Something needs to be done about cable companies ripping people off with tier services. I pay extra to get "up to" 5Mbps through RCN only to find out that it's not even close ie 1.5Mbps at best and .8Mbps average which is lesser than their lower tier. A tech was sent out after I'd spent hours on the phone (with customer support in some far away country) who was nice but basically knew that I was SOL and that RCN wouldn't do a thing about the service.

People should get more than half of what they pay for with this type of service, saying "up to" whatever speed means the company doesn't even have to try and deliver and like many others I'm tired of being ripped off by this practice.

I'm not sure even where to begin but just want to be sure my opinion of this absolutely awful customer service is logged onto the web somewhere. I had called in the beginning of July to request a shut off date of 7/31 because I was moving.

I came home on 7/17 to no channels above 11. Called the technical support # on my bill & was told that I had no cable because of a pending work order for termination & I needed to call billing in the morning because they may have terminated it early in error.

I called billing in the morning & was told that my acct looked fine, I'd need to call technical support. I called technical support again & spk with someone who went thru LOTS of different steps to try to correct my issue. From unplugging everything, making sure things are "tight", holding my power button for 5 seconds, waiting for it to turn on & off (which it never did) sending a signal to my box, then sending "the strongest signal" to my box which could take 15 minutes to 2 hours to work. I'd have to call back in 2 hours if it didn't' work & start the explanation process all over again. Oh & by the way, once we tried all her special tricks I ended up with no channels at all never mind only 11. She also told me that "they removed the most important part of your package. The premium channels" I explained nothing should have been removed & this was an error. She rudely came back at me stating she could put it back for a $48 activation fee. She said I'd need to speak with billing about the fee if I didn't agree but there'd be a charge. I then called billing & was told that this person did see something on my acct not the premium issue but that I was on the recent "crush list." (a list of people with analog boxes, which I did not have) She said "you were part of the crush, but shouldn't have been part of the crush, but actually haven't been crushed yet.

I'll email the team handling this." She couldn't give me a timeframe that I'd have my cable back on. Since this was 7/18 (no cable for 2 days already)and I was scheduled to move & end service on the 31st anyway, I then asked to terminate service effective immediately instead as it wasn't worth waiting to see when they could fix it. I then had to speak w/"Darla" in the termination dept who was really helpful & understanding. She said she'd "end the billing as of 7/18 & then put in a backdated adjustment for 2 days back to the 16th." She told me to return the equipment asap so there'd be no problems receiving credit. She gave me her # & I forgot to write down her extension. BIG MISTAKE! Returned everything the next day, Saturday.

Received 2 more bills after this even though I had already paid thru 7/20 before any of this even happened. I called today & was told to speak with billing. The billing rep couldn't do anything for me because I "was being billed still because there is a 10 notice required for service termination requests" so when asking for a supervisor she said she'd call her "lead billing team" After another lovely lengthy hold came back to tell me that they'll credit my acct $23 which will go back to 7/19 the date that I returned my equipment. "Leaving a balance of $23." Not understanding how I could have a balance due & was not due back $, I had to ask for a supervisor. "Only 2 were taking calls so it will be a long hold." After quite sometime then got the rudest person yet. She claimed to "not be stupid" and "when she was able to read notes that matched what I was saying she'd then be able to help me" "You've already received a lot of credit. They even credited you for your prorated month 7/28-8/20"

She kept saying there was "no call on 7/16"...I know this but she couldn't get past that to even understand the problem that existed. I asked for her supervisor's name..."we don't give that information out." After rattling off rude, attitude filled remarks and comments she then was angry enough to give in & "get another supervisor because we really aren't going to get anywhere with this." I then spk to Moe the "lead supervisor" who was helpful. He calculated what 3 days of service would be & rounded up to give me "a $5 credit onto my account bringing my balance to..." YEP!! Still not understanding I've already paid thru 7/20, no service as of 7/16 & still owe $????? It REALLY doesn't take a genius here!!

Finally, he realized my point & took additional time to review further & came back advising that he "brought the account to zero and cleared the balance due." Mind you I still paid 4 days of service that I didn't have! Yes it adds up to be a small amount of $ but its more the principle. AND never mind the minutes used making all these calls!! I spent well over 4 hours all together. Just today & the 18th's calls took over 3 hrs!

THIS IS THE WORST SERVICE I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED!!! I WILL PAY THE EXTRA $ & BE SWITCHING TO COMCAST.

I'm not sure even where to begin but just want to be sure my opinion of this absolutely awful customer service is logged onto the web somewhere. I had called in the beginning of July to request a shut off date of 7/31 because I was moving.
I came home on 7/17 to no channels above 11. Called the technical support # on my bill & was told that I had no cable because of a pending work order for termination & I needed to call billing in the morning because they may have terminated it early in error.


