Optimum
reviews and complaints

It took 3 weeks and 7 service calls to actually get Optimum Online Cablevision out to my house for installation of internet and TV Service, when they finally did show up they showed up on the wrong day and I had to send my Father there, just so that he could drill a hole in my wall before realizing that he had to go to my basement to ground it and then he wasnt able to do that. Customer service is HORRIFIC...The Tech, barely speak English and are so unprofessional its not even funny. The worst experience EVER. This is exaclty why VERIZON can charge so much, because never had any problems with them.

OPTIMUM ONLINE/CABLEVISION NY SUCKS.

I have tried and tried to disconnect the phone service of my package and for months. Three different times after being on hold for 20+ minutes at a time and 3-4 attempts each time, I got an individual who would try to convince me to keep the service and then finally said they would disconnect it. Then the next month my bill would still include phone service. It is October and I have been trying since May. I stopped paying the bill for 2 months and then finally talked to a very pleasant sounding woman named Tima at ext #2257 in August who said she wanted to help me but my account needs to be current. She said if I paid that day she could credit my account back to May for the phone portion. So I did and she didn't. Two weeks ago I stormed into a local office who claimed they couldn't help me but then after I walked out they wiped out all the notes from my account. So now when I call CS, there is no history of me ever trying to disconnect or ever talking to Tima, etc. I could scream and feel like I need a lawyer to deal with these people.

Account #-1=[protected]
Ref#[protected]

I received a letter yesterday from the Collection Agency noted above stating this account was in "seriously overdue". This is do to the incompetence of CMA Cablevision. I was contacted in late May via voice mail that my statement had been returned and they needed an accurate mailing address. My address was the same however the accounting department sent my statement to China, Texas rather than Beaumont, Texas. When I spoke to the CSR I questioned her what was the amount owed on the account and she stated there was actually a refund to be issued. The statement nor refund was received however this was not unusual for refund status.

A statement was received from CMA on June 29th requesting 22.77. I contacted a CSR rep the next morning due do the discrepancies reported by them and she stated the CSR in May made a mistake, she was looking at a previous account (that refund took 3 phone calls and 4 months to receive). I told her I would be remitting the payment on July 8th which I am prepared to do...this is the error on their part not mine therefore I should not be penalized for their accounting errors. My records should reflect I pay on time and this is a discredit to me as a consumer. I will report them to the Consumer Division of the State of Texas as well.

Thank youl

We experienced a problem with Optimum when we were misinformed by an Optimum Representative in regards to billing and payments. We were under the impression that we had an additional 2 days to make our payment of 160. (We asked for a 2 day extension) 2 days later when we called to make our payment the automated system reflected that payment was owed in the amount of 320.

We called to speak with a representative to find out what the problem was. It turns out that within the 2 days another bill had generated. The representative explained that it is not Optimum's policy to grant and extension and that first rep may not have had enough training.

At this point it wasn't feesible for us to pay the 320 we only had enough to pay the 160. We have 3 children and alot of other monthly expenses it seems like we can barely make ends meet.

We ask to speak to a supervisor so that we can try to pay the 160 and avoid having our services interupted. We were told by the supervisor that there was nothing that she could do because everything is done by the computer and there is no way they can override it. After about a half hour of my complaining about how I feel as though they are def 100% liable for any information or misinformation given by one of their employees. The supervisor speaks with her manager who tells her that Optimum will pulll the phone record and try to resolve the issue at hand. She informs me that this proceedure should take about 4-5 business days. I felt relieved because I thought that things were looking promissing. Once they pull the phone call they can see that everything is just as we said and we can go ahead pay the 160. go on wiht our service and be find. NO. :(

4-5 days come and go, still no word from Optimum. Around or about the 10th business day we contact them (at this point service had been interupted) The rep that we speak to that day has told us that they still have not pulled the record and need a little more time maybe another 4-5 business days.

