Watch out, Spectrum has started gouging already!

By Nigel Lake, a pissed off customer of Spectrum/Charter Communications

When utilities get a monopoly, they sure get gouging fast! That's what Spectrum appears to be trying with me right now, and I'll bet their trying the same with thousands of others in New York and beyond. Not so much "supporting communities through Coronavirus" as squeezing the lemons till the pips implode.

When utilities get a monopoly, they sure get gouging fast!

Of course, Spectrum is just one monopoly in one city. Right now, around the world, hundreds of new monopolies are emerging as competitors fall by the wayside. Many of these companies will simultaneously hold out their hands for government support through the COVID Crisis, whilst simultaneously snatching what they can from their customers' pockets, no matter that those customers are facing the most severe downturn that almost anyone living has witness.

This is my Spectrum Story - please do share yours in the comments!

So, I arrived back in New York a week ago after three weeks in Australia - an essential trip for both business and visa reasons. On returning, one thing I found slipped in my mail was a small message from Spectrum (previously Time Warner Cable) letting me know that they were going to increase my monthly bill by 25% from April. Not exactly friendly, or a reward for customer loyalty, but that's incumbents for you.

During the week, I checked in with Verizon to see whether I could get a Fios connection - I'd wanted this from the beginning, but they weren't connected to my newly built apartment block when I moved in two years' ago. I learned that Verizon was not offering new installations to existing customers of another provider given the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Understandable and sensible in the circumstances, I thought. Though it did spark a thought that Verizon had quietly established a monopoly right in my living room.

But I hadn't reckoned on how far and how fast monopolists will wield their power if you give them a chance.

Give a monopolist an inch, and he'll take the wallet right out of you pocket.

For some reason I woke up at 3:30 am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. So I thought I'd log in to my Time Warner/Spectrum account to reduce my package in order to cut out things that had become crazily expensive and which I didn't use.

And that's when I started to figure out that Spectrum is already charging hard and fast to try to fleece customers like me.

First, I couldn't log into my account - I'd forgotten my password. So I tried the reset option - to no avail. The system denied all knowledge of me, my phone number and my email address. All I got was the following message.

Maybe Spectrum is updating it's systems overnight? So I waited till mid morning and tried again, getting the same result. At that point I thought I'd try Twitter - some service providers do a stellar job of responding if you make your issue public. Within an hour, I got a response and switched over for a quick exchange by direct message.

This is where it got interesting. Of course Spectrum needs to verify who I am. I provided the land line phone number on which I receive service, as well as the email address to which all the bills get sent. They then asked for the account number, but I don't keep the paper bills, and of course I can't log into their system to find this number in the first place. At that point, I was told that I wasn't the account number or an authorized user and to have the account holder contact Spectrum.

So, Spectrum's playing Catch 22, COVID style? Put up its charges 25%, lock me out of its systems, prevent me from rediscovering my user name or resetting my password, and refuse to acknowledge I'm its customer thus denying me the chance to choose a cheaper package or terminate my service entirely. Co-incidence? Maybe, but it's awfully convenient for the monopolist and incredibly frustrating for me.

Spectrum denies I'm its customer. So, does that make its charges to my credit card each month wire fraud or some such?

As a final twist, I went to look through my emails to see whether there was something in all the old communications that might help me to log in. Close to the top of my search was a cherry message from one Kathleen Griffin, VP, Marketing Communications at Charter Communications, the legal entity that trades as "Spectrum", telling me that my bills were going paperless, to "save time and reduce clutter".

The irony of this should not be lost on any of us. I'll waste hours of my weekend trying to deal with this farrago, whilst suspecting that one of the attractions to Spectrum of paperless billing is that their obligatory notices that they are going to ramp up charges by 25% might just get lost in people's email.

So, where next?

Spectrum denies I'm its customer. So, does that make its charges to my credit card each month wire fraud or some such? Charter Communications is no stranger to such crimes - it's former CTO, COO and two Senior VPs were all convicted of such frauds in the early 2000s.

Worse, perhaps, it's denying me the opportunity to choose a cheaper plan and trying to force me to pay 25% extra a month. That would be extortionate at the best of times, but now it's downright wicked! Take note, friends. If Spectrum's come for my wallet, it's probably coming for yours too.

Have you been hit where it hurts too? Please share your own experiences in the comments.