Dec 04 2006

A Little Vent About Charter Communications

I use Charter Communications for both my cable TV and as my ISP. Tonight my son informed me that every channel in our lineup that isn’t available as broadcast TV had changed. He was concerned that some of the shows he had set up to record on his Tivo would not record. I assured him that Tivo would receive the lineup change and record his shows for him and proceeded to show him. Tivo hadn’t been informed.

I went to Charter’s website to get an updated lineup. It told me one wasn’t available for my address. I tried to use their online chat. It wasn’t available. I called them, went through a phone menu from hell, got put on hold for fifteen minutes than was hung up on. I sent them e-mail and got an auto-response telling me their e-mail was currently down and that I could call them 24/7 at 888-Get-Charter. I wasn’t going to wait on hold for another fifteen minutes only to get hung up on.

I get messages from Charter all the time. I get informed about them all the time on my on-screen guide. These messages tell me I can order a pay-per-view of some obscure boxer for $34.95. Do I get a message from Charter informing me this is about to happen? No.

So, I’m sitting here at home fuming over my inability to contact Charter over my TV channels being thrown all akilter and not being able to find the channels that I like to watch and wondering if my Tivo will ever get updated so it will record the obscure shows that I love so much. If there was just a channel of communication open to Charter to explain to me what is going on I wouldn’t be a bit upset over what is happening but since they won’t tell me anything I’m starting to wonder about DirectTV.

categories Rants | Larry D. Burton | 04 December 2006 |

  • By Steve, 12/5/2006 @ 10:33 am

    Unfortunately the troubles you experienced with the customer service from Charter is going to be becoming more and more prevalent as time moves forward. Charter is in the process of moving all of their support overseas. I speak from experience as I was just let go by Charter because my job is moving to the Phillipines.

    Its funny, though. If you want to purchase new service or get so angry that you want to disconnect service, then you will be talking to someone here in the states.

  • By CSP, 12/8/2006 @ 2:53 pm

    I keep experiencing the same thing. Outsourcing, though I hate it, is indeed the norm for a lot of businesses these days. But, from where I sit and with the experiences I’ve had recently, the service provided by Charter could not get a lot worse. I’ve been experiencing a problem with their WebMail product in that the address book is so slow it’s virtually - literally! - useless. It has been a problem for me for at least a month but all I can get from the company is that Charter knows it’s a problem and they are working on it. In my company, if we didn’t have a workaround, we’d be in hotwater until we got the issue fixed~! Check out your webmail account and see if you’re experiencing the same problems. charter.mail.net.

  • By Dan, 12/11/2006 @ 2:51 pm

    I actually work for one of the companies to which Charter has their customer service, sales, retention, and internet tech support departments. Just in the time that I’ve worked taking Charter calls and managing agents taking these calls, Charter’s stock price has tripled. Oh, and by the way, even though I’m an outsourcer, I’m not in the Philippines; I’m near Orlando, Florida. Just remember that there are still Americans on the other end of the phone line sometimes and we like to be treated courteously as we try to treat you.

  • By CSP, 12/13/2006 @ 9:22 pm

    I should correct myself then. I don’t particularly care about offshoring though I realize it’s now a fact of life. I’m much more receptive to outsourcing to an “on-shore” operation such as yours. Truth be told, I work in a treasury services area of a large bank and we offer outsourcing solutions to companies for payment and receipt processing!

    There’s more to the story I logged above. After Charter went for weeks telling me that they recognized the problem and was working on it, I learned today that it isn’t a problem at all. The latency in the system is due to the way the webmail address book database is constructed. It has to run through all of the names each time I select re-fresh or want some names beyond the 10 initially displayed. That doesn’t make sense. What I think happened, too, is that Charter may have been blowing me off earlier by telling me they were working on it. They apparently were not as there wasn’t a real problem, at least not to them. So, for you providing some customer service, here is an area where you might try to focus. It would have a lot to do with Credibility, I think.

    Just for grins, I created an account on GMAIL and then imported the address book from the Charter product. The new service worked without a hitch. It’s a superior product to the tune of several level. Granted, Google is a bohemouth but it also looks as if Charter may have taken the cheap road on this product. If I remember correctly, they made a switch to this version within the past year.

  • By csp, 2/14/2007 @ 5:11 pm

    Well, it’s a new year and the 2nd month into the new year at that. Charter still hasn’t fixed the email/address book issue but I’m not that surprised. I did finally get to the Chief Operations Officer and the President of Charter East and described the issue to them. The assigned one fellow who wasn’t very successful so I wrote again. The contacted me first thing this morning about moving my address book to a different server but we’ve heard that before. More to the point, are they going to leave the others out there with the same problem!

    I also wrote the folks locally about the ads appearing their webmail site. They said that was in keeping with best practices and compared it to Yahoo!, GMail and Hotmail. My response was that these were free services and I paid a subscription fee for my service! Not a very appropriate comparison as all. Stupid company thinking they have equally stupid clients. Bring on the competition!

  • By Gardenia, 3/1/2007 @ 10:42 pm

    I tell you . . . I got Charter broadband in late November, 2006 and everything fine except with Charter Mail.

    Time Outs, Post Data, and sloooow moving with loading, opening SENT, opening ADDRESSES and all of the maneuvering within. In all this time, it has worked quickly, but in spurts. Most of the time it is slow. Like tonight, I cannot even log on.

    And I tell you . . . all those ads are loading up quick and blinking mortgages and whiz-bang, but can Charter Mail load up quickly. It is excruciatingly slow.

    I send emails regularly and get the canned response. By the way, when I send the emails of complaint to them, those got right quick.

    A couple of times I kept saying ‘SPEAK AGENT’ to get a real person on the phone, and one time it started working quick when I had a real person - Yikes! One time I heard the whole shebang was being ‘upgraded’ but does it have to take over three months? Phone help is somewhere out in the Midwest when I last phoned, and they don’t have a clue.

    The worst part is no one sends me an email saying what is happening. DUH, like ‘KNOWN ISSUES’. I know it is not the connection because the broadband working fine on the Internet. It is that Charter Mail is slower than dial-up. And if I cannot get a complaint resolved through them, then I guess I will add to the other voices on the Internet. Geezanages! You would think they’d want to avoid bad publicity.

  • By paul birdie, 3/26/2007 @ 5:45 pm

    OK N00bs,. I know this is an older thread bu t i gotta throw in my 2 cents here. You don’t pay Charter for webmail,. you don’t pay charter for thier website,. you don’t pay charter to be nice or to coddle you because of you general lack of pc knowledge. You pay them for a broadband connection,. every thing else they throw in for people who are used to the sad little all in one package AOL provides. Charter mail is decent at best,. works flawless if you actually go through the 5 min process of setting up outlook express or your mail client of choice. But what no body ever told you is that only a fool relies on a non portable email account. what happens when you get tired of your ISP or move to a non charter servicable area,. thats right. you lose your email,. have to send notifications to every one,. redo you address book,. get new buisness cards,. ect.,. For free mail it doesn’t get any better than gmail or yahoo,. they are free for life and consistantly perform well. If your internet connection becomes slow, its your computer or router about 90% of the time. If you internet connection goes down reboot all of your equipment,. if that doesn’t work charter will send someone out to fix it. the end. how much more can you really ask for from a cable/telco company. There will always be better and free sites for email and home pages and whatever your into on the general internet than any service provider can offer you because thier primary business is connectivity, nothing else. get lives people. walk your dog or something.

  • By So Sick of Charter, 4/3/2007 @ 10:25 pm

    I’ve had 156 service calls to charter in 4 years. I’ve caught Marissa Wilcox (supervisor for charter escalation) in 4 lies. I have not had more than 20 days of uninterrupted service. Charter is charging me for service calls and refusing to credit my bill for errors. Marissa closed my complaint with the Better Business Bureau because she said she “Didn’t want the extra paperwork”. I reopened the case and the Better Business Bureau said Charter was being uncooperative. I’ve writtend the board of directors 8 certified letters. I did not receive a response from any of them. Charter Corporate office froze my account (after my letters were sent) and told the billing office not to credit my bills…even if they were incorrect. Marissa Wilcox will not give me another contact other than herself and she has not returned my last 16 phone calls. I’ve filed complaints with the Attorney General’s office in 3 states. I’ve filed with the Public Service Commission in 2 states. I’ve spoken to our local State Representative who agrees “Charter is a disgrace”. He told Charter’s lobbyist they would never get anything from our legislature again. However, our State Rep says we must go through our city council members to ensure the cities do not reinstate the Charter contracts. This company is the most fraudulent company I’ve ever encountered. Their tech support told me I should be happy that my internet worked 82% of the time last month. Doesn’t their advertisment say “Fast, Reliable 24/7?”
    This company is corrupt from the top to bottom. The fact is…they do not care. Their employees will laugh in your face because we are forced to do business with such disgusting lying thieves.

  • By Gardenia, 4/6/2007 @ 4:01 pm

    FOLLOW UP ON PROBLEM WITH MAIL.CHARTER.NET

    NOTE - Charter did not help solve this.

