Charter Communications Deceptive sales, rude customer service Saint Louis Missouri, Nationwide

Wow, I thought I was alone with my Charter HSI problem. Let me say first that I have no complaints with my service. My problem is not nearly as drastic as many that I have been reading, but there was definitely deception when I signed up, and very rude customer service when I tried to correct it.

When I called the 1-800-get charter number, I was assured by the young sales lady that I would receive 1 year of HSI for $29.99. I asked her specifically if this included the $10.00 penalty for not having cable TV, and was assured it was, and that I needed to have $79.98 available for the tech when he arrived to install the service. I actually gave him a check for $80.00

Installation went smoothly, and I was up and running with no problems, and a very happy camper, I might add. Until the bill showed up. I was billed $39.99 for the upcoming month, plus $9.98 for the first month. When I called to clarify, I was rudely told I had no proof that I was offered the price of $29.99, and even if I did, the sales person had no authority to offer me that price, and there was nothing they could do. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, I was placed on hold for over 30 minutes. I called back, got a different person, asked for a supervisor, and was promptly disconnected. When I called back a third time, I was told they could give me a $10.00 credit for one month, but if I wanted to cancel, I was out the $49.99 I paid for installation. They refused to honor the price I was quoted. I decided to stay with the price they gave me as there are really no other options in this area.

Now my one year of service is nearly up, and I'm looking at a price jump to $64.99 month for 5meg service, and now also the new bandwidth cap of 100GB month. (Goodbye Hulu and Netflix) I have the option of canceling for 30 days, and signing up again at the current special rate, (plus the $10 penalty and $49.99 installation), canceling and just staying with dial-up, or . . . no other options! I'm afraid that if I were offered an extension of my current rate by a retention specialist, that I would just be told that he (or she) didn't have the authority to make that offer. I think my biggest gripe is the downright rudeness of the customer service folks.

Kasey
Crescent City, California
U.S.A.