Charter Communications - Charter Cable TV service The Worse Ever
When EOD told the local customer representative he was getting tired of having to switch to the analog channels because he couldn't view the high definition channels which he was paying good money to watch (plus renting the receiver boxes), he was told..." Well I have to do the same thing, and I have no problem doing it"...Duhhh???
EOD asked if he would get any kind of credit for all the days he couldn't get a signal, much less a signal where the image freezes...the reply was...."yes, after we fix the problem, you can come back in and ask for a credit."...Duhh???
Why couldn't the customer representative register the compliant on EOD's account and not require him to come back later? The rep. replied..."Well, I just can't keep up with all that, and the company won't let me do it..."..........Again, Duhhh???
Will Charter Cable TV ever get their act together? EOD had a service tech at his house the day before the Super Bowl Game and the tech said...."I hate to think about the calls we'll be getting that day"....Nuff said....
36 comments:
Well, while I'm sure that some have had great experiences with Charter, I was glad when I moved to DirecTv. Don't like it when we lose signal when a storm is nearby, but the quality of Charter's signal was pathetic. They had great people that really tried, but it takes hardware to convey the signal to each house.....and they didn't keep it updated. Even on a bad day, DirecTv is better.
EOD failed to mention that before he decided to go into the local office about his reception...a couple days before, he had spent about an hour on the phone with a rep. at the 800 number trying to renew his 2 year contract. He found that if he didn't renew, his monthly bill would have gone up almost $70 per month...When he got to going over his bill with the rep. he found Charter had been charging him for a modem rental for almost two years (after it had been purchased) and one extra receiver box....His account was so messed up the rep. said..."let me rework your account call you back."....as a result EOD got a $210 credit for over billings...however, his new monthly bill still went up about #15 per month..That particular cust. rep. was very courteous...
Hello EOD,
I am disappointed to read how your conversation went with our agent as well as the trouble you are having with service. I would be more than happy to make sure your account is properly adjusted as well as escalate this to a technician that can get this resolved once and for all. Please send an e-mail to Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com with the name, address, and phone number on the account, as well as the best number to reach you. Also, please put “CharterAbby – eyeondare.blogspot.com“ in the subject line so I can keep an eye out for the e-mail.
Here’s a link to the Charter Social Media Team website for your reference: http://www.charter.com/UMatter2Charter
Looking forward resolving your concerns,
Abby Catron
Communications Specialist – Charter
Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com
http://www.charter.com/UMatter2Charter
EOD wonders how many HD Charter customers are having to tune to analog channel 3 tv tonight to see the Royal Wedding...yet paying Charter's fees for high def. tv...
It may sound silly...but money is money...and Charter is robbing customers on the Outer Banks...
Ever since Charter moved control of there signal here to Suffolk, their signal has constantly worsened. Try these email addresses. They used to work.
cathy.crawford@chartercom.com
Thomas.Ross@chartercom.com
Ray, James
E-mail Address(es):
james.ray@chartercom.com
Business Information:
Title: Manager
Department: Government Relations
Company: Charter Communications
Address:
2516 Fayetteville Street
Sanford NC 27332
Phone: 919-708-5902 X120
Fax: 919-774-8794
In PC World survey not long ago, Charter was rated ninth out of ten in internet service.
I switched to the Dish Network over a year ago and love it!I get great reception and haven't had 15 minutes worth of outages since.Costs less too!Charter wouldn't renegotiate my contract.Thank you Charter.....Good riddance!
Thanks EOD for bringing this up. I've been having the same problems and will be on the phone today! Good to know I'm not the only one :-)
I see things haven't changed much since I moved to Directv in 1997.
After a month of trying to get service for a picture quality issue, I canceled and put up the dish.
Three months after requesting a cut off, a rep. turned up asking about my picture issue. But he wouldn't cut me off because that wasn't on his work order.
EOD would probably have appreciated watching the ceremonies in 1080P on a 50" plasma.
Best thing Charter ever did for me was cause me to waste $800,because it made me switch to DirecTV. I wouldn't switch to Charter now if they paid me a $100 a month. Of the 25 cable systems in US, Charter is rated the worst by several orgs.
Some of the channels are avalible with out the hd box on basic. The PBS kids ex and unc come in without freezing. they are local and add in Manteo. I placed a FCC complaint. They found that the receiving antenna was missaligned. For awhile the reception was improved. It appears that it may need to be alilgned again.
