Shenandoah Telecommunications Company

We apologize for any miscommunication on the construction of facilities to this customer's residenceThe cable was re-routed on June A Shentel installation supervisor is meeting with this customer early this week to discuss the driveway patch and make sure the planned patch meets his expectation

Shentel is in the process of finalizing a quote to this customer of what their share of the construction cost will be for extending service to their residence The initial estimate is in the range that is considered "not serviceable" The quote includes receiving quotes from the electric company and I do not anticipate having this figure finalized in the time frame Revdex.com requires for responseI did speak with the potential customer and will let her know when I have this final quote

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response If you wish, you may update it before sending it.] Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me Regards, [redacted]

The name on this complaint does not match the names on the account at this addressWith this, I am would be crossing guidelines to disclose the service which the resident currently subscribes I can state in the past they have subscribed to all three servicesThe history of tickets on the previous and current service do not indicate the subscriber has contacted us with anything but maintenance type calls, or that any service issues were ever ongoing I can speak to the complaints in general Regarding, the price of cable service and losing channels Shentel, as well as all cable providers, has to balance the cost of the product with the entertainment value it providesThis consideration has to include our subscribership as a whole as the content providers typically require the rate be applied to all customers Each contract period, content providers increase their cost and each year Broadcast Surcharges increase These costs are passed on to our subscribers either as line items on the bill and as a general rate increase Shentel strives to keep these increases minimal and unfortunately that often involves dropping or changing channels Our telephone rates are tariffed and while I do not have a current comparison chart of Virginia residential tariffs, I was quoted $for service from Winchester, VA which compares to our monthly bill of $ The assertion that the phone quality decreases is unsubstantiated through the service that has been provided to this address as well as our customer base as a whole This address is eligible to receive 101mbps broadband internet service Shentel worked for several years to roll this cable offering out to most of the homes in Shenandoah county and it has been available for the past monthsShentel prides itself on the high speed and excellent quality service we offer to the rural counties we serve

I am sincerely sorry Shentel was unable to satisfactorily provide service to this customer It is our goal to make sure every customer receives the service to which they subscribe On each of the visits to the customer's home, the diagnostic test indicated the issue was in the inside the home A credit of $has been issued on the account to offset the charge that was made on the last of these visits

Shentel does not allow persons associated with one another to set up accounts at an address when there is still an outstanding balance for service at that location As this complainant is not listed on the existing account, we cannot discuss any balances; however, if she can provide documentation (i.e - a lease) that shows previous account holders no longer reside at this address, we can process her application for service

A supervisor reviewed activity regarding this interaction late December Credits totaling $were authorized, the customer was informed of these credits and they were reflected in the January 2nd billNO OTHER CREDITS are due

In this rebuttal, [redacted] admits she "lives states away" By ordering service under the premise she would be living at the residence, she was fraudulently aiding a consumer that had a large bad debt with our company, acquire our services Our Vice-President, Kevin F*, personally spoke with [redacted] and extended the offer of the pre-paid service with the condition she satisfy the account that is in her nameThe long and short of this complaint is the consumer who lives at this address ( [redacted] has referred to him as her son in numerous conversations) does not want to pay for services he has previously obtained from Shentel but was trying to continue to use our services

Shentel sincerely apologizes on the clerical error which resulted in the check being returned The file sent to the bank for check data had the wrong formatting and when the check was submitted for payment, the data did not match and check was returned We had presumed the checks would be re-submitted for deposit and had sent the [redacted] a check to cover bank fee but did not understand she could not re-submit the original check The replacement check was mailed on 9/15/and I confirmed with [redacted] on 9/28/that she had received both checks

Credit for the cable service has been issued on the customers account dating from April to May I have called the customer and informed her of the $credit

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me I also pointed out that their disclaimer needed more attention given to it that the draft date was differentUsing a different font, bolding, italicizing or a pop up window would clue in customers that the draft date was differentAs it stands, it is written in plain text in a paragraph of about sentences Regards, [redacted] ***

