DETROIT – Many cable customers in Metro Detroit are frustrated and angry over interruptions in their service. They say it's been happening on and off since the New Year, in some cases interrupting big college football games.
They've been contacting Ruth to the Rescue, venting on Facebook and searching for answers from WOW! Internet, Cable and Phone.
Paul and Pat Hastie, of Harrison Township, were pretty satisfied with their service from WOW! until New Year's Day. Pat says they were getting ready to watch a big episode of "Parenthood" on Local 4 when they started noticing problems with their signal.
"During Betty White's show that we started getting pixilation and break up, and eventually you could not watch it at all," Pat Hastie told Ruth to the Rescue. They noticed the problem a few nights, and WOW! says they did have problems on Jan. 1, Jan. 3 and Jan. 6.
Pat says she complained via email and got some limited responses from WOW! apologizing for the inconvenience, but then the problem reappeared on Jan. 6.
"You feel like they're trying to resolve it, but then the next night you turn on the TV, and it's not resolved," she said.
WOW! Responds
Ruth to the Rescue talked with a local spokesman who would not go on camera with Local 4, but he told us part of the WOW! system got overloaded. It's been happening at night when people are using much more bandwidth on their computers, phones, and televisions all over Metro-Detroit. WOW! says its engineers have addressed the problem, redistributed the bandwidth load, and the problem is fixed.
However, the most frustrating thing for the Hasties and other customers who've been writing Ruth to the Rescue is the fact that the phone lines were jammed and they could not get through to anyone to get more information. "It's very frustrating when you cannot get through and you feel like they're not listening," said Pat Hastie.
Call Volumes Too High!
WOW! says when call volumes are too high, the circuits get overloaded and customers can't get through. The company released the following statement addressing the technical issue and complaints about customer service.
"Part of our technical system became overloaded last week - that caused intermittent bandwidth problems on about half of our television signals. Our engineers have redistributed the bandwidth load and the problem is now fixed.
When the TV signal acts up, more customers call in to see what's going on. Just like with any business, extra traffic can overload our phone lines. So in addition to having problems with their TV viewing, many customers got busy signals when they called in. We know how frustrating that is - that's not how we like to do business at WOW!
We take customer service very seriously at WOW! - everyone at this company is absolutely dedicated to making sure that every customer has a great experience with us, every time. So we're embarrassed that we let our customers down. We apologize for the problems we've caused, and want to assure you that we're taking the necessary steps to make sure they don't happen again."
If that response isn't enough for you, you could lodge a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The Denver branch is the agency that handles complaints about WOW! Below is the contact information for the Better Business Bureau.
BBB operators are available to assist callers from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
Main Automated Lines- 303-758-2100
Fax- 303-577-8101
www.denver.bbb.org
Click File a Complaint
BBB Denver office
1020 Cherokee St.
Denver, Colorado 80204