So today I received my phone bill to find that it had surprising increased $25 after remaining constant for the past 5 years that I've been a customer of Windstream. I know some people might suggest we just switch providers, but the only other option is really Mediacom - which honestly does have faster internet service, but we've had less than desirable service with them at work from both a billing and tech support standpoint.
Here's the situation:
We've had Windstream for about a total of 5 years - give or take. The first year we had Windstream, my wife and I rented a house in the county and the only thing we could get access to was Windstream and 3mbps Internet. At that point in time, I'm not ashamed to admit we couldn't afford satellite TV so the only thing we had was Internet. Then, after saving up for a year, getting a promotion, etc, we decided to buy a house and move into town. At that point in time, Windstream offered us the opportunity to keep services with them and to also upgrade our account while taking advantage of some promotional offers - free HD TV for life, Internet Price for Life and a 2nd Phone Line Free for the duration of our account. The only catch, according to the customer service rep when we initially signed up was that we just could not downgrade our services. We didn't necessarily need local phone service since we had cells, nor did we necessarily need the second phone line, but the total cost was about $10 a month and I figured it was a small price to pay for having local service and locking it in for life. Plus, the second phone line was an added bonus I was planning to use for a small business - which I actually started a few months ago.
So for the past 4 years, our bill has remained relatively constant - mostly as a result of our prices being locked in for life. Right up until today, when I received our bill with our local phone service increasing $25. After waiting on the phone for nearly an hour on hold, I finally got to talk to a rep tonight who informed me that recently Windstream did an audit to my account and found that I was not being charged for the second phone line and that per a change to our account that occurred back in December of last year, we were well overdue for our bill being increased. The problem is, I knew exactly what change she was talking about, but according to the customer service representative that I had talked to back in December, the change was both encouraged and promised to not affect my bill or service agreement. I've always been very careful to verify with customer service reps that a change won't have negative consequences, and back in December, the service rep told me that since I wasn't down grading my account that it wouldn't affect my pricing or my services.
As I told you earlier, when we lived in the country, we had 3mbps internet - that was the maximum that was available out in the country. After we moved into town 4 years ago, we were upgraded to 6mbps for $64.99, and actually for a period of a few months, we continued to be receiving 3mbps services because the change in the newly available speed had never actually been manually updated - or so I was told. Then in December, I had realized that Windstream had been offering 3 separate speed packages - a 3mbps, a 6mpbs, and a 12mbps. Oddly enough, the speeds of each of those packages were all $64.99 and I was curious as to why I was paying the exact same amount of 6mbps as it would cost to receive double that and why when I had moved into town 4 year prior they hadn't just put me on the highest speed available since they were all the same cost. So, at that time, the customer service rep didn't really know why they hadn't just put me on the highest speed but did strongly encourage me to upgrade my account since it wouldn't change my bill at all and that she didn't exactly know why Windstream sold 3 different speeds for the exact same price, but she said she'd go ahead and get me switched over - but only after I had insisted and verified with her multiple times that it wouldn't affect my services, contract, or agreement and promotions - I've seen other companies play that game and I didn't want to get caught in the situation I am now. She assured me and so I said, yeah go ahead and upgrade the Internet. My 6mbps Price for Life at $64.99 was upgraded to 12mbps Internet Price for Life ($59.99) plus a Max Speed Service ($5.00) which comes out to equal ($64.99). And so, I have been receiving bills for the past 9 months with exactly that price.
But now, as I mentioned, I received my bill to find that I'm now being charged for the second line at a cost of $25 per month. The customer service rep tonight basically said, "I'm sorry, you were told wrong and that change is what made your bill change. We recently audited the account and found that you should have been charged for that second phone line beginning last December. We can either remove the line and credit you $25 or you can continue to keep the line at the cost." I got absolutely no where in arguing with her that I should I have been informed by the previous employee, especially after I had inquired about such issues back in December, and her only response to that was I'm sorry. So essentially, because the employee back in December was incompetent and didn't tell me the right things, I'm now being punished and losing my promotions - the same promotions that the installer and original rep from 4 years ago said I wouldn't lose as long as I didn't downgrade my account and I'm actually not particularly positive that I won't soon find my other promotions being audited, too and removed for a change that I was promised wouldn't negatively affect me. I even encouraged them to review the recordings of my service call from December to verify that I only agreed to the upgrade once it was promised to me that it wouldn't affect my service.
I get some of you might be thinking to just chalk up the $25 a month - I mean it's not a huge amount of money - but in the big scheme of things, based upon the promise I was to be able to keep that line for the life of my contract which I've held up my end of by paying on time each month and only making a change to my account that was verified to be okay by a rep, that $25 per month adds up and it's a big loss of value. It's basically a $300 per year value and say we keep our services for the next 5 years, having that second line is a $1500 value.
Just wondering what you guys would do? Do I continue to call in to customer service until I find an empathetic rep - but I average a hold time of about an hour? Do I just change providers - up front it's going to cost me more and it'll be more expensive monthly and I'm not sure I'll receive better service. Do I write the corporate offices? I mean, not only is it a matter of the additional cost of my bill, but it's also a matter of principles. Having a customer service rep say "I can't apologize enough about this" isn't good customer service in my opinion - taking responsibility for mistakes employees make, say, or do is. Just wanted to see if someone else has had similar problems and the best way to get it resolved. Or am I just shit out of luck - and I might be because I haven't exactly read the fine print of every line of my contract (does anyone?) but I still feel extremely misled by this situation.
