towards the end of that 7 day period. It was when the sound issues continued past a 24 hour period, that I made the call to get these issues fixed. We have been paying top tier dollars for Charter Communications top tier services packages. During that 7 day period we did not receive those top tier services that we had paid that top tier dollar for. I am calling out Charter Communications to please review the notes in my account in reference to the issues described above and for Charter Communications to do the right thing...refund me the amount that
the billing personnel felt that I deserved and apply that amount to my Charter Communications bill.
If you would like to contact me, please send me a private message(PM) from my Facebook homepage.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Rick Rosenshein
To Whom It May concern,
We are paying top price for the the top tiers of cable programming along with internet and telephone services. Recently over a 7 day period, we were having problems off and on with our cable service. It began during the transition period when we were going to this new all digital television programming. When we would turn on our television we would automatically be on channel 12. This is the channel when the Charter girl us is telling everyone how Charter Communications is improving everything for the customers benefit....going all digital and customers needing to get a new box etc. When we would go to another channel, there was a screen that told us we needed to put in our PIN. We would type in our PIN and we would be allowed to view the channel that we were trying to change to. When we wanted to change from that channel to another, we would again have to type in our PIN. This was not occurring all of the time but enough to make it aggravating and very inconvenient. It also got worse and occurred more frequently near the end of this 7 day period. So during this 7 day period we originally had 2 issues that occurred off and on...automatically getting diverted to channel 12 upon television start up and also having to type our PIN to get to another channel. During the last 2 days of this 7 day period, we started experiencing a new problem. After going through the aforementioned 2 issues and steps to watch television, we had no sound. Changing channels, after typing in our PIN, did not fix the issue. We had to turn the television and DVR off and restart everything, go through the aforementioned 2 steps and then we were able to have sound...be advised that the sound did not return all of the times after a restart be it did return more often than not. I waited a day to see if the sound issue would completely clear up. After it did not completely clear up, it was time for me to call Charter and see if they could help fix the issues we were having. After completely explaining what issues we were having, tech support was able to fix all of our issues. I told tech support that this these issues had been going occurring off and on over a previous 7 day period and that we were paying top dollar for the highest level of cable services provided on that date and that I felt that we should be reimbursed a portion of our cable bill for the time and inconvenience that these issues had been occurring. I was then transferred to the billing department and spoke to a young man. After completely explaining the situation, this Charter representative stated that he would calculate how much he would be able to reimburse us for the week that these issues were occurring in. I was told that he would be requesting a $50 reimbursement from my next bill. This Charter Representative stated that because the $50
reimbursement was the highest level reimbursement that he was allowed to give, that he would have to send up the $50 reimbursement request to a supervisor for his/her approval. The Charter representative told me that he has never had a supervisor reject any of his request, because he always had the proper documentation in order to get the request approved and that his request for my reimbursement was no different from requests that he had previously submitted. I was told that if for any reason his request...my reimbursement...was denied that I would be notified. This Charter representative was very confident that they would be no issues regarding my reimbursement. With the cable and sound issues finally being completely resolved and knowing that I would most likely be receiving a fair and equitable reimbursement due to the aforementioned issues, I stayed on the line and completed the telephone survey giving all involved with these issue high marks.
This morning I received my monthly Charter Communications statement that contained my bill for the services that Charter Communications is providing me. Based on the total of this bill, it was obvious that I had not received my refund for the 1 weeks worth of cable related problems. I proceeded to call the Charter Communications Billing Department. After explaining the situation, I was put on hold for a brief period of time so that the representative could review the notes in my account. Upon returning, this Charter Communications representative told me that the refund /reimbursement request had been denied because I did not immediately call Charter Communications as soon as the issue started. I told this Charter Communications representative the same thing that I had told all of the other representatives involved in this situation...I figured that the on and off issues that were occurring over this 7 day period were due to the transitioning to the all new digital cable services that we were getting. I also told each representative that I spoke to that the issues progressively got worse and occurred more frequently towards the end of that 7 day period. It was when the sound issues continued past a 24 hour period, that I made the call to get these issues fixed. We have been paying top tier dollars for Charter Communications top tier services packages. During that 7 day period we did not receive those top tier services that we had paid that top tier dollar for. I am calling out Charter Communications to please review the notes in my account in reference to the issues described above and for Charter Communications to do the right thing...refund me the amount that
the billing personnel felt that I deserved and apply that amount to my Charter Communications bill.
