ISP automatic forums » Knology → Knology's sleazy business practices

Well, since having cancelled my knology "service", I have received two monthly statements indicating I have a $64 credit coming. Note that these statements are identical to every other knology bill we've received except for the minus sign in front of the amount. I wonder how may people pay that amount thinking it's actually their last bill rather than a credit.

In any case knology apparently just keeps sending out these bills without refunding the money for quite some time. It must be significantly more difficult for them to send out a check than it is to send out a statement. Or maybe, since there's basically nothing you can do about it, they just keep using your money as long as they can get away with it.

The service has been great with Comcast. They now have 5Mbps in my area.

2005-02-03 22:46:44 EST: 5344 / 701
Your download speed : 5472718 bps, or 5344 kbps.
A 668 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 718281 bps, or 701 kbps.

Dave Krueger
------------------------------
Huntsville,AL
»www.kruegerphoto.com
dave@kruegerphoto.com

Over here in madison, knology is still sucking away. Cant wait for comcast to get out here....:(

2005-02-13 18:40:13 EST: 761 / 353
Your download speed : 779968 bps, or 761 kbps.
A 95.2 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 362056 bps, or 353 kbps.

Still good here in PC, Fl. Looks like we have been upgraded to 3.5Mbps.

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2005-02-13 19:26:53 EST: 3476 / 357
Your download speed : 3559974 bps, or 3476 kbps.
A 434.5 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 366233 bps, or 357 kbps.
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My only complaints have been with recent newsgroup corruption (which is actually Usenetservers fault) and the lack of HD channels. They added our NBC & Fox feeds but still no ABC even though they have been HD for 1-1/2 years.

I've moved my tv to Comcast for the better channel selection but my area is good with the 'net. Sorry that it is so bad for you guys.

Sounds like they're not too interested in fixing the problem if it's been dragging on this long. That's been my complaint with them. When things are working well, knology is great. I certainly used to think so, anyway. But when something breaks or their quality of service starts to slide, they don't care unless the solution comes up and bites them on the nose. The fact that they have satisfied customers in other states isn't much of a claim to fame as far as I'm concerned.

I've never seen a company as disinterested in customer satisfaction as they are. It's as if their entire support department is manned by people whose only function is to annoy you into going to another ISP. They certainly aren't hired for their technical prowess.

Until the cable modem market saturates, it will probably continue. I suspect knology will eventually be bought up by a more successful provider that will straighten out their reliability shortcomings. Looking at their stock, I'm guessing it's only a matter of time.

Have you tried checking with BellSouth? They have 3Mbps service available in this area. The problem is that you have to sign a contract that locks you in for a year. No problem if they deliver what you pay for, but if they're like knology, it would suck.

Heck, I can't even get knology to send me the lousy $64 THEY say I have coming.

Dave Krueger
----------------------------
Huntsville, AL
»www.kruegerphoto.com
dave@kruegerphoto.com

Dsl isnt a option where I live. Not many people live in my neighborhood plus we have older phone lines. I would switch in a heart beat though.

Today marks the beginning of the third month since I cancelled my Knology "service" and still haven't received the rebate they say I have coming.

I'd be willing to bet they're not very tolerant of payments FROM customers that are delayed by a few months...

Dave Krueger
----------------------------
Huntsville, AL
»www.kruegerphoto.com
dave@kruegerphoto.com

Try getting in touch with the BBB if you need to.

»www.bbb.org

Thanks for the suggestion, but in my experience, the BBB isn't that effective, particularly when the problem company isn't a member (although I don't know if knology is a member or not). Nonetheless, the BBB is funded by their members and that seems to be something of a conflict of interest if you ask me.

In any case, I haven't looked, but I'd be willing to bet that there is nothing in their contract that obligates knology to refund overpayments within a particular time frame.

I'm sick of calling them just to sit there in hold forever, listening to their advertising. I'm glad to have them out of my life and will just chalk up the $64 as part of the price one has to pay for dealing with incompetents.

Dave Krueger
------------------------------
Huntsville, AL
»www.kruegerphot.com
dave@kruegerphoto.com

Today marks the beginning of the fourth month since I cancelled my so-called service with knology and still have not received the money they owe me.

I called again and, of course, got their standard response which is to assign a case number, make a promise or two, and then do nothing. As usual, I was advised that if the problem wasn't corrected, I should call back again so I can waste more time on hold, then explain the problem again to someone different, and maybe get another case number dipped in more promises.

I swear that I have never dealth with a company with such consistently useless customer support. It's as if knology is in hot persuit of the Nobel Prize for ineptitude.

In the end, I started getting unreasonable. I told them I don't want a case number and I don't want to call back. I just want them to send a check.

-Dave

Finally, after about three and a half months and three frustrating phone calls, knology has finally sent me a check to cover the credit on my statement after I canceled their service. In terms of customer support, knology actually makes over-seas call centers look really good! That's no small task.

The agonizing knology nightmare is over (for me, anyway). Of course, things could have been worse. I coulda been a stock holder. Muahahahahaha!

-Dave

there is a process that knology goes through that takes atleast 90 days to process refund checks.

I have to admit, from your other posts, you certainly do seem to exhibit that signature knology customer service attitude.

For example: »Knology is just about to loose me

But, aside from that, I have no reason to believe you have a clue what you're talking about. Furthermore, none of the three customer service people I talked to said anything about such a policy. And just so we keep things from getting further confused, let's refer to it as a policy rather than a "process". Every company on the planet has the capacity to cut checks more often that once every three months. Knology's decision to hang on to other people's money for months is not a necessity but a choice on their part which is precisely what makes it so objectionable.

But thank you ever so much for your non-answer answer. It helps me to keep my reasons for dropping knology crystal clear in my mind.

-Dave

Here's my write-up of Knology's "you must upgrade to a commercial account to get incoming traffic on port 25" scam. Just one more example of their bad customer service and sleazy business practices.

»www.transmit.net/vh/arch ··· ysh.html

Knology: some of your residential users want to host their own services at home. I don't mind paying for a static IP, but the commercial upcharge is asinine! I paying your upcharge for now, but expect me to keep speaking up against your business practices until you offer me a reasonable solution.

Good article and nicely articulated point. It hits the nail right on the head in terms of Knology's complete inability to express any reason for the way they do things. It's like dealing with a child throwing a temper tantrum.

The only thing I saw wrong was that my comment about knology customer support was that they make overseas call centers look GOOD, not bad.

Good luck with knology. The good news is that there will eventually be other service suppliers in all markets which should lift the customer support function of the entire industry up to some degree.

-Dave