Charter Communications

I personally think that when they do some of their «updates» we have «There has been an outage in your area». Do you? Like last night and today.
Also beside everything about Charter being … the longer you are with them the more they punish you … love that one … I am missing shows because their TV Guide is wrong. My DVD does not know this!!! This IS my last straw.
Email … let us not get started.
Phone … no problem
Bills … let us not get started.
I have to switch but I need to see who offers what in the Monona Wi area. Anyone know or have any suggestions for Cable, Internet and Phone?
Thanks.

Charter is quite possibly run by the Devil. I can’t say for certain it is, but I’m fairly sure.

Horrible! Absolutely horrrrrrible! How come a major telecom company can’t manage to port a simple phone number? I spent hours with techs in my home and on the phone, and still had to change my phone number.
On the plus side, their customer service reps are very good at apologizing. I’m guessing they get a lot of practice.

As time passes, I’m increasingly happy with Charter’s internet service. The only issues I’ve had with my internet connection is having to reset the modem/​router about once every two months when it hiccups, which is something you’d have to do with any internet provider, in my opinion.
Probably the most annoying thing about Charter is that they constantly spam you with their promotions. They send a lot of spam mail and they even call your phone. No, I don’t want TV. Yes, I’m pretty sure. Why in the world would you call me during work hours to advertise to me?!
But really, ever since I configured a wireless router myself, the internet itself has been fine. I haven’t personally run into any of the horror stories listed here.

Nothing but lies! I’ve had Charter for over a year and for the most part didn’t have any major issues. The internet speed was inconsistent as anything, there were times when we had atrocious speeds and other times when we were over 60 mbps. I’ve dealt with four different technicians and not a single one was able to figure out how to get the connection to work from anywhere but the damn closet.
Several of the techs told me they couldn’t do anything about it and I’d have to ask my landlord, but my landlord said that was BS and THEY are the ones that have to do it because they own the wires. Never got this problem resolved and pretty much gave up on hoping that maybe one of the guys would know what the hell he was doing. They were super friendly and I enjoyed talking with the techs, but I’d rather have competent people.
Dealing with Charter itself was always a nightmare. We decided to try out Spectrum and have all three services, but after two weeks of having cable we came to realize that we don’t really watch TV enough to justify paying so much. So we cancelled that out and went back to internet only. Charter was a dick about it and refused to give us the promotional price we had on the internet back — they gave me some BS about only being able to do it every 3 months.
So we decided to jump ship to AT&T. The cancellation process with Charter took longer than it should have because the douchebag representative I got was really tenacious about trying to keep us by telling lies about AT&T charging $ 15 a month in random fees alone and doing nothing but trashing their service. I set him straight and told him that he should probably retake the course that teaches them what AT&T is doing.
The only way I’ll go back to Charter is if they’re my only option.

Its appalling how inept these people are. I have had the misfortune of having to deal with them on and off over the last ten years, and they are routinely a total cluster to interact with.

Truly terrible internet. It is incredibly slow and buggy. Expect non-​existent internet and customer service, but at very high prices.

This past week I had the worst experience with my internet provider, Charter Communications. My service was shut off a week early and without notice. The IT Department apologized and said that a technician had been to my apartment the day prior and had shut off my service even though my scheduled date was not for another week. On top of that I was still being charged for that week of «Service». IT transferred me to billing to resolve the issue. Billing informed me that there was no record that my service had been shut off and their system showed my service to be active. I was transferred again to accounts. Accounts also showed no record of my service being shut off or that it needed to be shut off.
I was then offered to have a technician come to my apartment to correct this issue but I would have to schedule an appointment and be present for that appointment. Being that I work full time and move at the end of the week having to schedule an appointment to correct their error was not something I feel I should have to make the time to do. If they can shut it off without me being here they can turn it back on without me being here. Needless to say I wasn’t offered anything for the inconvenience and had to explain my three separate times because they apparently were in capable of communicating with one another.
To make matters worse they schedule an appointment without my consent and I was to call back to cancel. A total of one hour wasted, four explanations given and still no internet. Now I have to increase my data for the week to make up for not having it. Waste of time and waste of money.

