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 How to Lose A Customer Before You Even Have A Customer
Posted Wed October 1, 2008 2:16 am, by M M. written to Charter Communications
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I am a new resident in Nevada and recently closed on a home in an established community. I was calling providers in order to set up services today, and Charter was one of the providers I contacted.
I was researching cable TV and internet options and found that Charter was offering a great bundle deal for $99. which included phone, internet, and cable for that price. I placed an order on the website for the bundle early this morning. The order needed to be confirmed by a live human being, so I had to wait for the customer service center to open before I called to set up installation.
I called Charter at 866-974-5046 at around 9AM PST to confirm the order. I spoke with Melinda, who insisted that the package I ordered was not $99 but $104. I asked her if the difference in pricing was due to tax. She said she didn't know. She kept clicking on things on the Charter website to try and get my bundle to come up at $99 but she couldn't do it. She kept on insisting that there was no way my package could have been $99.
Melinda did verify that Charter could provide service to my address but she could not get the price to match. After unsuccessfully finding the correct price/bundle, she told me she had to put me on hold and she disappeared. For 10 minutes. I was calling Charter from my cell phone, and those minutes cost me money. She never checked back with me and I had no idea if I was lost, forgotten, or disconnected. So I hung up.
I got back to our temporary housing and decided it might be wiser to do live chat, so I could cut and paste the conversation into e-mail and save it for my records. I spoke with Justin G. this time. Justin was able to verify the pricing of $99., but then he insisted that Charter does not provide service to my area. I explained to him that my home is the model home in the middle of a development of 50+ homes that have been there for the past two years, and I think there is an excellent chance that at least 1 of those homes already has cable TV provided by Charter. He said he could not find my street and that in order to get service I'd have to have a servicability survey run which would take 5-7 business days before they'd even set my appointment for installation. I then asked him why the system took my order and why the first person I spoke with told me they DID service my address - he then told me I must have given him or them the wrong information!
Deciding no good end could come from this argument, I ended my conversation with Charter and went on to pack up things for the final move and in between packing, I researched other providers.
I went to the Charter site this evening to cancel the online order. The rep I spoke with (Erica) said the order was never confirmed but that the serviceability report will still be processed and someone will contact me within 5-7 business days. I told her not to have any one call me and I hope no one calls. I cancelled the order, and I'm done.
Because of the service before I even initiated an account with Charter, I have opted to choose another service provider.
What would I like Charter to do? I think it would be nice if the people working at Charter could provide consistent information to their customers. I called and spoke with 3 different people today and was given different information each time. It would be lovely if telephone etiquette could be taught to persons leaving customers on hold - checking back to say "I'm still working on the issue" would be helpful and would alleviate the "Have I been disconnected?" question on the customer's end.
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