If you would like to contact me, please send me a private message(PM) from my Facebook homepage.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Rick Rosenshein
Reliable Telephone Service Has Been Restored
Yesterday we had a technician from Charter Communications come in and fix our telephone service.
He spent approximately 2 hours in our residence and had to reconfigure what we had in place at that time.
After moving some splitters and a few other things to a different locations, we were back up and running on our telephone service.
It appears that what this tech did ended up fixing our problem. Once again I would like to thank Abby Catron - Social Media Communications Specialist from Town & Country, MO 63017 for all of her attention to our Charter Communication technical issues and for her kindness. Thanks Abby!
He spent approximately 2 hours in our residence and had to reconfigure what we had in place at that time.
After moving some splitters and a few other things to a different locations, we were back up and running on our telephone service.
It appears that what this tech did ended up fixing our problem. Once again I would like to thank Abby Catron - Social Media Communications Specialist from Town & Country, MO 63017 for all of her attention to our Charter Communication technical issues and for her kindness. Thanks Abby!
Another Followup On Charter Communications Service
On 4/3, I made a blog entry that covered several thoughts. One of them being the problems that were we having with our Charter Internet Service.
A representative from Charter Communications, an Abby Catron - Social Media Communications Specialist from Town & Country, MO 63017 wrote me because she had seen my blog entry.
On a followup email to Abby, I explained a few issues and thoughts that I had concerning Charter Communications.
Abby was kind enough to email me back and gave me a credit for a months worth of internet service to make up for the problems with the internet service that we had experienced.
I wanted to publicly Thank Abby for taking the time to write me and make things right.
Unfortunately it seems that the steps that Charter Communications took forward, well today they took twice as many backwards.
It was already a tough day to begin with...**see earlier blog entry just prior to this one.
After receiving the results from an MRI that I had done, I was pretty well tied up trying to make contact with several medical professionals to discuss the results of that MRI and also to figure out a game plan on what to do next and also make several appointments.
A lot of these calls were long distance, not that this makes much difference in what happened.
Several times while trying to make these calls, I could not get a dial tone on any of the home phones.
After checking off and on during the day, we discovered that our phone service would intermittently shut down.
I was actually in the middle of discussing the MRI results with my Oncologists nurse only to be talking to myself because the phone service shut down.
Over the period of several hours during this already hectic and stressful day, both Veronica and I would check our house phone and noticed that our phone calls were getting redirected to our telephone service mailbox....aka voicemail.
We couldn't get those messages by the usual way....using our home phones because our phone service was out.
We then tried to access our telephone mailbox using our cell phones but we didn't know the access code. We had never needed to access our telephone mailbox with actually using our home phone so we didn't really know what our code was.
Now try to imagine getting some really potentially bad medical results and trying to juggle 3-4 different medical entities while trying to take care of this business on a telephone that worked for 30 seconds and then didn't for minutes at a time. Now add in the fact that we couldn't access our telephone mailbox and then throw in a dash of getting cut of in the middle of a medical discussion after finally being able to get through to someone on our home phone.
Needless to say, I was at wits end and really did not need this added aggravation on top of what was already a tough day.
I ended up calling up a Charter Service personal and told him about the problem.
He ran a few tests and then had me unplug our phone modem, wait a few seconds and plug it back it.
After the modem went through its upload cycle, it appeared to be working. It did not work for long and has been going on and off for several hours since I spoke to that tech...as a matter of fact, it is still down as I write.
The tech that I spoke to said that there was something wrong with our line connection and not getting the right "power"..I think that is the word he used but not positive.
Either way, tomorrow afternoon I have a Charter service personnel arriving to make some type of adjustments so that our telephone will work properly.
Until then I guess I can sit and watch the green "telephone 1" light on my modem box go one and off and dream of possibly better days to come.
One last thing I would like to mention...our contract with Charter Communications ended about a month ago. Silly me...I ended up signing up for a 2 year bundle plan so that I could lock in our payments at a specific rate just in case Charter Communications increased them during that 2 year contract period and because it was cheaper to do a long term plan compared to a short term deal.