On Friday, May 5th, our representative agreed we would provide service to this customer without requiring a new deposit once the past due balance is paid Shentel has not received a payment since February and must have the due balance paid before we can restore service, especially if it is to be done without a deposit Arrangements to make this payment and re-connect the services should be made by May 18th to insure a new deposit is not required The account is noted as suchThe customer will be billed for un-returned equipment since the accounts have been disconnectedDepending on when the re-connect is ordered, charges for this equipment will may not have posted to the accountWhen she restores the service, these charges will be reversed If the customer does not re-store the service, she must make arrangements to have this equipment returned to Shentel's possession or she will be responsible for the cost of the equipment.I do not know why this customer is only receiving some of her mailed bills and noticesShentel has been using the correct address for all mailings We have had no issues with mail being delivered to the Blackstone area and the Blackstone Post Office has not received any complaints of Shentel customers not receiving mail from ShentelShe should check with the local Post Office to insure the mail is being placed in the correct receptacle Also, Shentel account holders can view their bills on-line if they have not received their bills on the due date Abill pay helps keep services from being disconnected if a bill not received, mislaid, or forgotten

Shentel does not throttle a customers speed at any time If this customer is not receiving their subscribed speed they should contact us real-time so we can provide trouble shooting when the problem occursA diagnostic review of their services today does not indicate any current issues with their service

On August 8th, this customer was mailed a late notice (redacted copy attached) which specified $had to be paid by 8/to keep services from being disconnected By that date the customer had made a payment of only $so the service was temporarily disconnected on 8/and permanently disconnected early September A service that is permanently disconnected in the field has to be scheduled for re-installation as it requires a technician visit This customer contacted us on 9/indicating they wanted to re-install the service and were demanding it to be re-installed the same day Each time a representative attempted to get a team lead for escalation, the customer hung up before it could be resolved On 9/arrangements were made to escalate the installation and the customer's services were restored earlier today, 9/14/ The attached bill dated for 9/15/indicates credit of $for the service period from 8/22/through 9/14/since at the time the bill was drafted it was presumed the customer would no longer be getting service No further credit is due

In the telephone conversation, this complainant stated her mother still held the lease on the account We have a bad debt account in her mother's name For this person to be eligible to apply for service Shentel, she would need to provide a lease in her name and the landlord would need to state the mother is no longer living at that address We do not allow service to be installed at an address where we know an previous customer with an outstanding debt still resides

[redacted] was an authorized user on a bad debt account of over $ This account was disconnected for non-pay in December of While the actual account was not listed in her name, the account documents her as being authorized on the account With this documentation she should not have been allowed to open an account in her name at the same address in December of without the account being paid in full This was not bad debt account was not discovered when the account was opened nor during the two years the account was established The account in [redacted] 's name was not always current and frequently the customer established payment plans to prevent the account from being disconnected When the customer called to reestablish the service, the history of poor payment on the account in her name triggered the need for a depositAdditional investigation uncovered the bad debt account that should be paid before Shentel will open a "post-paid" service account for her We will work with her to make these payments in installments Shentel offers a pre-paid network service for credit challenged customers Our Vice-President of Customer service did authorize *** [redacted] to be eligible for this service (typically existing and recent customer are in-eligible to apply for this service) with the condition that she pay the $still due on the account she has recently held in her nameAt this time she has not accepted this offer

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:
The problem keeps re-occurring on a daily basisThey have been out here multiple times and it fixes the problem for the day or a few hoursIt's not just the computer that is hardwiredToday for instance my download speed is only Mbps which for this house is high most the timeI have done everything they have askedI bought an extender or booster etcI am a student with online graphics classes that require internet access at a good speedAll I ask for is what they advertise on a consistent basisI have only gotten days credit for the internet being messed up for about a yearI have called them out here at least that many timesI even had to ask for the credit they did not offer itThere is no other company here that offers cable internet, so they should offer more reliable service or charge us according to what we actually get.Regards,
*** ***