We too switched to DirecTv. Signal quality has always been bad.
Glad it didn't take us too long to see the writing on the wall.
I've had the same problems with my Charter HD. Am considering Direct TV. Paying too much for bad service.
Since we moved here, I've had Charter, then DirecTV, and now Dish, and Dish is by far the best. Slightly lower price, FAR better HD reception (which is a free upgrade), more channels (by a LOT) than DirecTV, plus you get XM radio for free too.
Plus, I'll get you $50 bucks off on that friends program (yes I get 50 off too, but 50 is 50)
email me at standaman2010@gmail.com for the discount code.
Charter has been a thorn in my side for years. Their internet services is unreliable. Their service is lacking and yet we pay top dollar. I believe the County Comissioners have an exclusive agreement with Charter. Can't we get some competition in Dare County? Sometimes a little healthy competition is good for the consumer.
Thanks to the NC Legislature's action a couple of years ago to grab the franchise money, the state no has the say on cable TV and local officials have no power
Abby (Catron),
What more is there to say. We simply have poor Charter service here on the Outer Banks. We've all heard all the "excuses" from the techs (who are always nice, but never able to do anything)..The fees are way too high for the quality of service we get. We rarely go over a day without some kind of interruption in program service..mostly picture freezing up...and the people at the local office only want to "collect the money" and are not interested in hearing our concerns..
Get DirecTV. You will never regret it.
May 3 The guide, hallmark, and wavy weather channels are gone or moved to digital.
I too have considered switching to Direct TV or the Dish as we really just hate Charter.
The Golf Channel was in and out today until I finally changed the station.
During the Golf season and NFL season, CBS (3) constantly goes in and out with the audio coverage every 5 or 6 seconds.
I don't know if THIS particular problem is Charter or Network though.
I complained to Charter for years before finally switching to DirectTV - and I am completely satisfied. I would recommend this to all of the "unsatisfied" persons as a solution to their problems also. More channels less money and better service - what is the reason for staying with Charter?
Charter fired some of the guys who actually knew what they were doing, a few of them after nearly, or over, 20 years experience with the company.
When they bought the previous company it had old, deteriorating equipment and they've played catch-up ever since.
And they know we cannot get even 3, 10, or 13 here without at least basic cable, so they have us over a barrel.
If you are having trouble with channel 3 go to 9 the same with 10 go to 7. 7 and 9 are in stero. Channel from Hampton roads except 2 are in mono the only one in stero is Fox 2
Ray
I had been having problems with my Charter internet dropping connection for over a year. I have had them to the house and spoke to their technical support folks numerous times. I had to power cycle my modem 4-10 times a day to reset the connection. Well, I had a tech come recently and he knew his stuff. I told him the problem and he said he found multiple problems. First they have a splitter jumped to another splitter instead of a "hub" type splitter which he changed. My transmit signal was low so he installed an amplifier. He also found that my modem had been provisioned incorrectly and was set up as a Docsis 2.0 instead of a 3.0. Once he made these changes I have had rock steady, super fast internet and the best picture I have had in over a year on all the channels. Why they other folks didn't realize this is beyond me, but this service tech was GREAT.
I just hope he can be at everyones house when they need Charter support.
Charter put an amplifier and spliter on EOD's cable line too; and installed a new line from the street to the house. Charter's techs are always very courteous, but usually end of saying that "it's a problem that we are going to fix" or "we are getting a new piece of equipment in that will fix all our problems." Why Charter has to continue to raise their rates is a mystery, considering they have captive customers here on the OBX who only use their services part of the year. They should be raking in huge profits.
When 70% of responders say they don't like Charter's services here on the Outer Banks, you would think they would listen and want to do something about it.
Maybe you should email a link to this blog to the charter upper management. I am sure with some research you can find them.
I personally have never had bad service with Charter. In fact, my cable has never gone out during hurricanes, except for when we have lost power. Their phone service has also been most reliable too. They also provide a very generous off-season discount to rental home owners. They employ LOCAL people which is better than dish who bring in techs from VA and elsewhere. And at least they have a LOCAL office staffed with live humans that you can actually go to. No one else (inc. phone co.) has that down here! Just because you've had a negative experience don't paint the rest of the OBX with your brush.
