A former cable company call center rep says: "We lie" to customer

[BJ_M]

A former cable company call center rep says: "We lie" to customers who ask when installer will arrive


Chris Gates says she knows exactly why so many of Charter Communications' customers are complaining of poor service.

Gates was a call center representative in Cape Girardeau handling 100 to 125 calls a day from Charter customers. Executives at Charter talk about how service is improving, but Gates was on the front lines dealing with unhappy customers.

"The No. 1 complaint," she says, "was why didn't the technician show up for my appointment?"

A simple question, you'd think. But one Gates says call center employees can't answer.


She says call center reps have no idea when installers are supposed to show up, where they are at the time, or when — or if — they might arrive.

"We had nothing in our system that told us anything about where Charter's technicians were," Gates says.

So what do call center reps tell callers?

"We lie to them," Gates says. "We tell them, 'Absolutely, the technician will be there.' "

Customers who persist are given another Charter phone number to call, Gates says.

Many of those customers call back to say that second number didn't work.

Gates says reps at the call center know that might happen. "The number doesn't work half the time," she says.

If the call center can't answer these questions, why not just transfer customers to someone who can?

"We were not allowed to transfer calls," Gates says. "Even though we had no training in technical support, we were supposed to answer the customers' questions and sell them new services."

Selling new services was the highest priority, she says.

Call center reps were allowed to transfer only 7 percent of their calls. More than that and they were written up and disciplined, Gates says.

Reps also could be disciplined for reporting to work 30 seconds late or returning from lunch or a break 30 seconds late. Those counted as an "absence" and 12 "absences" got a rep fired.

Gates earned about $720 every two weeks, before taxes and deductions. She has three children and says she quit after four months.

Through a spokeswoman, Stephen Trippe, the Charter vice president and general manager for the St. Louis area, said he was "not in a position to comment directly on the claims of a former (call center) employee."

Trippe repeated a statement he gave for last week's column: Over the past few months Charter has added technicians, dispatchers and call center agents to its local workforce and has enhanced the training for those employees. The company says it now offers "two-hour service windows for appointments."

So many Charter customers complain of poor service that officials at the Better Business Bureau issued a consumer warning last week.

Sue Schellin, a legal secretary from south St. Louis, said Thursday that she waited two weeks for an appointment for Charter to install a high-definition receiver for her new hi-def TV.

The next day, the box didn't work.

She complained to a call center in the Philippines and was told she had to wait another two weeks for an appointment.

She called again, posing as a new customer, and waited only two days.

Charter came and installed a new box, but it didn't work either.

Schellin called, got the Philippines again, and was told she must wait another two weeks.

She asked for a supervisor, who said she had a service technician on the other line, but was unable to transfer the call. The technician will call right away, the supervisor promised.

"I wait. And wait. And wait. No call back," Schellin said.

As for Gates, how did she handle customer questions she couldn't answer?

"You want the honest answer?" Gates says. "I hung up on them. That's why I left. I hated what I was forced to do."






In 36 months, the BBB received more than 2,000 complaints and reports of poor cable TV, Internet or phone service. Last year alone, 1,112 customers filed complaints.

"We noticed that the number of complaints was getting up there — and continuing to stay there," said Scott Thomas of the BBB.


The BBB has been monitoring complaints and meeting with Charter officials.

Thomas said Charter was "very nice," but nothing changed.

"In the last year and a half, it seemed that every day we'd get complaints."

Charter is the nation's fourth largest cable TV company with headquarters in Town and Country and offices nationwide. Nearly all the BBB complaints cited are local.

Customers complain about Charter subcontracting out much of its work. Consumers say the company acts like it doesn't keep records of conversations because each representative in turn gives a different answer.

Charter says it has 10 call centers in the United States, plus others in Mexico, Canada and the Philippines. Spokeswoman Anita Lamont says Charter has improved service in the past six months. "We're certainly trying to make it better."

The BBB points to a Kirkwood woman who canceled her service, turned in her equipment and was told not to worry that she still owed 30 cents. Three weeks later, she received a bill for $127 marked "seriously past due." Two weeks later, a collection agency billed her $144.

After calling to cancel cable and Internet service, a couple in Manchester reported that Charter missed four appointments. Charter said it would continue billing until its representatives could show up. The company finally disconnected after the woman threatened to "rip out the connection and place it by the pole."

A woman in Hazelwood signed up for Charter's "Triple Play" high-speed Internet cable and phone service, and was told she would owe $162.99 including installation. Her first bill contained fees she was never told about. When she complained, Charter claimed it didn't offer such a service package. She contacted the BBB and the company admitted its mistake.

