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Charter has a monopoly on broadband internet in many places. One of them being where I live. I pay a lot of money for my internet service.
I play online poker for a living, and so my internet service is very important. I pay for the "best" service, which probably is just a ripoff but whatever, it really is that important.
Anyways, for the 3rd time recently, the internet randomly has gone down and stayed down for a long time. Or, if not down, just unusable. And, like the other times, it costed me an absolute ton of money. 9 sng tournaments down the drain.
So, in my frustration I decided I would actually bother to email Charter what I think. I wrote the following email:
+ Show Spoiler +
So, once again, Charter has screwed me out of a large sum of money thanks to their horrible business practices. Prices are high enough without having the internet slow down to a standstill at any given time for any given amount of time. As a professional ONLINE poker player, it costs me a lot of money every time this happens. Considerably more than the entirety of my overpriced internet bill.
Then, while that happens, I sometimes am frustrated enough to actually bother calling Charter's shitty ass tech support - knowing full well that I already have a greater understanding of my internet connection than they do. Knowing full well they will tell me to reset my modem and will never let out a peep that the problem is that charter takes too many customers and doesn't put enough money into their actual hardware - because Charter is a monopoly and really doesn't give half a shit about their customers.
So, after being told that it can't possibly be any sort of fault on Charter's end, I decide to do a tracerroute to google. I have attached an image of the results of the tracerroute. Please explain how this shows anything other than technical problems on Charter's end. Seriously, does this business have any intergrity whatsoever?
So, I challenge Charter. Do the right thing and reimburse me for my losses. Today alone I have lost $160 due to my internet being unusable - immediately after joining $160 worth of online poker tournaments. This is just from today.
And, if Charter doesn't have the intergrity to cover these losses, at bare minimum I should be reimbursed for my lack of internet for most of the day. Charter's prices are jacked way up due to your clear monopoly. It's obviously true, there is no broadband competition in most areas where Charter operates.
But, of course, it is incredibly unlikely there will be any sort of reimbursement from Charter. So, I ask for one last thing. If I am not to be reimbursed then at least forward this email higher up. Forward it to the people who actually have a say in how this business operates, because right now it is pathetic.
So, I try to email this to charter. The only problem is... I can't find an email address to send it to. Anywhere. Any sort of email address, from support to comments or suggestions or billing help - there seems to be nothing. I looked all over their website.
Finally, I tried just going to live chat support and asking if they had an email address I could contact there.
The following ridiculous conversation ensues:
+ Show Spoiler +TTD Clark : Thank you for contacting Charter Communications. My name is Clark. So that I can pull up the account and assist you, may I please have the complete service address with the zip code and the phone number that is associated with the account? Travis Black: well I don't think we really need to go through all of that. I am just looking for an email address to contact charter at Travis Black: any sort of email address, whether its support or suggestions or whatever Travis Black: i can't seem to find it anywhere on charter's website TTD Clark : OK. Please hold for a moment. TTD Clark : Please follow this link: http://www.charter.com/customers/ContactUs.aspx. You can click on the fifth option under " Have a question or want to get in touch with us?". TTD Clark : Would that be all for today? Travis Black: I already have that website up Travis Black: when i click there nothing happens Travis Black: I am using firefox if that is a problem TTD Clark : Please try again later. The system may be experiencing latency. You can try to log in to the Internet Explorer and access www.charter.com. TTD Clark : Is there anything else I can help you with today? TTD Clark : Please let me know if you are still connected to the chat session at this time. Travis Black: I understand at least somewhat how the internet works and "the system may be experiencing latency" doesn't make any sense when you are telling me to click an image that doesn't even contain a link to anything Travis Black: So there isn't even an email address to contact charter at? TTD Clark : I apologize for the inconvenience, all emails directed to us are entered by clicking on the #5 prompt ( Email Us). Travis Black: ok well then could you open up the page and click it for me and tell me what email address it brings up? TTD Clark : Please try again later to check if the prompt works. TTD Clark : I am sorry, but that tool on this end is has a limited support. That option is restricted. Personnel are not allowed to use that option. TTD Clark : Do you need anything else? Travis Black: Naw that's it have a good day Clark
amazing... just utterly amazing. seriously, is this a business or a 6 year old child?
  
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Start your own ISP.
Do it.
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Why didn't you bash Clark?!! Too much good manner.
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I looked up Charter on Wikipedia, and it says that they filed for bankruptcy lately (there is a source). Maybe it's related to what you're experiencing?
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On February 25 2009 15:41 datscilly wrote:
I looked up Charter on Wikipedia, and it says that they filed for bankruptcy lately (there is a source). Maybe it's related to what you're experiencing?