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:n I spoke with the head office in Rustburg, VAUpon speaking with them they worked out an arrangement for meAnd I received a billing statement shortly after I informed them that I had not been getting themThey are not making me pay a depositHowever, the associates I spoke with over the phone prior to speaking to Sandy were very rude, passive, and inconsiderate.
Regards,
*** ***

This complaint is regarding the data allowance Shentel implemented
in May 2015. No adjustment is due on
this account
Shentel incurs circuit and network costs for our customers
to access the internet and in order to maintain acceptable access for all our
users increase these costs
due to users who demand excessive bandwidth. We adopted data allowances on bandwidth commiserate
with the speed package. On months when
customers exceed their allowance they are billed for the overage
Shentel is comfortable with our business decision that
billing for excessive bandwidth use is most fair to all our customers in that
the charge is being placed on the customers that require the network expansion
and not placed on the bills of or even casual users. We attempted to make sure this is not a
surprise to any of our customers in that:
Shentel sent notice to existing customers in
July of that this charge would begin in May 2015. It has been included in our acceptable use
policy specifically rather than as a generality since that timeWe have included the customer’s data allowance
and measured use on the monthly bills since the fall of 2014,We notify customer’s when they are approaching
their data limit so they still have opportunity to curtail use rather than
incur additional cost. This notification
occurs to the email on record for the account and through web messages.We provide a data tracker resource that is
updated with the usage hourly so each customer can check their usage and
prepare for additional chargesIf the
customer does not know how to use this data tracker, they should call us at 1-800-SHENTEL
for instructions. They will need to know
account proprietary information to access this data
As mentioned before, Shentel stands behind this decision in
order to continue to make the internet as affordable as possible for the
general user. Compared to the industry
leaders, many of which have adopted similar policies, our data allowances are
very generous, flexible, and accommodating

INTSTALLATION CHARGE CONCERNS - During the call to the supervisor, the caller was offered a self-install price of $29.95. I also told her we would honor that discounted install rate and reinforced that she would be responsible for a trip charge if after the install our technicians needed to visit the site to make any network changes necessary to support the offered service. This check is part of the field install that Shentel requires and complainant is insisting she does not needThere has been no service at this address for two years and our records indicate service work will be neededShentel normally only offers self-install for customers that already have an existing service so the network connectivity is already established. DEPOSIT CONCERNS - In Revdex.com complaint, caller indicated she does not want to be charged a deposit. Any time a credit check was mentioned during the call, this caller diverted to the requirement of an installation fee. The caller never provided the information needed to perform a credit check (birthdate and SSN); however, if and when this person does apply for service, a credit check will be performed and if indicated, a deposit will be collected. BAD DEBT - In researching the call to answer the complaint I had to search by the provided telephone number. Several past recordings were returned including calls associated with an existing Bad Debt. This complainant was indicated as an authorized user on that account and it is documented she was the wife of the account holder. She made numerous call on this account including arranging for payment plans and requesting disconnection of that service. Due to this association with a Bad Debt account, I indicated that balance would need to be satisfied before we could extend service, or she would need to provide proof the account holder of this debt would not be using the services (a divorce notice or a copy of the lease with all residents listed). I did indicate her current address had been provided to our Accounts Receivable Department to update that Bad Debt Account. This is done anytime we get possible associated address information on a Bad Debt Account and is passed on to Credit Agencies handling the account. I did say that her unwillingness to pay an installation fee, to pay a possible deposit, and previous association with a Bad Debt Account did put her at high risk of being a Bad Debt Customer, a poor choice of words I will admit, credit challenged would have eliminated the misunderstanding that I said a Bad Customer. I did say “Bad Debt Customer”. Since she denied any responsibility for the existing account with an outstanding balance, I could not discuss any outstanding amounts. She did give the phone to her husband although he declined to identify himself by name other than allowing me to identify him as *** ***. This caller is demanding we extend service to her on her termsShentel is not willing to offer service under these terms