Sorry, guys. I've gotten sidetracked yet again by the cable company - this has been an ongoing issue since November, but they claim it goes back to June and I can prove them wrong.
I am stuck with Charter Communications because I am so far out that they are the only service that reaches, and my building has a code against satellite dishes - so I'm stuck with these asshats. And trust me, these people are asshats.
"According to their records," I got behind in June of last year, except that I didn't and I have the checks to prove that. In August, they interrupted my services. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised. Come to find out, "according to their records," I was $30 behind - how, no one could exactly say. So I paid them the $30 then turned around three days later and paid my regular $75 bill. The next month, I got a bill saying I was still like $100 behind, but it hadn't credited me the $105 I'd just paid, so I ignored the "past due" amount and paid what I knew I actually owed them.
The following month, the $105 had been credited, but the amount I had paid them (the amount I actually owed them) had not been credited - again. So, again, I ignored the amount I had already paid them and sent in my regular payment. Sometime in November, they interrupted my services yet again! I paid the "past due" amount of somewhere around $45 (now, mind you, I have already paid over $200 since August and my bill is only $75/month, so by this time, I have paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $250 for three months of service - which, mathematically, is more than enough to cover the $225 actual fee, plus the $30 "phantom late fee" which suddenly appeared in August) and still - somehow, magically - owed them like $80!!! They interrupted my services yet again in December.
Fast-forward to January, when - according to their records - I only owed them $45.00 after having paid right around $460 since August on a $75/month bill, and I get a bill for $248!!! Now, I have paid them nearly $450 since January and this morning, I got a bill for $210!!!
Charter Communications has a long-standing record for consumer and accounting fraud, the latter resulting in criminal charges for several executives in 2005. They - just this month - reacquired their BBB status as an accredited company; prior to this very month - May 2008 - the BBB warned consumers against Charter Communications after receiving thousands of complaints. PCWorld reports them as the worst ISP in the nation and I can verify that.
The representative to whom I originally spoke sold me a "$9.99/month" package - which is what their competition was offering at the time - and when I received the bill with a $19.99 charge, I was told "there is no $9.99 package and never has been." Further, I explained to this third-world dipshit in very specific English how I used to work for another cable company installing Internet services and was even a manager after a year, so I just needed the box shipped to my home, and they sent out a technician and charged me for the "free" installation. Charter Communications has a long-standing and extremely well-documented history of such deceptive business practices.
If anyone else has had similar problems with Charter Communications, please comment and let me know.
© C Harris Lynn, 2008
A rambling melange of pop-culture.
4 comments:
The great state of Vermont enacted legislation specifically aimed at Charter Communications and their customer "service."
A company of thieves and liars, Charter Communications' own employees admit their deceptive business practices and policy of consumer fraud "to make money," while still attempting to excuse them. Charter even cheats their salespeople!
Please respond to this post if you have similar complaints against Charter Communications!
Also feel free to contact Charter Communications' Divisional President and tell her exactly what you think of Charter Communications and their deceptive business practices and acknowledged consumer fraud.
Obviously, these practices are not localized and I was not beset by a lone, dishonest employee; this article details another consumer who was quoted one price for Internet access, but billed another.
Here's a handy-dandy bit of information on how to contact Charter Communications' CEO.
I am going to get all my ducks in a row here and do exactly that.
If only it were just me, you know?
After spending THE ENTIRE DAY calculating how badly they've been screwing me, I came to the unhappy conclusion that Charter Communications has overcharged me approximately $300 since March of 2007!!! BEFORE LATE FEES AND SALES TAX!!!
Check out this blog, made this very day, as well!
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