I heard something about that too, which impresses me even more considering as I said - charter has a clear monopoly. It's not like mass people are suddenly no longer using the internet. Or cable T.V.
so if charter is going bankrupt it's no doubt another case of greedy bigwigs dumping their company to escape with profits while everyone else involved is fucked
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Wow, I can't believe people are allowed to run a business like that and lol at going bankrupt while owning monopoly.
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United States3824 Posts
Not to be the bearer of bad news, but we grant a Monopoly to,landline Telecom companies because we the people don't want fifty wires hanging up on the telephone poles. To repay us for this the cable companies and the phone companies fuck over the American People.
Call your congressmen.
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Korea (South)17174 Posts
don't play sit n go's, just cash game
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I have charter too, same bullshit here with the monopoly and awful service....
their customer service has even hung up on me before its complete bullshit
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United States17042 Posts
if it's possible, see if you can get business class service to your house. It'll cost you an arm and a leg, but it basically moves you up a tier of service, and it also tends to increase uptime.
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United States17042 Posts
On February 25 2009 16:00 cgrinker wrote:
Not to be the bearer of bad news, but we grant a Monopoly to,landline Telecom companies because we the people don't want fifty wires hanging up on the telephone poles. To repay us for this the cable companies and the phone companies fuck over the American People.
Call your congressmen.
not technically true. The cable companies and the telephone companies pay to have "the last mile" go from their central office to their homes. It would be much more effective to have a better argument than "we don't want 50 lines from pole to home". It's kind of a long topic with a lot of history, but yes, there is no competition by regulation, which is the root of the problem.
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Their steps are backwards. When you go to http://www.charter.com/customers/ContactUs.aspx. you should skip to step two and after clicking on your specific problem they'll ask you step one.
The fifth option is nothing more than an online form you can fill out and have send to them.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
lol I read the log and was thinking to myself "damn this sounds like travis is talking to an automated voice system lol"
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T.O.P.
Hong Kong4685 Posts
On February 25 2009 16:58 patrick321 wrote:Their steps are backwards. When you go to http://www.charter.com/customers/ContactUs.aspx. you should skip to step two and after clicking on your specific problem they'll ask you step one. The fifth option is nothing more than an online form you can fill out and have send to them.
Could you see the online form? I can't see the online form with IE or Firefox.
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I used to game with a few friends who were stuck on charter communications due to their location (Wisconsin), and I've never heard so much bitching about an ISP. Sorry bro.
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ISP monopolies are all over the place, and lots of companies get away with it.. lots of companies suck.. etc.
I'm stuck with Comcast at home and Charter at school. It works for the most part and when it doesn't, i'm fucked. the end.
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i have verizon and internet is just as fucking shitty as u describe.
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you sound like a douche in your e-mail granted I can completely understand your frustrations but you don't exactly make the "professional online poker player" sound very good.
reimburse you for your sngs? Are you serious?.
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I live in Georgia and have Charter Internet and Cable and don't have any real problems. Most people in my area that I know at least use Charter for TV and a lot use it for internet and the friends that I game with never have any problems.
By problems I mean nothing randomly happened that caused my internet to die or come to a stand still. When it storms it'll sometimes go down for a few hours or lag a little. Maybe it could be some problem in your area? Maybe I'm just lucky in my area I don't know.
Also, I'm curious how Charter has a monopoly? Bellsouth is really common in Georgia as well. I'm pretty sure there are other internet providers in what ever state you live in.
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As it turns out the 'Billing & My Account Support' is the only one with an e-mail form. I guess they don't care about what you have to say unless the topic is sending them money.
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On February 25 2009 19:20 patrick321 wrote:
As it turns out the 'Billing & My Account Support' is the only one with an e-mail form. I guess they don't care about what you have to say unless the topic is sending them money.
My account support would probably also deal with your internet going down, or some other issue not just money.
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On February 25 2009 19:06 PanoRaMa wrote:
you sound like a douche in your e-mail granted I can completely understand your frustrations but you don't exactly make the "professional online poker player" sound very good.
reimburse you for your sngs? Are you serious?.
the internet went down for about 4 hours in the morning. then up for 1 hour. then immediately down for like 3 more hours. and when i call tech support they claim it's on my end, when it's clearly not.
i pay a lot of money for it. yes im serious. no i don't expect them to, duh.
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Sydney2287 Posts
If you really want to complain, a letter will get more attention than an email.
EDIT: That said, it's kind of ridiculous that an isp make's it nigh impossible for clients to contact them via email.
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I hadn't seen any e-mail posted, so I did a quick whois lookup at
http://cqcounter.com/whois/?query=charter.net
and came up with two contact e-mails. Hey, worth a shot?
dblack3(at)chartercom.com - administrative
abuse(at)charter.net - tech support
And yeah that's total BS - I thought comcast was bad, but if I had to deal with 7 hours out of 8 of downed internet, I would be livid as well. Good luck getting anything resolved.
