Cox account practices and service levels.
This is an account specific question but contains information that other Cox customers might find to be interesting. First, I've been a Cox customer for many years. I've requested many different service changes over this 15-ish year period and a couple years ago chose to receive a two service bundle- phone and internet and while I got the higher tier of phone service I was led to believe that voice mail was an extra to be requested separately- incurring its own charge on the bill. Since I own an answering machine I saw no real need for the service and have declined to add it to my bill. Fast forward to about a month or so ago and casually perusing my phone call history in my online tools I discovered a couple calls that showed as being forwarded to voice mail. They were not important calls so I didn't think too much of it and at the time when I clicked the "Messages" link on the page there were no messages shown. I chalked it up as another technical glitch and thought nothing of it. This last weekend I was informed by a friend that his call placed to me went to some strange voice mail thing so I explored again- to find that in fact there were several messages there for me. I checked my most recent bill and lo and behold- there was an item "Voice Mail" in the "Telephone" section- but with no associated amount. Now by and large this does not necessarily constitute an inconvenience per se but I'd like to point out that I did not order it nor was I informed that this feature was going to be added to my array of features- because had I been aware I'd have at least turned it off since as I already pointed out, I own an answering machine. I'm struck by the fact that I may well have missed an important call that had gone to voice mail instead of my machine at home- I'm lucky that didn't happen. There's another issue and I'd really like a copy of a detailed customer agreement that we have with Cox and what the policy is on unilaterally altering services without notifying customers. It seems that this company whose business is communication seems unwilling to communicate with paying customers about matters of some importance... I've had three separate occasions where services were taken down for "regular maintenance"... including twice where I had no phone-- thankfully there was no emergency where I'd have needed to contact someone. I found it telling that I received zero notifications ahead of time for any of these and when I called a rep after the earliest incident I was told that such notifications were essentially unfeasible. As for my surprise voice mail- if there are no additional charges- or its inclusion is a contingency of my continued discount then I'm inclined to keep it- it may come in handy depending on the ability I have to configure it. If I can set a delay that enables my machine to pick up first then it'll be useful- but my greater concern is with a well established pattern that indicates a failure to grasp the value customers place on knowing ahead of time about matters that will seriously impact their access to the services for which they are paying a premium for and as well the at best questionable ethical compass that holds acceptable the practice of making unilateral changes to a customer's service without any notification to the affected party. THAT I find most troublesome and the theme of communications I'm considering initiating with the state Attorney General and as well with the Public Utilities Commission inquiring the nature of any and all laws and regulations governing the conduct of a business entity within a given jurisdiction. It's difficult not to see such a pattern of refusal to touch base with a customer concerning matters that common sense says are important as an attitude of contempt for customer needs but it is advisable to remember that such things help to open up markets to other players who may well approach things with an attitude more amiable toward customer service and the need for communication. If your company wants to call itself my friend in the digital age then it would be a good idea to make the effort to play the part of friend whether or not they feel up to the role... after all I am the paying customer.3.3KViews2likes1Comment