From this point we get lots of calls from Optimum. LOL none of which relate to the issue at hand they want payment in the amount of 346.54, not even the 320. that they said was due when we called to make the payment for 160. Imagine how upset this made me knowing that we have been customers for about 2 yrs never missed a payment and they show such a lack of respect, they made no effort to resolve the issue what so ever because they knew that they would be responsible had they pulled that phone call.

I didn't care if it took them 3 yrs to pull the phone call they weren't getting my 320 with out informing me that they pulled that call. It's just a matter of principle. My fiance on the other hand was going through withdrawal from not seeing any ESPN. So he finally calls in to pay the 320 and get it over with. Easy right? NO

They inform us that in order to get the service restored that we would need to pay 550 in order to have our service restored. Mind you we were only interupted for 2 wks. It turns out that they sent someone out to turn disconnect the service from the poll. Why they would do something like that when there were notes in the account that it was on hold waiting for an issue to be resolved is beyond me. I could even understand them sending someone out if it had been a full month without service. It is amazing how a payment of 160 went to a paymetn of 550 within 2 -3 wks. Amazing.

Now even more infuriated than the last time. I ask to speak to a supervisior. Once she gets on the phone I give her detail for detail and explain that all we have been trying to do was make our payment. Even pointing out that fact that if the first representative would have informed us that there was no way possilbe for us to get an extension that we would have borrowed the money in order to avoid interuption. We should not be responsible for reconnection fees and additional month charges. She tells me that everything is run by computer and there is nothing that she can do. Determined to get somesort of justice I continue to talk to the supervisor until we are on the phone now for a little over an hour. She then says she will talk to her manager. When she returned to the phone she informed me that they could waive the additional month charge but that would be all. I was not thrilled but felt a little relieved instead of paying the 550 we had to pay 364.00 which is less than 550 but still more than 320 and a whole lot more than 160.

All I have to say is that they are professional rip off artist. I just recieved my new bill today. You can only imagine the BS that they are trying to charge us for. Oh boy here we go again...

Also they charge 12.25 for chanels 2-20 which are public broadcast stations and are free. They find a way to make money with every oportunity they see. They don't respect us as individuals but with enough people united they will have no choice to pay attention. If you have an issue be sure to put it in writting and send your complaints directly to the company also contact the BBS or contact your local Board of Public Utilities

On 22 Mar 10 - I responded to a message left on answering machine that came in while I was on military duty.
The call stated that my service wouas to be interupted on 23 March 10 for non-payment. I explained that I would not be able to pay until 25 March 10. The representative informed me that the the account was noted for the date payment was to be made. The call ended with my inderstanding that my service would not be interupted before the 25th.
24 Mar 10. My service was interupted. I called Cablevision to find out why service was interrupted. Customer Rep -Tannika - checked my account acknowledged note of payment to be made 24 March 10. She then informed me that the system was automated and that no matter what was notation was made on the account the system would have interrupted my service. I informed her that I was not made aware of the system automatically interupting myy service aand was given the impression by 22 Mar 10 that the delayed payment was acceptable. She apologized for my being misiformed and began reciting policy. I asked to speak to a supervisor she informed me that the supervisor WON'T DO ANYTHING. I asked again to speak to supervisor. She left line 6 minutes.She then tried to transfer my call to a Tanisha in Billing. I summarized my understanding of the situation at that point and again asked to speak to a supervisor. I had to make the request 2x. Tannisha left the line. I made request 3x more. She left the line 8 minutes and Supervisor Jinathan (ID- KIE). h TOLD ME HE SPOKE WITH TANNEKA AND THATHE UNDERSTOOD THE PROBLEM TO BE MYNOT UNDERSTANDING WHAT TO PAY. I informed him that was not my issue and my issue was customer service. Jonathan informed me thst he and Tanneka were "OPTIMUM VOICE NOT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND I NEEDED TO SPEAK TO BILLING." I ASKED TO SPEAK TO CUSTOMER SERVICE. HE THEN SWITCHED ME TO A PHANELL IN BILLING.
I requested of Phanell to speak to a supervisor. Chante (ID-SKE) i SUMMARIZEED THE SITUATION TO THAT POINT. SHE LISTENED AND MADE ME WHOLE. tHE OUTSTANDING AMOUTN WAS PAID WITHIN HALF HOUR AFTER SPEAKING WITH CHANTE. UP UNTIL THE POINT I SPOKE TO CHANTE, CUSTOMER SERVICE WAS NON-EXISTENT. I WAS SPOKEN TO IN A DEROGATORY, DEMEANING, SARCASTIC, AND BELITTLING MANNER. PLEASE OBTAIN TAPES OF CALL TO VERIFY THIS COMPLAINT.

