Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Astound Broadband powered by RCN's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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• 

  Astound Broadband powered by RCN

  650 College Rd E Ste 3100 Princeton, NJ 08540-6629

• 

  Astound Broadband by RCN

  1133 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036

• 

  RCN

  1130 Connecticut Ave NW Ste 400 Washington, DC 20036-3990

• 

  RCN

  110 S 69th St Upper Darby, PA 19082-4118

• 

  Astound Broadband Powered by RCN

  6600 Hank Ave Evansville, IN 47715

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/11/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Currently pay $300 for equiptment and services that previouslt payed ruffly $150 by company they took over. Cable goes out regularly. Have to wait day or 2 for tech to come. A technician comes to look at problem and says cant fix because its a pole issue and he doesnt go on pole. Another tech then needs to come out. Have to take multiple days off and only get daily credit of $2.95. Which you have to call on everyday to get. But if i move can get appointment right away. Tech also tries to up sell to get more money by saying equiptment or lines obsolete. He says need to purchase internet equipment which ends up costing twice as much as tech quotes when i call to inquire more about. When asked for corporate phone number and address i was told by ************ was speaking to corporate customer service, so i asked for address and was told by ***** he would have to look it up. Eventually he said there is no corporate office and customer service. All numbers go to a call center. My cable was working fine on july 10 when i turned it off at midnite. On july 11 when i turned it on at 7 am it was not working. Techs read from script like they do each time, send signal like they do each time and nothing. Issues happen everytime after storm, windy day and change in temperature. I dont mind paying for a service but a service provider should maintain there equipment. And replace broken wirhout charging customers or try get them to buy more. Im sure if i purchased there internet tv and had issues they would blame not being able to fix on weather or satellite. I would like astound to realize they took over a company, doubled charges of previous company but dont offer good customer service like there commercials state. Why should i upgrade when you cant provide basic

  Business Response

  Date: 07/18/2023

  The monthly rate for cable, internet and the service protection plan comes to $259.24. We continued to honor any ************** which have since expired. Please call us at ************** if you would like to make a change to your service package for lower pricing. We can offer the streaming cable packages for less. We have not had a technician visit to this location since 07/19/2022. If you are still experiencing service issues, please call ************** 24/7 to troubleshoot with our technical support and we can schedule a technician if necessary. 
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/29/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Since April, I have been sent a statement with vague fees totaling $170. I've called Astound 4 times to understand the fees and each time have been told a different reason. The first explanation was that I had unpaid statements from my last address (I've been on autopay the entire time) and that they would open an investigation. The 2nd time they said it was because we didn't return a modem, to which I replied that it was installed at our new address and they assured me it would be taken off the bill. Another month later I noticed our autopay receipt still reflected the fees so I called again and within the same day was told two different things. I was first told that it wasn't the modem and it was unpaid bills and they hung up on me when I started going through my autopay receipts. The second person told us it was the modem again to which we explained again that we moved it and it was installed into the new apartment. This time the CS agent told us that we were lied to initially about it being able to removed from the bill and that since we didn't get a receipt from the agent confirming the old modem was used that there was nothing she could do. She verbatim said "I was raised right to ask for receipts" when we said the tech didn't give us a receipt, but also refused to say if they could find record of the receipt. All in all, we were confirmed to have been lied to and got confirmation that the tech did not follow the process of giving us a receipt, but we are still the ones to pay for "missing modem". 0/10 company, I had never been verbally insulted before on a customer service call, she even stated that "she's been a military wife since 19 that she knows to ask for receipts when moving" and refused to let us speak with anyone else higher up.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/06/2023

  We apologize for this experience with customer service. $157.12 balance did transfer over from the former account at *********************************************************************, however, when the modem was removed from that account 6/30, $99.24 was credited for the unreturned equipment. The remainder of the balance was for service rendered from 4/1-4/19. 
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/06/2023

  [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.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  

  Although the fact that this took multiple months making numerous phone call is still absurd to me, especially when it was your technician and employees that did not follow the process. Despite the resolution, I do plan to switch internet providers due to the abhorrent customer service experience and will tell anyone I can to avoid using Astound going forward.