I called billing in the morning & was told that my acct looked fine, I'd need to call technical support. I called technical support again & spk with someone who went thru LOTS of different steps to try to correct my issue. From unplugging everything, making sure things are "tight", holding my power button for 5 seconds, waiting for it to turn on & off (which it never did) sending a signal to my box, then sending "the strongest signal" to my box which could take 15 minutes to 2 hours to work. I'd have to call back in 2 hours if it didn't' work & start the explanation process all over again. Oh & by the way, once we tried all her special tricks I ended up with no channels at all never mind only 11. She also told me that "they removed the most important part of your package. The premium channels" I explained nothing should have been removed & this was an error. She rudely came back at me stating she could put it back for a $48 activation fee. She said I'd need to speak with billing about the fee if I didn't agree but there'd be a charge. I then called billing & was told that this person did see something on my acct not the premium issue but that I was on the recent "crush list." (a list of people with analog boxes, which I did not have) She said "you were part of the crush, but shouldn't have been part of the crush, but actually haven't been crushed yet.
I'll email the team handling this." She couldn't give me a timeframe that I'd have my cable back on. Since this was 7/18 (no cable for 2 days already)and I was scheduled to move & end service on the 31st anyway, I then asked to terminate service effective immediately instead as it wasn't worth waiting to see when they could fix it. I then had to speak w/"Darla" in the termination dept who was really helpful & understanding. She said she'd "end the billing as of 7/18 & then put in a backdated adjustment for 2 days back to the 16th." She told me to return the equipment asap so there'd be no problems receiving credit. She gave me her # & I forgot to write down her extension. BIG MISTAKE! Returned everything the next day, Saturday.
Received 2 more bills after this even though I had already paid thru 7/20 before any of this even happened. I called today & was told to speak with billing. The billing rep couldn't do anything for me because I "was being billed still because there is a 10 notice required for service termination requests" so when asking for a supervisor she said she'd call her "lead billing team" After another lovely lengthy hold came back to tell me that they'll credit my acct $23 which will go back to 7/19 the date that I returned my equipment. "Leaving a balance of $23." Not understanding how I could have a balance due & was not due back $, I had to ask for a supervisor. "Only 2 were taking calls so it will be a long hold." After quite sometime then got the rudest person yet. She claimed to "not be stupid" and "when she was able to read notes that matched what I was saying she'd then be able to help me" "You've already received a lot of credit. They even credited you for your prorated month 7/28-8/20"
She kept saying there was "no call on 7/16"...I know this but she couldn't get past that to even understand the problem that existed. I asked for her supervisor's name..."we don't give that information out." After rattling off rude, attitude filled remarks and comments she then was angry enough to give in & "get another supervisor because we really aren't going to get anywhere with this." I then spk to Moe the "lead supervisor" who was helpful. He calculated what 3 days of service would be & rounded up to give me "a $5 credit onto my account bringing my balance to..." YEP!! Still not understanding I've already paid thru 7/20, no service as of 7/16 & still owe $????? It REALLY doesn't take a genius here!!
Finally, he realized my point & took additional time to review further & came back advising that he "brought the account to zero and cleared the balance due." Mind you I still paid 4 days of service that I didn't have! Yes it adds up to be a small amount of $ but its more the principle. AND never mind the minutes used making all these calls!! I spent well over 4 hours all together. Just today & the 18th's calls took over 3 hrs!

THIS IS THE WORST SERVICE I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED!!! I WILL PAY THE EXTRA $ & BE SWITCHING TO COMCAST!

Today, the trend is to shout from the highest mountain that you are 'service oriented', but rarely follow through on actual service. No company epitomizes this more than RCN.

Here is my most recent (and final) experience with RCN. It contains a price hike, two service outages, and a complete disregard for the needs of the customer. See if you agree.

I received a bill that had an increase- the third in three months. I called RCN to inquire. The said the price increase was nationwide and due to 'cable programming costs'. I kindly let them know I did not have their cable service, only internet (I cancelled the cable service through another bad experience over a year before). The representative had no facts to offer, only his blanket statement and left me with that.

After the rate increase, I experienced two outages in my internet service in two weeks. Now, an internet outage is not life or death, but I do work from home, manage my bills, and my family enjoys internet activity so there is some real impact to our lifestyle, for what it is worth. The first outage was due to some problem with the local equipment and they had it on file. I was never offered any consideration or rebate, but again, it is not life or death, so I did not give it much more thought at the time.

The second outage they had no explanation and told me a service technician would have to come out and replace the router. Fine, I said. He could be out six days from then, they said. I asked why it was so long and they said there were not have any appointments earlier than that for service.

I hung up and thought about this. On a hunch, I told my wife I would call back and see how quickly I could have a new service installed. The response from RCN was that they could be out the next day.

I called the only competitor and had them come out the next day to install their service. Now, I do not expect, in reality, that they are going to be any better. We only have two providers and there is no reason either one would have to offer real service in any event. I am not naive anymore. But I was so insulted by the service provided by RCN, I made my resolve to switch then and there.

I called RCN back and told them to change the service appointment to a cancellation. 'I can terminate the maintenance appointment,' the representative said', 'but Ill have to transfer you to arrange the cancellation.' So I was transferred. I saved the reader some detail here, but after being transferred, I had to repeat my state, zip, address, name, and password for the third time.

Then the cancellation representative kindly told me he was sorry for all the problems I had and offered me a free month of service. When I declined, he then told me where I could drive to drop off the equipment.

Drop off the equipment? I told him I was not driving anything anywhere. When the technician came to disconnect the service I would gladly hand the box over to him. 'Well, the technicians are used just for maintenance, they can't pick up boxes,' was the reply. I thought that was unbelievable and said, fine, send me a mailing box and Ill ship it out. 'Okay, that will be $25. Or we can send someone to pick it up and that will be $50.'

I kindly told him that the box would sit here for 100 years and I will never drive it to their center. I will never pay for it to be returned. I did not know if it was in my contract, but thought that was ludicrous. He could do what he wanted. He kindly gave me the address anyway in case I changed my mind. By the way, the drop off center is in the worst neighborhood you can imagine. The last time I was there, I was almost mugged (no exaggeration).

After a rate increase, two outages, delayed maintenance, and the final insult of returning their own equipment to them, I hope RCN is not long for this world. I absolutely hate this company and I do not think 'hate' is too strong a word. From top to bottom, they are the farthest thing from 'service oriented' I have ever experienced.

Buyers beware!

Oh, I also forgot- since the maintenance request turned to a cancellation, they couldn't be out for another week after the original appointment, so I am sure I will be billed for that extra week of 'service' as well.