Complain about a product or service

Cox Cable - Billing

Cox Communications • Cable • Billing • Service --- • Internet • Local phone

Nathan of Tulsa, OK writes (2/5/02):
I ordered service with Cox cable for the first time ever. I ordered the internet service they so heavily promote which I have been happy with. I did not receive a bill and finally called about mid-January. Betty said the billing address was to the wrong place.

Then I asked how much it was to. For two months of service I was thinking $100. Then she said something like $400. She told me I had a cable box and a remote that I was renting out. I explained I live in a condo and cable is paid for and I never agreed, had or signed for this other stuff. I had just ordered the internet service. She said it would go to a special group at Cox and they would give me a call in the next week.

I never get a call so I call back in and speak to Venessa. I had to explain the whole thing again and she said she would have a supervisor call me later in the day. I dont hear anything and get home from work to find a notice saying I owed a lot of money and to pay it. Well at least they had the address right now. I call back in and get Rob who I have to tell everything too again and I wanted to speak to a manager immediately. He tells me he is sending me to thier leads VM and sends me to Vanessa's voicemail.

I call back in and get vanessa and tell her I want to disconnect my service. She asks why. I'm boiling at this point and she finally talks me into giving her manager a chance to talk to me and to hold on the line. Or i could let the manager call me. I choose to stay on the line. She hangs up on me. Then Rob calls me and asks why I want my service disconnected. I'm to the last straw here so I wanted to find a group to vent to in hopes it can help this work.

Kathy of Phoenix (12/19/01):
Problems with Cox Communications. I have never not paid my bill. Mailed last bill in time to get to them. Was due on 12/12/01. They apparently received on 12/14/01. On 12/13/01 I was sent a delinquency notice, stating I must pay this bill and my next bill or the service would be shut off. I received the bill on 12/18/01. Their due date for the bills is listed as 12/23/01.

I called to state I had paid and had presumably mailed it in time to get there. They said it not only had to reach Cox by the due date but it had to be processed and posted, so the next time I should mail the bill earlier. I was attached a late fee of 10% of the bill because they posted the bill two days after the due date during the Christmas season and with the postal service slow.

I tried to reach billing information on the internet but it wouldn't go through (apparently a number of other people were also exploring this avenue of checking their bills on-line). I tried to enter a password to gain access to my billing information which also wouldn't go through. In order to fill out the internet form to gain access to my billing information, part of the form that had to be filled out included my E-mail address, so they could sent Cox offers and propaganda to me. This has nothing to do with obtaining access to my billing information. This also would apparently not go through. I backed out of this application and went back to work on my computer. In about 20 minutes I received E-mail confirmation that my password had gone through and I could now obtain access to my billing information.

In the meantime, I had called the company and been informed that I could have one "late fee" waived per year and that, according to my past payment records, there had never been a problem with me paying. I was also informed that the payment not only had to be received by the due date, it had to be posted. I work from home transcribing reports for a hospital and was not able to work for the rest of the night. I was thus not paid and the hospital's work was done done. I am fed up with these phone and cable monopolies and the tricks and stunts they are playing.

Michael of Wethersfield CT (9/19/01):
Mysteriously on 6/26/01, Cox Communications added $510.45 to my monthly cable bill. They said it was for the NBA League Package Pay-Per-View option and adding extended basic to my service. I currently have and have had the basic cable (no extended cable or cable box) which costs $10.12/month. So even if I wanted to order a Pay-Per-View, I would not have the necesary hardware to do so.

Coincidentally, the NBA season, including the playoffs, ended about a week before this charge was applied to my account. As far as the extended basic charge, which consisted of $24.06 of the $510, I never asked for or received this service. Three phone calls to Cox Communications' customer service have not resolved this fraudulent charge. Every phone call returns the same response of "We're checking on it." Cox has recently started sending threatening letters. I have not paid the addtional monies and have no intention to do so.

Mary of Topeka KS (7/5/01):
Cox Cable cut my cable off even though I had paid the bill. I followed the instructions of their employee, Derrick and deposited the money in the Cox Cable Box located at the Dillons store. I was assured this was safe to do because the PSI (security trucks) pick up the locked box every morning and delivewr it to Cox. I have the receipt where I withdrew the exact amount of the bill from the credit union. Cox said too bad so sad and cvut my cable off anyway.

Upon investigating the matter, I learned that there had previously been a problem with Cox payments being lost at this particular Dillons store location. I learned this from a Dillons employee. And Cox says it is too bad I will just have to "make up the difference." We went in person to Cox and Carla said she'd turn our cable back on if we paid $82.00 right there on the spot. However, she stated the $77.44 would remain on our bill as unpaid.

She refused to give us information about what happened to the other people who had their payments stolen. Meanwhile we are cable less. I did tell her I thought I should file a police report.

We are going to have to pay the bill twice apparently. I suffer from fibromyalgia and stress is bad for me and this has caused a great deal of undue streess for me. Plus, we had to drive all the way out to the other side of town and be embarassed and humilated by Carla as she refused to accept any of our statements or receipts.

We vote for filing a police report and, probably more importantly, complaining loudly to the city or county authority that licenses Cox in Topeka. If Mary wanted to make an issue of it, she could also sue Cox in Small Claims Court.

Bradley of Oklahoma City (5/18/01) had a similar problem:
One Sunday night approximately 6 months ago, I realized my cable television bill was past due. Instead of mailing it, I drove to the local Cox Communications office to place my payment in the night depository. When I arrived at their office, I opened my checkbook to write a check and realized I was out of checks.

