Charter ranked last in customer service
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By Donathan Prater
Published: May 24, 2008
Charter Communications Inc., which provides cable service in East Alabama, ranks last in customer satisfaction in a new nationwide survey released earlier this month.
The report comes from the American Customer Satisfaction Index at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
It ranked companies in from a variety of sectors — accommodation, food service, health care, social assistance, information, transportation, warehousing and utilities — in customer service.
The report put Charter’s approval rating at 54 percent, down almost two percent from 2007.
The company tied for last with Comcast Corporation among communications companies included in the report.
DIrect TV Group, DISH Network, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable Inc., all came in ahead of the St. Louis-based cable company.
Lynne Coker, director of governmental affairs for Charter Communications, said the report is not a clear picture of what’s going on with the company.
Coker said the report may be measuring customer satisfaction only in regard to cable services and not the increased bundled services — cable, phone and Internet — the company offers.
“As people take advantage of those bundled services, those numbers should improve,” Coker said.
Coker said the Auburn market remains strong.
“Auburn is still a fabulous market for us,” Coker said. “There is the presence of a large college community that depends on reliable, high-speed Internet service, which we have and will continue to work hard to provide.”
Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller, who has been trying to attract other cable operators to the area, disagreed.
“They absolutely abuse us with their high prices, and their customer service is non-existent,” he said.
He said the company has the worst customer service he has seen for a company of its kind.
In December 2009, Charter’s contract with Opelika comes up for renewal.
“(I am) anxious to negotiate because I’m angry with them, because I’m angry with the way they’ve treated us in Opelika,” he said.
(Brittany Whitley contributed to this report.)
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( keetz ) on May 30, 2008 at 8:09 am
The problem is that charter OWNS the cable lines in Auburn, this is according to an Auburn City official I had a conversation about charter with, the city sold them the lines years ago, thus affording them a monopoly… Knology won’t come to town because they don’t want to rent the lines or install new ones themselves.. even though they would have an entire city of customers right off the bat. Charter has the worst customer service I have ever seen or experienced. My parents have the same set up I do in NC and they pay $40 a month, I am being charge close to $100!!!!
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Posted by ( Vivvy ) on May 29, 2008 at 1:40 pm
For the cost of cable TV and internet, you could go outside and cut your grass, take the kids for a hamburger, still have some money left over, and probably lose a few extra pounds. Seems to me, since drive-thru windows and cable TV hit the market people have gotten fatter and fatter—then came internet. I suppose next we will all need an airlift to get out of the house because of all the fat, lazy advantages we are offered. I say turn off the cable and internet and get some exercise.
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Posted by ( ncman_n_txrose8166 ) on May 29, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Considering that Charter cable is the only one in the area the gouging that they do will continue as long as this is the case and as long as WE the people continue to allow them to do so. If all of us would discontinue using them they might get the idea but as long as there are college kids having dear ol mom an dad foot the bills for them being there at AU it wouldn’t make much of a difference.
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Posted by ( lp95 ) on May 29, 2008 at 12:06 pm
If there’s a rank, Charter shouldn’t even be on the list. They shouldn’t even score well enough to come in LAST. And on a side note, I keep a room for over the air TV because Charter doesn’t give us half the broadcast channels you can receive with the cheapest of antennas here: Alabama-based channels on our own time zone with news about the state we live in.
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Posted by ( ihatecharter ) on May 26, 2008 at 12:40 pm
No surprise that charter ranks last in customer service. They are horrible. “Auburn is a fabulous market” translation “We are a monopoly here and can treat you however we like”
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Posted by ( blue ) on May 25, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I know that charter . is bad . but what can we do when they keep every body out and it’s our only choice .. that’s the problem ... plus they go up and up on the cost but service gets worst and worst ... what to do I have had a dish and it’s great just can’t get the local channels ... thanks David
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Posted by ( opelikamama ) on May 25, 2008 at 7:20 am
I agree with Mayor Fuller. Charter’s service is horrible and the prices are outrageous. I would love to see a new cable company take over. I wouldn’t use Charter’s bundled services because of the cable service.
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