In home service was ok, but customer service via a telephone call was sub par. I only use charter internet because we have no other options where we live.

The very definition of horrific customer service can be summed up in one word «Charter.» Last night I spent 105 minutes, yes 1 hour and 45 on the phone last night trying to remedy a simple problem. At the end my cable box did not work at all, a technician came late the next evening and then my service was down graded from the gold package I previously had. Two years of paying $ 225 per month, never late never complain. Some companies choose to recognize good customers. Charter despises them.

Ok; Charter, Charter, Charter! Auuugh! Is the only words I can give.
When it works, 4 stars, when it doesn’t work… 3 stars! But when you have to call them and try to figure out an issue MY GOD! I’ve been on the phone with them for over an hour previously trying to explain to them there was an issue with their equipment and not my computer and tablet. At some point they tried to sell me on some charter anti-​virus service plan. ??? Then they assured me that if they had to actually send a charter rep to my apartment, they would charge me $ 100.
Instead I had one of the madison geeks guys come over and diagnose the issue and they got on the phone with charter and was able to get to the bottom of the issue right away (reallllly, sigh)??
It WAS charter’s equipment, and all I had to do at that point was go to one of their offices and swap my modem out.
Like, this totally shouldnt have been so difficult to get resolved. I called to see if they would be willing to reimburse me for my cost for needing to get a 3^rd party tech company out to get the issue resolved. Of course they didn’t do that, but they DID at least get me and my roommates a good portion of our next bill waived. Hence the extra star.
That madison geeks technician who came to diagnose our issue said that charter really was the only provider in town with the fastest speed currently. Sooo, pretty much, take it or leave it I guess.
Like I said, when it works… its great! It’s the times when it sucks, and the massive process it takes to try to get them to help fix the issue!
If things stay stable for at least a couple months without us having to call them… I’ll, bump their star up to 3. (I’m talking 6 months to a year)

Charter is exactly why monopolies are illegal.
I moved from an apartment in Madison and will admit, had financial troubles leading me to be late in a couple payments. Whenever I tried to call to make a payment, I would get a message saying that I was current on my account. After hours and countless phone calls and being bounced back and forth from representative to representative, it turned out they had fucked up their accounting. They had been applying my payments to another account and the new tenant of my old apartment’s payments to my account. I ended up having to fax them my personal banking statements to prove I had made payments when I told them I had.
They ended up sending my account to a collection agency and fucking up my credit.
Thanks a lot Charter.

Charter sucks. Their plans are full of hidden fees and the representatives are misleading in what the price will be. I’ve been told I will not be charged for something multiple times only to end up seeing it on my bill. The technicians are never on time and the internet is consistently failing, even with the upgrade to Spectrum. Actually, I see no improvement in Spectrum at all.

DO NOT USE CHARTER!
I get that their services are cheap, but that is the only pro and the reason it’s so cheap is because the service is AWFUL. Internet was constantly going out or just extremely slow. They blamed it on my router and would not give me any credit because of it, but as soon as I switched services and still used the same router, my internet worked PERFECTLY. I called customer service at least 20 times during my year and a half with them. Only two of the people I spoke to seemed competent and three of them were downright rude to me. They once tried to charge me for the maintenance guy when the service outage was THEIR FAULT. When I asked to cancel my services, I had to jump through tons of hurdles just to return the modem in a way that was «convenient» for me (I was moving out of the city on a day that the office was closed so I asked them to send me a box to mail it to them in… only they forgot to send it). I have definitely learned my lesson. It is BY FAR worth the money to pay for ANY OTHER company.

Charter, it’s apparent you don’t want new customers’ business.
After enduring a barrage of sales pitches, I was able to order new internet service for $ 29.99 per month for 12 months. When the installer came out, he didn’t have the appropriate keys to access the communications room in my apartment building. So, he left and told me to reschedule the install.
When I reached back out to Charter to reschedule, they said my order had been eliminated from the system and the $ 29.99 offer was no longer available. But conveniently a $ 39.99 per month offer was available. Because their installer couldn’t do their job, I was going to be charged an extra $ 120 per year. Even the agent’s manager couldn’t honor their previous order.
So, Charter, you lose. If you screw over potential customers this badly, I can’t imagine how inept you are at servicing existing customers.
And people wonder why the Cable TV industry is consistently among the lowest rated for customer satisfaction.

