This is a new one for me.....
I have been having a most amusing time with Charter lately, since my last bill came in. They provide, in one easy statement , my Internet, cable, Tivo ( called Moxie ) telephone and long distance.
I could not help but noticing this month my bill had jumped about $40.
I noticed a charge for $12.33 cents for " a new movie channel " complete with partial month charge. Hmm..thinks I, I sure didn't add any movie channels. This is where is starts to get funny. ( DARN good thing my sense of humour is intact. )
I rang them up to discuss this event, and FINALLY got an actual person on the phone. ( note: very handy site www.gethuman.com/us , tells you the secret for avoiding voice system and getting a person )
The person spent quite a long time trying to figure out WHO I was and what my account was, and after some time, did say well, yes, you added another movie channel.
No, says I , I did not.
( more time goes by with much back and forth between us )
Finally he says, as if conferring a huge favour, ok, it was added in error, we will
take $10 off your bill.
Hmm..Says I, it seems to me that if you charge me $12.33 in error you will be taking off $12.33.
But the channel is only $10 says he.
WHY then am I charged $12.33, says I ????
( More back and forth )
Ok, says he, I'll take it all off, give me a break , it's Monday, I was just messing with you.
Huh????????
Ok says I, not to ruin your Monday, but my bill is the same every month $140 and with the $$12 in error off it is still quite a bit more than it ever has been. AH says he, your local taxes must have gone up...
By nearly $20???
Call# 2
( finally get a human )
Oh, I am cable repair, I will transfer you.
( HOW this happened I do not know .....)
Call# 3
Transfered to ( Indian accent and more back and forth ) No, sorry, not my department...
Call # 4
You wan HBO???? I get you HBO?? You wan HBO?????
I said, I am beginning to believe that it is Charters policy to intentionally de-fraud and deceive customers and that only those willing to put forth great amounts of time and effort are those that will receive a correct and accurate billing statement.
She said...You don want HBO??????
Stay tuned for further updates.....
I will leave you with a soothing picture of me and Venus tonight, as a little kitty is always good for keeping things in perspective....
Love and Not so Much Charter,
Lorraine
posted by FabulousLorraine @ 7:04 PM
19 Comments
19 Comments:
Note to the humour impaired:
I am not , in my last post , in any way mocking people from different cultures, and I completely respect all people, regardless of their command of the English language, but...
I do afirm my right to communicate with the company providing my services, and to be able to do so in the language of the country such services are provided in.
Just so we are clear.....
I'm so sorry, that sucks.
I know the horror and the agony that phone/cable/long-distance/etc are!!! I feel your pain.
Best advice: get their name and employee number in a friendly and courteous manner RIGHT FROM THE START then, once you are in the right department (not letting them transfer you until they get a person on the other line... NO MATTER WHAT) insist on talking to the manager!!! Get e-mail addresses... make them send you confirmation of the changes by e-mail and get an 'incident number'!!! (can you tell this subject gets under my skin)
Sorry. I know you know all of that. I know you are brilliant and much more experienced at talking to incalcitrant morons ... but I just had to say .. I HATE the way big companies treat people who are paying for their services. You go girl!!! Give 'em what for!!!
Even without the note, I knew that, you are a sweetie,
It just boggles my mind that they will mess with you in so blatent a manner!?!??? WHO buys this crap????
I may be left with no option but to switch providers, and will the next one be any better? And how many people are getting de-frauded?
( sorry for the soapbox..._)
On a happier note, just saw my Boss on the SCREAM Awards, he so rocks.....
ugh, I sympathize, I find it frustrating as all get out to attempt to explain a problem to a person whose accent is so thick I can't understand him/her. Really annoying! And the bills themselves are a pain to interpret - we just switched to verizon, and it is anything BUT straightforward. sigh. Hope you are able to get this resolved without too much headbanging. And to Malena, and Yogagal, and all others near those fires, pls stay safe, and hope your homes are ok and the weather becomes more favorable to help get this under control. (and a nod to the past post - best of luck on your new book Sharon! Congrats!)
Cable companies pay no attention to phone calls.
The way to get them to pay attention to letters is to send the letters to the state Public Services Commission.
As a last resort, write to their Legal Department using the term "Mail Fraud". They did send the bogus bill by US Mail, didn't they?
you are right, your boss soooooo rocks!!!
I am amazed at your poise. I would have smashed the telephone on the opposite wall by that time (and I am fairly sweet tempered) and thrown in a healthy dose of tantrum for good measure.
I do agree with you that, if you are looking for a service/help/support, it is extremely important that you should be able to clearly understand the person on the other end of the phone line (and they you).
Rubius advice seems the best in that matter.
yes, i always perservere for a HUMAN voice, and sometimes they almost beat me down.
go get em tiger!
and yes YES our Boss did a great job, didn't he???
it was a great night, and i mean, great.
they cut out the CBLDF shout out, but i know Charles will be ok, you know i loved the Star Trek tribute.
so, can we please oh please set a date in Jan for me to come sit in your hot tub>>>? i have to meet VENUS!
Charter? Oh, dear. You probably will want to sit down with a cup of something soothing and read through these . You've got company.
They don't know they are attempting to mess with the Fabulous Lorraine who has had lots of practice Getting Things Done, so I think they mess with you at their own peril.
You're sure one of the kitties didn't subscribe to the Cat Channel or somesuch while you were out, right?
Kitty - that area of the country in January? Ah, you crazy woman you! :-D
When I saw the post this morning I wanted to mail you this video to cheer you up. It is a must for all cat owners...
Ah Spacedlaw, thank you. That was cute and so terribly true. I especially liked the poke, poke, poke the face.
Best of luck with the horrid companies Lorraine. If anyone can get the better of them then YOU can.
I just want to add that if I had someone say to me 'it's Monday, I am just messing with you' I probably would have lost it right there. Lost it unto next week!!!
Thanks for the link to the other pissed off people and to the soothing video...Too true, too true....
I haven't got the courage up yet to call them back today. I was so very seriously un-impressed with this guy, telling me he would take $10 off a $12.33 fake charge and then saying he was messing with me?
Right.
Sigh. I will call them and report back.
Cable companies are the worst. The billing SNAFUs, the customer help line SNAFUs, yikes!
I got sick of it and started taking advantage of it a few years ago. Every other year or so I call the cable company over and over complaining about things, asking for free promotions, and changing services. Eventually I get my account so jacked that I get all of the movie channels free for 18 months or so. Neither Adelphia nor Comcast's systems seem to be able having overlapping promotions -- instead of expiring after six months of concurrency they seem to run serially and last thrice that.
Ack! Yet another reason why I don't have cable. I'm one of those odd people who doesn't watch tv enough to justify it.
Seriously though, what a gauntlet to have to get through just to resolve something. Rubius is exactly right about names/employee #'s/incident #'s/talking to the a cat when I was growing up that used to do all of that! (with the exception of the baseball bat;)
I miss my baby though. (My kitty passed last month after an illness.)
He was never so rude as to wake me like that..he'd just groom the top of my head til I woke up.
I'm so sorry about your kitty, Tuaregblue.
Danth, you are a miracle manth, but we knew that.
So sorry to read you lost your little furry friend, Tuaregblue.
Thanks for your kind words, rubius and spacedlaw.
:)
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