Charter Service Visit fee $35.00

  Update:  07/10/2011
   “Thanks for verifying Jim.  I’ve got that $35 service visit fee reversed so your new balance will be $62.23 with normal due date of 07/23.  If there’s anything we can do to assist you are always welcome to contact us here or @Charter on Twitter.

 

 

 

Abby Catron | Social Media Communications Specialist

   As you can see from the above Charter has taken care of the $35 charge for me.  I am happy with Charter and can recommend their service, their billing and their support people monitoring Twitter and Facebook.

 

  I got my Charter bill today.  There was an extra $35.00 on the bill.  Making my bill $97.23 for the month.  I was waiting to see if they charged me for a service call.
  When I called them and told them we did not have any Internet or cable TV service they said there would be a $35.00 service call fee. 
  I was thinking that the service call fee would be if they came out and found the problem was something inside my house that I had done.  I did not expect to pay for a service call fee because of something that was the fault of Charter Cable.

  The repairman came out on June 23rd.  It is always like pulling teeth to get them to say much about what is the cause of the problem.
  After a couple of questions from me he said that out in the Charter box the wires had come loose from the connector in the box.  He said everyone else in the box was hooked up to a nice clean shinny connector but I had been hooked up to a connector that was all broken and falling apart and he said he replaced the connector and put in a new one.
  So when he left I did not think I would have to pay for a service call.

  Keep in mind also that we just moved into this apartment a few months ago and a Charter tech came out and she hooked us up.  That means that she had to have looked in the box and see a lot of nice connectors all nice and shiny and gleaming and she hooked me up to a piece of shit connector. 

  When I blogged about my Charter problem I had a couple of Charter employees leave a comment and email me and say if I had any problem to contact them.  I guess I will send off an email and see if I can get the to take off the $35.00 service charge.

  I wonder why they have a service charge in the first place?  It seems to me that if a customer has a problem getting Internet service, phone service or cable TV that they would be happy to send someone out to fix the problem.
  My guess is that they are trying to cut down calls that they get where when they come out they find someone does not have something plugged in or has done something to cause the problem.  I can understand that… I would hate to call for service and have a long delay in getting someone to fix a real problem because there techs are having to hand hold some is stupid.  On the other hand…the population is getting order… I am 70 and one of these day I might be one of those people does not know you have to plug the box into a working electrical outlet or does not know you need to put batteries in the remote control.
 
  Since the tech came out on June 23rd we have not lost the Internet.  Before that for weeks we were having lost of the Internet daily for a short period of time.  It was so bad we went out and spent over $100.00 on a new cable modem.
  Now I got to pay an extra $39.00 because of a faulty connector in the Charter box?

Comments

[Mars]

I had problems for some months with my connection. I've had guys from the the company come out to take a look a number of times.

Turns out there was problem with the cable that I had run from the front of the house to the back. It was air-filled co-axial, and not solid. Plus, I had cut the cable in a couple of places, and re-joined it with connectors - which does not help with db levels. (Though I did have some problems previous to running this cable also)

I'm with Virgin Media UK. I guess they might have been justified in charging me (the last guy was here for nearly half an hour sorting out my mistakes) but I'm grateful that they didn't.

In your case though, it wouldn't seem fair to charge you. How can they charge you for a problem with their own equipment?

[Abby Catron]

Hello Jim,

I am sorry to read you were charged a service call fee and understand your concerns. If the problem was determined to be with our equipment then this should not be the case. Please send me an e-mail at Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com with "CharterAbby - www.showmeblog.com" in the subject line so that I can keep an eye out for the e-mail. Also, please verify the address, phone#, and either the security code from the upper right hand corner of the bill, 4 digit PIN# (if applicable), or account number so we can discuss this bill in detail.

Looking forward to resolving your concerns,

Abby Catron
Communications Specialist - Charter
Umatter2Charter@chartercom.com
http://www.charter.com/UMatter2Charter