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Does this ISP cover all the US? Or just your area?
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On February 25 2009 20:53 Roxen000 wrote:
Does this ISP cover all the US? Or just your area?
I believe Charter is mostly scattered all over the states but I am not to sure. I had Charter before 2000 and always had these "outages" that would periodically come and go. I have friends till this day that still pay for their Charter net and have these problems as well. My ISP is AT&T and I rarely get any type of outages (maybe once a year for like an hour or so).
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Kentor
United States5784 Posts
yeah i see the form when you click on any of the links under step 2
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On February 25 2009 19:52 travis wrote:Show nested quote +On February 25 2009 19:06 PanoRaMa wrote:
you sound like a douche in your e-mail granted I can completely understand your frustrations but you don't exactly make the "professional online poker player" sound very good.
reimburse you for your sngs? Are you serious?. the internet went down for about 4 hours in the morning. then up for 1 hour. then immediately down for like 3 more hours. and when i call tech support they claim it's on my end, when it's clearly not. i pay a lot of money for it. yes im serious. no i don't expect them to, duh.
Doesn't matter. Nobody is gonna take an e-mail from a clearly juvenile person cursing and ranting seriously. Using slang like "jacked up" and "shitty ass tech" may get your point across but it won't be taken seriously. Cry about it all you want, say it's discrimination, whatever, but work with the system or it will be even worse.
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May I ask the above poster why he's calling someone who's 4 years older than him "juvenile" ? Am I the only one thinking that's a pretty retarded thing to do?
On topic, it's sad to see that the internet service in the US is that shitty. It isn't the greatest either (well, prices are somewhat acceptable at least due to strict regulations of competition), and I had my fair share of getting enraged over my ISP' malfunctioning customer service, but wow. This is unheard of.
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On February 26 2009 05:12 Naib wrote:May I ask the above poster why he's calling someone who's 4 years older than him "juvenile" ? Am I the only one thinking that's a pretty retarded thing to do? On topic, it's sad to see that the internet service in the US is that shitty. It isn't the greatest either (well, prices are somewhat acceptable at least due to strict regulations of competition), and I had my fair share of getting enraged over my ISP' malfunctioning customer service, but wow. This is unheard of.
Physical age isn't the only determining factor when calling someone juvenile. Usually it's referring to their mental maturity. I can call someone twice my age "childish" just fine.
Also, this looks like a means to contact them. It was right on the page that Clark linked to: http://www.charter.com/customers/contactus.aspx?contactus=6
Correct me if I'm wrong, but unless you're seeing something entirely different than I am he actually did give you a means to contact them.
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On February 26 2009 05:38 Phyre wrote:Show nested quote +On February 26 2009 05:12 Naib wrote:May I ask the above poster why he's calling someone who's 4 years older than him "juvenile" ? Am I the only one thinking that's a pretty retarded thing to do? On topic, it's sad to see that the internet service in the US is that shitty. It isn't the greatest either (well, prices are somewhat acceptable at least due to strict regulations of competition), and I had my fair share of getting enraged over my ISP' malfunctioning customer service, but wow. This is unheard of. Physical age isn't the only determining factor when calling someone juvenile. Usually it's referring to their mental maturity. I can call someone twice my age "childish" just fine. Also, this looks like a means to contact them. It was right on the page that Clark linked to: http://www.charter.com/customers/contactus.aspx?contactus=6Correct me if I'm wrong, but unless you're seeing something entirely different than I am he actually did give you a means to contact them.
I think its this one:
For Internet product support & repairs
http://www.charter.com/customers/contactus.aspx?contactus=7
The "#5" just lists the ways to contact them. I think what you should be looking at is the "Contact Us" section on the bottom right.
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On February 26 2009 05:03 NoobsOfWrath wrote:Show nested quote +On February 25 2009 19:52 travis wrote:On February 25 2009 19:06 PanoRaMa wrote:
you sound like a douche in your e-mail granted I can completely understand your frustrations but you don't exactly make the "professional online poker player" sound very good.
reimburse you for your sngs? Are you serious?. the internet went down for about 4 hours in the morning. then up for 1 hour. then immediately down for like 3 more hours. and when i call tech support they claim it's on my end, when it's clearly not. i pay a lot of money for it. yes im serious. no i don't expect them to, duh. Doesn't matter. Nobody is gonna take an e-mail from a clearly juvenile person cursing and ranting seriously. Using slang like "jacked up" and "shitty ass tech" may get your point across but it won't be taken seriously.
it wouldn't be taken seriously anyways. writing the email was a waste of time
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You can always get business grade broadband which isn't much faster but definantley more reliable. But yeah, internet will go down, it's a fact of life. Get some sort of unwired solution as a backup.
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EPT