    Figured out that the DNS on my router could have been changed to an Open DNS [to get around a supposed Charter DNS problem], but this really was not my problem.

    On Charter’s Security Suite, I had the Web Filter too aggressive - kept things from loading up. Simple as that.

    Paul Birdie - what do user insults do to solve the problem?

    NOt true in my case whut u said: “Charter mail is decent at best,. works flawless if you actually go through the 5 min process of setting up outlook express or your mail client of choice.”

    Plus you arrogantly assume we Noobies do not have portable accounts. I’ve got five. Did you consider, we could be pennywise and assume that IF we have Charter broadband and Charter Email, that the Charter Email will work and that Charter SUPPORT would be wise to the common variations of KNOWN ISSUES with mail.charter.net.

  • By DMC, 4/8/2007 @ 12:12 am

    So, I’ve been on hold now for 2 hours and 10 minutes with this absolutely worthless piece-of-crap company, Charter Communications. Last weekend I spent nearly three hours on hold and in phone conversations with Wim Wam (no kidding!) from the Phillipines; a telemarketer from Michigan; another telemarketer from Texas; one from Tennessee; one from Pasadena, CA; and now two more hours into this miserable experience tonight with this miserable company, I’m just trying to get the additional credit for my cable box not working for the past 7 additional days, a total of 15 days. Today we traded in the cable box that stopped working over two weeks ago at the San Fernando Road office in Glendale, CA. It finally started working.

    Oh, yes I could have had one delivered to me from the Charter office just a few blocks from my home, but….they are so disorganized and mismanaged that they cannot schedule a service call any more accurately than within a 12-hour window of time. In other words, Polly (remember, Pasadena, CA brainless telemarketer), told me I would need to take a day off during the week to sit at my home and wait for a service guy from Charter to show up.

    This company is worthless. They need to go out of business. They do not deserve customers.

  • By Matt, 4/11/2007 @ 12:32 pm

    DMC -

    If you live a few blocks from the Charter Office, why have you wasted all of your time on the phone with them? Wouldn’t it just make sense to unhook your box, drive a few minutes down the road, and talk to a person who can help you?

    The local offices are very good at resolving problems, and they know you and your neighborhood. Who better to solve the problem than the person just down the road, who probably lives in the same community?

    Everyone complains about globalization and outsourcing, but not many take advantage of what is just down the street.

  • By MarciA bOWKER, 4/11/2007 @ 9:44 pm

    I cnnot get into my email ansd this is bout the 10th time. I’m getting fed up .I am hearing this from many people . When I do get a texk from the Philipines I am on the florr unhooking things etc. I am tired of it has asyone een succesfull in thi8s endavor?

  • By Charter Employee, 4/13/2007 @ 9:32 pm

    To all you people who are sitting here griping and complainging…GET A LIFE!!!! To the person who said they had 154 Service calls, maybe it’s your equipment… If you are that unhappy with your services…GO TO DISH…. WE DON’T WINE BAGS LIKE YOURSELF AS CUSTOMERS….

    Get out, and get off your lazy butt’s and get some exercise instead of worrying about your cable! Maybe we see how many times you call in, and try to tell us how to do our jobs, that we decide we don’t want to help you! Treat people how you want to be treated… I bet if you talk to a Charter Rep with a little bit of respect, you’ll be amazed at how better your service gets…

  • By Rhonda, 4/14/2007 @ 11:47 am

    Want some new complaints? This morning I had used my email then went to the library. Came back and it tells me my log in is incorrect. Went the long distance route–not using any of the electronic shortcutsds–charter can’t find my account.

    I’ll bet they’ll find it when it comes time to bill though!

    The other problems I have are many, but the next most irritating one is I can’t open any attachments–all I get is computer scripting.

    I could spit, but I’m way TOO dignified for that

  • By C Fitzgerald, 4/14/2007 @ 4:12 pm

    I have been a customer of Charter Communications since 2005. I have had many problems since this time ranging from price increases during an agreement period when I was originally told I would be locked in at a set price for that period to disconnections due to billing errors on behalf of Charter Communications. At one point in December 2006 I had a problem with my bank account where funds in my account were not made available on the date I was told they would be available and my bank returned a check I paid Charter for they’re service in the amount of $254.76. As soon as they notified me of the returned payment I immediately made a new payment of the same amount plus the current months bill bringing me to a zero balance. I was disconnected the following day after paying my bill in full and remained disconnected for a week while all the time being told many different excuses ranging from an overdue balance that could never be confirmed, faulty cable box, to area wide outages although all of my neighbors still had service. It took hours of telephone calls to Charter’s corporate departments to finally resolve the issue and have my service restored and the outcome was just as suspected. I had no past due balances just as I told them throughout the entire process yet when I received my next bill I had charges for equipment not returned of more than $200.00 which I was told they were charging me for closing my account which I never closed and I again spent many additional hours on the telephone with them to finally have the charges removed from my bill. In January 2007 I received a bill from Charter in the amount of $469.72 which again included the additional charge of $254.76 as well as a returned payment charge of $25.00 so I called to inquire on why this charge was added to my bill a second time and a few days later I was contacted and told after reviewing the records the bill was correct in that aspect but that they had realized I was being over charged for my services and issued a credit for such in the amount of $82.00. I then made a new payment in the amount of $308.95 on March 2, 2007 and 5 days later received a bill for $177.74. On March 21 I contacted Charter in the morning to pay this bill and was told I owed them $509.54 because I had a returned payment in the amount of $254.76. Yes, for the third time the same returned payment was charged to my bill again! I refused to pay the bill and asked them to investigate the matter and they began the process of they’re investigation during the same phone call but low and behold the following morning a third party contractor came to my house to disconnect my service again. He was invited in while I called Charter and after an hour of arguing with them again they came to the conclusion there may be a misunderstanding with the bill and the contractor spoke to the Charter rep on the phone and was told to leave our service connected. The contractor left and arrived back 10 minutes later and said he was told to go ahead and disconnect the service and he did so. We immediately called Charter back and while on hold with them not more than 10 minutes later they sent him back a third time and had him reconnect us again. Finally this morning, April 13, 2007 we received a new bill reflecting credits in the amount of $254.76 as well as $25.00 for a returned payment charge and our bill had an amount due of $308.17 so I called them to find out when payment needed to be made and in talking to them realized they were charging me a reconnection fee as well as double charging me for pay per view movies. The representative I was speaking with then issued new credits for these amounts and told me I needed to pay $109.00 by April 20, 2007. This took place around 11:00 this morning. Around 2:00pm this same day another conractor came to my house and disconnected my service again. I have now spent 4 more hours on the phone with numerous employees of Charter and was finally told around 6:00pm the misunderstanding was corrected but even though I was told by many of the employees throughout the hours speaking to them that they had technicians in the field that could reconnect my service until dark which is around 7:00pm at 6:00pm once they corrected they’re problem I was told all of the technicians had gone home for the day except for they’re emergency technician and they did not consider my case to be an emergency so they have refused to reconnect my service now until tomorrowthe 14th of April. Now I am sitting here, a family of 6 including our 3 children with no television, no internet service and no telephone service since our telephone service also works off of our internet connection with the hopes Charter will keep they’re word this time and show up tomorrow to reconnect our service. This has been an ongoing nightmare creating an extremely stressful situation for my family and I can almost guarantee when I receive my next bill I will have a new reconnection charge for this fiasco which I will have to again spend an excessive amount of time speaking to Charter representatives to have removed from my bill once again. I have researched Charter Communications many times in the past and found hundereds if not thousands of complaints relating to the same issues and the same terrible service which brings to question, how can a company such as this be allowed to continue operating by any authorities that may have the rights to put an end to this? It is clearly eminent this company has no regard for the numerous customers they continue to abuse on a daily basis and they should be held accountable for such actions. I will be filing this complaint with each and every company or governing body I can find that accepts complaints such as this and I beg that one of these bodies put an end to this immediately to avoid future hardships for all of us.

    UPDATE: It is now 1:45pm April 14th and we still have not been reconnected and although we have a recorded message from Aaron in the corporate office, extension 27791, stating we would be connected first thing this morning and we have been told by numerous representatitves we would be receiving a call from dispatch since 8:00am, we have not received 1 telephone call from dispatch yet. This report has now been filed with the Missouri Attorney General, Better Business Bureau, Missouri Cable Service Association, FTC as well as numerous internet based complaint websites and we will continue to file this complaint anywhere we find willing to accept it. Not to mention we spent 3 hours at our business on the phone with Charter when we were suppose to be operating our business and we have now wasted close to 1000 minutes on our cell phones since our home telephone does not work without internet service which is going to reflect on our Sprint cellular bill costing us hundreds of dollars which we will be including in the lawsuit we will be filing against Charter Communications.

  • By Desperately Waiting for DSL, 4/24/2007 @ 10:33 am

    HOpefully, i can complete this message before I get cut off from the internet again. Charter Internet is slow and their cutoemr service is slower. For the “Charter Employee” above, thank you for demonstrating the attitude of Customer Service that Charter exhibits. I believe that I may have talked to you seven or eight itmes on the phone.

