CommentWe have been customers of Charter Communications here in Southern California (San Gabriel Valley) for about 8 years. From as early as I can remember, we have NOT been getting our promised (advertised) internet connection speed.
We've had Charter technicians come to our home numerous times (so many times I can't even count - 8 years worth of visits) and they STILL have not solved the problem.
Last year we downgraded our service from 10Mb download to 5Mb download because we were not getting anywhere close to 10Mb. This was okay and we were decently happy with our connection speed.
But recently, we upgraded our TV to HDTV and thus got their HD service. As a "value package" we were promised numerous channels on HD, Charter telephone and 10Mb download for about $150 a month (which... of course was substantially higher than the price they promised us when I first called in but more on that later...)
Now, a couple of times a day, we would actually LOSE our connection and speeds are sometimes so low I would rather have 56k!!!
Again, we called in for a technician to come in and "look" at the problem (the techs are actually cool because some are honest with us why the speed is so slow and why it's probably NOT possible for them to fix it).
This time (after 8 freaking years!) the Tech told us that because of the type of neighborhood we live in (not the most affluent) Charter was not willing to install the necessary components to handle the amount of users in our area. This Tech was outsourced so it's his part time job and that was why he was honest with us! Then I ask you, why would a company as big as Charter offer a service they cannot provide? Simple. Consumer Fraud!!!
We have filed NUMEROUS complaints with the BBB and still... nothing. We are planning to downgrade to the 5Mb service once again and get our money back for the service we did not receive for the past month.
As for the "value package" - when I first called in to upgrade our HDTV service, I was adamant about getting the "correct price" up front. The lady told me, with the HD sevice, the new box and the new channels it would only cost us an extra $15/month. I was very surprised at how cheap it was (and according to Murphy's Laws)... I asked some questions.
What are the hidden costs?
What other fees do we have to pay?
What are the rental fees for the equipment?
What is the install fee?
What are the reoccurring service fees?
She said, install is a one time fee of $30. I said okay that's fine. How much extra over our current monthly bill do we pay then? She said, "$15". Okay then, I did what I could to find out all of the information and told her to sign me up.
(Not) Surprisingly, when we got the bill, we were charged over $80 over our current monthly bill! Minus the $30 for the install it leaves $50 (this was before we 'upgraded' to the 10Mb) for the HD service which we were promised at $15! That's a $35 difference.
WTF... I called in once again and the rep told me there is this fee, that fee, you have 3 rental boxes (but only 1 HD box), remote control, cable service fee, HD channel fee blah blah so on so on...
I haggled with him and he took off $20. I was sick of this crap and said FINE. Whatever. Charter *** and if I had a choice I would NOT choose you. They have a monopoly over this area so what can we do? Use 56k? Use DSL? Return to the dark ages without internet? LOL...
Now, I have to copy and paste this whole thing in case my connection gets lost. I'm hoping another company (like Cox or Time Warner) would just buy out Charter and put them out of their misery. Thank you for reading this.
Signed,
Sick of crappy consumer fraud from "Charter Communications" in San Gabriel Valley.
 Comments (8) |  |
| 1. Written by Mary - Rancho Cucamonga CA, on 02-12-2008 02:24 OMG - I'm with you all! I hate Charter more than life itself. I've been with them for over 6+ years - just recently moved (still w/ Charter) 3 months ago. Within the 3 months; they've had 9 "internet outages" as they like to call them. What *** me off about them is they're crapy automated phone system can't even recoginize your ph# to maybe TELL me about this outage. Oh no.... are you kidding? I have to go through their stupid prompts, God forbid I press "0" for an operator, *** it'll hang up on me or give me the generic "Sorry. I'm still not understanding. Let's try again. Did you say %^&$@?" I literally have to go into the Billing menu, here my acct balance, get offered 500 ways to pay my bill, still no option to talk to some idiot in India, until maybe 15 mins later. Then, the lame "i.t. support" which trust me when I say, I know a *** of a lot more about computers than these idiots answer the phone. And I love it when they want me to "power cycle" my modem or they ask if i'm using a router and to disconnect the router and run directly through the cable. It's like: H-E-L-L-O!!! Are you listening? My question clearly stated when you finally answered the phone: "Hi, my name is ..... and I live in Rancho Cucamonga CA. I'm wondering if you could please check if Charter is experiencing any outages in my area at the present time." Yes folks, as much as I hate these people I still have to kiss their *** and beg them to do their *** job! Power cycle my moden and disconnect my router? For what? To hear that lame Charter has been "experiencing an outage" in my area for the past..... wait for it, wait for it..... 7 freaking hours! This is during business hours! So, to sum it all up! I fricking hate Charter Communications. Merry Xmas all! (hee hee) |
| 2. Written by Andrew, on 24-10-2008 01:00 At work we have something or other that is faster than T1. So when I get home I always thought that this was normal. Now the pages take so long to load I cannot believe it was meant to be this slow. Guess I'm going to have to get at&t dsl after 8 slow years. |
| 3. Written by bob_socal, on 19-10-2008 15:32 Same problem. i live in Glendale, CA I am going to cancel my service and switch back to at&t. |
| 4. Written by David T, on 04-10-2008 18:53 I'll keep it simple: I freakin' hate Charter. |
| 5. Written by Mazinger Z, on 25-09-2008 20:36 It's funny, I got a "Greeting Card" from Charter and it was personally addressed to us. It says they apologize and if there's anything they could do don't hesitate to call them. I guess all our complaining finally worked - maybe even due to this site. I wish you guys all the best. |
| 6. Written by Charter Monopoly, on 25-09-2008 17:41 I am in the upstate South Carolina area and have been with Charter for 5 years now. Nothing but problems. We also have Comcast cable/internet in SC, but only in the bottom part. A Charter tech told me how they have a set line in SC with Comcast, so people won't have a choice on their cable/high speed internet provider. Problems for past 5 yrs: Internet going in and out. On-Demand works 75% of the time. I have lived in 3 different houses and have had 3 different kinds of cable boxes/routers. Charter allways says the problem is on my end. Upgraded from 5mb to 10mb internet and my speeds went up to 500kb...Thats almost 1mb. Most recent problem: all tv's make a popping noise when watching tv. Charter tech had me unplug everything in my house and some other things. Short answer-they couldn't figure it out and the problem was on my end. |
| 7. Written by Jason M, on 18-09-2008 21:41 Yup, just got offline with a Charter tech here in Wisconsin, what a load of bullS**T. I also have the 10MB, upgraded from the 5 and I see little difference, in fact i ran Charters own speed test and on average I was getting below 6.5mbps, once below 6. That is just plain robbery. The tech online said, oh per our service agreement we do not garanteee speeds and if you get 70% of your spped it is good. I said I get less than that, she supposedly checked my modem and said, oh everything is fine. NO WAY! I am stuck as well, so I said to her...so you make the consumer go to higher speeds to achieve the speed they pay for. Now I need to consider 16 MB at $15 more a month to get close to 10 MB that i am paying for...NOT going to happen. I am considering DSL. ARGGGGGGGGGGG! |
| 8. Written by Mazinger Z, on 16-08-2008 16:57 Yep, I was correct in my assumption. This was the 2nd time I had to post this LOL!!! |
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