One reason for higher price is cable companies pay telephone companies for the use of networks (aka. lines). The number one backbone for internet use in America is POTS (Plain Old Telephone System).
Another reason could be cable companies are fearing that internet/cellular phone companies are going the way of streaming video and soon you will make more choices of who, what, when, and where that you prefer to watch. Since this will most likely lead to a falling number in cable companies, it could be said that Charter and other companies will have no choice but to increase their price out of business.
These are just two reasons as to why they are struggling. They will say anything to keep the cash flowing into their pockets (mostly corporate heads and/or CEOs).
The Charter managment for OBX is the Suffolk office. The management for the Suffolk office is in Simpsonville SC.... OBTV12 produced by Charter is awesome if you are a tourist!
It's obvious the OBX is poorly served by the local cable monopoly and neither satellite provider carries the local NC affiliates who provide NC news and weather for those of us who don't think the west end of the Alligator River bridge falls off the edge of the world.
If only Dare County could follow the example of Wilson and other towns and set up their own municipal broadband/tv/phone service, but thankfully Time Warner bought off the state legislature to nip that problem in the bud. As much as Charter sucks here, and they suck mightily, TWC's monopoly over much of the rest of the state is even worse, with much crappier service.
Thanks for posting this EOD. Im going to look at Dish and Direct TV now. Charter may be losing a lot of money, as it seems so many locals are not happy with the service and price. As always, you are on top of local issues with a clear and wise voice.
I've had charter cable/phone/internet for a few years now. Last week I had a problem with wireless throughput on my router. Of course Charter's suggestion was to replace my router. I did that ,same issue, no help. Hard wired speed is 12Mbs, that's what I pay for. Wireless router speed is 2Mbs. They said they would not fix wireless unless I leased modem/router from Charter. So I signed up for that. Well, long story short they still can't get wireless speed right, even after numerous calls to customer service and three visits from techs. The last person I talked to reached the bottom of her flow-chart with no solution and had the gall to accuse my neighbors of signing on to my network. I had the router settings page open and only one device was attached to the router; my laptop. I'm at my wits end over this. Now they tell me that it will take at least 48 hours to send a tech around the neighborhood to try to find the problem. Argggh. Who can we contact in Dare County to complain? I'm at my wits end and Charter holds all the cards if you want "fast" internet. Sorry to be so long-winded, but at least it feels good to vent.
I am sad to see that the issues I have with Charter (HUGE bill that keeps getting bigger without explanation or warning, and POOR picture quality, intermittent service, I can't remember the last month I went the whole month without losing picture, internet or both!!!!) are not new, nor are they likely to be fixed anytime soon. Charter is truly a poor choice for cable, Direct TV is in MY immediate future!
I own a rental down here the Internet down here is SHIT! The signal keeps comming in and out even though the cable modem says everything is ok. I have a wireless router, and they asked me to bypass that while on the phone and I still had problems. These Webstar modems are shit too! I finally complained at the main office in Nags Head and of course the lady could have cared less. They gave me a cisco modem now. Things seem to be working better but at night the internet service has been intermitten AT BEST. I actually changed my DNS settings to google's and had a little better return time but it was still in and out. I guess I'll see after tonight how well this new modem works. The TV service is also horrible. The single on most channels have a lot of NOISE in them, others have really bad CROSSTALK, some barely have any audio modulation signal. One tech said it was a problem with my tv. I told her that I've seen these EXACT same problems in houses as far south as Hatteras and as far north as Corolla. In other words, THE PROBLEM IS NOT AT MY HOUSE!!! IT'S YOUR CRAPPY SERVICE, NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE, AND BAD MODULATION AND DISTRIBUTION! Charter needs to do an audit on this local branch. Just fire them all.
We switched to DISH Network. The Hopper system is amazing. I've had no trouble since switching. It's just a shame that you can't get true high speed internet through anyone else [CenturyLink's DSL doesn't compare]. If you live in Dare County, I challenge you to try to find another high speed internet provider. I've tried for the last 4 years. I was even told by one company that they could not provide me with high speed internet services due to the fact that Charter Communications has a "legal monopoly" over my area. WHAT!? I wonder if this is true. Are they really protected from competition by law? Why else are there no other companies offering high speed cable internet. In the meantime, I pray Verizon can start offering FIOS to this area soon. Would love to totally stick it to Charter. For now, I have no choice but to pay their [Charter] uncompetitive price of high speed internet.
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