    Bottom line: If you can avoid charter, do so. We pay $60/month for 3Mb/s service and get 0.5Mb/s service when it is running. Their mail service is down approximately 10% of the time.

  • By Kevin Brazier, 4/24/2007 @ 7:59 pm

    I started as a Charter customer when they contacted me about 8 years ago with a great price for cable tv and broadband internet service. I asked them what the catch was and they said no catch they were targeting Direct tv subscribers to switch. Over the next 8 years there were some small price increases and nothing to make them uncompetitive. So 2 weeks ago I get a phone call from Charter asking me to check my reception because they have been getting calls about people having bad or no reception. So the gal asks if I would check channel 37, the golf channel on my service, and I ask why 37 and she says well thats the channel we have been getting the reports of bad reception. So it sounds like a fair request, I turn the TV on and turn to 37 and yes it is coming in clear. So I tell her its fine and she says well according to our records you are only a basic subscriber and have been getting this channel in error. But seeing how it is our mistake we can continue to provide this expanded basic service for 16.95 more per month. Now I am completely dumbfounded that someone would use this “bait and switch” tactic. So I told the woman no i was mistaken and I dont receive this channel and I don’t appreciate being tricked. So she said fine I will have to turn you over to legal services and hung up. One week later Charters truck pulled into my drive and put a block on my cable so I could only get channels 2-20. Lucky for me I have another cable service, TVC, and I RAN to their office and signed up for their service and RAN home to call Charter and cancel. Now here is the topper, the gal at charter asks me why I’m cancelling and I told her the story and she was surprised, then she offered me the expanded basic for the price of the regular basic, just what I originally had. I declined and am so much happier with TVC, better internet speed, better tv picture and most importantly better customer service.

  • By Stars, 5/6/2007 @ 11:39 am

    I too called charter support and was transferred to their outsourcing service. The way I found out was the lady with an accent said I could call back at a number she provided if I had questions at 8 p.m., I ask if that was EST or CST, she said “India time”!

  • By Mark Walker, 5/9/2007 @ 8:31 pm

    Hello i’m from a small town in Texas called Hallsville. I am having very bad latency problems with my high speed internet of about 1 1/2 years now with it progressively getting worse. Over the last several nite’s my ping to a Dallas server only 180 mile’s away has been averaging around 300 for which it should be 20. Now i’m a hard core online gamer and with these latency problems i can’t play online games so i have been calling Charter tech support for a long while now and just this past October one tech finally found the problem and said it was on Charter’s backbone and it could not be fixed without adding a new circuit to my area. Charter did add a new ciruit this past January but wasn’t able to complete the connection due to TymeWarner/Qwest selling out to Comcast and Charter will have to strike a new deal with Comcast. So here i sit with shi**y service waiting on them to do there business so i decide to see if i can’t get credit for my problems. So i called them up explained the problem and i get 3 day’s worth of credit and have been calling every 3 days or so and this last time i called which was last night they gave me $50 credit towards my account and to keep calling until the problem is fixed. So if you live in far far East Texas and on Charter you could be on this overloaded circuit so give them a call and complain over and over. It’s either Charter for me or dial up with no other choice’s in my area.

  • By Jackson Cole, 5/18/2007 @ 12:50 am

    Charter is just awful. I came across your blog looking for a way to file a complaint about their lousy reception. This is what a monopoly gives you. Just junk service, useless customer support and a big bill! Charter stinks. You pay for a picture but you get a jumbled mess of pixels. One of the all time worst companies I’ve ever encountered.

  • By Laura Ward, 5/19/2007 @ 3:01 pm

    Well, I don’t feel so all alone now. Thank you everyone for voicing your displeasure with Charter. To the Charter employee that wrote in I would like to say this: I treat everyone with respect who treats me the same way. When my problems and questions are ignored and I am given an answer that amounts to something like “Is your computer plugged in?”, I too eventually get annoyed. I have NEVER been rude, but I have politely requested to speak to a supervisor. A request that is generally ignored. We as customers, really, really don’t like to be ignored. If this is your company policy, I plan to change companies. I rely on my computer for my JOB, not my television. Surely, you could at least have some conception of what that is like.

  • By tbone, 5/21/2007 @ 11:30 pm

    I got a call tonight from Charter as well. They were checking reception and asked me to turn to channel 37. I only have basic service and told them I don’t get channel 37. They then went on to try to sell me limited cable for “cents more a day”. I told them I did not want it anymore. A couple years ago, they took away the limited cable option and forced everyone to either move to expanded cable for $50+ a month or basic for $12 a month. It pissed me off so I moved to basic service. It is clear they are checking subscriptions with basic service for anyone stealing cable. It is a clever way of doing it.

  • By Brynn Palmer, 5/22/2007 @ 9:54 am

    Mr. Burton,

    I work at the Charter Corporate office in Saint Louis, Missouri. I was very disappointed that you were unable to get the answers you requested by contacting our office.

    I would be happy to assist you. If you could forward the name associated with your Charter account,the telephone number on your account, and a number on which we may reach you I will ensure someone contacts you.

    My email appears below.

    Again, my apologies that we did not respond appropriately when you first contacted us.

    Regards,

    Brynn
    Brynn Palmer
    Charter Communications
    Saint Louis, MO
    brynn.palmer@chartercom.com

  • By wookie geek, 6/8/2007 @ 12:14 am

    Gee, original post in Dec 06, some corporate drone whos job it is to research anyting that has bad things to say about Charter responds May 07. Guess they have to sort thru a lot of web sites with Charter Sucks. Just got off phone with off shored billing after 3 hours trying to resolve billing issue. Long story short the rep actually admitted that the service should have been disconnected back in April but somehow she thought I should have to keep paying ubtil it was disconnected 20 June. When I asked ( and I did n’t get nasty or loud ) why I should be paying when they were at fault for not disconnecting the service she “disconnected” my call.
    Supposedly after I called back and spent 2 more hours that rep says I will be credited ( wipe out charges on that account ) and it should be disconnected physically Jun 11. I won’t be holding my breath.

    If any more Charter drones read this, count on it, when DSL is available I am soooo gone from Charter.

  • By Unhappy in Opelika Alabama, 6/9/2007 @ 1:29 am

    I live in a area where there is only one cable provider, Charter Communications. Therefore, you can either deal with the way they do business or call directTV but if you like your local channels, Charter is your only option. I have been a Charter customer for seven years and there has been many instances that I have wished there was another cable provider in our area. But in the past two months I have become extremely frustrated with Charter and the way they do business. We moved and called Charter to transfer service and to add broadband service to our account, because DSL is not offered at our new location, and they set up a date for a service man to come out and set up service at the tune of 72.00 extra dollars. I was given no time frame that the service man would be out, I guess I was expected to sit and wait all day. So I sat and waited until 4:00pm est at which time I left and was gone for 15 minutes at max. When I arrived back the service man had come and gone, leaving a pink slip in door (some type of service sheet). I called Charter and asked if the service was set up or if the guy was coming back. Charter informed me that he would be returning within the next hour. Guess what, he never showed. I continued to call Charter during the next two days and each time I talked to a different person who told me that there was nothing on file and they would have dispatch call me back. Dispatch never called. Finally I had to get my husband on the phone, thinking he would make a difference, and they informed him that they were unsure if they would able to run the cable because of the distance from the road. They said someone would come out and survey the land in three days. When the surveyer come out he explained to us that we were too far from the main road for them to run cable to our home at which time he informed us that for $600.00-$1100.00 they would be able to move the main cable to another pole at which time we would be able to recieve service. My husband and I discussed it and due to my need for high speed internet and his need for local news and whether, we decided we would pay the large amount inorder to recieve service. I called chater to set a time for them to come back out and the rep was dumbfounded and had no idea what I was talking about. So I, the customer, had to explain in full detail what needed to be done. They sent someone out the next week who explained that he was not who needed to come out first it was different service man. He told me to call Charter again and set up a date for that person to come out. When I called, of course I had to explain what we needed in full detail because they have no idea what is going on. Once again they said they would call dispatch and have someone call me back. The girl that I talked to this time said if someone had not called me back by 4:00 pm to call back and ask to speak to a superviser. Keep in mind this is the third time I have called charter and have been told that someone would call me back, well no one called back.
    When I called Charter back that afternoon and asked to speak to a superviser they transfered my called and the superviser acted as if he had never heard of being charger $600.00 to $1100.00 to move a main cable, I proceeded to explain to him as I had everyone else from Charter when my call I was disconnected. SOOOO I called back and tried to get through to the same superviser. The guy I spoke to informed me that, basically, there wasn’t much a superviser could do because all Charter’s supervisers are in the Phillipines and that he (the person i was talking to this time)was in Canada. He seemed to know what I was talking about and said he was setting a work order up as we spoke for someone to come out. He said they would be out Thurday June 7th, to move the main cable. Guess what, I did not leave the house, and no one showed. SO, I called back today, Friday June 8th, and once again there was nothing in our file for anyone to come out. Now they have told me that a work order had be made for Monday June 11th between 1:00 and 3:00, we’ll see.

