Cox Communications, Aka Cox Cable false advertising, misrepresentation, bait and switch, negligence, arrogance Atlanta Georgia, California

I made the mistake of buying the Cox broadband and phone bundle in July of 2007. Cox's handling of this starting on 8-1-07 destabilized my communication systems. I went from stable phone and internet on 8-1-07 to chaotic, intermittent, and down phone & internet for 17 days. My business was disrupted and I lost income as a result.

Chronology:
8-1-07:
Bundle Installation: The installer gave a whirlwind briefing on the meaning of the indicator lights on the modem, but the only written info he left was an envelope of ads (Cox phone products). No usage hints, no troubleshooting card, no instructions on how to set up e-mail or the Cox security tools touted on TV and the Cox internet service webpage.

E-mail Set Up Failed: After hardware installation on 8-1-07, I called Cox technical support to set up Cox e-mail. 1.5 hours later, outgoing mail would still not go out and password dialog boxes popped up so often that I actually could not use my e-mail program, i.e. characters being typed into e-mail appeared in the password field of the password-demanding dialog boxes. Undoing the damage done, by the Cox tech, to my ability to send and receive e-mail took over an hour with technical support of my previous ISP.

MS Internet Explorer (IE) Discouraged by Cox: A Cox technician told me that IE was not advised due to viruses. I asked why Norton Antivirus (which I had) or Cox's own security suite does not work well enough to allow safe use of IE, the world's primary web browser, with Cox broadband. I did not get a responsive answer. Other Cox techs, when asked about this, dodged with statements such as "They all have viruses" in the same breath as "Use Firefox; it's free." If Cox's touted security suite cannot protect IE, Cox should disclose this before consumers destabilize their systems by installing Cox broadband internet service.
Cox Supervisor Did Not Return Calls: Self-explanatory.

8-2-07: Telephones Down: On 8-2-07, none of the phones newly converted to Cox worked. After I turned on my computer, dial tone returned. I asked tech support if the computer has to be on for the phone to work and was told "No". Cox placed a field work order. Phone went down again.

8-1-07 to 8-3-07: Cox Does Not Support Outlook: Over the next 3 days, several Cox techs (e.g. Jeremy, Doug, Michael, and Nigel) informed me that Cox does not support MS Outlook. Had I known this, I never would have ordered Cox internet service. Cox should have disclosed this. Outlook is the e-mail program used by a large fraction of the e-mailing public. Refusal to support it is neither foreseeable nor reasonable.

8-3-07: Arranging phone & internet TERMINATION took 14 days & EIGHT REQUESTS. Verizon indicated it could not even accept an order to restore until things cleared from Cox's end, which would not happen until Monday 8-6-07 at the soonest.

8-14-07: Cox refusals to undo phone jack modification: Verizon came out to restore phone service on 8-14-07. Upon verifying that the Verizon service was back by plugging a phone into my other jacks, I disconnected the Cox hardware on 8-15-07 and found 2 wires installed by the Cox tech trailing out from under the Verizon wall jack face plate. The phone that worked in the other jacks did not work in this Cox-modified jack. I called Verizon on 8-15 to troubleshoot. They scheduled a service call for 8-17, cost = $86. I called Cox and requested that they undo what they did before Verizon's service call. Cox declined 3 times on 2 different phone calls. They also indicated that I had not cancelled my Cox service. I again asked that it be cancelled.

8-16-07: Hand delivery of service termination request: Upon finding out on 8-15-07 that my several oral requests, beginning on 8-3-07, to terminate my Cox phone & internet were not acted upon, I hand delivered a written termination request and all Cox hardware on 8-16-07 to the Cox office at 3033 State St, Santa Barbara, CA. While I was driving back to the office, the peprson i had just spoken to at the counter left me a message asking if I REALLY wanted to terminate because Cox's system was not showing that my number had been ported back. In his defense, he did arrange for a service tech to fix the wall jack BEFORE the Verizon service call was scheduled. Of the many people I spoke to trying to get this worked out, only 2, Mario & Kim, were dedicated to good customer service and able to get things done.

Summary: I went from stable phone and internet on 8-1-07 to chaotic, intermittent, and down phone & internet for 17 days. My buziness was disrupted and I lost income as a result.

I wrote the President of Cox Comm and received an apologetic phone call from 2 Cox VPs who promised to make me whole and fully investigate so that this did not happen to anyone else. After that, I did not hear a peep re any investigation.

What's more, one of the VPs denied that anyone by the name of "Jeremy" worked Cox customer service. Because I remembered thinking how 70's the name "Jeremy" was when the Cox rep identified himself, I knew I had not noted it wrong. He was more than a little snarky. I told the VP that if what she was telling me was true (no Jeremy exisst), then Cox had another problem, namely that its reps were giving false names to avoid being identified to management.

Once all the bills came in for the various expenses of trying to mitigate Cox' mess and restore my previous phone & internet service, I submitted the list with the substantiation to Cox. It totaled over $1200. Cox paid less than $200 of this.

All of this could have been avoided had Cox told me up front that they do not support Outlook.

Themis
Santa Barbara, California
U.S.A.

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