Charter Communications: It started with porn and went down from there...

As followers of my blog know, we had cable modem, phone and cable TV at our cottage this past summer. It allowed us to stay connected, and to allow Deirdre to work remotely for a few weeks during the summer. Deirdre and I got a good laugh when the Charter installation technicians showed up last April to install the XXX Porn Package. We ordered the Triple Play Package (cable modem, phone and HD TV) not the XXX Porn Package. This was eventually sorted out, and we got the connectivity we wanted... with no porn. We had access from mid-April until last Friday when we were forced to turn in all of our equipment and close our account with Charter.

We had what was known as a "seasonal account," meaning it would only be active a few months out of the year. We were hoping to keep our equipment and have our account placed into an inactive state until we needed access again in the Spring of 2012. For this privilege, the only option Charter offered us was a $45/month maintenance fee to allow us to keep our account open, but with no access.

We were incredulous. We asked the person at the Charter office in Oscoda is were we hearing her correctly and she said that this was the best that she could do and that it would be cheaper for us to discontinue our service and have it reconnected next April. We said to her that for a nominal fee, say $10 or $15 we would be happy to keep our account open but with no access, and she said that the cost to keep our account open without access was $45... take it or leave it. We left it.

I also find it ironic that the e-mail address that Charter uses to address customer service issues is "Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com." Really?

Below is a stream of communications between Deirdre and Charter. Start from the bottom and read up. Amazing.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Umatter2Charter <Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com>

Date: Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 1:05 PM
Subject: RE: CharterAbby - Blog - www.thehrmaven.com
To: Deirdre Honner , Umatter2Charter <Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com>

Good afternoon,

We’re sorry you feel as if you aren’t receiving the assistance required to address your concerns.

We’ve escalated the behavior of our agent to local management, any course of action taken will be according to our guidelines and will be addressed internally. Unfortunately we aren’t able to share the outcome of that engagement.

Also, seasonal rates are indeed available for the area in which you previously held services. It was our impression that you were unhappy with the $45 rate you were quoted in order to keep services at that residence while you were away; are we incorrect?

In reference to those rates, once again we appreciate your input, and please know that we make every effort to offer a competitive rate for our subscribers. Our goal is to provide the best possible customer experience. We strive to accomplish that by providing excellent service, and competitive pricing. We understand completely that you felt the seasonal rate was too high, and that $10 per month would have been more appropriate, unfortunately we cannot accommodate that rate.

We regret losing you as a subscriber and sincerely appreciate your comments and feedback.

What specifically are we failing to address for you and how would you like to see this resolved?

Thank you,

chartersigfinal">

Steve Creameans | Social Media Specialist |

941 Charter Commons Drive, Town & Country, MO 63017

From: Deirdre Honner
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 11:45 AM

- Hide quoted text -

To: Umatter2Charter
Subject: Re: CharterAbby - Blog - www.thehrmaven.com

- Hide quoted text -

Steve,

This in my line of work is what I consider to be a dismissive communication. You are focusing on one person's behavior when it is a larger issue. And you are telling me that there is nothing more that you can do.

You have done nothing to address the issues that I have raised and I would like more answers than an apology.

If no one from your team is going to answer the questions, tell me who can and I will follow up with him/her. .

Thank you.

Deirdre Honner

On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 12:33 PM, Umatter2Charter <Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com> wrote:

Hello Deirdre,

We have received confirmation from our escalation contact at the main office that the agent has been identified and this behavior is being addressed. They also mirrored our opinion that this is not the impression we wish to impose upon our subscribers regardless of the type of day our team members are having.

Once again we sincerely appreciate you bringing this to our attention and apologize for the poor experience you had.

If we can be of further assistance please feel free to contact us.

chartersigfinal">

Steve Creameans | Social Media Specialist |

941 Charter Commons Drive, Town & Country, MO 63017

From: Deirdre Honner
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 7:30 PM

To: Umatter2Charter
Subject: Re: CharterAbby - Blog - www.thehrmaven.com

Thanks Steve,

Can you let me know will be following up with me?

Thanks for your help.

Deirdre Honner

On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 8:19 PM, Umatter2Charter <Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com> wrote:

Good evening Deirdre,

Once again we appreciate your comments and feedback and wish we could have handled this situation in a manner that would have been more statisfactory.