    The quality of service I have recieved from Charter has been a disgrace. At first I thought that the service was so bad becuase they had no competition in our area, but after reading the above comments I see that they treat all of their customers this way. It is as if they don’t care. I can’t beileve they stay in business. I would like to respond to the comment left by the Charter employee. During the past two months I have yet to get ugly with Charter’s employees, I have stayed calm and extremely patient, given the circumstances. Yes I have vented here and to friends and family but not yet to Charter. But your comments and attitude towards Charter’s customers, who help you recieve a paycheck, is exactly why there are so many people who are unhappy with the way Charter does business.

  • By Beth Johnston, 6/9/2007 @ 2:00 pm

    After a frustrating week of Charter inaction I came across this blog while searching for a better way to make personal contact with someone at Charter support who could help me. The problem? A week ago someone apparently hacked my Charter Webmail password and began sending who-knows-how-many spam messages using my email address. I knew something was going on when I started downloading email last Saturday morning. It was extremely slow coming in and when the download completed the reason was clear: there were over 400 “your message could not be delivered” responses to the spam that had been sent. Eventually the total of these emails was over 10,000, although I got smart enough to start using Webmail to weed out those messages before downloading real email so not all 10,000 came to my computer. After getting even smarter I also used Webmail to report the messages as spam.

    As soon as the first set of message was received I phoned Charter support, which has got to be the worst on the face of the earth. During this past week I have talked with numerous customer service people and supervisors, none of whom could offer anything better than suggest I change my email address and/or my password. I did the latter but am unwilling to change my email address. Then a big surprise: I checked my Webmail settings and discovered someone had changed them. My name was now COCA COLA COMPANY; the From line still had my email address, but the Reply To address had been changed to bclaimsoffice@telkom.net. That meant the spammer got the replies of anyone foolish enough to respond, but I got mail rejected for over limits, no such account here, etc. The actual spam message had been inserted into my signature line, with the option to always send the signature checked. Changing my password and returning the settings to normal stopped the spam from going out, but the residual return messages kept coming in for several days.

    My computer has been checked and re-checked for any sign it’s been taken over by unfriendlies, and it comes up clean. My conclusion is that Charter is either stonewalling me or has a huge security breach. Support tells me the only changes made to my settings were made by me, and the dates they gave me are appropriate. They say the changes that were made by the spammer do not show up in their records. That’s scary. Beyond that, Charter’s web site claims that as a spam prevention measure they do “rate limiting,” which monitors the number of emails per hour to and from an account. If Charter security is working, how could they possibly have missed the thousands of emails coming into my account . . . or the who-knows-how-many spam messsages supposedly sent by me? How could they not have noticed the thousands of messages I sent back to them as spam? Most of all, how come Charter’s records have no record of intrusions into my account?

    Charter support should be answering those questions but they refuse to. Thus another really unhappy customer is born.

  • By Here We Go Again, 6/10/2007 @ 2:57 pm

    I live in Pasadena, CA. A few years ago a representative from a new company called Altrio knocked on my door. It seemed that they were bringing their service to my area and I would now have more than one choice(Charter)about who to pay for cable service. I signed up with Altrio, on the spot, for cable tv, broadband service and telephone service. Not only were my rates much lower, but the services that I was receiving increased by nearly 50%. I was so thrilled to be done with Charter Communications that I was down-right giddy when I called Charter to cancel.

    The months went by and my infatuation with Altrio continued. My internet connection always worked, and I can’t remember when the cable went out last. Then, one day I received notification that Altrio was closing shop. My services would be taken over by Champion Broadband. Uh oh, I thought, is this new company going to be ok? Please don’t let them be another Charter. But, thankfully, Champion was great too. I could always get someone in customer service on the rare occassion that I need to speak with them. The longest wait time I experienced on the few occassions that I needed their assistance was about five minutes. Reliable service, etc.

    Forward to the end of May, 2007. After opening a seemingly innocuous white envelope, I gasped in shock and horror. NOOOOOOOOOOO! Somehow it seems that Charter has been able to squeeze Champion (a Colorado based company) out of this market and once again I am left with no choice for cable other than Charter!!!! How can this be? Of course, I am receiving calls from an “account manager” to “help me with the transition”. I haven’t called him back yet as I think that I need a few more days to wallow in denial. The idea of using Charter makes me nauseous. Especially now that I have all three services tied together (before it was just cable and they provided internet through Earthlink). And now, here we are with Charter holding our city hostage with its monopoly. Any suggestions? Does anyone have any information about Direct TV?

  • By disgruntled Charter customer in East TN, 7/11/2007 @ 4:27 pm

    Sorry that this is rather long, but read on…

    My wife and I relocated from Ohio to Seymour, TN (5 miles south of Knoxville) in August of 2003 and it is now July of 2007. When we first moved here we found that we had two options for TV; a satellite connection with Direct TV or cable with Charter Communications. We wanted high speed internet too and DSL was not available in our area through Bell South, so we opted to have our high speed internet service and our Cable TV with Charter Communications. That was when our nightmare started.

    The quality of our cable TV seemed fine with Charter Communications, but the high speed internet which we were paying for (3 Mbps) always seemed slow. So I performed a speed check on the internet and found that we were getting less than 1 Mbps connection. I then phoned Charter to come out and check our cable line.

    Here is what has occurred. In the three years that we have lived here we have had Charter technicians out to our home at least eight times trying to correct this slow connection problem and each time they have left telling us that the problem has been corrected and that we were now getting a 3 Mbps connection. They have been in our attic 3 times, saying each time that the problem was found there and that it was corrected, but after performing a speed check on the internet I found we were still getting under a 1 Mbps connection.

    Then the technicians said that the cable line that comes from the utility box at the street to our home was bad and needed replaced. They replaced that line, and we still received less than a 1 mbps connection. They came out and reinstalled a second line with the same results, less that a 1 Mbps connection. I phoned Charter one more time and they asked if I would like a free 30 day trial of 5 Mbps so I said yes, and the connection did seem to improve, but it still fluctuated between 1 Mbps to 3 Mbps and I was paying for 5 Mbps. I got fed up with dealing with customer service so we decided to live with our slow connection of between 1 to 3 Mbps even though we were paying for (5 Mbps).

    In November of 2006 I bought an Xbox360 so I could play multiplayer games online. That was when the bad connection became really apparent. My connection with Xbox Live was continuously disconnected and I was unable to play games online. I contacted Xbox support and they checked everything on their end and found no problems. Xbox support suggested that I contact my ISP (Charter Communications) and have them check my cable line. I contacted Charter and they asked if I would like a 30 free trial of 10 Mbps. I told them get the 5 Mbps working and then we could talk about that. So they sent out another technician to check our cable line.

    The technician came out and said that we were getting a 3 Mbps connection. I told him that we were paying for 5 Mbps and then I did an internet speed check on my PC with him looking on and I showed him that I was getting between 1 and 2 Mbps connection. He then went outside and checked our connection coming into the house and found that we were getting a 1 to 2 Mbps. He then went to the utility box out by the street on our property and checked the connection there and found the same, a 1 to 2 Mbps connection. He then went across the street where the line goes under the road to our utility box and checked the box feeding that line and he found a connection of 10 Mbps! He then said that the line going under the road was our problem and that we needed a new dedicated line installed under the street and a new line from the box on our property to our home and that they would install RG-11 line under the road and on our property to our house and that they would be out within 10 days to do that and he placed the work order on May 15th. The ten days he stated stretched to July 11th with a lot of phone calls from me to Charter asking why the work had not been done. All I got was promises that the work would be done on a certain date and then no one ever showed.

    Finally on July 3rd a crew showed up and bored a hole under the road and installed plastic conduit for the cable to run through the conduit, but they never installed the cable. I contacted Charter and they said that they showed the work completed. I told them no cable was ever installed, so they sent out a sub-contractor (not a Charter employee) to take a look. He phoned Charter back and told them that the work had indeed not been completed and told Charter that he was going to drop a temporary line to our house. He did this and we immediately got a constant 3 Mbps connection. Today, eight days later (July 11th) a second crew showed up and installed a dedicated line using RG-11 cable which they ran under the road and onto our property from the box across the street that is supposed to be getting 10 Mbps. They connected everything up and left. To get a fair sampling of my speed tests, I just conducted 40 speed tests at http://speedtest.com

    Out of the 40 speed tests that I ran today after the technician left my fastest download was 4751 kbps and my lowest download speed was 515 kbps and my average download speed was 3101 kbps. I still am getting less than what I am paying for with Charter. I am paying for 5 Megs and I am still getting less than what I am paying for and I will be phoning Charter again and talk to them if I can understand their support people from India. If I could get DSL in this area with a constant 1.5 MB connection I would got with DSL and use Direct TV for my TV reception.

  • By Nathaniel, 7/21/2007 @ 5:04 pm

    More of the same . . . .