A woman in St. Charles had Charter install Internet and phone service and upgrade her cable TV to digital. She said the Internet service didn't work on her computer, the phone was scratchy and the DVR (digital recorder) box overheated within five days.

She and her husband spent a total of three hours on the phone with Charter, and the company said it would charge a service fee even though the DVR had worked for only five days. The couple canceled everything but basic cable and the company promised to waive any additional charges. Charter then billed the couple $602 for breaking their contract. The couple has since switched phone and Internet providers.

Matt Poldan, assistant manager at a bank in St. Louis, said he spent three months calling Charter to have an undisclosed fee refunded and two months trying to have Charter pick up its equipment. Also, the company took payments from his checking account without his authorization, he told the BBB and this column.

He documented each of his conversations.

"Charter Communications has failed enormously in their effort to provide customer service to the St. Louis area, and I speak not only for me, but also for the many other former Charter customers I've heard from," Poldan wrote to Charter in February.

Steve Trippe joined Charter six months ago as vice president and general manager.

"Customers are Charter's lifeblood and I know that in the past we have let some of them down," Trippe said in a statement Thursday.

He says Charter has added technicians, dispatchers, call center agents, enhanced training and now offers "two-hour service windows for appointments."

"I know that today we are still making mistakes and have room for improvement," he wrote.

[LSchafroth]

They must be affiliated with Mediacom.

LS

[ViRaL1]

The actual service I receive from Dish Network has been very reiliable and I"m happy with the programming.

That said, getting set up in my new apartment when I moved last year was a big pain in the ass. I called nearly a month ahead of time (when I finally decided I was moving) to let them know that I was moving, where I was moving and to set up an appointment to have a dish installed at the new place.

Their "DishMover" service allows me to move once in one year and have a new dish installed free of charge at the new location. During the last call before the actual appointment I make sure to let the people at Dish Network know that my apartment manager has let me know that they'll have to install it using a 'Non-Penetrating Roof Mount.' So far so good.

The first date comes around and I'm home during the entire 4 hour window and no one shows up. After the window, I get a call from the installer (3rd party), he's 'running late.' I tell him that I'll wait, he informs me that it'll be another hour or so. So I wait and he finally shows up. He doesn't have the roof mount he needs. Strike 1. Now I have to reschedule (two weeks out). The next installer I don't hear from until after he missed me, which was already past the 4 hour window.

Rescheduled again, another two weeks. Mind you, during this time I have no service at all because I have no dish. The third time I remind Dish support once again to make sure that I get a non-penetrating roof mount. The third installer makes it toward the end of the window, but doesn't have the roof mount, it's not in the 'equipment needed' field of his work order (he showed me), but in the 'notes' field about 8 pages back. Subsequently, this installer doesn't have the roof mount either and also advises me that it's not something they install free, I'd have to pay for it.

When I call Dish support again, I mention this and they let me know that it will be taken care of and I don't have to pay for it. Meanwhile, this third installer tells me that I'll have to call and reschedule even though it's not my fault they can't install it. He offers me another option. He tells me that if he calls back and tells them that I don't have line of sight, that they will have someone back out within 3 days with all the equipment. The downside is, I never hear from the installer, only Dish support saying that the person sent to check has determined that I do NOT have line of sight and that there's no way I can have a dish installed.
I will admit that there are a couple of trees in the area, but nothing that should keep me from getting service (btw, I currently have the service and it's working fine, no trees have been moved).

Unfortunately I have to call and reschedule again. The last time, the installers are sent out again without the roof mount and explain again that it's an extra that they don't carry unless it's taken care of ahead of time, BUT they actually get up on the roof (in heavy winds) and look for other options. They manage a way to mount it on the side of the building, and with line of sight. It really shouldn't have taken this long, and I actually had to call and tell them to take the months of service off my bill that I had no service. I'm content with what I have now, but it was too little, very late (not quite too late).

[Conquest10]

Wow ViRaL1 you should think about splittinng that up a bit. Real hard to read that one, long paragraph.

I've never had a problem with Comcast. Always been on time the two times they've been to my house. I actually feel bad because when I had the HD service installed, the tech had to completely replace all the cable in my house and that took about three hours so maybe another person had to wait.

[BJ_M]

Wow ViRaL1 you should think about splittinng that up a bit. Real hard to read that one, long paragraph.

I've never had a problem with Comcast. Always been on time the two times they've been to my house. I actually feel bad because when I had the HD service installed, the tech had to completely replace all the cable in my house and that took about three hours so maybe another person had to wait.

i edited it to make it more readable ...

iv never had problems with rogers either - though ive heard horror stories ...