Complain about a product or service

Cox Communications
High-Speed Internet

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

Kevin of Chesapeake VA (10/29/04):
Cox internet service has been unavailable for 3 days in a row in the evening. What are my recourses or options for recovering my loss of service?

Paul of Walker LA (11/18/04):
I scheduled installation of an internet cable from Cox Communication for November 18 to be completed between the hour of 3:00pm - 5:00pm. Technican James B, employee of PRM, a company contracted by Cox Cable, arrived approximately 4:20pm to install the cable. However, after observation of the proposed site of installation, he stated he could not perform the contracted work because my ceiling was greater than eight (8) feet tall. The ceiling is ten (10) feet. At the time of the order, I was informed that if the installation was not an exterior wall, there would be an additional charge to "fish" the wire. Approximately $55.00. However, I was not told by the representative at the time of order that the height of the ceiling would prevent the contracted work from being completed. What modern house being built today has eight (8) foot ceilings?

I scheduled a day off work to be home for the installation. Although my scheduled time was 3pm - 5pm, I was told that if the technican finished early on another job he may call to complete my job order prior to the scheduled time. While the technician was still at my home, I called Cox Communication to complain of the problem. They were also amazed at the fact the ceiling had a limitation for installation from the PRM Company. How many other future potential clients of Cox Communication are disatisfied with this type of service?

Simon of Santa Barbara CA (6/7/04):
I run a small, start-up Internet business at home, selling used books, but it is not nearly as efficient as it could be. A few months ago, I switched from dial-up Internet service (with the phone company) to high-speed digital Internet access because the dial-up was slow. I thought I would experience a vast improvement, but instead my computer is freezing for up to one-and-a-half hours every day. For this "improved" service, I had to pay something in the range of $300 hook-up, including installation and a modem I had to buy, plus the exorbitant monthly charges.

I have called Cox to complain and spent 20 minutes with a techie on the phone who basically concluded that my computer had plenty of memory. We deleted some temporary internet files, which sped up (fractionally) for about 2 hours. Now, I'm back to watching a frozen screen, and as far as I know I have no recourse because Cox seems to have a monopoly on this service. (Moreover, I was billed excessively for cable tv services I asked to have terminated for three consecutive months.) It's an outrage.

Mario of Easton PA (5/5/04):
On spending $60 per month on cable internet access for several months now, plus $40 on cable TV, the ISP service keeps cutting out. It is great while it lasts but Comcast cannot keep the signal straight. Repeated home services yield no result, going back to dial-up.

When we got our first bill, it seemed a little high, about $25 more than I expected it to be, but I chalked it up to the deposit we had to pay. Then the second bill came and it was still high, so this time my wife asked me to call to find out what was going on. It turned out that the $23.90 (monthly) discount was a special promotion that had not been applied to our account. "OK, so just go ahead and apply it and we'll be all set." "I'm sorry sir, that promotion has ended and I can no longer offer it to you."

"But wait...it WAS offered to me and through some clerical error on your part didn't get applied to my account. So I'm just asking you to do what you originally promised." "I'm sorry sir I can't do that." I have been fighting with them ever since.

At this point, I have been referred to "Karla" in the "Customer Loyalty Group." In a conversation on June 23, Karla admitted to me that the Customer Loyalty Group had, in fact, been charged with dealing with "the $23.90 problem" indicating that a large number of Cox customers were getting the same run-around I've been getting, on their $23.90 discount...and who knows how many just never noticed! I hate to sound paranoid, but it almost seems as if Cox promised this promotion and then did their best not to honor it (kind of bait and switch) for a large number of customers, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased revenue. Even if this isn't true, I personally made a decision to switch my phone service based on a promise they are now refusing to keep. Either way, it's shady.

To add insult to injury, I have not been able to contact Cox by any means. When I call Cox, I get put in a queue whose stated length is 20 to 60 minutes. I have waited on the line for more than one-half hour without talking to anyone. I have gone to their website (from work) and found that the part of the website that might accept a complaint does not respond. It appears that Cox is stonewalling their customers. I am planning not to pay the part of my bill relating to internet service.