    I’ve been a Charter customer for 2 months. In that time, my internet service has NEVER worked correctly. I’ve made at least a dozen phone calls, sent several emails, had three technician visits, and tried to do the online chat help twice (but the person on the other line terminated the chat because my internet was so slow).

    I was a cable internet customer previously with Cox Communications. I had download speed up to 1.5 Mbps split between two computers and had PLENTY of speed. Now, using one computer with Charter, my service is supposed to be up to 3 Mbps download speed and I honestly think dial-up would completely blow it away.

    I thought I was getting a good deal to get high speed internet at $29.99/month(for the first year with basic cable tv service), but now I’m switching to DSL through the phone company. It is going to cost more and I’ll have to buy a new modem, but it’s totally worth it to get away from this joke of a company.

    This has been such a hassle, I can truthfully say that I would really like to personally meet the Charter employees who have posted on here talking s**t so I can take out my frustrations on them.

  • By Beverly Campbell, 9/5/2007 @ 11:12 am

    I have been now fighting with charter for 2 months trying to get my tv and billing fixed. I have even got a corp phone number and call thier upper custer service, they only seem to work a few days a week and never callyou back. I have call every day now to talk with the lady and she keeps putitng me off and telling me she will call me back and never does. I am ready to change, however I believe they are all the same. No customer service once you are signed up. They should have to post the Big boys phones numbers if customers call them they might even fix the problem with their bad customer service. Or Not Does anyone have any other phone numbers to share. Here is the one I finally got. 1-888-561-1030 ext 27719

  • By ANOTHER disgruntled Charter customer in East TN, 11/2/2007 @ 5:22 pm

    I am in East Tenn. as well and have the same story to tell. Customer service is hopeless….technicians are terrible and always point to hardware and line issues….”Let me send a tech out”.

    Three visits later and still no resolution.

    I always felt “dirty” when I would admit that I use my connection for gaming primarily. XBOX LIVE is not considered “approved” use of Charters high speed internet use…..Sorry, I game competitively and I am not alone.

    I have read on the Internet that it is highly likely that Charter has over subscribed the connection they have to the “backbone”. Makes sense since the latency is horrible. I wish there was a watchdog group that could monitor these kind of agreements and hold Charter responsible to what they claim to have.

    In the end, DSL is now available, and I have all my hopes and dreams in that line.

    My disconnect with Charter even is screwed up….I have to “call back in 24 hours” to re-schedule.

    I guess in the end, when other companies are allowed into areas, the watchdog group will be competition and freedom of choice.

  • By k pesta, 12/10/2007 @ 7:00 pm

    Charter is the worst excuse for a company I’ve ever seen; poor customer service (who cares where they are) and complete liars.

  • By tikitime, 12/19/2007 @ 10:37 pm

    charter is corrupt from the top to the bottom, I work for them there service sucks unreliable staff is undertrained overworked the supervisors set on there ass avoiding physical labor at all cost there billing is lousy there rates go up

  • By CHARTER WHO, 12/20/2007 @ 10:20 pm

    CHARTER SUCKS

  • By Patti, 12/29/2007 @ 2:33 am

    This blog was started in 2006, but it’s my hopes that a soon to be Charter customer may read this and know what you’re up against. As a first time homebuyer and low on cash, I am forced to research every little detail of “some” before I buy, sign up, etc. First and foremost, if you live in Upstate South Carolina you have two choices for obtaining TV service (unless you have a super-duper antenna and can live with NBC, CBS, ABC and PBS only). You can lock into a two-year contract with the DishNetwork or go with Charter Communications. Charter Communications monopolizes the Upstate and you are completely at their mercy. Never and I mean never, take what the sales representatives at Charter tell you. I spoke with Charter on three different occasions before I allowed Charter to install their services. Each and every time I got a different quote on what it was going to cost me to have cable TV and phone service connected AND what my month’s service was going to cost. The first representative quoted $49.99 for installation (this was backed up by a live customer service agent online also). They next day I contacted Charter and was told it was going to cost me $62.99 for installation only. The third representative stated $90.00 for connection, but that $50 dollars of that $90.00 would be credited to my first month’s bill (I’ll believe it when I see it). I had a page from my parents cable bill when I called Charter and told them exactly what I wanted. Basic and the expanded cable service. That was it in black and white, no gray area for confusion. The first representative, Tony, quoted the first three months for $39.99, increasing to $49.99 after that period. The second representative quoted $49.99, increasing to $59.99 after the three-month period. I ask the representative why the change in price overnight and he could not explain why, when I asked to speak with a manager, I was put on hold. 10 minutes later the representative came back on the line to tell me there was no available manager and the manager would only tell me what he had said before. How rude! The representative, Farrin, was very impolite and could have cared less that I was a new customer (hello, I paying your salary here). The third representative, Latoya, quoted 39.99 installation and then came up with some $50.00 cable box installation fee for each line I had ran from the main cable box. My service was now going to cost me $51.99 per month with no increase. I agreed to Latoya’s prices and scheduled a installation date, and given a 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM time frame that the installation would take place. The morning of the installation the phone rang at 8:20 AM. It was the installer telling me that he would be at my house at 9:30 AM. 9:30 AM pasted, 10:30 AM pasted, and 11:30 pasted with no cable guy to be seen. When I called Charter’s installation line to ask what was going on, I was told that “we had to move your installation back to 2:00 PM (hello, a phone call would have been nice). 1:00 PM the cable guy shows up (I was in the middle of a quote with a contractor and had to stop what I was doing, leave the contractor sitting at my dining room table so I could talk to the cable guy who wasn’t due for another hour). I have a full basement in my house and the cable guy asked me, “why aren’t you just running the cable connections up through the floor instead of paying $50.00 for each cable box. I stated you tell me, because I was told you would have to build a cable box at each spot where the cable was coming into the rooms. He reply “no I can drill a small hole and run the wire up through the hole in the floor”. Sounded good to me and I said go for it. Bottom line Charter was trying to sell me something I didn’t need. I received three very different quotes and Charter didn’t stay with the original installation time, taking time away from me that I had scheduled to meet with other contractors.

    I hope I receive a survey asking how my experience was when dealing with Charter. Not that it’s going to do any good. As mentioned, Charter monopolizes the Upstate and simply put, you can take it or leave it. Charter knows its position in this area, so why should they have to be friendly and courteous to their customers.

    Problem two, because the house was built in 1952 and no types of upgrades were made to the phone system over the years, my phone line has a back ground static sound to it. Personal guess, the wires are too old and outdated to get the maximum high performance from the new digital telephone service Charter offers. The cable/telephone guy threw his hands up after 30 minutes of trying to solve the problem of the static sound on the line and suggested I call a private telephone service contractor and see if he could fix it. What in the world am I paying $3 or $4 per month for inside wire service/maintenance? I was asked during the set up of service if I wanted the inside wire service/maintenance, because without this service Charter would only make repairs to the main line at the road to where the cable entered the house. Without it I would face a service charge of $38.00 to make repairs (not including materials needed or labor) and $34.51 for a special trip fee. Sure I took it because I didn’t know what, if any, problems we might run into with a fifty-five year old house. Was it not the cable/telephone guy’s responsibility to fix the problem or at least set an appointment to come back and work to find the problem?

    If you decide to go with Charter I suggest you write down every word spoken by a sales representative when it comes to set up fees. Ask the representative for their name and a complete explanation of everything they are going to do. Yes, I do have cable now and almost telephone service, but I also have also been left with dirty feeling about the whole situation. Do your research, know your stuff and don’t allow some representative to manipulate and dictate what you do and do not need.

    Good luck.

  • By Elliot, 12/31/2007 @ 7:58 pm

    Instead of reading all these stories about Charter hust all of us, I think we should all group to do something against Charter. I have had it and I will do something about this.

    We are selling our house and a prospective customer said he will not buy in an area serviced by Charter. That’s it with me…. I am doing something about these incompetent people.

