Alert — and frustrated — “06880” reader Luisa Francoeur writes:
In the continuing storm saga, I wonder how many people have experienced problems with Optimum/Cablevision.
Over the years I have been quite pleased with their customer service. The online, chat and even telephone assistance has been prompt, friendly and successful.
However, now that we have cable lines down on our street, it is another story.
If you call, the online menu is designed to funnel you into a robotic answer. Unless you know to stonewall and continue saying “representative,” there is no option to speak with a person. And the system they have does not acknowledge that any problems can occur outside with their lines.
Once I got into the queue, it was so long that they offered a callback. But when I called back, they asked me again to indicate by the keypad whether I was on the line, whether I needed to actually speak to a person, or if I wanted to cancel the call.
I pressed the number request — but it didn’t work. So I waited until the end of all those options — and it still did not work.
Finally they told me I had used up all the time they allow for an answer. Just like that, they ended the call.
Net result: no customer service at all.
“06880” has heard from other Optimum customers that when their cable went out, they could not contact any actual human being (though their call was “very important” to the company). Some customers may still not have service. If you’ve had a recent experience with Cablevision — positive or negative — click “Comments” below.
Moments after sending me the story above, an Optimum repair truck appeared on Luisa Francoeur’s road. That’s the good news. The bad news is, they were there to fix her neighbor’s cable problem — not her own.
