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Large cable bill broken down, adjusted for Cox customer
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BATON ROUGE - A Baton Rouge man says he's learned a lesson and he'll double check his bills from now on.
Doug Haynesworth says he discovered he was billed $713.29 from Cox Communications for the month of September, but didn't notice it until he checked his bank statement.
After a couple attempts to discuss the bill with Cox, he was concerned there was a problem with the bill and contacted 2 On Your Side for help.
"I don't do pay-per-view, I don't do none of that," said Haynesworth.
Haynesworth was initially concerned he was being double billed, since his apartment flooded on O'Neal Lane. He moved his Internet, cable and phone to his new place on Sherwood Forest. To save money, he bundled.
"Like $180 a month," he said.
Haynesworth is set up for automatic withdrawal so he doesn't have to worry about missing a payment or writing a check, but he also does not get a paper bill in the mail.
Two On Your side started asking questions. Cox Communications agreed to meet with Haynesworth and go over his bill, line by line. It was then that Haynesworth found he wasn't billed for August because of the flood. His bill was tacked on to his September bill. Haynesworth was also being charged installation fees that were to be waived to flood impacted customers. Cox adjusted the bill.
Haynesworth says he's satisfied with the new bill, but he's changing his ways. He'll keep his automatic payment withdrawal with Cox, but he's signed up to get his bills in the mail from now on.
Cox Communications provided a full statement to WBRZ below.
"Cox understands how stressful it must be for our flood-impacted customers. We are aware of Mr. Hanesworth’s concerns and met with him in person to answer his questions and help him understand his bill. He told us he is happy and satisfied with the steps we have taken.
"When Mr. Haynesworth called us, his biggest concern was month-over-month changes in his billing. Upon reviewing his account, we discovered a few reasons for his bill being higher than anticipated. First, he was charged for self-activation kits for his TV and Internet before policies were in place to offer this to flood victims for free. Those charges have been reversed. The bill also contained a balance due to Cox from his previous address. (In addition to receiving proactive credits for the time their services were disrupted, some customers who transferred their services will also see prorated balances due for their previous address.) Also, at some apartment complexes, basic cable TV is included as part of rent. This was the case with Mr. Hanesworth’s previous address. It would appear basic cable TV is not included as part of rent at his current address. In September, he also was paying for his first month of services at his new address in advance.
"In the aftermath of the historic floods of 2016, Cox’s number one priority was restoring our network, taking care of our roughly 280 employees who were impacted and making it easy on our customers to transfer or suspend their services so they could focus on rebuilding efforts. We took a number of steps to ease our customers’ transitions including issuing proactive credits for service disruptions, offering free installations to those wishing to transfer their services and not charging customers for transfer fees or for damaged equipment. Many customers also enrolled in a Storm Recovery Package, which allows them to place their accounts on hold at no charge for up to a year, while keeping their phone number and email address.
"We appreciate our relationship with Mr. Haynesworth and all of our customers. We have reviewed Mr. Hanesworth’s account and have ensured all storm-related credits were applied. Again, he told us he is happy and satisfied.
"We would encourage any customer who has questions about his/her bill to visit us in person at our Cox Solutions Stores or, when calling, ask to speak to a supervisor or a billing specialist if they feel concerns have not been resolved."
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