  • By TERRY DOUGLAS, 1/3/2008 @ 4:32 pm

    I ORDERED AN HD BOX AWEEK AGO, MY APPOINTMENT WAS YESTERDAY BEWTEEN 1PM AND 5PM THE TECH SHOWS UP AT AROUND 3PM AND I’M THINKING GREAT MY FIRST TIME WITH CHARTER IS GOING TO BE A GOOD ONE, WRONG FIRST THING OUT OF THE TECH MOUTH IS WE DON’T HAVE ANY HD BOXES AND I ASK WAY DIDN’T SOMEONE CALL ME LET ME KNOW, YOU NEED TO CHANGE THE DATE BECAUSE YOUR OUT OF HD BOXES, HIS REPLY I DON’T KNOW, SO I ASK HIM WHY ARE YOU HERE THEN IF YOU CAN’T HOOK UP THE HD THAT I ORDERED OVER A WEEK AGO AND HE REPLYED I DON’T KNOW, SO I ASKED HIM TO CALL SO ONE FROM CHARTER THAT DID KNOW AND HE TOLD ME HE’D BE RIGHT BACK HE HAD TO GO OUT TO HIS TRUCK HE’D BE RIGHT BACK, WELL ITS THE NEXT DAY AND I’M STILL WAITING FOR HIM TO BE RIGHT BACK. IT IS TO BAD MY MOTHER IN LAW LIVES IN AN APARTMENT BUILDING WHERE THEY CAN’T PUT UP A DIRECT TV ANTENNA I WOULD SWITCH HER IN A NEW YORK MINUTE. CHARTER IS A VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE COMPANY. IVE BEEN TRYING TO REACH THEM SINCE YESTERDAY AND I CAN’T GET THROUGH TO THEM IF ANYONE HAS A NUMBER FOR THEM THAT I COULD ACTUALLY TALK TO A PERSON I WOULD REALLY APPRECATE THAT

  • By marky, 1/5/2008 @ 1:43 am

    A few years ago we had a very disappointing experience dealing with charter. They offered to buy our satellite equipment and hook us up with cable in several places in our house, (which was less than a year old). They were so positive and full of promises. The brief version without all the details of how much pain frustration and hours on the the phone is:
    The tech installer didn’t show up during any of the times scheduled, then while we were gone he opened the box outside that contained the prewired connections we had specially installed when the house was built and pulled all the cables out and cut them off flush with the wall so they could no longer be used for our satellite, (except the cable to our living room), laid a cable out across our lawn, connected to the one cable to the living room, but did not connect it to be in service, and left the scene.
    It took days of calling and a couple of times waiting that four hour period they scheduled, without anyone showing up. I even waited in my car on the next street over watching to see if they would show up outside of the scheduled time, which was when they would usually leave a standard tag on my door stating that “they came but I wasn’t available so I would have to reschedule”.
    I never did get the system installed. After a couple of weeks and about four hours of being on hold and being disconnected so I could try agian to talk to a person who seemed to be helpful, I finally coiled up the cable so I could mow my lawn again without moving the wire, put their equipment and cable on the porch with my note explaining take your things and don’t come back, thanks for nothing.
    The porch is where they typically left the tags about my negligence in being there, so I was sure they would see it. The service guy actually stood next to his dismantled equipment and 100 feet of cable and left me a tag about my not being there. Eventually someone came and got the stuff.
    We continued happily with our satellite system, then began receiving bills for Charter service that we never got. We called off and on explaining the story, ok, no problem, will close the account , blah, blah, blah. Then after four months of this routine we are still getting billed and they turn us in to a credit collection agency and hit our record with bad credit history.
    We had to resort to an attorney to get them to stop and fix the records. I swore to never use them again and told many friends to avoid them.
    Yet a few years go by, I soften up a bit, and we begrudgingly try them again to get high speed internet and TV. It was relatively painless …… at first.
    Then succumbing to the lure of bundling we ordered cable phone service. After the usual day long wait for the guy to not show up on time, he stops in, hooks up the phone modem, gets a dial tone and leaves. Well our phones don’t ring for incoming calls; kind of a key feature to having a phone.
    So we spend an hour or so explaing the whole incident to several attentive listeners only to be handed off to more attentive listeners and finally a service call gets scheduled where one of us has to forego our income for another half a day since Charter can’t plan, schedule or even follow a schedule if they make one. I don’t know why I hve to deal with someone in India or Missouri just to end up disappointed anyway.
    I wait patiently all day for the guy between 12 and 5 pm. He can’t even hit something as big as a half a day. We called several times during the day just to be sure he was coming. At about 6:30 I get a message on my cell phone (the one that works) that the service call has been cancelled and that I need to call this “toll free number” to reschedule, where I wait and wait on hold because “your call is very important to us and may be monitored for quality assurance”, more annoying music and attentive listeners. The end result … well, there is no end result ….. now they can’t set up another appointment because this work is completed and the work order is closed. However this is being e-mailed to someone at the “Corporate Office” and they will be calling me in 24 to 48 hours.
    Now, why is it I’m skeptical. I guess it’s my own fault for not remembering who I was getting involved with …. great hopes during the advertising and sales pitch stages, but after that it can take a steep dive. I think its time to change everything and get shed of charter again once and for all, phone, TV, internet, it’s just not worth the pain. And you can’t even talk to anybody there about it, they have developed an isolation machine to keep customers from bothering them. Maybe they should be left alone.

  • By DHL, 1/11/2008 @ 12:04 pm

    Ditto to all of you. I just read all of the posted comments above. I could tell my story, but it would be more of the same. Elliot is right. We need to to start a web site like they do to get rid of college coaches (eg: fireronzook.com) and have it come up anytime charter is googled.

    And all the bigwigs in St Louis are probably scratching their collective heads wondering how their stock dropped to $ 0.92 recently. How can that be. Our industry magazine just named us cable company of the year. Hmmmmm. Maybe the board should open some of those registered letters.

    Hope competition comes to all of you…..!

  • By Stacey, 1/30/2008 @ 4:19 pm

    Boy how all of this sounds familiar! I am so tired of calling Charter and getting hung up on and different stories all the while, prices go up. Finally, I was able to get the service rep, who doesn’t speak good english, to get me a supervisor so that I could cancel my internet. What do you know! I got someone who speaks perfect english and lowered my bill by 30.00 since I wanted to cancel. I hate how this works.

  • By Jody, 2/1/2008 @ 12:28 pm

    I think we all should contact Bill Gates to see if he is interested in opening up another business venture (smiles). Charter needs competition to bring them back to reality of what it takes to keep a customer.

  • By Charlie, 2/13/2008 @ 11:46 am

    Hey everybody, I am currently in a six month battle with Charter just to get them to close my account and stop billing me. I cut off the ePay to stop the bleeding, but ouch! 12 phone calls later I’m still waiting for the check.

    My rant is at: simplemindedcharlie.blogspot.com

    Check it out if you get a chance. Sorry to hear about some of the other bad service stories.

  • By Larry D. Burton, 2/17/2008 @ 7:35 pm

    Charlie send them a letter, registered mail, return receipt requested, demanding that your account be closed and keep a copy with your receipt for the letter. Phone calls are useless. A registered letter will stand up in court.

  • By Charlie Bakker, 2/19/2008 @ 7:15 pm

    Thanks, Larry. It is stamped and sealed. I appreciate the response.

  • By Chaplain Mark, 2/23/2008 @ 11:58 am

    I currently have Charter because our township has given the a contract making it impossable for another company to come in. I have has Charter for three years for internet and t.v. In one year I was off line more then one line. I had to reboot my modem at least once a day.
    I have made several complaints and have been given credit, however…..
    The last time I called them I was told they would not send anymore service techs out for service. I filed a complaint with the FCC, who looked into it, I was told by charter that in fact they had sent someone out and chanced the wires and equipment. Which I told them was a bold faced lie. since we had just had snow and there were not foot steps anywhere near out mobile home.
    When spoken to by corporate office the same supervisor said your right it never happen. They tell the FCC. they know there is a problem but don’t know how to fix it. Reliable service? Well they do lie.

  • By mike williams, 2/23/2008 @ 9:02 pm

    I switched from sat to Charter cable bundled service internet & phone pack about 5 weeks ago & its great i’m very happy i did so & i’m saving about 20% to 30% a month. After reading all the negative reviews on this page i had to say it was very easy for me the install techs did an excellent job & arrived 15mins ahead of time & my service with CHARTER has been excellent.

  • By Mighy7, 4/2/2008 @ 9:32 pm

    I had to explain their retention specialist the meaning of word “churn”, which I mentioned in passing during a joke while cancelling my account.

    She was American.

    Do I need to say anything else?

  • By frank, 4/21/2008 @ 6:02 pm

    I’m begining to think we are all just NUTS!!!. Why are we paying these people or anyone for that matter, for tv service broadcast FREE over the airwaves?? And, why have we become slaves to the telecommunications corporations???
    When i first did business with Charter,(30 years ago) the basic rate was $9.99/mo. and the increases started and never ended. The billing problems started and never ended. Charter will never be happy until they they have extracted every cent of our disposable income..Maybe it’s time to simplify our lives and just do away with it all.

  • By mark, 4/25/2008 @ 11:55 am

    There is no reason to speak of customer service at Charter, there isn’t any. Have a problem like you are not getting a purchased service? Try calling them…it will take yo a while to clam down from the absurd responses, if you want to wait long enought to speak to someone. On line chat? Try this, “On Demand” (I’ll come back to that) was not working last night. Burned by many wasted phone calls in the past I decided to try on line chat. First two attemts..”call back in 20 minutes our computers are updating”. Update you computers at 10:30 or 11:00 pm? Who watches cable at that hour? Ok, so about 11:30 I try again, the rep writes the server for my area is down…now there’s a revelation. Wouldn’t have guessed that would you?Naturally she has no idea when it will be back up and abrubtly disconnects me.
    On Demand - where did they get that name. “Sometimes” or “Maybe” would be bettter. I would love to see the percent of time it is working during prime viewing hours in my area.
    We need compeition in cable. It is the only way to make this company sensitive to customers needs.