Absolutely horrible experience for years… I am rarely in Wisconsin so I have not had to deal with them that much however I have been here for the holidays. I noticed that my Internet is completely choppy… I contacted them One month ago to disconnect however they convinced me to stay by throwing in some upgrades for allegedly the same price as I was paying before. Same problems same service issues and the worst part is that I received my bill and they charged me twice what they quoted me a month ago. Spoke to billing who was quite rude and provided no resolution. I am sorry I stayed with them and I’m glad I disconnected… Now to contact my credit card and make sure that charter does not get one dime from me. Save yourself a lot of hassle and find a different Internet and cable provider.

It is really unfortunate that Charter is the best option for internet in Madison. They are the epitome of inefficiency and lack luster customer service. Your best bet is to cancel service with them every year in order to get their promotional pricing. I had the account and moved out after a year while my roommates stayed, but Charter still needed me to take the time to return my modem, have them be without internet for a day, then schedule a technician to come and bring a new modem and plug it into our existing system for just a «minor» $ 30 fee. Saved money in the long run to get the promo pricing, but I think it highlights how they operate without any common sense and instead rely on inefficient, rigid procedures to meet the needs of an incredibly diverse set of situations and customers. I would have absolutely no hesitation in jumping ship to any other company that offered similar speeds/​pricing, but unfortunately they have the market cornered. All hail capitalism!

I’d love to share all of the excruciating details about my horrid experiences with Charter’s in-​home technicians, but I’ll spare you the gory details… let’s just say this:
— Two scheduled visits; both visits the techs were late by more than one hour
— Tech «A» lied to me point-​blank about existing coax in the house
— Tech «A» claimed he didn’t have any tools with him (I offered mine; he declined)
— Tech «A» wanted to run a coax cable through my window screen and through door openings
— Tech «A» mis-​wired a two-​way splitter (about the easiest thing you can wire)
— Tech «A» took 2+ hours to not deliver service, then left saying Tech «B» needed to do work upstream
— Tech «B» arrived; worked outside for 20 – 30 minutes, then left without connecting service
— Contractor arrived on Saturday and had everything working in 20 minutes. He pointed out the incompetencies of Techs A and B and said it was common for Charter’s in-​house techs to not want to do things, or to do them wrong. He also pointed out that the reason my service wasn’t working was because there was a bee-​hive near the junction box on the utility pole, and that the other techs probably didn’t want to deal with it. I tipped the contractor for his troubles and help, thanked him profusely, and finally have broadband (after several weeks of going back-​and-​forth with Charter employees about it).
Bethany S sums it up perfectly — «Get your s#$%t together, Charter!»
If there were *any* other company in my neighborhood that provided broadband, I’d be using them… Word to the wise: if you have to schedule Charter service, ask them to send a contractor. After my experiences with their «company» technicians, I wouldn’t trust them to run an extension cord.
Good thing they charge such a reasonable fee for their service… (that’s sarcasm)

Get your shit together, Charter. The customer service rep was polite and helpful, but I was on hold for 30 minutes for a change of address. At every other vendor I can do that online in 30 seconds. It’s called process reengineering and you should try it.
I’m actually writing this while on hold. So… I wouldn’t have written this nasty review if you didn’t have me on hold for so long. You made your own bed, kiddo.

If i could get dish, i would. I hate that the only option i have where i live currently is charter. the second i move i will be switching. the service is terrible. everytime i call i get the run around. One representative told me that my promo wasnt going to expire for another 6 months and i told him that my bill stated it was ending next month and he INSISTED that it wasnt going to. after he checked with someone else OF COURSE i was right and it was going to end. then i asked to be transferred to a different rep and when i told him how upset i was he was laughing at me. LAUGHING AT ME! they never know what is going on when i call them and ask about my service. it seems like they will hire anyone off the street to work there with NO training. its ridiculous. I ABSOLUTELY HATE CHARTER.