Complain about a product or service

Bright House Networks

Kacey of Orlando, FL October 14, 2009

My experience with Brighthouse Networks has been a nightmare. Last year when I lived in an apartment, I called to have them set up a wireless router so that my room mate and I could both have internet service. The technician showed up several hours late and did not have the necessary equipment with him. He was flustered and seemed angry and possibly drunk. He stormed through our apartment, ignoring our questions and concerns. He threw power cords around and ran into me at one point. When I asked him to go and get the equipment that he would need and come back, he told me that he was just doing his job (i.e. what was on the incorrect work order) and that he would not do what I had made the appointment for.

Since then, I have moved into a house and I have recently decided to cancel my cable television service with Brighthouse. Their customer service has always been terrible and I don't watch much T.V. anyway, so I called to cancel. I told the representative repeatedly and very clearly that I would be cancelling only my cable tv service and not my internet service. I was told that a technician would be at my house yesterday between 8am and 10am to pick up the cable box and disconnect service. After the two hours passed, I called Brighthouse to let them know that no one had shown up. They told me that he was running behind and would be there soon. Another hour went by and finally he showed up, but with an incorrect work order. He disconnected both my cable television service and my internet service. When I happened to notice this error on the work order, I asked him to reconnect the internet immediately. When I called and spoke to a Brighthouse manager to let them know that the technician was an hour late and had the wrong work order, they refused to credit my account or take any corrective action. I therefore told them I would like to cancel my internet service as well, so that I would have no further business with Brighthouse. The manager told me that a technician would be at my house between 10am and 12pm the following day (today).

After waiting the two hours, I called Brighthouse to let them know that again the technician did not show up. After waiting on hold for 30 minutes, the representative told me that he was running late and would be at my house by 1:40. At 2:00 I called again and I was told that he would be at my house in the next 20 minutes. When I explained the situation that had taken place over the past two days, the representative said, "That's funny because we have received the J.D. power and associates award for customer service." Needless to say, I was not laughing. I called again at 3:00 and was told that their computer system shows no estimated time of arrival to my house and that I didn't even need to be there when he arrived. (The previous representative had told me that I had to be home because the technician would not come onto my property if I was not there).

Finally, the technician showed up a few minutes after 3:00. I asked him, "Are you aware that you are 3 hours late for our appointment?" He said, "Ya, because yesterday you said you didn't want the internet disconnected." "Correct. Yesterday you were here to disconnect the cable tv service only, but due to the fact that you were over an hour late, arrived with the wrong work order and that Brighthouse was completely unapologetic or helpful, I am now disconnecting all services with Brighthouse. That is why you are here today and that is why you should have been here between 10 and 12 this morning." He said nothing.

JOhn of clermont, FL October 14, 2009

My TV cable box wouldnt work again this morning, stuck on initialize. I called the customer service number for cable to be told that the wait time was over ten minutes. 35 minutes later I gave up and discontected the box and went to local office in Clrmont. The lady there exchanged my box and gave me a new one telling me to call the number on the sticker to get it activated. I returned home installe dthe new box and called the number. After a 15 minute wait the customer service girl told me there was a problem, she couldnt see the new box I had on their system and that I now had two boxes listed so I would be charged for two despite my telling her that the other box was at the local office. Sghe would not call the office and told me I had to go back there to sort ot out with them. She tried to activate the new box but it would only see basic channels. I returned to the local store, different lady who checked that they had muy old box wiped it of theior sytem and gave me another new box. I returned home with that and wired it back up and calle the number to activate. I waited for over 10 minutes with no reply and in the meantime the box switched itself on and it works. Totla time wasted was 3 hours 30 minutes , two car jouneys of ten miles and loss of my mornings work. The wait for a techinician on residential premises is two days which is why I went to the store. At no time did they offer any compensation for my wasted time their poor equipment.

Initialy when I had the 'bundle' installed under their promotion, the modem left by the technician didnt work and I had to go and change thatout locally. After more problems the next technician diagnosed that the original cable used tio connect to my home from their local node was the wrong size and was slowing down the signal speed so he re-wired the cable over my lawn and a crew then came and buried it a week later. It stll stalls out periodicaly but quite franckly I livge with it becasue I cant be bothered to wait all the hours to get through on the phone and to wait for their people to turn up. The service is a disgrace and totally not customer oriented, the people running it are pleasent but obvioulsy there are not enough of them to deal with the volume of calls. Their on wait system uses a repeditive noise sustem which drives you mad after the 20 th time you hear it and is obvioulsy designed to do just that and make you hang up. They need to be made to be more responsible for their service and its repercussions.I need the internet for my work and I use the TV service to update me for stock market information and local travel news, when I have no service then I lose money and if I have to go to local offices I have to travel too, the least they should be made to do is offer free network time to recompense me.

T of Clearwater, FL October 13, 2009

I cancelled my service with Brighthouse about a year ago because of the horrible customer service. Of course they called and asked what they could do to earn my business back. I thought that after 12 months perhaps they would have their "issues" worked out. NOT SO. In August of this year I began having problems with the digital box. It would continously click even when not in use and any on demand movie rented was completely discolored and the picture was bad.

