Adventures In Obtaining Decent Internet Service (Part 2)
Time for part 2.
On Friday, I called Charter Cable, quickly got someone in the sales department (amazing considering I had to deal with Charter’s IVR), and started my Charter Cable inquiry with a patented “I’m a soon-to-be-former AT&T DSL customer. Can you offer me a deal on Charter Cable?” The rep responded with a seemingly sincere “I’m so glad to hear that!” before attempting to ask me questions geared towards figuring out which package was ‘best’ for me.
I already knew that Charter’s 5/1 plan was good enough for me, so I quickly interrupted her and told her which package I wanted. The rep verified that the plan was $29.99/month with an additional $3/month fee for the cable modem rental. I then asked if there was any way I could simply give a tech my modem MAC address—a SURFBoard 5101 which I knew would work with Charter—and get online immediately; I was able to do this back in my Adelphia days. The rep explained that this was not possible; I had to allow a tech to come and hook up the cable modem. Fine, I thought. I told the rep I’d call back later to put in an order for the 5/1 plan.
A few minutes later, I called back, and Charter’s IVR wouldn’t cooperate. I got transferred to some random drone who, despite my pleads, would not transfer me to someone in sales. I again asked for a deal on Charter Cable; this time, I forgot to lead with the patented “I’m a soon-to-be-former AT&T DSL customer” line. The rep explained that the only deals she could offer me were $44.99 a month for 5/1 and $54.99 a month for 10/1. Huh? What happened to the $29.99 offer for 5/1? “Well, I can only go by what the computer gives me, and the computer won’t give me $29.99 for that plan.”
I asked her to transfer me to someone in the sales department, and the rep refused! I quickly hung up on her, called back, and managed to successfully navigate the IVR again to a person in sales. Again, I asked about the 5/1 plan, and the rep offered me the $29.99 price again, but only for six months. Six months? The first rep never mentioned anything about a six-month term (although, as Krunk pointed out, she also didn’t say that the $29.99 plan wasn’t a promotional rate). I quickly navigated to charter.com, looked at the price of the 5/1 plan—$29.99 a month for up to 12 months—and realized immediately that “six months” = “up to 12 months.” Fine. Almost defeated, I accepted the terms, and that’s when the rep snuck in this haymaker: “There will also be a $49.99 installation fee, which you won’t have to pay immediately, but it will appear on your next bill.”
Wait a freaking second. “A $49.99 installation fee?”, I inquired, to which I got this utterly astounding reply: “Yes sir. You don’t expect us to send a tech out and not pay him, do you?” Before I could pick my jaw off the floor and respond, the tech continued, “You know what? I could reduce the cost of the installation fee, but only if you sign up for Charter Phone!” I responded with a simple “No thank you,” and before the rep could ask me if I still wanted to go through with the Internet order, I hung up on her.
So you might have guessed by now that I was absolutely livid by what had happened to this point. I then realized that my best option appeared to be sticking with AT&T DSL and my Christmas tree-like DSL modem. That’s when I decided to go with the Hail Mary equivalent of customer service: Live Chat.
(cue ultra-dramatic music)
Figuring that I had nothing else to lose, with the exception of a few minutes and the last bits of my sanity, I logged on to Charter’s Live Chat and began praying. A rep named “Annyvette” logged on and, after verifying some information, asked me why I was only a customer of Charter Digital TV and not Phone and Internet too.
(After what I went through today, Charter should be lucky that we’re still a customer, period.)
I politely explained that I was only interested in adding Internet service and told the rep that I wanted 5/1 service. After trying to rent me a modem, and then a wireless gateway, the rep then sent me this:
Did you prefer to send tech to your home to install the internet or would you prefer to do a self installation? The tech installation is $49.99, and will be billed to you on your upcoming bill. Which mistranslation [sic] option did you prefer to set up with?
Wha??? Self-installation??? That first rep lied to me about not having a self-installation option!!!
Five minutes later, the order was put through, and I was chatting with an Internet support rep, getting my modem provisioned. I was up and running a bit later.
Happy ending, right? Not so fast. ONE STINKING DAY after I was up and running with Charter, I had to reboot my modem. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
Hello!
My name is Eric Ketzer, and I am a Manager with Charter Communications. I am very sorry to hear about all the confusion on the phone, and I definitely want to speak to the Agents that spoke to you to ensure they understand our Policies and Procedures. If you are an existing Cable customer, you can absolutely do a self-install for High-Speed Internet, and I am terribly sorry it took an eChat for you to get that information. As far as the $29.99, the Agents were correct. That is a promotional rate; however, we do offer a Price Guarantee option which would lock that rate for 24 months. That might be something you can look into towards the end of your 6 months.
If you do have any additional questions or concerns about your rates or your services, please send them to Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com, and we will take care of you.
Thanks, Eric
This is exactly what happened to us when we tried to set up service with charter here at our new apt in washington!!! only our tech installation was $80 and they said it had to be cash. that reeks of a scam no? yeah our first we we had to reboot the modem like 4 or 5 times.
*our first week we had
Eric,
Thanks for the information, but I really don’t want to be locked in to any contract whatsoever.
I suppose I may not have made it perfectly clear in this blog entry that I am, indeed, an existing Charter Cable customer, but that fact was obviously known by each of the reps that I spoke to.
Amy,
Hey! How’s life?
$80 cash for an installation? That sounds pretty darn scammy. Maybe you could get in touch with Mr. Ketzer as well at that email address listed above.
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