Since the Cox office was about 25 minutes from my home, I went to a nearby convenience store and used my ATM card to withdraw the cash to pay the bill. I did not buy a money order because I assumed (mistake #1) that the night depository was secure. I returned to their office, placed the cash, along with my statement, into an envelope, sealed it and returned home.

Approximately one week later, I received a phone call from Cox, advising me my bill was past due. I explained to the rep what I had done. She said she would note my account and everything would be fine. A week or so later, I came home and my cable service had been disconnected. When I called Cox's "customer service" number, the rep told me I had been disconnected for failure to pay my bill.

I explained the saga to her. She told me that I couldn't possibly be telling the truth because they have not had problems with missing payments in the night depository before. When I realized I was getting nowhere with the rep, I asked for a supervisor and was connected with Linda. After speaking with Linda, I realized where the rep learned her condescending attitude...from her supervisor, Linda. Linda was absolutely no help and used the age-old customer care line, "There's nothing I can do for you, sir."

The call ended with no resolution. I waited a few minutes, cooled down, and called Cox back. I advised the rep what was going on and asked if I could give her my credit card to have my service restored and I would iron out the other issues later. She agreed. Before I gave my credit card to her, I asked if my service could be restored the next day. She said, "No problem." I gave her my credit card and she said, "The past due amount and reconnection fee has been charged to your credit card. Oh, one more thing, it will actually be next week before we can get your service back on."

I went through the roof, explaining that she had just promised next day reconnection. Again, I received the Cox Communication mission statement, "There's nothing more I can do, sir." I asked for a supervisor and was again transferred to the Mother Theresa of customer service, Linda. Linda must have just returned from a smoke break because this time, she overrode the orders and had my cable turned back on the following day.

I worked with Cox's billing department for over a month and was accused of being dishonest and naive (for placing cash in the depository) to no avail. It was becoming apparent to me that Cox had no intention of reimbursing me for the double payment and reconnection fee I was forced to pay. Finally, I wrote a letter to the General Manager of the local office, threatening a lawsuit. I soon received a phone call from a young lady who agreed, with a fair amount of animocity, to the refund.

Audra of Phoenix writes (6/20/01):
I had a cable box that I had at 2902 E. Fairmount Ave. and when I transferred my service to 3815 N 16th St. I took the cable box with me. But the Cox Cable tech did not put down that I had brought the box with me. There was already a deposit on the cable box and they charged me again saying that they gave us another box which was the second box which I never received.

It took me two or three months to get the matter resolved because they thought he gave me another box. Now I turned in the cable box last month which I aready had $150.00 deposit on it already and the bill came in last month before I turned in the cable box in the amount of $128.96 which was two month billing that we only owed on and when I turned over the cable box to the tech the $150.00 dollar deposit should've taken care of the $128.96 bill which they're saying that I still owe that amount.

In checking the City of Phoenix Web site, we somehow weren't surprised to find that there is a department that handles "business assistance" but nothing listed under "consumer protection." She might try complaining to the Arizona Attorney General.

Joe of Burke VA writes:
Simply the problem is with billing credits & customer services. In a nutshell: Our Cox cable was turned off either the first or the second week of Oct 2000. A week later apparently they switched our cable service back ON (we were unaware of this as we started to investigate satellite dish options).

Dec 25 we (the entire house) decided to go with cable once again as it was more convenient and we had to sign no long-term contracts. So we initiated the "turn back on process" with the cable company. In the interim the cable had been accruing charges against it. I settled my past due bill amount of $150.00 (Cox received the payment Jan 5th). We proceeded to discuss the $150 - $200 credit for services never received, or I guess you could say we didn't know we were receiving the cable ... and the cable was turned on with the promise that the charges accumulated during Oct 15th (est.) until Jan 8. (again the period which the cable company and myself agreed I was not liable for) would be credited.

Well it is the 12th of March and my cable had been turned off yet again about the 6th or 7th time (it was also promised that the cable would remain on until the credit was executed) and I have just about had it. NO ONE returns calls ... THE WORST customer service I have ever experienced. Other than that, they have told me I owe $200+ and thats that ... no more deals no more cable ... no more callbacks (not that I received any to begin with) no nothing.

Retta of Fairfax VA (12/21/00):
Someone opened a fraudulent account using my SSN. The account went into collections and appeared on my credit report. I paid the account off in the amount of $114.78 in error thinking it was in my name. Upon receipt of payment I found the account was opened by a Cynthia B. from Newport News, VA.

The collection agency, Commonwealth Information Systems, Inc. and Cox Cable removed the negative information from my credit report and ARE supposed to refund me the $114.78. This was supposed to occur on 11/15/00. However, I still have not received the refund check. I have sent a letter to Cox and left several messages for Ms. Fenton to call me in regards to this issue and I have not had a response. Therefore, I am reporting the company to the BBB and plan on taking legal action if they do not respond. I will be suing the company for negligence as they should have checked the SSN before they provided service. I have also reported this company to the Better Business Bureau.

The time I have spent trying prove to the collection agency and Cox that this was fraudulent account. After not receiving my refund Cox and being totally ignored, is very stressful. I paid money in error for someone else's wrong-doing. I also had to file a financial crimes police report, as well as file a fraud alert status with all three credit reporting agencies. This never would have happened if Cox would have checked the information that was provided on their application. They would have seen that the SSN name and address did not match the name and address on the appliacation. I have plenty of paperwork to prove they were negligent and am ready to sue if necessary.

Retta should send a certified demand letter giving Cox 30 days to pay up. If they don't, it's a simple case that be handled in Small Claims Court. It's not really necessary for Retta to prove Cox was negligent, simply that they billed her for service she did not order.

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