Poor customer service can result in no customers

Christine Dobbs, 71, is furious that Charter Communications billed her $473.80 during the first month of cable service, which she ordered at a monthly rate of $29.95.

The bill includes a start-up fee, charges for movies she says she never ordered and other unexplained expenses.

Charter won’t comment about the situation.

We might be skeptical if we hadn’t seen it so many times before from Charter. In fact, the company has a long record of poor customer service. Anyone who has had to deal with a billing error or service interruption knows how difficult it is to get in touch with the company, let alone schedule an on-time service call.

Too often, one must wait for 30 minutes or more after calling (888) GET-CHARTER. Then one must navigate a maze of automated options before speaking with a live person. If the connection is lost while customer service representatives transfer the call, one must start the process again.

Charter does have a 24-hour online customer support service. But that is no use to those who don’t have a computer or those whose Charter Internet service is the problem.

Forget contacting the local Charter office by telephone. It has an unlisted number. A couple of years ago, when The Daily published the number, Charter immediately had it disconnected.

There are obviously going to be problems when you have 6 million customers.

But just as obviously: You won’t have 6 million customers for long if you can’t find a way to deal with those problems in a timely, friendly manner.

As Ms. Dobbs said of her cable bill mix-up, “If I owe you a nickel or a dime, I’ll pay it because it’s yours, and if you owe me a nickel or dime, I want it because it’s mine.

“You do what’s right because if you do wrong to somebody, something is going to happen to you. God is going to make you pay one way or the other.”

Are you listening, Charter?