I generally have low expectations for my dealings with large companies.  In fact, I usually expect the worst.  This allows me to be pleasantly surprised if it doesn’t happen.

I’m now using Verizon Fios for my Internet service (15M/2M) and I’ve been very pleased with it (there has only been one outage and that was caused by a technician who accidentally unplugged my connection while hooking up another one; the helpdesk got it corrected within an hour).  In fact, I unplugged the cable modem the day they installed Fios and never plugged it back in.

So it was with a bit of trepidation that I phoned Charter a few months ago to cancel my Internet service with them.  I had already experienced problems with their billing system trying to charge me rent for a modem that I owned.  While they eventually corrected it, I suspected that this would cause a problem during the cancellation of service.  And I was not to be disappointed in that respect, since my next bill arrived with a charge of $45.00 for “unreturned equipment/cable modem.”  I called them the same day and they removed the charge.  All was well for the next bill.  But this last bill came marked “past due” and the $45.00 charge had returned with the addition of an extra $3.25 late fee (although there were no details given, it just appeared as the “outstanding balance”).  As I was sitting here this morning summoning the wherewithal to call them again, they called me.  At first I was a bit ticked, since it was an automated message that informed me to call customer service about “an important issue with your account.”  But the message allowed me to press ‘9’ to connect to a rep, so I went ahead and did it.

I guess I’m not sure how I feel about this whole thing.  The reps have all been very polite and nice about trying to fix the problem.  I’m just a bit frustrated that it won’t stay fixed.  Verizon is in the process of getting a franchise agreement with the city of Keller and if Charter keeps screwing things up it will be pretty tempting to switch.  I’ve already got the Verizon equipment installed and it would just require them hooking up to the coax on the outside of the house.  There might be a few equipment switching pains (e.x. getting the Tivo to control their digital cable box as well as getting their guide data), but overall it seems fairly simple to switch.

The Keller city council was supposed to vote on the agreement last night, although I haven’t seen anything in today’s paper indicating the outcome.  Given how eager they’ve been to get Fios in the city I’d hope that the agreement would happen pretty quickly.  However, this council seems arbitrary and capricious to me at times, so there’s no telling how it turned out.