We understand completely your feelings and not wanting to pay too much to maintain seasonal service at this address and appreciate your feedback. We also feel that our behavior during your visit to our local office is unacceptable and we could have done better in front of our subscribers.

Please rest assured that we are a corporate escalations group and all of your concerns will be addressed accordingly. If we can help with anything in the future please feel free to contact us.

Thank you,

Steve Creameans | Social Media Specialist |

941 Charter Commons Drive, Town & Country, MO 63017

From: Deirdre Honner
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 6:03 PM
To: Umatter2Charter
Subject: Re: CharterAbby - Blog - www.thehrmaven.com

George,

I appreciate your note. I believe that you have missed some key points of my email.

I am only up in Oscoda between April and September. You have no "seasonal" options. There is nothing to win me back to. I don't need service again until April.

I am no longer a customer because of the options presented to me by Charter. Either pay $45/mos for no service or cancel my account. At the advice of YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE representative, I cancelled my account.

These issues are a result of poor policies and even poorer practices. They are systemic and I believe need to be changed with input from a wider audience.

i would like to know who may be the person to talk to about these issues.

Oh and my account phone number was (989)305-6484.

Thanks for your help.

Deirdre Honner

On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 6:02 PM, Umatter2Charter <Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com> wrote:

Good afternoon Deirdre,

Abby is out of the office today but we definitely wanted to say thank you for your feedback. I wish we could have assisted prior to getting to the point at which we are at now. Is there anything that we can do to keep you as a customer?

Thank You,

George H. Vick Jr. | Senior Social Media Specialist

941 Charter Commons Drive, Town & Country, MO 63017

From: Deirdre Honner
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 12:13 PM
To: Umatter2Charter
Subject: CharterAbby - Blog - www.thehrmaven.com

Charter team members and Abbey too, if you are reading,

Thank you for the follow up to my blogpost, "Charter got it all wrong, starting with the porn." Unfortunately, everything in that blog post is true. The sad part is that there is even more that went wrong with our relationship.

The installation of the XXX package, while funny, took a while to work through. When I initially set up the account, I made sure to let the customer service support staff know that this is a second home, a cottage and I DO NOT RECEIVE MAIL THERE. I don't have a mailbox.

They (whoever set up my account) put my cottage address down as the billing address down. And because initially I didn't have the super secret password/account information that comes IN THE MAIL, I seriously, honest to goodness, COULD NOT CORRECT MY BILLING ADDRESS. I couldn't update my account. I COULDN'T PAY YOU.

That is insane. Really crazy.

This resulted in past due invoices. I really wanted to pay you. You just wouldn't let me. It took me 5 hours to sort out the mess. Discovering then that the original price quote was no longer being honored and resulted in a $30/month increase. This is of course AFTER everything is installed an working.

I will also mention that I visited the Charter office in Oscoda. It is clear that while technically competent, the office staff are not overly happy to have customers walk in. A UPS man showed up for a deliver at 12:30 on Friday, September 9. During an exchange of pleasantries, the UPS man asked Charter c/s person how her day was going. She replied, in front of all the customers, "come back and ask me that at 5:30." She also mentioned that Friday was her second favorite day of the week, behind Saturday. Now all this conversation could easily be an upbeat, warm exchange between two people who know each other well. Only it wasn't. The representative was sharp in tone, made no eye contact with the UPS person, and left absolutely no doubt at all that she couldn't have been more serious.

All I really wanted to do was dump my hardware and get out of that office.

I differentiate employees this way - people and companies who look for ways to say YES and people and companies who look for ways to say NO. Your Oscoda C/S representative definitely came across as the later. If your staff there represents the rest of Charter, then you have a leadership issue. If not, then you have a personnel issue. Either way, I walked away from that exchange hoping for AT & T to be able to offer me service next year.

And lastly, we are seasonals. We are up in the Oscoda area from April until October. To keep Charter connected would have cost me $45/mos for NO SERVICE. Seriously what is that? It's just stupid. For $10/mos I would have paid it, to keep my account from going dormant. But instead, you priced it so that I would say no. Because you are the only deal in town and get to call the shots.

The absolutely worst part for me is this: the technical service was phenomenal. The cable, the phone and the internet connection worked like a dream. It's your people, your antiquated rules, and your business model that are getting in your way.

I would LOVE to be a part of the solution ... though this is systemic and integrated and probably much more than you are able to take on. Let me know if you have any questions.

Deirdre Honner