I called them out and they informed me that the problems were due to the fact that the memory was full because of all the downloads. Interesting since we have NEVER downloaded the first movie or tv show. They bring me a new box. 4 Days later it is clicking away again. Then it stops for a while. Next the picture begins to freeze. I give it some time about a month and then the box starts randomly shutting off until it eventually never comes on again. Once again, I call them out. They tell me that they will be out between 2-4. Okay no problem. I work in Tampa but my mom lives 5 blocks over I will have her there to let them in.

My mom is at my house at 1:00 and so is my daughter (under 18 had to have my mom there)The brighthouse rep. calls me at 2:02 and says the tech. was there but has left because no one answered. This is complete BS because I have two dogs that slam against the front windows barking loudly enough for Miami to hear and both my mom and daughter WERE there.When I returned their call at 2:03 to tell them that they are at home, they tell me they will have to reschedule for 6 days later. WHAT?

I told them that would not work since I had someone waiting for them and this WAS THERE MISTAKE. So the condecending worthless customer service girl tells me that she will have a tech. come out between 8-8 the next day. Now I am beside myself. I WORK in Tampa. I will need to have my mother come wait for 12 hours IN HOPES that they will show up. NOT GOING TO WORK. So she tells me she will have a SUPERVISOR tech. come out and he will give me a call first thing in the morning to tell me the time. 4:30 rolls around and I left work early. Still no word on Tech.

Just by chance I was home at 6:12 when the tech. knocks at the door. I said you were supposed to call first. He simply looks at me with this goofy look and shrugs his shoulders. I said are you the supervisor tech. once again goofy look. No why? I explain situation- shrugs shoulder (this guy is sharp) I then asked him what would have happened if I hadn't been home. He said you would have to reschedule. I said YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO CALL FIRST. His response again Lady you would have to reschedule.

Now I have a goofy look because I am completely dumbfounded as to how Brighthouse can expect people who are employed, to accomodate Brighthouse's stupidity and inability to follow through on THEIR customer service requests. After all of this he tells me that the problem is in the pole out back. What? Your other incompetent technician was out 3 days ago, replaced the digital box which won't even turn on and doesn't think of checking the pole? Now this tech. tells me that there is no problem with the box.

Seriously, Einstein even I know the box is dead there is NO POWER NO GREEN LIGHT, NO NOTHING I have already established this with the condecending customer service girl who had me click the button 6 times while I was on the phone with her only to ask me to recheck the cables in the back of the box to make sure they are not red. EVEN THOUGH I TOLD HER 3 TIMES THEY ARE WHITE! Finally I convince him to look at the box again and he confirms it is broke NO *& (*! So he goes out to the truck and brings in another box. He then asks me if I would like a HD box. I ask does this cost more? His response of course was yes. I asked him why on earth I would want to pay more to brighthouse for ANYTHING else when what I have doesn't work, customer service is horrible and I really just want this service taken out? Again, dumbfounded look and he then returns with another box.Which he plugs in and miraculously IT WORKS!

He then places a work order for the field technicians to come out and fix the back pole the next day. That was Saturday. This is Monday. Still no technician. I called again this morning because guess what? Yep. Cable is out again. Customer Service rep. tells me he will have someone call me TODAY to schedule a SUPERVISOR visit. It is now 11:01 PM NO call. But I bet in 4-6 months I get a call asking me how they can earn my business again. Here is a simple solution to your loss of business Brighthouse.

Instead of putting all of your energy in getting customers to COME BACK to Brighthouse how about providing good service and customer service to your customers while they are your customers! I'm sure if any Brighthouse employee reads this. somewhere there is a face with a dumbfounded look upon it!

Sharon of St Petersburg, FL August 31, 2009

I made an appointment to have a phone jack installed in a room, the tv cable moved from one side of a room to another, and a digital converter box. The appointment time was 10-12 on Friday, 8/28. The tech shows up, drills 2 holes in the wall, and then it begins to rain. He says he will come back tomorrow, as close to 8 am as he can. I called bright house the next morning ~ 10 and am told the appointment will be from 8 am to 8 pm. Waited all day. No show. No call. Sunday morning I have an email from bright house, saying my new appointment time is now SUNDAY, from 8 am to 8 pm. I waited all day. No one called me, I had to call them and now the appointment is 9 pm. All of the customer service people I spoke with empathetic and kind but when I finally spoke with a supervisor, he had nothing to offer but an apology. I'm not sure why they have designated supervisors, the one I spoke with was useless.

William of Geneva, FL August 17, 2009

I have been having sporatic problems with Bright House. I have the Bundle which consist of Cable Tv, Internet, and Digital Phone. On August 16th 2009 I found that my phone had no dial tone. I called Bright House Service Department and After resetting my modem was told that the problem was one that a service tech would have to come to the residence to fix. The appointment was set for between 12pm and 2pm on Monday August 17th 2009. I made sure that by 8am on August 17th 2009 my dogs were locked away, the gate was open, and I was working in my front yard waiting for the tech to show.

