Opinion
Get it, Charter?
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Early last week we accepted a request from Charter Communications to meet with two of their representatives and were surprised when, upon their arrival, they had no agenda to speak of. Even more surprising was their plea of ignorance when we brought up the issue of Charter's unpopularity among University of Wisconsin students. It seems to us, after all, few other local companies generate as many horror stories as does Charter.
When asked what the company was doing to address issues regarding its low esteem with the student body, Tim Vowell, Charter's director of government relations, told us — with a straight face, no less — he was "not aware that [Charter is] 'unpopular' with students."
Even if Charter is unaware of its poor standing, it should, like any company dependent upon some degree of customer loyalty, be interested in feedback from its clientele. Despite claiming a customer satisfaction rating of 98 percent, which we find difficult to believe, Mr. Vowell told us Charter is indeed interested in hearing about students' technical and service problems. Yet when asked what, if any, outlet is available for unhappy students to voice their concerns, the best he could come up with was to "call 1-888-GET-CHARTER."
The current disconnect between Charter and its student subscribers is a disservice to both parties. To his credit, Mr. Vowell proposed a large-scale open forum on campus for students to voice their concerns with the company. That would be a good start. On behalf of the UW student body, we call on Charter to follow through.
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put BTN on expanded basic and maybe we can start mending fences.
I HATE Charter. Worst customer service ever - hands down. I cut them off as my internet provider in May 2006 - what an ordeal. I was paying $58 per month for internet alone.
I called to say I was canceling and the operator asked why. I said it was too expensive. She tried to argue with me about that, and when I refused to change my position that it was too expensive, she asked if they could keep my business by lowering my rate. FU Charter!
All of Charter’s upper-level people must be living in caves beside their customer service reps in India. When I had problems with their “easy” service transfer to my new apt, and told one of the managers all the problems I’ve had with Charter, he claimed that they’ve never heard of any problems coming from this area before!?!! Don’t even get me started on their half-witted service techs.
Charter is the worst company I have ever done business with. They are completely unresponsive and embody the worst stereotypes of cable companies. I share near-universal campus sentiment.
They have no incentive to change until we get real market competition. I’ll be the first to sign up elsewhere.
Teehee, those who serve the institution are ultimately corrupted by it!
For some helpful numbers and contact info on how to destroy Charter: http://wisc.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6806671356
Charter’s high-level management has absolutely no idea what kind of performance their company provides, and most likely never will. Any employee that even attempts to improve on the Charter wheel is fired quickly, and those that are left learned too late what the sweat shop was like, but out of fear and despiration have stayed. Morale and worth have disappeared from Charter employees but unfortunately many have families to care for and are stuck in a lose-lose situation where management is downright clueless how bad it really is. And it is their choice to remain that way.
Q: Where do Charter employees get their cable TV and internet service?
A: From a competitor.
WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER.
It’s not just Charter—Time Warner and Comcast suck just as much and are as big of rip-offs. Even if there was “competition”, it would be like the oil companies with the collusion keeping prices high and quality of service low. That’s what happens when “We the People” allow politicians of both parties to live off the bribes, er, campaign contributions, they get from corporations.
So, Charter told me my installation would be absolutely free and my service fee for internet would be 14.99 per month.
I received my first bill: $29.99 HSD Wire Installation, and $29.99 for one month of 3 meg internet.
Charter: Billing you quadruple since 1969.
“Q: Where do Charter employees get their cable TV and internet service?
A: From a competitor.”
False. It’s comped to employees. Why would they choose to pay for another service? Get your facts straight.
The PR people for the company make ignorant statements all the time - “We were unaware of any problem” - because they ARE ignorant of the situation. The biggest problem in big “communication” companies IS “communication. Within the company AND with the “outside world.” The people who KNOW about the customer service problems ARE the customer service problems. The low level schlubs who you talk to when you call 1-888-get-charter. Those people make “little” errors all the time and then you have to call and hold FOREVER - jumping from one menu to the next and asking 6 times to speak to a supervisor - to get to talk to someone who will actually FIX your problem. The Customer “Service” is, has been, and always will be a mess.
If you want to fix the problems, work for Charter in Customer Service and you can be the intellegent, courteous one who actually SOLVES peoples problems. AND you’ll get free cable (including the sports tier, where the BTN SHOULD be) and internet, so you won’t have to complain about being billed incorrectly.
On the other hand, I have to side with Charter on the Big Ten Network Issue. There’s too much crap on Basic Cable anyways and that’s not going to get any better by adding ANOTHER channel that MORE THAN HALF the country won’t care a lick about and even most Big Ten fans won’t watch when it’s not “their team” playing.
Be reasonable folks.