Optimum

They promised me they would apply a measly $20 to my account for my trouble. When I call back they have no record of the $20 being added to my account. I try to call back numerous times and they hang up on me. I never received a bill via email or snail mail. I keep calling to tell them to cancel and they tell me to pay $200 and they will cancel it. I told them it was not right for them to charge me for services I never received and I want it cancelled! Without my permission, they took it out my account! Mind you, I never gave permission for them to do that. If that was the case, why didn’t they take it the first month.

I kept telling them I have not received a bill. They had no rebuttal for this. So the $300 gift card they told me I would receive when I signed up, they told me I wasn’t eligible because my bill was late! I told them I have been calling and telling them I have NOT received a bill! Nothing. I try to go to the website to see my bill and it tells me to log in with my home internet! My internet does not work! My internet is still on! Even after I told them to cancel it and they took money out of my account. So their scam is to take more money out of my account without sending you a bill. When they’re suppose to cancel it. I’m stuck because I don’t want it to affect my credit! Save yourself the trouble and do not sign up for their service! By the way, their customer service is a call center in India and they have a very HEAVY accent and you cannot understand them and they don’t understand you!

At approximately 7 pm I called and finally was able to talk with Richard (UBC) and this guy was absolutely NO HELP. He didn’t care about our problem. My business is “dead in the water” due to Optimum and their total lack of care. Richard did NOT care!!!! I was told they had up to 48 hours to respond to this issue. And of course this being Thursday evening, 48 hours puts this into Saturday so I can probably look closer to 96 hours plus before Optimum gets someone out there with the intelligence to at least to attempt to make the necessary repairs to make the TV, Internet and Telephone.

If all techs that handle this type of problem are on other calls at 7 pm that tells me Optimum has major problems that maybe I need to look elsewhere for the same services. I am truly disappointed and dissatisfied with this extremely poor customer service and a total lack of care by Optimum. A review of 1 star is overrated and is the lowest one could pass on. Again, this is Thursday evening and when I get to my office to my office in the am, I WILL find a different telephone, television and internet provider. Optimum Sucks!

2) They quoted a price I knew was too low on a cable upgrade. When I questioned that, the girl told me that I had the next to highest. I said, "No, I lowered to a total basic 3 years ago, now I just want one tier up." She went "On, yeah." She gives me another quote. I go home, call in and the automated system gives me a really different number. Talk to billing who tell me she did screw up. I say "Put it back the way it was." I was told, "We can't. She erased the promotions on your account and they aren't offered now."

May 6, 2023 - Went in and said, "Your equipment will not work with my modem, which is registered with your company and therefore this is useless, and you still have my cable mixed up." They admit they know it won't work, then they tell me that they don't carry equipment in the store, and that I'll have to pay a tech to bring me a new modem. I said, "You carried equipment yesterday, you adverrtise you carry equipment at this location. Check." She emerges with a cable box.

I also explain the billing was not what she said per their phone system, and that the billing people via the phone said she gave me a 6-month promotion that would run out and my bill would have jumped massively higher. I pointed out that I was never told the price was a promotional price that would run out. I was livid. They apologize and tell me they have it all fixed, give me a price that sounds right and a supposed credit for the trouble they created.

I get home with the cable box and it won't even power up. Not that it won't connect to my internet, or to my television. It literally won't even power up when plugged in. No lights at all. I talk to services techs and billing officials on the phone. They tell me that the store never activated the box on their end, but that on top of that, the fact it won't even power up indicates they gave me a bad box. They also confirm billing amounts still look wrong and tell me what they show I should need to pay by May 17, 2023.

May 9, 2023 - I go to a different Optimum store. She actually gives me a box that powers up. Looks at the bill, confirms the amount the last people in billing (via the phone) tell me. I go home, call and confirm the automated system agrees with her. Check online, it doesn't, even though it shows it was 'correct as of that time of day on that date'. I decide to wait and give their computers time to catch up.

May 12, 2023 - Automated system still shows the amount owed I was told on May 9th in-store, via the automated system, and via an agent on the phone, so I pay that in full. (This is the 12th, the bill is due the 17th). I wait a few hours and call. Automated system confirms a zero balance. On line still shows $170 something due on the 17th. I wait and call again and am told the online will update in "24 hours". It never changed. On May 17, automated still shows zero balance, on line still shows $170, I confirm the payment actually cleared my bank.

May 23, 2023 - I notice that the website shows I am "past due". I call the automated system, and it says I owe $10. I call the billing people, they tell me that "for some reason" it applied a late fee to my account, but they don't know why it did as they can see that I had a zero balance before the due date, and showed no new charges other than that late fee. They "remove" the late fee, but I am still nervous, and so they send me to someone with more authority (felt very much like I just got passed to whoever else would answer the phone).

They tell me I have a zero balance. They tell me that I was charged a late fee, but it was removed, and I say, "but I want to know why I was charged a late fee to begin with, and why the website still shows I owe you for what was originally billed before all this began". They told me the system needs 24 hours to update. I told them the system had from May 5th to May 23, and pointed out that was far more than 24 hours. They say they will investigate that, but to be assured, I owed them nothing until my new bill comes out with the real current charges.

I ask them to send me an email to that effect. They tell me that they cannot do that, that the only written information they are allowed to provide is via the bill. They assured me the bill showed I owed absolutely nothing until the new billing cycle. They promised there was no indication, at all, that anything was ever late on my end. They confirmed that in 31 years (Cox to Suddenlink to Optimum) they have no record of my ever having been late even once. He tells me the phones update first, and that I can at least call and check with the phone.

So, May 24, 2023, I do that. I call the automated system, and it tells me that I owe Optimum $0.74. The online today shows I am late with my May 17 payment and still shows the amount before all the changes, that I am told, I in no way owe the company by anyone who actually is a human being. Now, it is just 74 cents, but it is a mystery 74 cents. So I really, really, really want to know what kind of circus this is.

This is unprofessional. This is starting to feel very illegal in terms of billing practices. I have been one of the few people who gave Optimum great reviews after they took over for Suddenlink. I am now looking for the best time to cut them out of my life and move to another company. I will tolerate a lot from a business, but unethical billing practices, or incompetent billing practices is a huge red flag that screams they should not be doing business.

Unfortunately I am stuck with this service because:

b)I was told I cannot go back to coaxial. When someone in Retention tried to reinstate it, my account was actually cancelled (I have the new account numbers to prove it).

I am now paying more money than before because I had to purchase new security cameras and a mesh system to increase signal strength throughout my house. I won't call Support anymore because each time they promised a specialist would be sent to my house that could correct the issues, the technicians had no idea how to fix them or caused another issue.

The other problem cost me many days contacting all the references to my email that they deleted from my account. I am now unable to retrieve many accounts that required my email address for verification. My phone number was changed in March so I cannot use two factor authorization. Be prepared to have many problems with this company, they should not be in business