  • By Tom Blevins, 4/26/2008 @ 3:05 pm

    I have been a Charter Customer for 20 years and the service has been good. But now I cannot log in to my account, my e-mail is non receiviable because I can’t login and I called into tech support and the lady was very polite (I Think) I couldn’t understand a word she was saying. How can they help anyone if they can’t speak English and I can’t speak their languance. She wouldn’t tell me where she was speaking from. If there was another cable company in my area I would go to it but Charter has a monopoly here so there is no one else. Oh well I need to get off this computer more anyway.

  • By Thom, 4/28/2008 @ 6:20 pm

    to charter employee
    I went to the Dish because Charter was going to double my fee for internet access.
    As for getting off my ass and getting some exercise, I’d say that comes under the heading of MY business.If you are so tired of people complaining about their srevice maybe you should look for another job. It is quite clear that Chater is’t going to improve their service, so you might as well get used to the complaints!!!!

  • By lizzy, 5/5/2008 @ 4:59 pm

    hi oh my gosh i am so pissed at charter they have shut me off 7 times today for no reason at all..everytime i call in someone i cant understand for lack of english says were sorry we will get that back up and runnin for ya HA!! yeah for 5 mins and by the time i hang up its OFF again..what do ya know…i hate charter ..i hope they finally go out of buisness due to lack of customers!!!

  • By Angry Customer, 5/13/2008 @ 9:26 pm

    I have been a customer of Charter for a long time and the service has declined in the last year. I’m in Glendale, CA and for the second night in a row I will not have HD tv (and right when there are two shows I want to see). Last night was a joke using the telephone - I got Canada for some reason and the second or third person I spoke to at Charter was surprised I got Canada.

    The last person who tried to help was in… Canada. They told me it was high winds that have created the area outage. However there was no message on their phone (as there usually is) when there is an outage. And there were no high winds at all that day or yesterday or today.

    I tried the chat feature on their site and that was a JOKE. The person sounded like a bot but claimed to be real. She said nothing when I told her of my problems (no “I’m sorry”) and when I told her I was this close to leaving Charter she just said “fine.”

    If I switch to Dish, I guess I should start that first before I fire Charter?

  • By Ex Employeee, 5/20/2008 @ 11:54 am

    Very interesting blog from my point of view.
    Reading this blog is taking a trip down memmory lane for what I did and the people I talked to 40+ hours a week.
    I worked for Charter almost 4 years before getting fired last week.
    Not disgruntled and no hard feelings. I wasn’t able to perform up to Charters expectations.
    Anytime a customer calls I was required to [Sell up] and the expectation out of Charter is “every call is a potential sale”
    I don’t like people needling me to buy something and it went against my grain to do that to other people.
    I started out as a high speed internet specialist but due to restructuring of the call centers and outsourcing I ended up in the retention department where I would try to keep customers from disconnecting by either solving internet or tv problems or just giving credits or lowiring the customers bill by putting them on a promotional rate.
    That was fine and I found myself [making friends and making money]
    Nationwide company that Charter is, there is an awful lot that just simply goes over my head but in this volatile business world we are in it seems that any company can be history on a moments notice so there is a constant effort to make more profit.
    Companies are hired to implement new programs to increase sales, (not just Charter but other Companies as well) and the customer service rep has to abide by the rules or system implemented.
    BUNDLE, BUNDLE BUNDLE.
    Yeah, I’m sick of hearing it too.
    Just to straighten a few misconceptions…
    It’s not a monopoly because you can take out a humungus loan and pay for those lines in your city and have your own cable company.
    Someone mentioned Bill Gates buying Charter to make it a better company? Charter is owned by one of the original IBM crowd Paul Allen so I’m not sure what Bill would do different.
    Cable companies are FCC regulated so prices vary slightly but are comparable.
    We all want to take our best shot at the best deal and most people aren’t aware of the resources they have ~
    There are a couple sites you can go to for info.
    http://whitefence.com/ or call their toll free number 1-866-308-4953
    or http://cablemovershotline.com/ or their toll free number 1.877.9TVMOVE
    You can see what’s available in your area by just typing in your address then call ***ALL*** of the available companies and let them fight over your business.
    Well it’s approaching the end of May, summer is on the way and what do you think?
    I say shut that damn tv off and head for the lake. or the park. or the mountains. ANYTHING!
    I would come with you but I gotta find a job.
    ~Thanks for you call and (here it comes and I hate it) HAVE A GREAT DAY

  • By Still Employed, 6/25/2008 @ 8:10 pm

    Wow! What a whirlwind tour, the negative, the positive and it’s all about Charter Communications. I will say, I am sorry to the ex employee at Charter, however you likely left at a good time. I know they were deducting money out of your paycheck too. I am sick of it and it’s time we all get together and do something about it. We are! We are hiring an attorney to get our money back.

    To all those complaining customers out there, you have no clue what and how they treat there employees. It is the most micromanaged organization in the world. They tell us when we may go to the bathroom and if it’s not during break, you must send an email to your supervisor and then take an emergency break which puts you out of compliance instantly. Being an American myself, I feel like I should be working in a third world country.

    To all of you complainers who call in saying “I don’t know why my price went up”. You have been told before, “Your promotion ended”. Well you know what because you blame Charter for not reminding you that it was ending, You by threatening and creating nonsense scenes on the phone, are taking food out of my children’s mouths. THEY TAKE THE MONEY AWAY FROM US THAT YOU ARE SAVING BY being stupid and saying “I didn’t know”. Also, it’s all documented that this is what you do, ALL THE TIME. Put it on your damn calendar and call BEFORE it expires and it’s not Charters Responsibility it’s yours! How old are you? Grow Up! Whine, Whine, Whine. I can tell you this, if someone calls and gets me and your yelling and screaming and threatening, Bye, Bye. I won’t speak with you because your an idiot to treat someone like that. We are human too working for a company that is stealing from our checks. You call and disconnect, we lose money! They take it from there employees. If you don’t pay your bill, guess what, your service is cut off and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Be Responsible! You order pay per view’s don’t ask for a credit because YOU ordered them or someone in your house and we have proof of it!

    Yes, it stinks that we have over seas people trying to speak english and I can’t even understand them, but it is what it is.

    Charter put’s there employees against each other by offering differnt promotions. This is poor business . None of the other large cable operators do this, nor do they take money earned by an employee away from an employee.

    Is there an attorney out there who cares about the employees at charter who will go to work, earn a low wage and commissions and then leave the day minus commission money. Yes, I have the proof.

    So - to all those non-stop complainers, who I believe have nothing better to do than complain. Go elsewhere. Charter doesn’t care about you, your service or the employees who work there. They tell us to lie, cheat and steal your money, cause they do it right back to there employees. However, there are some of us like the ex-employee who stand by our morals and ethics and don’t do as they say so I am sure I’ll be joining the ex-before long. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired about Charter abusing there employees.

    I am certain that the FCC, Department of Labor, the NASDAQ etc. will get wind of the abusiveness of Charter to their employees and things are going to start to fly.

    Ex person out there, drop a line and join us as we will get back what they have taken.

    Which center where you in? We are in the west.

  • By Repair Tech, 6/29/2008 @ 1:47 am

    I’ve worked at Charter for about a year now. At first it was a great job, now I have second thoughts. Most of the people I help over the phone are kind and understanding, some people you just cant please at all.

    I was hired in as a High Speed Data Analyst in a repair center. My job consisted in fixing your internet only. Once again when I was hired I was an internet REPAIR tech. Now we are held responsible for fixing internet, cable tv, collecting bill payments, and solicite sales, all for no additional pay. You guys can cry and whine all you want about your cable tv being out for a few hours, I have to work for a company that will blantantly lie to your face after being secretive with company changes that will only put our company farther in debt and screw me out of pay.

    Ive watched them take away our bonus incentives, cut commissions by at least 70 percent, and put 5 times the work load on us with half the training we need to do the job correctly. Now they are forcing the entire company to realign their shifts. People have worked years to get a good shift beneficial to them and thier families, only to have that taken away from them with no guarantee they will get a shift suitable to their own lives. Rumors have it 5-15%(or more)are planning/will quit.

    I can only speak for myself, I put in 110% to try and solve our customer issues. I enjoy fixing problems, but Charter cannot be fixed.

    As for all the whining and crying customers that have nothing else better to do than complain because we wont fix their Linksys/Belkin/etc routers, I hope you all go to hell. We didn’t install your router, nor did we manufactuer it, and it sure doesn’t say Charter anywhere on it. We support connectivity from your modem to 1 of your computers. If you decide to hook in a router, thats on you.

    For a multi million dollar corporation headed by Paul Allen, one of the founders of MIcrosoft, you think they would create more user friendly billing systems as well as fix all the crappy computers we have at work.