  Regards,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/27/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  we rent there iptv cable box aznd ever time we use it thbe remote will unpair to were the, iptv cable box need to be unpluged repluged in to get remote working, if get new remote mailed to us or bought by tech to us we have same problem, if remote dont do it we get message, on screen like low storage when we dont have a lot of app inmstalled so should not be low we unplug replug in it dont happen its radiom when happens something not right the box is ok, also some time the box will jsut go to black screen to were need to unplug replug inm to get picture back all these need to be fixed tryed new hdmi cable that 4k ready we bought on 06/27/2023 and new hdmi cable same day to sound bar need fixing so these thing dont keep happening cabnt even watch tv, on our service with rented iptv cable box, we use a eero mesh router we bought on our own befor astound took over hope can fix all these thing and help us out really anoying

  Business Response

  Date: 07/06/2023

  Please call ************** 24/7 to schedule a technician visit if the issue with cable and internet service persists. We have escalated matters here to our senior director of operations. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/06/2023

  [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.]
  thanks
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/24/2023

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I had to get off the wifi to write this. Thats should say it all. Literally worse than when your phone had no bars.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/28/2023

  We are unable to find an account for *********************** with this phone number. Please call ************** to troubleshoot connection issues. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/21/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Charged for 50 to 100 megabit download service, actual services less than 25 megabit. Theft by deception.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/28/2023

  The last speed test run on 2023-04-20 02:11:16 md.speedtest.astound.com was 23Mbps for the 155mbps speed that is provisioned to the modem. Please test for accuracy with an Ethernet cord connection between the modem and computer at pa.speedtest.astound.com and if the results are lower than the provisioned speed, please call ************** and troubleshoot with our technical department and schedule a technician visit if necessary. 
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/18/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have had internet service with RCN for a long time, but today 6/18/2023 I logged into my RCN account and saw a charge of $313.67 instead of the $71.18 I was billed last month and every month before that. The bill showed a TV bundle that I had not signed up for. I used the online chat to contact RCN and ask about this, and they confirmed that the increase was because I signed up for a cable bundle. I assured them there is absolutely no way I signed up for this (or anyone in my household), and to please take it off my bill since it was an unauthorized charge. However, they told me it is a valid charge and they cannot remove it. Consequently I cancelled all my services with RCN (this is outrageous and I will not get any services from a company that behaves like this), but the bill remains. I will pay for the internet services I actually used and contracted ($71.18) but will like the remaining charge to be removed from my account. They would not send me an official transcript of the conversation over email, so I copied the whole conversation (attached) and screenshotted some portions of the chat too (also attached at the end of the word document).

  Business Response

  Date: 06/26/2023

  A cable box was installed 06/10/2018 as cable was included with a bulk agreement package. A credit was applied in the amount of -$78.55 leaving a balance owed on 7/17 of $71.18

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/27/2023

  [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.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Regards,
  ***** ******* ******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/12/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On 6/2/23, RCN visited my apartment to set up internet. They found that the box in the wall was broken and needed repair before the installation could happen. They told me somebody would come out to fix the box either later that day (6/2/23) or the following Monday (6/4/23). Nobody called me or showed up, so I called customer service. **************** apologized for the delay and assured me somebody would reach out to me by the end of the next business day (6/5/23). Still, no call. I have been calling customer service every 2 days since then. Each time they say somebody will reach out to me by the next day to schedule the repair, but they never do. It is now 6/12/23 and I still do not have internet in my home, nor have I heard from RCN about the repair.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/13/2023

  Our senior director of operations will be reaching out to ************** regarding the open cases for repair. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/12/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I filed a request for connection disconnection and was assured that the services would be terminated by June 3rd. However, I have been charged for the entire bill cycle, including the next cycle, despite returning the equipment on June 7th (which was received on June 9th). Furthermore, during my conversation with your representative, I was explicitly advised not to make any payment until the updated bill was issued after the return of the equipment. I have now discovered that additional late charges have been added to the bill, and I am being asked to pay for the entire billing cycle. I kindly request your immediate attention to rectify this issue. Account Number: ***************

  Business Response

  Date: 06/13/2023

  The disconnection has been backdated to June 3 and the final outstanding balance for service charges from 5/11/2023 to 06/03/2023 is $44.04
  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/28/2023

  34.27 was paid 6/28 for service charges 5/10 - 6/2
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/05/2023

