Charter Communications

Charter Communications has been, without a doubt, the single most difficult vendor our restaurant has dealt with in the year and a half since we opened. Our business relies on a stable internet connection for a number of functions and systems, not the least of which is secure credit card processing.



Our internet drops every time there's a hint of inclement weather, even though it's supposedly a hard-wired connection into the building. We typically find ourselves forced to reboot the Charter modem multiple times a week, just in order to function. And, when there's a more serious outage, it takes DAYS for the issue to be resolved. In fact, it takes DAYS for a technician to even show up. Every single call on these issues requires that we start from scratch in terms of detailing the problem, scheduling repair service, etc. Then, when a tech finally does arrive, he's clueless as to what the issue is ... we must start again from scratch with him.



However, the most egregious problem of late came when we reported that a truck had knocked out an overhead cable run that killed our internet service immediately. Despite being told on 3 separate days that techs were being dispatched to address and repair the outage, nothing was fixed. This morning, 2 techs FINALLY showed up. We watched as they worked inside a box atop the pole. Then, the "lead" tech waltzed into our kitchen, into the office, looked at the modem and exclaimed, "All your lights are blinking so nothing is wrong with your service. What exactly did you want me to check out?"



As it turns out, we suddenly had internet service back despite the tech telling us that there never had been a problem and that they had made no repairs or adjustments. Mind you, we actually WITNESSED them working in the cable box atop the pole ... our internet service, which had been out for 4 days prior was suddenly and magically alive. Basically, the tech treated us like some sort of stupid idiots ... according to him "there never was a problem, nothing had to be fixed, we had had service all along." Several of us here are, in fact, quite tech savvy and, on this particular day, we had a network specialist in the house on some unrelated issues who happened to witness the same things we did. Not that we needed it, but he confirmed that the internet service was out prior to Charter's arrival and was only restored once the tech came down off his ladder.



We don't pretend to understand why this particular technician would behave in this manner, but suffice it to say this has left a horrible and lasting taste in our mouths as far as a continued relationship with Charter goes.