An Open Letter to Spectrum

To the Spectrum Company:

I write this letter as a result of countless interactions with your customer service representatives — including floor supervisors — who have been unwilling to resolve an ongoing problem with Spectrum. This issue is one that only continues to escalate as time passes.

Roughly one year ago, in July 2016, I moved away from Time Warner Cable’s (now Spectrum’s) service area. That’s an important detail — I have not lived in your provider’s service area for a year now, and yet, this issue remains unresolved.

When I called to close my account, I was told to return my modem to any UPS store. I followed those instructions and took the modem to UPS Store #6404 at 71 Broadway, New York, NY on July 13, 2016. The gentlemen working there told me that they would “take care of it,” and I watched them package the modem for shipping. I was not charged, nor was I given a tracking number, destination address, or receipt.

However, in the months following that move, I continued to receive bills from TWC and, eventually, Spectrum. Every month, a bill arrived, and I called to ask why this was happening. And during every last one of those phone calls, the representative with whom I was speaking showed no history of my previous calls about the issue, and merely informed me that my account showed “unreturned equipment.” I explained to every last one of them what I explained in the previous paragraph, over and over again.

Finally, during a chat conversation with representative “Nancy F.” on November 27, 2016, I was told that I would no longer be receiving bills and that my issue would be resolved — please refer to the visual below.

I did not receive any correspondence from either TWC or Spectrum after that — until June 2017, when I received a letter from a collection agency notifying me that I now have a “delinquent account.”

I ask you: How is that even possible, when I’ve received no bills or correspondence since last year? And furthermore, why was I, the customer, never communicated with again? As I mentioned earlier — I no longer live in your provider’s service area. There is no reason, whatsoever, that I would not have returned the equipment. I did return the equipment, as per TWC’s instructions.

Last week, I spoke with one of Spectrum’s floor supervisors, Michelle — who ultimately hung up on me instead of resolving my problem — who noted that there were two previous tickets filed for this issue, and that both were closed. She explained that these tickets “were closed because the equipment was still unrecovered.”

To me, that makes absolutely no sense. Why would the tickets be closed if the issue remained unresolved? And again, I ask you: Why was I, the customer, never communicated with?

Since Michelle — along with the additional four representatives I spoke with since receiving the notice from the collection agency — was unable to solve my problem, I proactively reached out to UPS, where I spoke with another seven people, including the manager of the store where I returned the equipment. The manager reviewed all shipping transactions at that store between June and August of 2016, and showed no record of anything being sent to Time Warner or Spectrum. The package was lost by UPS, and now, I’m being asked to pay for it, despite following the instructions I received from Time Warner itself.

I have faith that anyone reading this entry is well aware of Spectrum’s horrendous reputation. And if these recent events are any evidence, the company is making no effort whatsoever to improve it.

Now that it’s been going on for over a year, I’ve lost count of how many people at TWC and Spectrum I have communicated with about this issue. And no matter who I’ve spoken to about it, I’m told that there is NO other solution than to find a tracking number — something I have made countless attempts to do with no success — or pay up.

My credit score will now be impacted because of this company’s inaction, and therefore, so will my future and my reputation. I don’t even want to think about how many other people — people with far fewer means than I do — are suffering the same injustice. They are the reason why I am writing this letter. I refuse to stay silent when Spectrum’s profound lack of ethics is likely impacting millions of consumers who have committed no wrongdoing.

When I was working to reach a solution with Michelle and voicing proactive alternatives for how to solve the problem, she repeatedly stated, “I can’t do that.” That repeated statement was a fallacy. It’s not that you can’t fix this — it’s that you won’t.

I am tremendously proud and grateful to work for a company that also deals with an especially high volume of customer service calls every day. There is a guiding principle — just one simple sentence — that informs everything we do, and every single decision we make: “Always solve for the customer first.”

Sometimes, that means making exceptions to rules. That means treating our customers like human beings when they become emotional. That means not hanging up on them when they become even more upset — the opposite of what supervisor Michelle did — and staying on the phone with them as long as we have to until the problem is resolved and they are delighted. Every day, I have the privilege of witnessing my colleagues exercise phenomenal customer service, and have first-hand knowledge of what that looks like. Spectrum — yours looks nothing like it.

Sincerely,

Amanda Zantal-Wiener

Written by

I cover tech & business news by day. I have a former life as a music and food writer. I’m 75% whiskey and popcorn, and love my dog.

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