Katrina Damage Still Not Repaired By Charter

Paul,

My sympathies to you and your family for having had to endure the
horror of the past year! I'm sure something like this must just be
the straw that broke the camel's back.

If I may, though, I have to say that sometimes companies, especially
communication companies that are just now starting to get more
competition, often lack what seems like basic customer service skills
and the people who are unfortunate enough to be stuck with these
companies suffer for it.

About 10 years ago, we had a phone company here in Cleveland called
Ameritech (and anyone up North I am SURE knows all about how GREAT
their service was - NOT!) My Dad had just moved into a new place. He
had my then 10 and 7 year old siblings coming to spend a weekend with
him at his new place. He called Ameritech to arrange the phone to be
on.

He was informed that because the previous tenant had service, he would
not need to be present to have the service turned on. Basically it
would just involve "flipping a switch" (so to speak) at the company.

So he went to work as usual and made no arrangements to be at home or
have someone waiting when the service was to be started.

You can imagine his shock to come home and find a note on the door
that said, "Sorry we missed you! We could not turn on your service
because no one was at home to let us in!"

So it's a Friday afternoon he now has no phone and he walks up the
street to a payphone to call me at work to help him (this was before
we all had cell phones to fall back on!) figure out what happened.

This is where the story got completely ridiculous!

I called the service dept. to get someone sent back out right away
(like I said, it was Friday afternoon and they didn't have service on
the weekends). I am greeted in a loud voice by a female shouting, "I
don't know WHY she alwaaays be wearing her hair like dat!" At first,
I thought I misdialed, but then she said, "Customer Service. How can
I help you?" and never identified herself.

When I explained the situation, the woman informed me that the
earliest they could send out another installation crew was the
following Thursday (more than 6 days away!). I told her that was not
going to work. My dad had two young children coming and the scheduler
had told him he did not need to be home to get his service turned on.

She said there was nothing she could do, so I asked for a supervisor.
She replied, "He ain't here - He at lunch." So I asked if there was
anyone else I could speak with (preferably ANYONE other than her!) to
get this taken care of. Her response was, "I already told you. He
ain't here. Whatchu want me to do about it?" At this point, I gave
up and hung up on her.

I wish to God I was exaggerating about this girl, but I'm not. The
whole company was like this. I had spoken with people in billing who
when I asked for clarification about a charge on my bill, the rep
flipped out and accused me of cursing her out.

The moral of my rather long and bizarre story is that eventually bad
companies like this go under. Ameritech sold to SBC and now we have
AT&T. It's like night and day how much better the service is now.

I would research other options for your service if you haven't already
done so. I hear DishNetwork has done a lot of work down South getting
people service since the storms. Good luck to you and I hope that you
get the service you want, but I wouldn't count on it coming from
Charter.

Paul W.,
Those of us not diectly impacted by Katrina feel for you folks and
like me have no idea of what it must be like.
When you say Cable are you referring to TV or High Speed Internet or
both?
Has this service been returned to your neighborhood and just not you?
I hope Charter gets back to you so you can determine if another
company has active service in your area.
Good luck and do let us know how this whole thing pans out.
Bill R.

You have to be kidding me!!! You are worried about the lack of cable
after Katrina!!!!!!!

You don't say where you live but I am guessing it is New Orleans or
Biloxi area.

Thousands or more likely tens of thousands of people in that area
still do not have homes. They are at best living in FEMA trailers and
waiting on insurance and or government payments to try and rebuild
their homes and lives.

Thousands more were relocated to other cities and are attempting to
build new lives.

If you have nothing but the lack of cable to worry about, count your
blessings and go help the less fortunate.