Charter put my family in danger!

Wow - exaggerate much?

This is ridiculous.

Well, let me see... You are asking for a month of free service...
Apparently, you don't have a cell phone to call 911 with... You are a
drama queen...And what does internet have to do with this? How could
you take a half-day off if you work from home?

and be taken seriously. I just love sarcasm, but when you pair it
with misspelling in a business letter it is really wrong.

The dispatch/repair service was wrong in how they acted. You put your
family in danger, if anyone. But is your family really in danger? $25
is reasonable.

BLATANT NEGLIGENCE? Come on now.

Since this seems to be the only provider in your area, I am surprised
you didn't write a more friendly, stick-to-the-facts letter. Then
maybe thwy would have stepped forward and offered more than you
deserve. As things stand I hope they get you connected and call you at
work or at home or wherever it is you work and let you know you are
out of danger.

Never rely on VoiP, cellular or anything else than a Plain Old
Telephone Service thru your wireline phone company for 911 service.
And even then, especially if you're in a new subdivision, contact your
local public safety communications center DURING BUSINESS HOURS on
their NON-EMERGENCY business phone (check your government pages) and
ask them to VERIFY YOUR ADDRESS in their CAD system.

I really like your letter but find a few issues a bit strange. The
need for compensation more than what was offered when no one at
Charter "strongarmed" you into taking off from work. All service
people usually need is a signature from someone over the age of
consent to let them in or sign any papers...so a family member,
friend, or neighbor could have filled in for you.
The issue of the phone service being cut off the next day could have
been dealt with another way... either have the service in place by
arranging payment, or start this whole process about a week or more
before the cutoff date.

This does NOT excuse or nullify in anyway that they neglected to show
up or notify you of the new service date (wonder how they explained
that one) nor the mistreatment you got on the phone. All that and more
I agree with you.... it was uncalled for.

As the others have said, VOIP is not dependable and some kind of
backup is needed...perhaps a prepaid cell phone just for emergencies.


I don't see how they put your family in possible peril but I do hope
you get some kind of speedy resolution for this issue.

honestly, you had a valid complaint. but you really didn't need to
throw anything into the letter about putting your families life in
danger. that is like me calling up work and saying,"i can't come in
today because my cat might choke on his food and die."

yes, something horrible may happen, but its very doubtful. but im
sure, as somebody else has said, you have neighbors who would gladly
let you use their phone to call 911.


everything else in your letter was fine. you had a right to be upset
for missing work to only have them not come out and do the work they
were supposed to.

all i would suggest, is next time...leave out the dramatics. it
really doesn't help your letter at all.

So your neighbors don't have phones that you can use?

You put your family in "danger" not Charter.

If you are truly concerned about safety and being prepared in the case
of an emergency, then VOIP is not the way to go. I've been in the
telecom industry for over 20 years and for safety nothing beats an old
fashioned analog line.

Ugh, I hate it when people overexaggerate.

As others have suggested, and I meant to agree with.
I think you would agree now that, while Charter did not hold up their
end of the bargain for the appointment, you probably should have
approached this change in a different manner.

That manner would be to have installed the Charter line before
cancelling your other. Even if you are keeping your same number,
Charter will do that work for you once they make the hookup. Until
then, you would have been better served and safer to keep the existing
phone service until that occurred.

Your family's in danger because you don't have a home phone??? Wow!!!
What did all those people do BEFORE phones?
OH MY GOD!!! How did I manage for 4 YEARS without a home phone?????
OH MY GOD!!! Report'em to the police, they endangered your
family!!!!!!

Of course, there's no one within walking distance that has a phone,
and of COURSE your car doesn't work on weekends, so you're trapped in
your house with no communication capabilities at all.....
~~sigh~~ And I thought the teenage girls I work with were drama
queens.

Am I missing something here? You say you missed work and want
compensated, then later you say you work from home. Why couldn't you
work from home that day? I do hate when companies don't show up when
they are supposed to and you can probably file a complaint with your
state's public utility commission. I also don't think your family is
in danger because you dont' have a phone. I imagine there is a
neighbor close by with phone service. count your blessings. I live in
PA and have no heat this weekend because of a problem with my heating
system and an out of stock part. It is currently 30 degrees outside.
We aren't going to die or be endangered by this. Leave the drama out
of your letter, it does you no good.

I agree that companies shouldn't give windows that are half a day long
and then not show up.

I agree that if they say they're going to call, they should call.

I agree that companies having what amounts to a monopoly given where
you are and what kind of service you need is a problem.

I agree that you are owed a serious apology and to be moved to the
start of the queue in someone's list of places to go so that you will
be done as early as possible in your rescheduled window and can get on
with the many other things you have to do.

Moreover, when people waste my time not doing what they say they're
going to do I do sometimes feel as if they ought to pay me. At those
moments I consider my time to be extremely valuable. After all ... I
easily could have been an astonishingly popular motivational speaker
who could have made thousands of dollars in a single hour at some sort
of executive retreat instead of sitting around waiting for cable,
right? And how, exactly, do they know I'm not?

