06.24.2009 7:53 am
Has Charter falsely accused you of stealing cable?
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Have you received on of these fliers on your door knob?
A reader complained that he recently found a flier hanging from the knob of his front door that accused him of stealing cable. Here’s what it said:
During a check of our cable television lines, we discovered your residence is receiving services that are not in your current subscription plan. Based on this information all unauthorized services have been disconnected. If there is an error in our records, please call the number below and we will correct the matter immediately.
The reader said that, when he called Charter Communications to protest his innocence, a representative from the cable company quickly launched into sales mode and gave him the hard sell on a bundled cable-Internet-phone package.
The accused thinks the fliers are just a gimmick to generate sales leads. Perhaps, or maybe the Charter worker hanging the fliers just goofed up. One way to find out for sure is to see if there’s a pattern of this sort of thing. Have you recieved one of these Charter fliers or otherwise been falsely accused of stealing cable? If you have, I’d like to hear from you. Comment below or e-mail me at mhathaway@post-dispatch.com.
(5 votes, average: 3.4 out of 5)
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It really is hit and miss with cable companies when it comes to service, attentiveness, and even them following their own rules.
I got the most basic of basic packages strictly for reception purposes. I’m only supposed to get the broadcast channels. I have no box, goes right ot the TV and lo and behold, I’m getting a bunch of 2nd tier stations. On occasion the cable company will send a scroll on a channel that says that after x date, you may not get this channel anymore….and then I lose that channel. But I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong. If I were to call and tell them that I’m receiving channels I’m not paying for, it would be a bigger hassle for everyone involved to get it resolved.
I tell you what though, channels that I don’t lose or keep getting more and more of…Spanish stations and religous stations…why o’ why can’t these be the ones they cut and give me back the cartoon network!!
in apt. bldgs charter has a harder time restricting services. does this guy live in an apt. or a house? i had moved into an apt with cable already hooked up, called charter, they gave me basic price but i still got extra channels……………..several years later in a completely different apt. bldg. in a dif part of town my sister got an apt, same thing. she called and they charge her flat rate(all we asked for) and she received extra channels as well. when she called, since this was the second time we had seen this happen she asked if it had anything to do with it being a apt bldg and they said yes.
I love charter! I left them 5 years ago and still get my monthly
bill for $0.00. Also when I asked that the cable be disconected
from my house because it was rubbing in the wind I got the run around
for 5 months and I was told that I could not remove the line in case
the next owner wanted cable??? I own the house! A quick check with city
hall and I told then that They had a week and if they didn’t show I would
assume I was to cut the lines and leave it in a bucket. They said that
was against the law and I nformed them that is what city hall allowed
for.
I went to DTV before Uverse and if I had to I would go back
to DTV. There can’t be a worse provider than Charter.
An actual journalist, I’m not saying it is, but for arguments sake lets say this is a sales ploy used by charter. Do you actually think Matt could call them up, inquire about it and charter would give him a straight answer. Aw schucks Matt, you got us, we routinely place fliers with false information on doors in an effort to drum up business. I can’t believe you caught us. Good for you. I can’t wait to read your article blasting our company.
I live in an apartment building. About two months ago, I had connectivity problems with my Charter Cable Internet. The technician came out the next day after I reported the problem. I pointed out where someone had installed a splitter in my line. The technician decided that this was A) an unauthorized setup and B) might be causing signal degradation on my line. So he removed the splitter, put in a barrel connector to get my line back and cut the offending cable. A day later the people living in the apartment that the line had run to came down and confronted me about having their cable cut. They claimed they were paying for cable and wanted to know if I cut their cable. I explained to them that the technician had done it and WHY he had done so. They griped and groused at me for a while, but eventually left.
Two months on, that cable is still cut and no line runs to that apartment from the common box.
Some cable thieves are quite brazen.
The cable installer told me that he was giving me some extra channels. I was like, sure. I agree it’s more of a hassle to get them taken off for all involved.
The door-hanger - sure, it’s a way to get someone who doesn’t have cable on the phone, so he might get cable. They shouldn’t lie to get people on the phone, though.
I received one about 3 years ago. I just ignored it because I knew exactly what they were trying to pull. Another reason I don’t want cable. Charter is one of the most unethical, unscrupulous companies on the planet. It will come back around.
I’m not the least bit surprised. The way Charter has ripped everyone off for years speaks volumes about the company’s tactics. This is just one more slimy thing they thought of to make more money. Lying crooks
I haven’t been accused of stealing cable but I have a question regarding Charter. If they are hurting for business so bad and had to file bankrupcey then why do I get crap in the mail from them everyday? And I mean everyday!! I can’t tell you how many times door to door sales reps have stopped by and ask me to switch from DirecTV to them? Save some money and quit sending me all the junk mail!!
To Steve M. What do your comment about “disadvaged minorities” have to too with the article in question?