And what is worse is that if I back out of the contract, I get penalized a pro rated amount for each month left on that 2 year contract.
I hope that you readers will excuse me now...besides having to try to regroup from today's stressful issues, I now also need to go into the bathroom and remove the lettering from my forehead that spells out "stupid".
A representative from Charter Communications, an Abby Catron - Social Media Communications Specialist from Town & Country, MO 63017 wrote me because she had seen my blog entry.
On a followup email to Abby, I explained a few issues and thoughts that I had concerning Charter Communications.
Abby was kind enough to email me back and gave me a credit for a months worth of internet service to make up for the problems with the internet service that we had experienced.
I wanted to publicly Thank Abby for taking the time to write me and make things right.
Unfortunately it seems that the steps that Charter Communications took forward, well today they took twice as many backwards.
It was already a tough day to begin with...**see earlier blog entry just prior to this one.
After receiving the results from an MRI that I had done, I was pretty well tied up trying to make contact with several medical professionals to discuss the results of that MRI and also to figure out a game plan on what to do next and also make several appointments.
A lot of these calls were long distance, not that this makes much difference in what happened.
Several times while trying to make these calls, I could not get a dial tone on any of the home phones.
After checking off and on during the day, we discovered that our phone service would intermittently shut down.
I was actually in the middle of discussing the MRI results with my Oncologists nurse only to be talking to myself because the phone service shut down.
Over the period of several hours during this already hectic and stressful day, both Veronica and I would check our house phone and noticed that our phone calls were getting redirected to our telephone service mailbox....aka voicemail.
We couldn't get those messages by the usual way....using our home phones because our phone service was out.
We then tried to access our telephone mailbox using our cell phones but we didn't know the access code. We had never needed to access our telephone mailbox with actually using our home phone so we didn't really know what our code was.
Now try to imagine getting some really potentially bad medical results and trying to juggle 3-4 different medical entities while trying to take care of this business on a telephone that worked for 30 seconds and then didn't for minutes at a time. Now add in the fact that we couldn't access our telephone mailbox and then throw in a dash of getting cut of in the middle of a medical discussion after finally being able to get through to someone on our home phone.
Needless to say, I was at wits end and really did not need this added aggravation on top of what was already a tough day.
I ended up calling up a Charter Service personal and told him about the problem.
He ran a few tests and then had me unplug our phone modem, wait a few seconds and plug it back it.
After the modem went through its upload cycle, it appeared to be working. It did not work for long and has been going on and off for several hours since I spoke to that tech...as a matter of fact, it is still down as I write.
The tech that I spoke to said that there was something wrong with our line connection and not getting the right "power"..I think that is the word he used but not positive.
Either way, tomorrow afternoon I have a Charter service personnel arriving to make some type of adjustments so that our telephone will work properly.
Until then I guess I can sit and watch the green "telephone 1" light on my modem box go one and off and dream of possibly better days to come.
One last thing I would like to mention...our contract with Charter Communications ended about a month ago. Silly me...I ended up signing up for a 2 year bundle plan so that I could lock in our payments at a specific rate just in case Charter Communications increased them during that 2 year contract period and because it was cheaper to do a long term plan compared to a short term deal.
And what is worse is that if I back out of the contract, I get penalized a pro rated amount for each month left on that 2 year contract.
I hope that you readers will excuse me now...besides having to try to regroup from today's stressful issues, I now also need to go into the bathroom and remove the lettering from my forehead that spells out "stupid".
Followup to a Followup Blog Entry
It has been a couple of days since I wrote my last followup blog entry about my dealings with Charter Communications.
I appreciate the fact that all of my initial service setup and installation issues were resolved in a professional and high quality manner.
Unfortunately, the customer care, service and treatment that I received, was after the multiple problems had already occurred. The customer care, service and treatment after the multiple problems occurred, should have been the customer care, service and treament that I and all customers should receive from our very initial contact with this company.
Until Charter Communications takes a good hard look at how some of their customers are treated, from their initial contact through installation of services and beyond , and make some serious changes, they will never being to compete with companies such as Cox Cable and Verizon.
I appreciate the fact that all of my initial service setup and installation issues were resolved in a professional and high quality manner.