About a year and a half ago, cablevision forced all subscribers to take a cable box or lose approximately 11 channels. This box didn't work properly from day one but because it was free, people didn't complain. The rental was free for a year but then the charge ($8) was added to your bill. They even charged a rental on the remote. I went to Ebay and got my own remote for 10 dollars and tried to return their remote to save 2 dollars a month. ($24 a year to rent something you can own for 10 dollars) They said I couldn't return it, I HAD to rent it as it came with the cable box ($8 a month rental fee, so the total rental fee was $10 a month). For the intermittent service from the inferior cable box to their ridiculous fees or renting equipment, it's time to go to another provider. I don't care how bad or good Verizon is, I have to get away from cablevision. I have inquired about FIOS, Dish and Direct TV. Cablevision is hands down the worst company I have ever dealt with. You can tell what kind of company it is when you deal with their staff on every level - unprofessional and ill trained. Keep your money, you earned it and find another provider- I am.

Effective today, Jan 1, 2009 - Cablevision has removed both the Food Channel and HGTV. WHY? Their public announcement advises contract-negotiation disagreements to be the culprit.

I continuously have issues with Cablevision with regard to pixelation break up. In fact, my whole section of our condominium complex has the same issue which is a constant break up of the digital picture. When Cablevision is contacted, the solution always seems to be to send a Technician out to investigate - ultimately one would assume that some sort of wiring within our complex needs to be rectified, no?

Well, now that Cablevision has taken it upon itself to make decisions as to which channels they'll allow its customer to watch or not watch, and due to their inabilities to negotiate effectively with suppliers - they've actually even solved MY problem - I'm leaving Cablevision and choosing AT&T U-Verse.

Thank you, Cablevision for making this decision finally come to fruition. I hope to never have to do business with you again!

I live in Connecticut and am a Cablevision subscriber. As of today, Cablevision will no longer be carrying HGTV and the Foodnetwork due to unresolved contract negotiations. With the increase in popularity of both networks, Scripps, the company that owns HGTV and the Foodnetwork, is looking to be compensated fairly for Cablevision's use of both Networks. Cablevision released a statement saying that they have no plans to carry these two networks so it sounds like negotiations are over. Besides Direct TV, there are no other cable subscribers in my area so I'll have to go without my two favorite networks! Cablevision should pay Scripps what they rightfully deserve!

Once again, when I have an issue with Cablevision, they provide you with either misleading or incorrect information. I have a cable card ready LCD which Cablevision has shown an inability to support.

This is the third time in a month that I have requested their help since I am not receiving the cable signal.

First, I had to wait 30 minutes due to a unusually high call volume (which as aside has become the standard response for not having enough customer service reps). Once I had a customer service rep on the phone, they could not address my issue but said I could pick up a new cable card at their service center. Unfortunately, the service center that was not a possiblity so I made an unncessary trip to the service center. It seemed that this was not the first time this has happened.

As a result, their service is aweful and they know it but it does not appear that any one is taking actions to rectify this problem.