    Anyways, IM finished with my venting…

  • By Jeremy, 6/30/2008 @ 1:37 am

    JUST FOR YOUR INFO

    1. Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, and all other 3rd party mail clients are not Charter’s issue. If you cannot login to your email using http://www.charter.net, then contact us. If you can login to your mail here, but not in Outlook/etc, please contact your 3rd party mail provider or double check your settings in the support section of our http://www.charter.com website. There are helpful walk thrus provided by those program manufactuers. As a Charter employee, I will not help you set those up, they are not Charter programs and are out of our realm of support. Mail.charter.net no longer exists, so please stop using it, you were notified by mail, please read the mail we send you and you won’t be so surprised.

    2. We do not and will not troubleshoot your aftermarket router, unless it was provided to you with our homenetworking service. If your can connect to the internet using your modem only, contact your router manufactuer. If you call us, we will have you bypass your router to prove you have internet connection. If you can’t connect at that point, we will do our best to get you connected directly to your modem only, then refer you to your router manufactuer for support.

    3. You pay for INTERNET CONNECTION, not for email, not for webspace, and not for internet security. Those are all free OPTIONS you may choose to use. You are more than welcome to use gmail, yahoo, hotmail or any other FREE email provider to send and receive your emails from. Same with webspace, there are numerous FREE sites that you can build your webspace on. As far as internet security, we will not send a tech to your home to install free internet security. If you aren’t savy enough to follow the simple step by step instructions, you probably shouldn’t own a computer.

    4. If you have computer issues; i.e. viruses, .dll error , programs not responding, printer not working, etc. Please don’t waste time calling us. We are internet technicians, not PC repair. We will not remove viruses from your PC because your kids/husband/etc decided to download porn, illegal music downloads, or clicked on keyloggers on MySpace. It’s your responsiblity to maintain your computer, not ours. We just provide you with internet service.

    5. If you are on a Vontage (VOIP) telephone and can call out on it but cannot connect to internet, call them not us. Your internet is working, or you wouldn’t be able to call people considering it works using the internet. If you can’t call out, please call we may be able to fix the issue.

    6. For the previous posts complaining about our outsourcing, I can see you have never called Microsoft, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Sony or any other large corporations that rely almost altogether on outsource support in countries outside the U.S., we only have 1 outsource center outside of North America out of our numerous call centers. If you can’t understand the rep you are talking to, this is a free country, you can hang up, asked to be transfered or call back until you get someone you would rather talk to.

    7. When you sign up for a sales promotion, we tell you if it’s 6 months or a year. It is not our job to call and remind our millions of customers that your promo is about to end. Also it’s not our role to remind you when your bill is due. It’s due each month, just like your electric, water, rent, and car insurance. If you can’t be responsible with paying your bills on time, once again that is on you, not us.

    8. FCC laws and regulations now state that you must have the security code off your latest bill for various things like member service information and such. We will not be able to do anything for you if you do not have that code and you are not authorized as a user on account other than send a technician out,if we deem necessary. We will not make any changes, and will not upgrade services. I refuse lose my job just to reset something on your account without this code.

    9. We will not block you from ANY websites. Due to some sort of internet neutrality act, we are legally not allowed to block any internet content. If your can’t access http://www.angrymidgets.com or whatever site you can’t connect to, but you can connect to every other site, please don’t call. Same with if your yahoo or hotmail email isn’t working, we can’t fix that.

    10. Don’t call in being rude. We are aware you have an issue or you wouldn’t be calling a REPAIR center. We are here to find out what the issue is you are having and we try to do our best ( I can’t speak for everyone) to fix the issue. You have to consider, we as employees are customers just like you outside of this job. Just because you are having a bad day doesn’t give you the right to cuss me out. I didn’t break your service, I am here to help fix it.

    For all of those people that feel that have had poor service, I apologize. Once again I can’t speak for everyone, but I give 110% to my customers to ensure their satisfaction, and of course, not everyone can be me.

  • By Pam, 6/30/2008 @ 6:08 am

    I have been dealing with Charter since 2006 when they hooked up my internet service which consisted of a guy attaching a modem to my computer, checking the lights on it and wanting the $80.00 as agreed to. Unfortunately I was not at home and it was just my husband who never thought about the fact that the guy never even turned the computer on to see if the internet was working. So when I got home my husband told me Charter was here but the internet was not working so when I looked at it I saw that the guy never changed it from dial-up to broadband cause he never turned the computer on. Then about 5 days later another guy came out to check & see if our internet was working and got talking to my husband and starting telling him about Charter’s great bundle deals where we could get the cable, phone & internet for $125.00 plus tax. My husband insisted that I call about it which did sound good. I should have divorced him or threw myself in front of a moving car cause it would have been less painless. The internet was hooked up on April 9, 2006 by April 23 the cable was hooked up which was installed by a outside contractor with a bad attitude when he realized that he was going to be here longer than he promised his friend who he was talking to while trying to install it. He was getting in a worst mood cause the order called for 1 receiver and a modem. When I told him the modem had been put it already and I was suppose to have 3 receivers installed and 2 of the rooms didnt have the cable running to them he got under the house and he was pulling cable all over. He was getting under my skin and starting to piss me off so my husband installed 1 of the receivers. My daughter’s cable was so short I couldn’t move it more than an 1″ straight up. He put the receivers on the bottom of the dvds in both rooms which in 2 days messed up to recession on 1 of the receiver and Charter had to replace it. We were never shown anything regarding Charter’s programs let where to find any it was all hit and miss plus didnt know anything about On Demand for about 2 months. My phone was installed and changed over on May 3, 2006 and was giving a copy of the completed order with a total amount of $265.75 and showing the internet, cable and phone services were all prorated to May 9. I was not informed about having to pay 1 month in advance cause when I asked when I ordered the bundle I was told that I just had to pay $125.00 plus tax. I got my bill on the 3rd of the month but I thought since it was all prorated to the 9th of the month that that was when it was due. Which of course opened up a new of bowl of worms. This was just the beginning of a very bad relationship between me and Charter. Since that time it just got worst and worst. Now I try very hard not to get mad and take it out on anyone just cause they answered to phone. But if I do I am quick to say sorry. But if talked to like an idiot or a complainer I get pissed. I don’t complain just to complain but if I pay for something I would like to get it. Charter has had to credit my account so many times that I have lost count. My bill should never have been over $165.00 with 2 extra receivers and should always be the same amount every month. My bill was never the same amount. At times it was 197.00 and had things charged to it that I never ordered like a 13.99 porno movie. Every month I cringed when I saw a Charter bill cause I knew that I had to get on the phone and wait on hold or be tranferred time after time or wait and get disconnected in order to straighten out my bill. I know that it is the higher ups that set the rules the employees have to go by cause I worked for MCI and they encouraged you to lie or whatever it took to get them as a customer and once you did then they was totally disregarded. What happened to the fact that it is the customer that keeps your company in business and if service sucks they have a right to say something and stand up for themselves. I do understand that some people go to far cause I have been there but not all people should pay for the attitude of those idiots. But if the employees of Charter are that badly treated then you should quit before taking it out on us customers that are only trying to get what we paid for or maybe pickit Charter or get a Union in there and let the Union get them. Treatment goes both way!!!!! Also if anyone out there knows about Charter’s points called live it where you get points for every dollar you pay on your bill please let me know cause Charter should does not know about it. I had about 20.000 points and 1 employee said to go to the charter office and tell them and they would get my a card of some sought but no luck, she did not know what I was talking about. Good luck to any new Charter custome and may God help you, you are going to needed.

  • By Oh god., 7/11/2008 @ 12:54 am

    I work at Charter and honestly, the employees saying that they treat their employee’s horribly is completely bull. Maybe you’re working in the sales department, but I don’t get money taken out of my check. We get a base pay, and then commission. Commission is NEVER guaranteed. And considering that every two weeks my commission checks average right around $1,200 PLUS my base pay, I’m not going to complain. If you don’t like the job, quit. It’s easy as that. As for being micromanaged, I’ve never felt that way. My supervisor lets me do pretty much anything I want and is really cool about things. Of course, it could be because he’s only a couple years older than me.

    As to all the customers, if you got treated badly, I’m sorry. But remember, we can only do so much. We are completely limited as to what we can do. If you bitch at me, I’m not going to be as helpful. Do I come into your work and scream at you? I don’t control the price of cable. Why should prices be the same today as they were last year? I mean seriously. Call your electric company and tell them you want the same price that you had last year. See how fast they laugh at you.

  • By Elizabeth, 7/13/2008 @ 6:54 pm

    I had been working for the company directly for almost 3 years. I could not get time off for a court case which I got an occurence for. I was solely the victim. I was protecting myself from an abusive boyfriend. I have no record of the crime for the slap in the face blow to the boyfriend. But Charter decided to convict me in there own way and state that “If I had been the victim the occurences for taking time off would all be removed”. I was also told that they try to keep my job because I was the Best. Than I was told that I would have no problem receiving unemployment. WRONG!! They let me go because of time off and I am not receiving unemployment from Charter they have denied me and a couple of other fellow employees that I had communicated this problem to that have been released from the company for sillier behavior. Apparently, not only do they not treat customer right but they do not treat the employees as well. The employees are the mouth of the company. We market the compan