Steps to escape Charter.

I am an ex-employee of Convergys Customer Management Canada, but I worked on the contract with Charter Communications. I quit July 2004 after taking calls from the Los Angeles area. Despite being in Canada, calls from several US regions are redirected to our outsourced call centre. Please note, that telemarketers are GENERALLY actual Charter employes, and not outsourced, though sometimes they are under a telemarketing firm. Convergys was inbound only.


Even so, I remember having many calls of this nature. We can't track down who you talked to because often the sales people gave false names or were from another contracting company. Plus, I had no means of doing this for my customers since as an outsourced employee, I myself am treated like garbage by Charter without the proper tools to help my customers (hence quitting my job).

As for promotions, Charter had a complicated campaign called “The Freedom Campaign" back in Fall 2003. Many customers were confused or mislead by what was entailed in this campaign. Some said they were told they had 5 months free, when the promotion was 2 months free. It's hard to differentiate between which customer's were actually swindled and which ones are trying to swindle the call centre agent.

As for being grandfathered in at an old rate, that happened a lot as well. That is NOT something I could have changed for my customers, because the code could not be re-entered into CableData (the software we used). It literally did not exist. And if your area had already rolled over to ICOMS, they would show a jumble that would represent that code. It works like this:

Item Price Code
Basic Cable $xx.xx BC

If the code BC is removed, I can't do anything for you!

As far as your accusation about Charter doing this to get people off the old rates, all I can say is, YES. Please note, this is a corporate practice, call centre agents can't do anything at all about this. I found this to be a scam too. I didn't like ripping off little old ladies, felt it bad for my soul somehow – but for a while I didn't even realize it myself, I just felt it was a glitch and put in a whole bunch of Customer Request forms for people who called and got me. My Customer Request forms were ignored, and I got a little angry with some Charter folks saying “Way to help the customer!", and got put on report for that. Eventually I asked my team leader about this, and he said that it wasn't a scam; it was “forcing a roll over".

Essentially, the way the promo was SUPPOSED to work, is they have to enter the correct code for you to get the discount. The fine print however, warns of hidden charges. It can cost up to 100$ for a digital installation. This is not included, for obvious reasons. Also, with most (perhaps not this exact one) Charter promos, the digital service is what's counted. If you tack on Starz, HBO, Showtime ect. You'll pay the “a-la-carte" pricing for that. I'd have to see what the charges were on your bill to be certain, but I bet it stacked up that way – despite you being told otherwise.

Your box is NEVER picked up by Charter, not even when you are in arrears and/or disconnected! Why would they? Even if it's not on, they can charge you $258.80 for unreturned equipment, and if you only have basic cable, you'll still pay $6.95 for the rental of the unit. (With my own local cable company I have the option of purchasing my box, you do not).

My recommendation(s) to Charter customers is, if you are called up with a deal of a lifetime, just ask the agent to send you more information e.g. paper copy of the promo. And like anything, read the fine print! Don't even bother calling the call centre. You'll either get someone like myself who'll tell you straight out it's a crock (simply because I couldn't offer this to customers so I thought it didn't exist, which it did but I found that out AFTER I got tons of screamers) , or worse, you'll get someone trying to up sell you. As far as getting an outsourced agent – we are non-commissioned, and jaded (eg. lower salary, lousy benefits, and no discounts), so we are more likely NOT to lie to you.

If you are upset with Charter, and want to leave, PLEASE OH PLEASE, bring in the box yourself! I've seen Charter charge people 50$ for a disconnect! Ask for a receipt showing the return of the box, and ALSO ask for a receipt showing your zero balance, and keep this information with your financial records!! I've seen people sent to collections for twenty cents, as well as people reported for returning a box, and the account not being zeroed out properly!

Don't scream and demand a supervisor and yell you are going to cancel – I've seen agents who were having a bad day take out customer abuse on customer accounts. Please remember, these people have access to your SSN and your personal information, you don't want to piss them off. I've never done it, but I know it's happened. Just bring in the box to your local office, and follow the instructions above. I don't know if DISH is any better (I've had it screamed in my ear that it is), but complaints like this should be forwarded to the FCC and to the BBB. Also remember, if you want Charter out of your municipality, you can appeal to your municipal office. I have advised customers to do this. Don't threaten to sue Charter on the phone, it's policy to immediately hang up on customers who say this. If you are planning a law suit against Charter (and I could support that in most situations), do so with a lawyer and local media AFTER discontinuing your account.