dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
2182
bryandj239
join:2002-08-15
Bay City, MI

bryandj239

Member

Charter Axes Forum Participation From Employees

This is truly sad. A quote from another thread:

"Final Post

The 9:30am update will be my last update on this issue.

I hate to end things this way, but unfortunately this will be my final post at DSLReports.

In order to ensure that I am in compliance with Charter's recently revised Online Communications Policy I have decided to stop posting to this and other sites.

I want to thank everyone who has helped me troubleshoot issues over the years. Your help always was and still is greatly appreciated.

To those Charter subscribers who are currently experiencing service issues and to those who may experience issues in the future, I wish you the best of luck in getting those issues corrected in a timely manner.

Regards."


Too bad. I don't think the bean counters quite understand that MANY people have received nothing but positive, friendly, and effective support solution through this forum, without having to hear a "basic troubleshooting" script. I sympathize to all those Charter techs who have been of utmost value to this forum. Defiant, charter_hsd, and any others (whose names have slipped my mind); your expertise and guidance will surely be missed.

(Do you techs want a proxy to connect to in order to get you here? LOL).

As a former Charter contractor (not sure if I'm proud of that or not), I still will continue to monitor this forum, and lend any advice I may be able to. Alot has changed in 9 years - so I definately don't know all.

Thanks for going the extra mile. You guys rock!

dwykofka
join:2004-12-07
Norway, ME

dwykofka

Member

Quick Quick were losing market value make our employees stop posting on the forums where people (who actually have influence over Joe the average user) are communicating with us.

This is ass backwards, they need to provide more communication not less!

When The Planet (a huge datacenter) saw an opportunity to communicate directly with their customers via a "very very" large web hosting forum they jumped all over it and created a position in their company for a person to take on the daily task of providing information to customers directly in a very effective means of communicating. This gave them lots of compliments and streamlined the process of communicating with a large number of technically savy customers. Their efforts are appreciated by their customers.
slickdaddy96
join:2006-08-28
Newnan, GA

slickdaddy96 to bryandj239

Member

to bryandj239
I suggest all people that are really irritated with this happening contact corporate and the CEO's either by email, snail mail, or phone and tell them your displeasure of this happening.

If they have a problem with official charter employees helping people in an "unofficial capacity" using Charter resources etc... then they should start a forum of their own where "technically educated" customers like us do not have to go through the CSR department and their endless "troubleshooting script" and endless/useless Tech visits to the house when the problem is in their network.

As soon as Uverse gets in my area, or as soon as AT&T dsl reaches the speeds that charter is supposedly suppose to have I am jumping ship.

JimE
Premium Member
join:2003-06-11
Belleville, IL

JimE to bryandj239

Premium Member

to bryandj239
This was likely a knee jerk reaction to some event that we are unaware. I can see them amending this decision, or at least more accurately defining the policy.

dwykofka
join:2004-12-07
Norway, ME

dwykofka

Member

A better reaction would have been to take a good CSR and give them a couple of extra bucks an hour to man these forums in an official capacity.

They should accept that in a public forum things are not always going to go their way but the effort that they put into communicating will be rewarded with customer loyalty. This is a place for them to do some damage mitigation and catch problems early on. Hell most of the people in these forums are helping each other.

Likely someone up the food chain that has no idea what a forum is got wind of this and put a stop to it.
pbarrow
Premium Member
join:2003-09-16
Montgomery, AL

4 edits

pbarrow to JimE

Premium Member

to JimE
said by JimE:

This was likely a knee jerk reaction to some event that we are unaware. I can see them amending this decision, or at least more accurately defining the policy.
No it wasn't a knee jerk reaction.
The Charter techs here have been actually helping people and in the process it's shown that there have been quite a lot of problems with Charter's network - as in the case that instigates this latest (the Pelham thread).
Something is going on with the Network in Alabama that I think Charter didn't want to get out. But thankfully there are enough technical users here to compare notes and see common problems in various parts of the State.
Some techs tried to help and Charter came down on them.
I 1st notice it on 1/6/09 and was emailing Corporate and other Managers about the nightly Download speed problems.
So Charter has known there was a problem for most all of January.
Something is going on and we don't know the whole story even now.

WiseOldBear
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Premium Member
join:2001-11-25
Litchfield Park, AZ

WiseOldBear to bryandj239

Premium Member

to bryandj239
Someone please create a sticky here with the email addresses and phone numbers of Charter corporate. If we have info available, it is much easier to respond to the arrogant, incompetency of "suits".
pbarrow
Premium Member
join:2003-09-16
Montgomery, AL

pbarrow

Premium Member

» Charter Forum FAQ »What is the contact information to the Charter Corporate office?
SteveGM@chartercom.com
neil.smit@chartercom.com

KoRnGtL15
Premium Member
join:2007-01-04
Grants Pass, OR

1 edit

KoRnGtL15 to bryandj239

Premium Member

to bryandj239
What a crap shoot. I have had tons of help from techs on this site that fixed the problems. When actual techs came to the house and could not address the problems. Damn you Charter. Nothing like saying our service sucks and we need to hide it from people.
zed2608
Premium Member
join:2007-09-30
Cleveland, TN

zed2608 to pbarrow

Premium Member

to pbarrow
said by pbarrow:

» Charter Forum FAQ »What is the contact information to the Charter Corporate office?
SteveGM@chartercom.com
neil.smit@chartercom.com
i sent an email to both of them showing my dislike of this policy (and if they dont respond and change the polcy im gonna cancel my cable and get directv and at&t)

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Karl Bode to bryandj239

News Guy

to bryandj239
I've fired an inquiry to Charter public relations, but so far have not heard back. The original tech in question, as you might imagine, doesn't want to go on the record.

