Charter MisCommunications

"Welcome to Charter Communications, I'd be happy to help you today..." Yeah, I'd be happy if you would help me, too. Never in my life have I had such a horrific experience trying to get quality service from a business. Granted, I'm a youthful 22 years old, but I've grown up in a country that educates anyone with two eyes to be an avid consumer from birth. Did you know that companies actually market their products to include the "whine factor"? That's the element that causes a kid to tug on his mother's shirt and beckon for her to buy a given product. That's a different story though.

I've been an apartment dweller now for three years. Among many rules and restrictions of renting, often you will be restrained to one extended programming television option. Where I live, the only non-satellite extended programming option is Charter Communications. At first, I was very pleased with the product. Yes, for those first, oh, 25 days, I was completely satisfied. That is, until I got my bill.

Anyone who has purchased Charter's services will know exactly what I'm talking about. The bill is wrong more often than it is right. So, naturally, you make that call 1-888-GET-CHARTER (since when can phone numbers be 14 numbers long), and press 1 for blah, blah, blah for 5 minutes. Once you finally get to speak to someone, you'll be lucky to understand the broken English. I assume it's not a policy strictly reserved to Charter, but everything the customer representative says to you is scripted. If it's not, what an amazing coincidence that every rep I've talked to "would be happy to assist me with that, upon further verification." If you are fortunate enough to connect with someone whom you can understand, you will then have to regurgitate your life story with Charter in order to get anywhere. "Okay, Annie, I'd be happy to help you with that." So you manage to retain your sanity for just a little while longer.

"Ma'am, I'm going to transfer you to someone who specializes in this area." Oh, you have someone who specializes in damage control? They have to, the must-be constant influx of confused, angry, and frustrated customers has to be an issue for the company. By this time you've been hanging on the line for 30 minutes, and you've only just begun. You're transferred to the next representative. Commence re-regurgitation of your life history. Re-regurgitation soon becomes a feeling of nausea in your stomach. Soon you'll imagine what you would do if you could magically reach through the phone receiver and grab a hold of whomever is at the other end of the line.

Most likely, you'll get your problem solved. You may spend hours on the phone and not get anywhere. Sometimes I just tell them never mind and hang up just to call back to get someone else. If you find yourself in the unfortunate situation where you're resorted to purchasing Charter services, check your bills! They won't be right and if you don't pay attention, you'll miss it.

The question is whether or not the time and stress you spend mulling over the problem is worth the money you save. In my case it's worth it. I need every penny...which will probably eventually go to anxiety therapy.