  [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.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Regards,
  ******* ******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/11/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I had RCN internet for the last couple of years but they raised their prices and so i decided to cancel my subscription and migrate to a new service. I contacted support and they outwardly refused to cancel my plan unless i paid an additional $80 to have a technician come pick up the router. I asked for an alternative and they said i could pay to have it shipped. They also confirmed that my plan would continue being charged until they received the router. This is wildly predatory and under no circumstance am i going to continue to pay for a subscription i no longer need. I am going to be freezing any additional payments on my banks end but i dont want any retaliatory response from their team when i do, and based on how their customer service spoke to me, i fully believe they will pursue this.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/13/2023

  On 06/11/2023  4:08 pm, Mr. ******** reached out to us to disconnect, our policy is that if a customer is using our equipment, we stop the bill 10 days out or the day we receive the equipment. We would charge for a technician visit to pick up the equipment, but we offer a method of returning the modem for free with a prepaid FedEx label at ******************************************************************************** The rate increased as a 3 year, no contract pricing promotion applied on 05/30/2021 went into the third year of pricing at $73.85/month including est taxes and fees. As a courtesy, we will disconnect the service and stop billing effective 6/11, however, the modem and power cord need to be returned as soon as possible either to a local office or through FedEx with the prepaid shipping label. $35.43 is owed for 05/30/2023 through 6/11/2023. 
  
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/13/2023

  [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.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I have mailed out the equipment and apologies for any  miscommunication. Once confirmed that the account has been closed, I can pay out the remainder of the bill. 
  Regards,
  ******* ********

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/11/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I had RCN for years and they were the best. Then a year or 1 or 2 years ago Astound acquired RCN and the nighmare began. Since August 2022 I have been calling Astound up telling them that my internet was unstable and dropping; starting in January 2023, it started to get worse and I called dozens of times per week. They sent out "technicians" and the technicians said it was the "outside telephone poles", but said that was a separate division and couldn't be contacted, but they would put in a work order. I repeated this same scenario several times since January 2023. Starting in April, my internet would drop dozens of times per day, I work from home and started only using my telephone hotspot to conduct Zoom, etc meetings. I called Astound several times per week, telling them they have failed to provide internet and failed to even send a tech to the "outside telephone poles" to fix it. I told them, refund my last 2 months (February and March), since I have failed to have consistent internet. After a month of calling almost daily (early May 2023), I told them to just disconnect me and refund my last 3 months. I cancelled my credit card (so they can't keep charging me) and disputed my charges, due to failure to provide the services I paid for. Astound just sent me a bill for for 3X my month charge and is threatening to send my account to collections if I don't pay. I called and told them the story and they told me they understood, but didn't have the power to remove the charges. They promised a "supervisor would call" and resolve the charges after speaking with me. No supervisor ever called me, and got another letter threatening to send to collections. You can't bill me for internet, if you fail to provide internet, simple as that. Having a weak signal for 35% of the day doesn't count. I called maybe 90+ times over the last 6 months.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/13/2023

  Unfortunately, 5/26/2023 service was disconnected so we are unable to see the connection history to the modem, however, the last technician visit scheduled was 02/21/2023 and prior to this visit, there was a technician visit 12/30/2022 $64.76 was owed 5/30 for service provided 05/08/2023 through 06/07/2023. On 5/18, out of service credit was applied in the amount of -32.99 and a technician visit fee from the visit in February was waived, crediting -$79.95 to the account. Credit was applied for $-45.33 05/18/2023 - 06/07/2023 as service was disconnected 5/26, however, on 06/02/2023, the customer charged back $144.71 and $64.76, so $115.96 is owed rather than a refund of -93.51 that was going to be due back. 
  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/28/2023

  $209.47 was charged back on the credit card, so rather than a refund owed, 115.96 was paid 06/16/2023
  
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/05/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  You have no business charging a customer when you fail to provide the service that was paid for.  I contend you owe me for 8 months for unusable internet.  The rep on the phone agreed to refund me 2 months because I had no internet for the last 2 months.  Then you send a collection agency to collect 2 months of service that you failed to even provide me.  I have requested arbitration several time, but this company refuses.

  This company is predatory.  They try to ruin the credit and steal the money from their customers, after failing to provide minimal services for 8 months, and 2 months of no service whatsoever. 

  I'm glad I can drag Astound by RCN through the mud publically, so that future and current customers know what kind of horrible company this is.

  Refund my money or agree to go to arbitration.  Any other choice is predatory.

  
  Regards,
  **** ********