My experience with charter communications has been a nightmare!

I have been trying to establish communication services with charter for three weeks, to include Cable TV, Phone, & Internet. The following list is a brief summary of some of the problems I have encountered.

-I was told I would get basic & expanded basic cable TV, Internet, and phone (with free long distance) for $69 per month for a year. This was confirmed several times in the process of contacting charter. After several services were installed, I was then told the price would be in the $130 range, which was $60! more than I had been told and had confirmed on several occasions.

-I was told I could get three outlets installed (one with a digital box) for the basic installation charge and so I ordered three outlets. The installer/contractor who showed up for the installation of the cable TV said he had a work order to install only one outlet. I told him what I had ordered and what I needed and he acted as if I was doing him wrong, he stated he would need $10 per outlet for the "additional" outlets and required a $60 deposit no matter how many he installed. I was never told I would have to pay a deposit to the cable TV installer(I had already paid an $80 & $30 deposit during the first installation appointment, in which charter reps installed the internet and phone). I went ahead and paid the $60 deposit and had one TV connected.

-Following the initial mess up with the two additional outlets that were to be installed, charter cancelled/missed two more Saturday appointments (after I waited most of the service call time frame!) due to some incomplete or incorrect order status? I had confirmed each of these appointments and the order details several times, including on the day of scheduled installation!

-During the last botched up Saturday appointment to install the two outlets (and a DVR), the Charter reps that showed up stated their work order did not mention the two outlets and that the DVR I ordered was not available. One of the reps stated that the DVR he had been given was better than the one I ordered (it was called “moxi box”?); I informed him that I did not want a different, heavier, and hotter running box. I had no room for it on top of my TV (where it would just fall off and break, or worst yet - injure someone) and my entertainment set up did not support the connections available on this moxi box. They couldn’t hook it up, so they left without doing anything.

-All three of my services have been out for 1-3 hours for 9 consecutive days.

-I was told I would be called back a minimum of 3 times and yet never received a call back for the problems mentioned here in this letter. The very last rep on 09/13/08 did call me back – but was unable to do much of anything to make up for all the trouble I had been having. He managed to get another service appointment scheduled. The service guys who came out were unable to fix the problem.

-Much of this is included in charters own history of my account activity (as far as I have been informed by some of the charter reps I spoke to).

-I can only approximate the number of calls I had to place to charter during this ordeal, but would say that I made approximately 2 calls per day for a total of three weeks, which equals approximately 21 calls. I would round it up to at least 30 total calls and many of these were 30-60 minutes or longer in duration.

-I never once cursed, screamed, became belligerent, or expressed myself in anything but a reasonable manner though out this entire ordeal.

-5 weeks later my cable services are still going out and my bill is still screwed up.

I have sent a certified letter to the corporate head quarters and a version of this letter was included in a complaint to the Better Business Bureau.