Beware of this company. I am in collections with cablevision for $300 when I actually have a credit on my account. Why, you ask? Well, there is another person with the same name at a different address that has not paid their bill. After about 2 hours on the phone, cablevision advised us to go to the police department as it was a case of identity theft. (No, it's a clerical error). Police told us the same thing. Police also told us that they employ companies that use the "pay and prey" scheme. That is, the company calls all the 'sally smith's they can find, not just the debtor, and tell them that they owe the $. They make you prove you are not that person by tricking you into giving them your ss# for verification. Now they have your social and can write off the debt (Goes on your trw), so they threaten you to 'pay the debt and we'll sort it out after'. No thank you. As of today, i've spent over 5 hours on the phone, have gone to cablevision physically to show id, have faxed said id and bank statements and last 4 of social to them and still cannot get them to get the collections agency off of our backs. We have to prove we are not deadbeats because of incompetance and bad business practice on their part. Next step for me is the bbb and possibly a lawyer for harrassment. Stinks, because my condo has a contract with them that includes basic cable so if switch companies I pay for basic cable twice. They still get my $ and I still get screwed.
And by the way they also provided me with the other person's account number and driver's license number.

On 2/22/08 the Cablevision company can to my house, when no one was home and they put wires that not connected to anything in my house, the wires were run to each one of the windows and tape there. And a metal box on the outside wall of my building in doing so they damages the outside wall of the my propertied without my permission no one from the Cablevision company call or notified me or any member of my family that this was being done to my house. I did not, or anyone else in my household order cable, and I never had service or an account with this cable company. Everyone in my house has DirecTV.

I called the Cablevision company many time and all I get is the run around. All I want is for Cablevision to take there wires and there box off my house and repair the damages that they did to my propertied.

I have been a customer of CableVision (both TV and Internet) for over years, but that will soon change. A couple of weeks ago, I had no Internet connection, and the earliest a technician could come was about 4 days after my call.

Once again, I haven't had Internet connection since Wednesday night (Sept 2) and when I called yesterday (Sept 3), the earliest appointment I can get is next Tuesday (Sept 8). The thing is I telecommute and rely on my connection heavily to get my work done, or I would need to drive for 45 minutes to the closest office and stay until my projects are complete.

Other than the inconvenience, neither sales rep had taken the initiative to credit my account back until I brought up the topic. All they seem to care is to have me answer the customer satisfaction survey at the end of each call.

Cablevision
Attn: Commercial Sales
6 Corporate Center Drive
Melville, New York11747

Re: Account number: [protected]

Dear Commercial Sales Specialist:

I am in receipt of your invoice with a due date of September 15, 2009 with an amount due of $563.90. This is incorrect and I dispute any prior “invoices” that were sent to my office for the following reasons:
1. In the middle of July, 2009, we moved our law office from Ramsey to Midland Park. “Ross” one of your sales persons contacted me about service prior to the move. I advised him that I was not pleased with Cablevision and that I was concerned that the well-established numbers we had would be available in our new location. He assured me that they could be preserved. During my discussions with Ross, he assured me that there would be no rewiring fee. Our new office was previously occupied by an engineering firm who had their workspaces wired. All that was required was to connect our office to the outside world. No internal wiring was needed. We were charged incorrectly for “rewiring” and a credit of $250.00 is due.

2. We own three numbers: [protected], [protected], and [protected]; [protected] is a dedicated fax line. To avoid a long missive, please review our file concerning phone number [protected]. This belongs to us, but it was not ported over when we moved to Cablevision. This was an omission on Cablevision’s part, and it still has not been corrected. This caused both a loss of a line and calls for over two weeks. That precipitated a loss of business to my office for dropped calls, incorrect busy signals, etc. I estimate that Cablevision’s failures and negligence caused my practice damages of over $10, 000.00 for lost clients.

3. During the “seamless” transition we were promised, we had no telephone service for over one week! Being a law office of a sole attorney, it is vital to our economic well being that we have telephone service. This loss of service has affected our business and livelihood, and is the responsibility of Cablevision to rectify and reimburse me for the lost of services.

4. While trying to correct these problems, I and my assistant spent more than 40 hours on the phone and in the office speaking with your service department and talking with the more than seven different repairmen sent to our site. This loss of productivity must be made up, and averaging the rates of myself and assistant to be $200.00/hr, it amounts to $8, 000.00 that Cablevision has cost me in lost time. I expect Cablevision to provide an appropriate credit for that lost time.

5. Because of prior problems with the Internet service, “Ross” promised to give me the Optimum Boost for free. I expect the charges for this service to be deleted from my bill and not to reappear.

