Charter Internet Charter Communications Charter Internet Stole My Money Sales Bait and Switch Madison, Wisconsin

27th of Feb, 2013 by User623442

Charter Internet Stole My Money. Now I understand why Ripoff Report exists - because now I have been "ripped off"by Charter Internet/ Charter Communications and want you to know about it. I have been a Charter customer for over two years for both high speed internet and telephone/landline service. In Dec 2012 I had a review of my account and found they finally had a much faster speed internet package available for about 40. more per month. It would be worth it I thought as I work from home mostly so always want the fastest speed available. In the sales call I was told this speed internet package required me to pay a 99.99 one-time installation fee - we discussed that two or 3 times in the call, and I HAVE NOTES ON MY BILL I Saved from this conversation. I agreed. Sales rep got me an appointment for tech to come and work on the pole and etc. Sales rep ALSO erroneously told me the tech would be "installing fiber optic line" to enable this upgrade. When I met the technician and told him about the FIBER OPTIC LINE and he laughed incredibly - and said that Charter does not even install fiber optic line- apparently this salesperson doesn't even know what they are selling. They did the work that took them perhaps 30 minutes. It worked. For about 30 minutes after they left. Then my internet went out. Completely. I had to call Charter back and have a tech return a couple days later and lo and behold it was a DEFECTIVE MODEM they gave me so they replaced it. Fine. Still I work AT HOME so image my DISTRESS at NOT being able to work at home for even a day or two on my UPGRADED SERVICE. I had to go elsewhere for wifi to do my work and it was a mess of inconvenience for me also personally. It also knocked my printer offline and then I had to sit on the phone with another rep from my printer company - TWICE because of Charter's defective modem. Lots of wasted time. But not the big issue. IMAGINE MY SURPRISE AT MY BILL a few weeks later when I see a 396.55 CHARGE TO MY CARD. There were all these other things like buying the router that I was not told about, ok those were "small" like 29.99 but the REAL ISSUE was the INSTALL was billed at 199.99 NOT 99.99 as I was told on the phone - it was TWICE THE PRICE QUOTED. I am NOT old NOT hard of hearing and WROTE DOWN THE INSTALL FEE ON MY CHARTER BILL after discussing it 2 or 3 times DURING THE SALES CALL. I called AGAIN and explained what I thought was their oversight and asked for an adjustment. Put on hold, supervisor, Rep came back "Mr Riser" and said "OK that adjustment was approved to what you were quoted on the phone as the price." I felt good and that this was fair because that was exactly what it should have been: 99.99 install, NOT 199.99. I told him I really appreciated Charter honoring what they quote in their sales calls. I wrote this down too that Mr Riser got me the proper adjustment to a 99.99 install fee as originally quoted in the sales call. Mr Riser also said he made NOTES IN MY ACCOUNT. I asked him to verify that yes NOTES WERE MADE IN MY ACCOUNT as to this adjustment. I asked for any more proof he could give me - "no that's all I can tell you and all that you need." IMAGINE MY SURPRISE AT MY BILL a few weeks later THAT THE FULL 396.55 CHARGE TO MY CARD WAS PUT THROUGH ANYWAY! I called a THIRD time TODAY and spoke to a rep and a supervisor rep Chuck. I told Chuck I was STARING AT MY NOTES FROM THE FIRST SALES CALL and also at my notes from the ADJUSTMENT CALL that it was NOT POSSIBLE I misheard the sales rep say "99" instead of "199" as I am NOT old or hard of hearing, made notes, and I WOULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT IT FOR 199 AS I CANNOT AFFORD THAT RIGHT NOW- despite that I'm on auto bill with Charter so they sure got their money. To add insult to injury, the "highest speed" they have now DOES NOT SEEM ANY BETTER than what I had before. I considered having them downgrade me back to what I had, but 1. I don't want another service call that I have to let them into my house a THIRD TIME for something that was caused by their sales rep's incompetence, and 2. it seems every time a tech comes here and touches the cable or my laptop or the router, something else always goes down requiring more of my time to figure it out, like a peripheral such as a printer, and I don't have this kind of time to waste. SO MY VIEW IS THAT CHARTER STOLE 100.00 FROM ME FROM QUOTING ME 99.99 FOR AN INSTALL THAT WAS BILLED AT 199.99 DESPITE MULTIPLE QUOTES VERBALLY AS TO THE 99.99 PRICE AND THE CUSTOMER'S NOTES AS TO SUCH DURING 1. THE SALES CALL AND 2. THE ADJUSTMENT/COMPLAINT CALL. They were NOT even willing to give me any "partial adjustment" for my time and inconvenience in having to call multiple times and that I was ASSURED this was taken care of in the ADJUSTMENT CALL, and I now see Charter as a company that does not conduct fair business dealings. They CERTAINLY do NOT work by the motto "the customer is always right!!!" Not by a long shot!! If there were another ISP provider here, I would switch TODAY that is how unfair this is. But there isn't, they have a monopoly on this area, so I have no choice. I just don't want them back in my house, back on my computer, switching anything around again that will just cost me more time and lost money. so they win: CHARTER STOLE MY 100.00. All I can suggest is if you buy service from them, maybe WASTE MORE OF YOUR TIME and call them BACK the second day after the quote and ask for the quote to be verified so you are not SURPRISED by a higher actual cost. I'm on to the Better Business Bureau NEXT. Thanks, Charter.

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