St 2:30pm I called to ask why the tech had not come yet. I was told that they had come but could not get in the gate. When I told the person on the phone that I had opened the gate at 8zm and was in the yard all day the person said that the tech could find my address. After speaking with the suppervisor I was still placed on another appointment date that is 2 days later. This means I have to take another day off work to wait for their tech to come. On one previous occassion my phone was out and I had to wait two separate days for the tech to come.

Once the tech came he said he could not fix the problem. Bright House sent another tech out 2 days later and the same thing happened only prior to this tech leaving he cut my telephone line so short that it could not be reconnected without running a new wire. Finally another tech came out and fixed the problem within 15 minutes and was astounded that the previous techs could not fix the problem. I am checking into other providers for my services and will definitely change as soon as I find one.

Suzie of Largo, FL August 17, 2009

I was paying my bill online, I hit an incorrect amount, instead of 150, I paid them 1501. This was on payday and covered almost all of what my paycheck was. I called them within minutes, while the screen was still up and was told they contract out their accounts receivable. I then called my bank to stop the payment but found you can stop a debit card payment. They stayed on the phone for a 3 way call to Bright House. My bank asked for the 6 digit authorization code following the transaction, They either played, or are stupid and said they couldn't access the code. My bank also told them to take my number and process a credit to the account, again they said they were unable.

Well after about 3 hours of phone calls, I was told that they would credit the amount as soon as it cleared (though my bank on the phone told them it cleared instantly). This was 4 weeks ago, no credit, so I call Bright House today. I am told they will credit 1000 because the took all payments(including the one not due till the end of the month) out of their little windfall.

Shannon of clearwater, FL August 13, 2009

The apartment complex that I live in only allows for Bright House services, as Verizon and Knology do not run cables here, and residents are not allowed to have satellite dishes (Direct TV).

I have had internet with Bright House for about 2 years now, and I know that they have the most aggravating customer service ever. Sure, it's 24/7, but the automated system is annoying, and when you finally do get through to someone, provided that they speak English well, they are NEVER ON THE SAME PAGE/NEVER KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON.

I recently ordered digital cable TV with them, and the tech came (they hire this independent company to install their products called Knight Enterprises and they are just awful). The tech told us it would start working in about an hour. Six hours passes and we are only getting a few channels. I call and I am told that it might take until tomorrow because when they "checked" for me, the tech hadn't entered the job into the computer yet. OKAY well, of course the channels never come on the next day.

I call again and I am on the phone with someone for an hour, who decides that it's "routine maintenence", and that's why I only have 12 channels available right now, out of SEVERAL HUNDRED. They assure me that this happens sometimes, especially late at night (which is when I predominantly watch TV). I hang up and call the next day and demand a tech to come out. Four days later, someone comes, and in under 3 minutes tells me that the original Tech had some wire plugged in backwards. That was the whole problem!

Fast forward to three months later (today). I've always known that when you view your Bright House statement, they always show next month's bill on there too. So it looks like you are always behind on payment. Well, this month they are trying to say I owe that full amount or they are going to shut off services. I talked to someone on their Live Chat and verified that yes, I did have to pay that amount or my services would be shut off. My bill should have been in the 100+ range, but they are asking me to pay 301.

I can't be forced to pay for future services here. I can just barely make the payment for monthly services, let alone 2 months-worth. Not only that, but they left a note on my door, with how much I owe and with the date (tomorrow) that my service will be shut off, for all of my neighbors to see. That's just tacky. Their customer service is horrible, and their training must be inconsistent because no one ever knows what's going on.

Tim of Lake Mary, FL August 10, 2009

Starting with an overall dissatisfaction with customer service. Specific examples include having a technician come to the house and spend hours being unable to solve the problem and then having another technician come out later in the week and see the problem as "something simple" and be shocked at the first technicians inability to solve the problem. Also, more or less persistent problems with connection quality for cable tv as well as internet connectivity have consistently resulted in several in-house visits from technicians. The specific area of complaint, however, centers around the idea of "time guard" where the phone technician I was just speaking too attempted to sell me some type of insurance against Brighthouse charging me for service calls that "are not the fault of Brighthouse equipment". How, when I am already paying for a service they will not be here to repair for at least two days, can they potentially charge me extra for their visit especially when they bill their customers a month in advance, meaning I've already paid for the two days of service I will not be getting.

patti of lakelandq, FL July 27, 2009

with many complaint polace to this company regarding their service we are paying for every month bright house is not living up to its name. weekly interruption of phone ,internet and cable and when they promised for some one to come out no one does.they refuse to give a detailed bill, but they add charges they've claimed we have.This company is not living up to its name and customer's service is no help.

Ramses of McFarland, CA July 20, 2009

I had despiuted this account with the credit buros and they, did nothing for me. So i called Bright House the original creditor and try to resolve the issue with them, on this not being my account. They were suppose to send me proof of the contract but they never did. I would like for u to help me resolve this issue.

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