Jul 25, 2010

A Letter of Frustration

I posted this on my blog last night, but then I realized that it really belongs on this blog. So this is a re-post of our letter to Cox Communications:


To Whom It May Concern:
My husband and I have been dealing with an issues regarding two misapplied payments. This issue has been ongoing since we received notice on June 3, 2010 that our May 2010 payment was not credited to our account. As soon as we were notified of this, we called Cox Communications (623-594-1000) to rectify the situation. The $46.95 for that month had been deducted from our account by Cox Communications, so we began dealing with the Misapplied Payments department at that time.

As per the advice of the customer service representative, we sent a fax to Cox Communications the relevant information on our bank statement so that this problem could be rectified. We also corrected the account information we had in our online bill-pay profile so that this would not occur with subsequent payments. It was at this time that we scheduled the June payment. Concerned about getting this situation resolved, we called back to make sure that Cox Communications had everything it needed to fix the problem. I was assured that this was the case and that Misapplied Payments would be able to track down the payment and credit it to our account within 24-72 hours. I informed the customer service representative that I had scheduled the June payment as normal, confident that the May payment would be applied to our account.

The problem was not resolved. Our service was disconnected. Alarmed, we immediately called customer service to find out what was going on with our account. We were informed that our account had an overdue balance on it. I told the customer service representative the situation (that the May payment was supposedly being dealt with by misapplied payments and that the June payment had been scheduled). Our service was reconnected and the service fee was waived.

Later, we received another communication from Cox, noting that our account had a overdue balance. When we called Cox Communications, we were informed that our May and June payments had not been made. I went online and verified the account information in my online bill-pay three times with the Cox customer representative. The information was correct. And I was able to see on our bank account that Cox Communications withdrew the $46.95 from our account on May 19th and June 21st. We then inquired about the May payment, since we were assured that would be resolved as well but it apparently hadn't. The customer service had no additional information to give us, except for an email address (az.tucsonresolutionspecialists@cox.com). I then emailed that address with a bank account statement, the bill-pay information, and confirmation that a payment had been sent to Cox Communications, as per the advice of the customer service representative. This email was given the subject of: Attention: Misapplied Payments - Veronica and was sent on July 15, 2010.

Over the weeks, my husband and I have continually tried to resolve this issue. We've been told by multiple customer service representatives that they would check into the situation and call and update us on it. James called back once, as did Veronica. That's it. I've spoken with numerous representatives, including Carlos (July 3rd), Aaron (July 8th), James (July 13th), Crystal (July 14th), Thomas (July 16th), Christie (July 19th), Berri (July 19th) and finally Gary (July 24th). I feel it necessary to remind the reader that this list is only composed of those service representatives that I started recording because I felt it prudent to start keeping a record of my interactions with the company. There were at least 3 customer service representatives that I spoke with before Carlos, but I failed to properly record their information.  

During this long list of constant communication with  the billing department, my husband faxed bank statements, I sent pdfs of bank statements, account information, and bill-pay information. Mary, our customer service representative from the bank, also faxed over statements, forwarded screenshots of ACH reports, and faxed transmittal reports. We were constantly promised to be kept informed of our account status but this rarely happened. As can be seen by the multiple phone calls we made to Cox, we were trying to do everything in our power to resolve this situation.

As of the writing of this letter, the situation remains unresolved. We were promised that we would received a phone call regarding our account after the faxing of the transmittal reports. That phone call was supposed to have been made by today. Since it was not, I called Cox Communications once more to get an update on our account. No information has been updated since July 21, 2010 when Veronica finally noted that the screenshots I sent her on July 15, 2010 did not give enough information to resolve the issue. In the meantime, the transmittal reports were faxed on July 20, 2010, which apparently have not been looked at or considered in regards to our account.

We are extremely frustrated by the complete lack of communication we have experienced throughout this process. We have tried as hard as possible to do what we can to resolve this issue and it seems like we are hitting an apathetic and uncommunicative wall from Cox Communications. At this point in time, we don't know what to do. Throughout this time, I feel as if it's been a one-way conversation - us calling Cox to fix this, not vice versa. I'm at a loss for words to describe the complete disregard that Cox Communications has shown us. Disappointment, frustration, anger, helplessness...these are all emotions that I feel at this point in time. I doubt that we will continue to be customers of this company if this is the sort of customer service and responsiveness that they give to consumers who are proactive in trying to do the right thing.

Sincerely,
Ashlee and Todd Hoffmann

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