Unfortunately, the customer care, service and treatment that I received, was after the multiple problems had already occurred. The customer care, service and treatment after the multiple problems occurred, should have been the customer care, service and treament that I and all customers should receive from our very initial contact with this company.
Until Charter Communications takes a good hard look at how some of their customers are treated, from their initial contact through installation of services and beyond , and make some serious changes, they will never being to compete with companies such as Cox Cable and Verizon.
The Power Of The Internet
Shortly after I wrote and posted my last blog entry, I received a comment from an Eric Ketzer. You can view the posted comment by clicking the comments link on my previous blog entry.
As it turns out, Mr. Ketzer is the Social Media Communications Manager for Charter Communications.
To be honest with you...I was really floored to have had someone locate my blog entry and then take the time to leave a comment and write me, requesting information to help solve a problematic issue.
Mr. Ketzer also sent me an email requesting information about my address, the order number and information that applied to my installation.
A short while later, I received a telephone call from another Charter representative named Antoine. We ended up on a 4 way conference call with myself, Antoine, Brad(the local installation supervisor) and I believe it was someone from billing.
After discussing the situation, it was agreed that Brad and/or another Quality Assurance Technician would be at my home this morning at 9AM.
Brad assured me that they would make everything right for me, on the installation aspect of things.
The individual, from what I think was billing, told me that Charter Communications would compensate me for our troubles by giving us a free month of total service and there would be no charge for the installation.
After the telephone call ended, I felt much better that we were heading in the right direction of getting this matter settled.
Brad along with the Quality Assurance Technician arrived here at 9 AM sharp and they went through the complete installation process for all of our services...cable, telephone and internet. They checked whatever work that had been previously done by the last technician, discussed options with me and made all of the appropriate changes so that I would get the maximum level of quality for each service that I ordered.
These 2 gentlemen were highly qualified, very knowledgeable and made me feel very comfortable with everything that they did and all of the services that they provided me.
I want to publicly thank Charter Communications, Mr. Eric Ketzer, Antoine, the person from billing whom I spoke to on the telephone, Brad the local Installation Supervisor, the QA technician whose name escapes me....sorry...chalk it up to old age...and another young lady by the name of April, for helping turn this negative situation into a very acceptable and positive outcome.
I thank you all.
Now I can finally make full use of our new Samsung television...life is good and so are the Kansas Jayhawk basketball team... especially in HD...Rock Chalk Jayhawk...Beak'm Hawks!!!!
As it turns out, Mr. Ketzer is the Social Media Communications Manager for Charter Communications.
To be honest with you...I was really floored to have had someone locate my blog entry and then take the time to leave a comment and write me, requesting information to help solve a problematic issue.
Mr. Ketzer also sent me an email requesting information about my address, the order number and information that applied to my installation.
A short while later, I received a telephone call from another Charter representative named Antoine. We ended up on a 4 way conference call with myself, Antoine, Brad(the local installation supervisor) and I believe it was someone from billing.
After discussing the situation, it was agreed that Brad and/or another Quality Assurance Technician would be at my home this morning at 9AM.
Brad assured me that they would make everything right for me, on the installation aspect of things.
The individual, from what I think was billing, told me that Charter Communications would compensate me for our troubles by giving us a free month of total service and there would be no charge for the installation.
After the telephone call ended, I felt much better that we were heading in the right direction of getting this matter settled.
Brad along with the Quality Assurance Technician arrived here at 9 AM sharp and they went through the complete installation process for all of our services...cable, telephone and internet. They checked whatever work that had been previously done by the last technician, discussed options with me and made all of the appropriate changes so that I would get the maximum level of quality for each service that I ordered.
These 2 gentlemen were highly qualified, very knowledgeable and made me feel very comfortable with everything that they did and all of the services that they provided me.
I want to publicly thank Charter Communications, Mr. Eric Ketzer, Antoine, the person from billing whom I spoke to on the telephone, Brad the local Installation Supervisor, the QA technician whose name escapes me....sorry...chalk it up to old age...and another young lady by the name of April, for helping turn this negative situation into a very acceptable and positive outcome.
I thank you all.
Now I can finally make full use of our new Samsung television...life is good and so are the Kansas Jayhawk basketball team... especially in HD...Rock Chalk Jayhawk...Beak'm Hawks!!!!
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