Appreciate your responses.
Here's the situation:
We've had Windstream for about a total of 5 years - give or take. The first year we had Windstream, my wife and I rented a house in the county and the only thing we could get access to was Windstream and 3mbps Internet. At that point in time, I'm not ashamed to admit we couldn't afford satellite TV so the only thing we had was Internet. Then, after saving up for a year, getting a promotion, etc, we decided to buy a house and move into town. At that point in time, Windstream offered us the opportunity to keep services with them and to also upgrade our account while taking advantage of some promotional offers - free HD TV for life, Internet Price for Life and a 2nd Phone Line Free for the duration of our account. The only catch, according to the customer service rep when we initially signed up was that we just could not downgrade our services. We didn't necessarily need local phone service since we had cells, nor did we necessarily need the second phone line, but the total cost was about $10 a month and I figured it was a small price to pay for having local service and locking it in for life. Plus, the second phone line was an added bonus I was planning to use for a small business - which I actually started a few months ago.
So for the past 4 years, our bill has remained relatively constant - mostly as a result of our prices being locked in for life. Right up until today, when I received our bill with our local phone service increasing $25. After waiting on the phone for nearly an hour on hold, I finally got to talk to a rep tonight who informed me that recently Windstream did an audit to my account and found that I was not being charged for the second phone line and that per a change to our account that occurred back in December of last year, we were well overdue for our bill being increased. The problem is, I knew exactly what change she was talking about, but according to the customer service representative that I had talked to back in December, the change was both encouraged and promised to not affect my bill or service agreement. I've always been very careful to verify with customer service reps that a change won't have negative consequences, and back in December, the service rep told me that since I wasn't down grading my account that it wouldn't affect my pricing or my services.
As I told you earlier, when we lived in the country, we had 3mbps internet - that was the maximum that was available out in the country. After we moved into town 4 years ago, we were upgraded to 6mbps for $64.99, and actually for a period of a few months, we continued to be receiving 3mbps services because the change in the newly available speed had never actually been manually updated - or so I was told. Then in December, I had realized that Windstream had been offering 3 separate speed packages - a 3mbps, a 6mpbs, and a 12mbps. Oddly enough, the speeds of each of those packages were all $64.99 and I was curious as to why I was paying the exact same amount of 6mbps as it would cost to receive double that and why when I had moved into town 4 year prior they hadn't just put me on the highest speed available since they were all the same cost. So, at that time, the customer service rep didn't really know why they hadn't just put me on the highest speed but did strongly encourage me to upgrade my account since it wouldn't change my bill at all and that she didn't exactly know why Windstream sold 3 different speeds for the exact same price, but she said she'd go ahead and get me switched over - but only after I had insisted and verified with her multiple times that it wouldn't affect my services, contract, or agreement and promotions - I've seen other companies play that game and I didn't want to get caught in the situation I am now. She assured me and so I said, yeah go ahead and upgrade the Internet. My 6mbps Price for Life at $64.99 was upgraded to 12mbps Internet Price for Life ($59.99) plus a Max Speed Service ($5.00) which comes out to equal ($64.99). And so, I have been receiving bills for the past 9 months with exactly that price.
But now, as I mentioned, I received my bill to find that I'm now being charged for the second line at a cost of $25 per month. The customer service rep tonight basically said, "I'm sorry, you were told wrong and that change is what made your bill change. We recently audited the account and found that you should have been charged for that second phone line beginning last December. We can either remove the line and credit you $25 or you can continue to keep the line at the cost." I got absolutely no where in arguing with her that I should I have been informed by the previous employee, especially after I had inquired about such issues back in December, and her only response to that was I'm sorry. So essentially, because the employee back in December was incompetent and didn't tell me the right things, I'm now being punished and losing my promotions - the same promotions that the installer and original rep from 4 years ago said I wouldn't lose as long as I didn't downgrade my account and I'm actually not particularly positive that I won't soon find my other promotions being audited, too and removed for a change that I was promised wouldn't negatively affect me. I even encouraged them to review the recordings of my service call from December to verify that I only agreed to the upgrade once it was promised to me that it wouldn't affect my service.
I get some of you might be thinking to just chalk up the $25 a month - I mean it's not a huge amount of money - but in the big scheme of things, based upon the promise I was to be able to keep that line for the life of my contract which I've held up my end of by paying on time each month and only making a change to my account that was verified to be okay by a rep, that $25 per month adds up and it's a big loss of value. It's basically a $300 per year value and say we keep our services for the next 5 years, having that second line is a $1500 value.
Just wondering what you guys would do? Do I continue to call in to customer service until I find an empathetic rep - but I average a hold time of about an hour? Do I just change providers - up front it's going to cost me more and it'll be more expensive monthly and I'm not sure I'll receive better service. Do I write the corporate offices? I mean, not only is it a matter of the additional cost of my bill, but it's also a matter of principles. Having a customer service rep say "I can't apologize enough about this" isn't good customer service in my opinion - taking responsibility for mistakes employees make, say, or do is. Just wanted to see if someone else has had similar problems and the best way to get it resolved. Or am I just shit out of luck - and I might be because I haven't exactly read the fine print of every line of my contract (does anyone?) but I still feel extremely misled by this situation.
Appreciate your responses.
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