Charter Cable, how I love thee!!!! (Customer service RANT)

NEWSFLASH: Cable Company's billing department and customer service apparatus sucks ass!!!

So, I just moved into my new place at the first of the month, and I signed up for Charter Cable. When I first spoke to the sales guy about getting installation, I agreed to give him my checking account information so that my monthly bill could be automatically withdrawn from my bank.

Last week, I receive a statement in the mail from Charter saying "Thank you for enrolling in automatic bill pay, your bill amount will be withdrawn from your account each month blah blah blah..."

Today and yesterday (I missed the call yesterday), I get a robo-call saying "Please call Charter at 1-800-WHATEVER now regarding your account." Instead of calling and wasting my precious minutes, I go online for a chat. I connect to "Sheila" who works at a call center in Missouri - a third-party contracted to work for Charter.

I explain to Sheila my situation. She explains to me that my account is "delinquit" (sic) and that if I don't pay immediately my cable could be "affected." She acknowledges my auto withdrawal but says it won't kick in until Sep. 16. And let me be clear here. I don't blame the customer service tech. She mostly did all she could under the circumstances. I'm mad at the robo-call BS and the initial payment setup BS that didn't cover the first bill.

The rest of the conversation goes as follows (First is an approximation of the conversation. Where noted is a partial transcript of the actual conversation, with some parts omitted by ellipses):

Her: "Give me your account information now and I will process payment manually."

Me: I don't have my checking account info handy.

Her: "I need your account information now and I will process payment manually."

Me: I don't have my checking account info handy.

(repeat)
(repeat)

Her: Your account will be affected.

Me: How so?

Her: It is already past due, blah blah blah

Me: Can I pay with Credit card?

Her: Yes, I'm sorry, I should have suggested that.

Me: OK. I have AMEX

Her: We only take VISA and Mastercard

Me: Geeezus! OK. I have a VISA. Here's the number, etc.

(dead space, no response...)
(dead space, no response...)

Me: So is my payment processed now? I won't be harassed by robo-call any more?

(Ver batum chat convo with Charter rep)
Sheila: I'm sorry but the system is not accepting it. We have reached the batch limit for the payment for today. The cut-off has been reached by the volume of payments for the day.

Me: oy vey

Sheila: I'm so sorry about this. I will notate the account about this. You can make the payment early in the morning.

...
Me: So is the number you gave me to charter or to your call center manager?

Sheila: All calls are routed to the contact center. The representative who will answer your call will directly transfer you to a supervisor.

Me: OK. Well I guess you can't help me any further, other than noting on my account that I attempted to pay you (again) and that my payment was unable to be processed.

Me: So will I get another robo-call? Will my cable service be "affected"?

Me: Due to a failure of your center's payment processing - again, not my fault.

Me: for the 2nd time!

Sheila: Once again I do apologize for the inconvenience. I do hope this will be taken care of the soonest possible time. I already made the notation. Once we received the payment by tomorrow, there will be no more calls. No, your services will not be affected.

Me: Hell, Charter should be paying me. I've gone out of my way now TWICE to try to give them my money and they won't take it.

Sheila: Yes, I also included on the notes the credit for the inconvenience on your part.

Me: Well, thanks for trying. And thanks for listening to my rants. And thanks for helping me note what a lousy process Charter has in place for billing and what a lousy situation it places its call center reps in.

Me: So seriously, thank you. Have a good night.

Sheila: You're very much welcome and it's a pleasure to serve you.

THANKS FOR NOTHING CHARTER!!!!!!!!!

 

I've ranted on here several times of my disgust for that company. They have a cable monopoly in my area -- so I have DirecTV. They have a cable internet monopoly, though, and no DSL (fucking AT&T doesn't service this area -- if they did, I'd be their first customer), so I'm stuck with Charter for internet.

There have been stories in the local metro about all the complaints filed against Charter, and how the BBB published some kind of warning against them regarding all the customer support complaints they're received about Charter.

 

I went round and round and round with Charter for well over a year because they thought I had a cable box that I hadn't returned. (I had had my sister drop it off, and I can only assume it never got checked in.) Even after I got them to acknowledge that they had the box, and that I didn't owe them $300, and that in fact they owed me $70, I still spent endless amounts of time trying to get the collection taken off my credit report. I put the fear of God in one call center manager, whose name may well have been Sheila. A company I will go out of my way never to do business with again.

 

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=2700001&CMP=KNC-PG-Google&HBX_PK=directv&HBX_OU=50

 

Comcast isn't much better.

 

No, DirecTV can fuck themselves with a rusty spoon, too. I tried getting new service; it was a two-week wait. I understand that part, then I called back and asked if I could add HD/DVR, for which I was willing to pay $200. They said in order to do that I had to cancel my order and start over, pushing back my install date another two weeks. Fuck that noise.

 

I have been going round and round since May with Charter on my internet dropouts and now problems with my TV signal.
Dispatch keeps sending technicians out to my house, who all say the problem is in the line and they can't fix it. It needs a followup that never comes, so I call again.
As I told the call-center supervisor today, it's like "Groundhog Day" because the dispatchers forget the problem each time.
I am on a first name basis with three technicians and have had call-center reps gasp when they see my account history.
Fuck Charter... I thought my head was going to explode at 10 today when the internet dropouts started...nothing prolonged, but enough to piss me off.

 

Yeah, here's another fuck Charter. They tried pulling the same autopay bullshit they did with you. I told them if they called me again, I would be sending them my phone bill and canceling my service and expecting a full refund. Made up some legalese and told them it was illegal to harass me, which finally straightened their asses out.

One note, watch your bank statements. At one point, they decided to add the starz and hbo superpack for me, which made me bounce a few checks. I got the money, but it was another big pain in the ass.

 

Thank God I have Direct TV and Bellsouth DSL.