But fantasies aside, I don't think $25 is an unreasonable amount for
them not showing up. Their inability to phone you because you turned
off your phone service isn't their fault -- and why, instead of
leaving them no way to EVER get in touch with you, didn't you give
them a friend's number or your work number in the first place?

As far as 911 goes, there are plenty of people in the world who can't
call for emergency services and don't have options like giving their
child their cell phone (or buying him his own prepaid cell phone for
emergency use). I get that it's stressful to be without a safety net
you've come to take for granted, but there were two parts to losing
the safety net: their failure (which is not unheard of) to show up
and do the work when they said they would and your failure (also not
unheard of, but at least within your control) to plan for the
(not-unheard-of) possibility that they might fail to show up and do
the work when they said they would. Which means that you were as
blatantly negligent as they were; you showed as little concern for
the safety of your own child as they did (and I bet they didn't even
know he existed); and you aren't owed any compensation from them for
their failure to ensure that a situation didn't arise when you
yourself couldn't be bothered to hold off doing something until you
knew it wasn't "dangerous" to take action.

I hope that they connect you quickly and capably and that you are back
to having that safety net and get back to work. Good luck.

Nothing like a little over exaggeration to start the morning.

Someone put your family is "danger" but it wasnt them. It was you. You
were the one who decided to schedule your phone to be disconnected
before knowing for sure the other line would be connected.

And I was pretty sure, before reading your response, that you had cell
phones for backup. So no, your family has never been in danger.
Besides, isnt there a neighbor you could have gone to and borrowed
their phone to call 911 should something happen?

It isnt like its forever. Its for a few days. Yes its annoying,
frustrating, rude even. But its not the end of the world and making
over the top statements isnt going to get your complaint heard or
acted upon any faster. It might, however, get them to ignore it
considering you an irate customer.

There are ways to get your point across and ways to get it completely
ignored. Now, I HOPE you hear from them and they get your service
connected. But to be honest, I dont think your letter did anything to
hurry them up. You have ever right to write it and send it though.


I think offering you a $25 dollar rebate on your bill is more than
generous. They didnt have to offer you anything. And comparing it to
your hourly pay isnt going to make them change their minds. They didnt
MAKE you pick their service. They didnt MAKE you take off 4 hours of
work. They offered, you said ok and you agreed to their terms. They
didnt deliver on time, they offered you 25 dollars...end of story.

It will get hooked up in a few days. In the meantime you have your
cell phones and by this time next week it will all be just a distant
memory as you enjoy your highspeed internet, cable and phone service.

So... when there's a power outage and you can't make a phone call...
whose fault will it be that your family is, once again, "in danger"?

The phone I disconnected was VOIP. I do have cell phones as a backup
for myself and my spouse, but I do have a child at home for a few
hours that will be without a way to contact us.

I have had NO problems with my previous VOIP provider, which I have
had for three years this spring, fyi.

I may have been hasty in disconnecting the phone, but I was putting
faith in Charter that they would be there on time as indicated by
their phone confirmation, postcard AND the fact that I spoke to the
actual technician and he indicated it "may take a few minutes" but he
would be there. I have been a Charter customer for MANY years and
really have had no real beef until now. Rose colored glasses it
seems....

I understand that things come up. Maybe he had a flat tire? Maybe he
had a unfortunate run in with the many deer that are in our area?
HOWEVER, that doesn't excuse the fact that NO ONE has called to let me
know there was an issue, to reschedule (in fact they just rescheduled
me for a date I wasn't even aware of) or the fact that none of the
promised calls have materialized AT ALL.

Sorry to hear about this. It's always a problem when people say
they'll come and don't.

However, I have to ask: why did you cancel your phone service prior to
getting the new service? I realize that it'll cost a few dollars
(can't be more than $10, can it?) to have the overlap. But it's got
to be worth it, no? Never disconnect a service until you know the
replacement is reliable.

Second, and this is my own ignorance of this particular phone system,
but... did you happen to sign up for VOIP service? If so, you'd
better have a backup ready. VOIP service isn't as reliable (yet) as
good-old-phone service. And, unless you have a UPS, it won't work in
a power outage. Which is why it's always a good idea to have a cell
phone or to keep a cheap "regular" phone for those 911 emergencies.

Third, no matter how wrong they were for not showing, what it cost for
you to take off from work is not their problem or concern. I know,
you feel like they should compensate you since they wasted your time.
They did. But, in the end, it was your decision to take off from
work.

Lastly, I do want to say that with the exception of these comments, I
totally feel for you. It's a problem with most every industry that
sends people to your house. There was a short period of time where
the cable company said "on time, or its free." Maybe we should start
asking, up front, what compensation we'll get if they fail to show up
by the scheduled time? "We'll show up, don't worry about it," they'll
say. "OK, if you're so sure, then why don't you offer me a million
dollars if you don't show." That usually makes the point.