I never ordered or agreed to pay for Cable TV. Therefore, a full credit must be issued.

At this time, our services are minimally working and I would like to keep it that way. Unfortunately, whenever someone attempts to make things better, new problems arise and old problems that were thought to be corrected reappear. The following is what I would like to see happen going forward:

1. We need to know the status of our number [protected]; we own this number and would like to utilize it. During this long process, we were given a “dummy” number so that we could have to outgoing lines and a second line to hunt for when our primary number (4400) is being used.

2. This alleged amount due of $563.90 has to be revisited. All of the above points should be reviewed, including the amount of time we needed to get a minimally functioning business service. In fact, it is our position that Cablevision owes my firm far in excess of that invoice.

If you would like to contact us to discuss this situation further, please do so. I trust that you are guided accordingly.

We've been customers since they first came out. We got our HD box about two years ago. The HD channels keep freezing so I have to switch the channel to non HD. I don't understand how they can say they are better than Verizon when their own service is a disaster...and it would be nice if they carried the same channels that Verizon offers

We had to get a new modem

I switched from Dirctv to Cablevision because I would save money. However, the joke was on me because the quality or lack of quality Cablevision delivers leaves me with no choice but to switch back to DirecTV. I find that not only is the picture not clear, but also my TV is constantly freezing. I cannot watch anything in its entirety as it is way to frustrating. If anyone out there is thinking about switching to Cablevision to save a few dollars, remember "you get what you pay for"!

Cablevision found another way of their customers paying more. Instead of increasing their already high rates, they now have removed access to approximately 20 formerly inclusive channges (such as Lifetime, BET, MTV, AMC, AMC, etc).

Now they are requiring "monthly rental fees" for digital cable boxes, HD digital cable boxes or CableCARDs on each TV. So, I am paying for Family Cable is $55/month, with almost half the channels - - will their be a price adjustment?

I find it quite funny that they cut these channels in the midst of the Didital switch so consumers think that buying the TV converter boxes would work.

I would like to find out who we need to contact for these unfair consumer practices.

I have been a customer of Cablevision for nine years (tv only). I was
having problems with my present phone and internet service. They
both had been not working. I would not be able to make outgoing calls
and the internet went completely off. I decided to change my whole
package to Optimum. We worked a package for $123.00 plus tax,
by the way the rep made an appointment for us without us asking
him to. We were checking prices. At the end we kept the appointment,
the installers came to hook us up. They told there would be a $20.00
for installation which the rep never told us. We were willing to do
that since it was for the first month only. Then the installer told us we
were getting a new phone number, which was never discussed. I said I
wanted to keep mine so I call cust service and told them I wanted to
keep my phone she said no problem it will cost me $40.00. I told
her I didn't want the service anymore. If they had told me at the
start all the fees I would'nt have ordered it. Wasted my time and a
a days pay. They tell you nothing and expect you to agree with their terms. You think after nine years they would give me a break. I am
now looking for another provider.

I paid my bill of 45.98 to cablevision for the month of Feb. 2009. In error I sent a payment of 125.81 to cablevision two days later that was supposed to go towards my con ed bill. I contacted cablevison regarding obtaining a refund. The customer service rep. gave me a confirmation number stating that they would either mail a refund check or wire the money back into my account. The stated someone in the refund department will be in contact with me within 24 hours to verify the account information. 24 hours passed and I didn't not receive a call back from anyone at cablevison.

I called again the next morning and the rep. confirmed all the information in the computer. She then put me on hold and after 5 minutes another lady picked up who stated she was the supervisor. She stated how unfortunate the situation was blah blah. I cut her off and asked when is the refund going to be done?. She said it takes a couple of days, then said oh you have to fax proof of payment to a place called Connecticut support who does there refunds. I stated why do I need to show proof when you stated receiving the amount in the system and that you have it as a credit? She stated it was just policy. I am still waiting for the refund.

Unfortunately my bank JP morgan chase can't do anything. I still wonder why I bank with them. I can't wait for verizon Fios to get to my neighborhood.