I'll pen a broader front page news story about it if I can get additional information. If any Charter employees would like to contact me, in confidence, about the exact changes made to the Charter Online Communications Policy, I can be e-mailed by clicking on my name to the left.
kerrigjl
join:2002-09-02
Saint Louis, MO

kerrigjl to bryandj239

Member

to bryandj239
»Charter's Presence on Broadband / DSL Reports

If you want to walk the party line...
redwings1914
join:2007-11-27
Chicago, IL

redwings1914 to bryandj239

Member

to bryandj239
I will surely miss having the inside scoop on channel additions and being able to get from the source info on problems in my area.....Thanks defiant.

(On the side this is pathetic and this forum is going to be a LOT less useful than it was before but I understand that in todays tough times that your income is more valuable than posting in an online forum)
Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO

Lazlow to bryandj239

Member

to bryandj239
To all the Charter people who have helped us over the years:

Thank you for your help and your patience. Many of us would have been far worse off without your input and assistance. You WILL be missed.

Fair winds and following seas.

Lazlow

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958 to bryandj239

Premium Member

to bryandj239
Yep,
Just sent a couple e-mail out also.

Charter is even dumber than I thought, if they actually told their people this?!!

msmisfit
join:2004-09-13
Atlanta, GA
ARRIS SB6121
Netgear WNDR3800

msmisfit to Lazlow

Member

to Lazlow
said by Lazlow:

To all the Charter people who have helped us over the years:

Thank you for your help and your patience. Many of us would have been far worse off without your input and assistance. You WILL be missed. Fair winds and following seas.
This bears repeating, thanks Lazlow for expressing my sentiments as well.

If not for Defiant, I might have dumped Charter during some particularly bad times with that telephone tag system in times past. If Charter really wanted to improve their business, they would scrap that telephone system and start over.

Thanks to all of you who have helped me, and especially Defiant.

booboo22
join:2009-01-19
Southlake, TX

booboo22

Member

I've only had to used Defiant's help once (just recently) but I've very grateful...
RWOTB
Premium Member
join:2002-12-04

RWOTB to bryandj239

Premium Member

to bryandj239
This is so sad. I've always received the best help in this forum. Thank you to all the techs. that have helped us. Your time, effort and willingness to help has always been greatly appreciated.

All of you will be sorely missed.

WTFISUP
@charter.com

WTFISUP to bryandj239

Anon

to bryandj239
I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY CHARTER WOULD WANT TO STOP THEIR DEDICATED EMPLOYEES FROM TRYING TO HELP THEIR CUSTOMERS ON THERE OWN TIME ON A PUBLIC FORUM! WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO FREE SPEECH? A COMMUNICATION COMPANY STIFLEING COMMUNICATION.
WOW SOMEHOW THIS POLICY IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS?
SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS CONCEPT TO ME FOR I AM IGNORANT

TearAbite
D'oh
join:2001-07-25
Rancho Cucamonga, CA

TearAbite

Member

said by WTFISUP :

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO FREE SPEECH?
Employee's of a company, probably using company resources, talking about company issues, are not subject to "free speech" and the company has every right to not allow it... EVEN if it's a stupid thing for the company to do..

Looks like they have changed their minds, take a look here:
»Charter's Presence on Broadband / DSL Reports
burger2000
join:2001-06-25
Madison, WI

burger2000 to WTFISUP

Member

to WTFISUP
said by WTFISUP :

I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY CHARTER WOULD WANT TO STOP THEIR DEDICATED EMPLOYEES FROM TRYING TO HELP THEIR CUSTOMERS ON THERE OWN TIME ON A PUBLIC FORUM!
I haven't received this Online Communication Policy form to sign but I'm sure I will eventually.

Three points. One - From the company's standpoint you want your support to be comparable regardless of what medium you use. There are procedures to follow for maintaining a good customer experience and for employee productivity tracking.

Two - In the past I've helped people here and it typically requires me roping a dispatcher to do something that isn't technically their job. That takes time away from what they should be doing albeit a very small amount. I also have dumped work on different departments that normally I wouldn't. Granted the work needed to be done but again there is a proper channel to get it done.

Three - Most importantly the class action lawsuit from employees was all about employees doing work off the clock which is illegal. You may say but it's just some harmless help but regardless it is illegal. Charter pays their employees for time worked just as you expect to be paid for your time worked. It does not hold up in court to donate time worked to your employer. So all in all this is very good news that Charter is taking online support in community sites seriously.