Richard of Fredericksburg VA writes (1/30/02):
I got hooked up with cable modem Internet access about 3 weeks ago. And it has been a nightmare ever since. I can't ftp to my web space that Cox Cable is suppose to provide. I can't log into other ftp accounts as well. And I get disconnected at least once a day for no apparent reason. My email is currently not working because it looks like my password has been changed or the servers are down.

I was on the phone with tech support, almost nightly for awhile. And then I just gave up. Sometimes they blame it on my computer. Sometimes they tell me to call the local office, which doesn't have a clue about Internet access. Sometimes they tell me to call the place that I am ftp'ing to (which I have done - and they tell me that there is no reverse DNS being mapped to the IP address). One lady at Cox told me that they were getting more IP addresses and that they may not have them configured yet. Sometimes they try to accuse me of doing something illegal, like "running an ftp".

Someone also asked me if I was using my Internet access for business, as if I wasn't paying them enough or something. A help desk guy told me he could help me with everything, but ftp - that it was my problem and I had to fix it myself. While at the same time, he couldn't ftp to my web site using my username and password either.

I happen to be a professional software engineer. And they think they can b.s. me and try to blame me for all their networking problems. They don't even read the log files. Because if they did, they would not try to make me repeat the same thing over and over again. Tech support is in Texas and I am on a different network in Virginia. They keep guessing domains, email servers, usernames, and passwords. They must have given me about 10 or 15 different ones to try.

I don't know why this is a guessing game. I have used the Internet for over 10 years and have never had a problem with my ftp. If their network is set up properly, all they need to do is give me the ftp address, web address, incoming mail server, outgoing mail server, username, and password. And in order to be considered an ISP, you should also provide a news group server. There are many people in this area complaining about Cox Internet Access.

Jim of Chandler, AZ (11/25/01):
Two years ago I ordered Cox Cable Internet Service to replace my 56K dial up connection. This was at an address other than where I live now. At first it was great, a lot more expensive, but great, 256K WOW, what a wonderful thing. My friend who lived maybe two miles from me was always complaining about his Cox Cable service and I didn't understand what he was talking about. For months he complained to me and to Cox and told me he "wasn't getting anywhere with Cox Communications regarding any kind of permanent resolution to his "daily-stress" due to Cox's incompetence."

Well as soon as I moved my family to a new house in May 2001, I began to understand exactly what he was stressing about. Since July 2000 alone, I have had Cox service out here seven times for one problem or another. Each field technician of-course blames problems on the previous technician who was here, even though they have no idea who the previous technician was or what they did.

In the last two months my provisioning in the Cox database has been anonymously deleted and has had to be repaired. Also in the last two months I can't seem to keep a good connection longer than 15 minutes or so. I can't surf the web, do work from home, or play my on-line games. I call in tickets time and again and the problem still isn't resolved. I can physically see the light on my cable modem going off and on; it should be solid green all the time. It has grown very frustrating.

My family tells me why are we paying so much for service such as this? Well I don't know.. And the short of it is I am not going to pay for it anymore. I am canceling Cox Cable service both TV and Internet and going with another solutions provider, I only hope that their service both in my house and customer service on the phone is better than what many people seem to be experiencing all over, not just with Cox.

I am so frustrated that I pay so much for service and I get nothing in return, not even an honest effort or a caring voice on the other end of the line. Before signing up with Cox Cable, inquire as to how many users are in your area and ask around to see how people like it. I just don't want anyone else to experience what I and other friends have experienced with Cox cable, save your money or go with someone else. Guess what I just lost connection while trying to submit this. Imagine that.

Jon of Oakton VA (3/18/01):
About six months ago, my family ordered Cox Cable internet access to replace the dial-up that we were paying for. It cost more, but we thought that the extra speed was well worth it. The last thing anyone wants to do is sit around and wait for stuff to download. That's exactly why I'm so disappointed with Cox Cable. For the last month or so, the connection has been slow - at times, worse than that of a 56K modem. It just now took me almost two minutes to connect to consumeraffairs.com, and it's almost 10:00 on a Sunday night.

I'm thoroughly fed up with Cox Cable - I'm constantly restarting my computer, hoping that the slow access is being caused by other programs that are open or by a lack of memory. Nope. Paying more for less. As if all this weren't bad enough, Cox Cable also does a POOR job of providing us with TV. Comedy Central and a few less consequential stations hardly come in at all ever since Cox took over from Media General two years ago.