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

• 

  RCN Telecom Services

  956 Massachusetts Ave Arlington, MA 02476-4509

• 

  RCN Telecom Services

  1224 Hyde Park Ave Hyde Park, MA 02136-2805

• 

  RCN

  2124 Avenue C Bethlehem, PA 18017-2120

• 

  RCN

  10000 Derekwood Ln Lanham, MD 20706-4387

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:12/15/2022

  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.

  Inconsistent and confusing billing. Many line items on bill which makes it easy for them to make minimal changes to many lines that then add up to a lot of money. Appears deceptive. Major bill increases with no warning. Spoke to 3 different people on Nov 9 and Dec 15 and agreements/changes to bill not followed through. They had trouble explaining charges. Inconsistent answers to same questions. I was given 3 different bill amounts by each person. I still don’t understand my bill. I was charged two different overdue fees but I don’t understand why or what it’s for. Also, I am paying for services/channels I never use. They use the term “bundling” to make it sound like you’re getting a deal but the bundles always include things I don’t use. Also, common practice to use the practice of PROMOTIONAL DISCOUNT. I never know what it’s for or how long it lasts. So many deceptive and confusing practices.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/23/2022

  A statement that was due 10/22/2022 for $241.82 was not paid until 11/10/2022 as the withdrawal 10/23/2022 was unsuccessful. This caused a 25.00 autopay denial fee and 15.00 late fee to be applied to the statement due 11/21/2022. A 12 month, no contract promotional offer was applied to the bundled services 04/09/2022. The monthly rate for signature cable, HBO, Cinemax, 3 boxes, modem/router rental and 100mbps with a free upgrade to 400mbps internet is $254.06 including estimated taxes, fees and surcharges which are subject to change and did increase in October 2022, and notification was sent out on the September statement. 
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/10/2022

  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.

  My credit card was compromised so I needed to cancel it. When I received my new card, I apparently forgot to set up my autopay again with Astound. I received a notice that my payment didn't go through which reminded me - so I simply set my new card up with Astound - no big deal with every other company. Got my bill today... they charged me a $25 "Auto Pay Denial Residential" fee. Get bent. I'm canceling this service. There are three other providers now in my area, two that offer gigabit service for cheaper and I guarantee they don't charge you a $25 fee for paying the bill. Why would anyone sign up for auto pay if they are going to extort you if you forget to set up your new card. Unbelievable. Finally, I noticed when I was updating my card that my bill was higher in November than in October. Apparently they upped the "internet infrastructure fee" by 40% from $6.97 to $9.77. I bought my own modem to avoid paying rental fees but it doesn't matter because they'll just get you with other fees that they increase on a whim. But honestly it is the $25 fee that gets me. That is so absurd I don't even know what to say. It's not a bounced check, it was a card that didn't go through because it was compromised. How much are they making on people every time a card expires, is lost, stolen, etc. Avoid at all cost.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/19/2022

  We charge a $25 autopay denial fee and this information is printed on the second page of the bill each month. It states: Returned Payments
  All checks returned due to non-sufficient funds will be resubmitted
  electronically.
  A maximum $30.00 administrative
  fee may be
  electronically debited. If at any time your check or automatic credit card
  payment is rejected or returned,
  Astound
  Broadband will consider
  this
  a denied payment.
  You will be charged
  a $25 denied payment fee, in
  addition to any late
  fees incurred as
  a result of the denied payment and
  all other amounts owed to Astound Broadband.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/09/2022

  Type:Product 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 moved to *** this fall. I was forced to purchase RCN services because of the telecom monopoly system in the US. I originally bought cable + wifi. I soon learned the basic RCN cable package did not include any of the standard channels (**** ****** * - all the things I watched). I called in October to cancel my cable and switched to ******* TV which was cheaper and had better channels. I returned my cable box as they instructed. My bill for September and October was around $100. Suddenly, in November my bill skyrocketed to $196 and $199 even though I was now receiving HALF of the service. It made no sense. The bills are impossible to read. I've called 3 times and each time my bill is not resolved. They say they need to check internally and my bill is never collected. I just went in and paid the bill because I was accumulating late fees. It is really horrible to have your bill go up and up and up even though you are getting less service? It truly makes no sense. I will say the RCN costumer service people are nice and answer my questions and try to help. But overall it is still super frustrating that I have to call multiple times and nothing is getting resolved after calling efforts. I am forced to pay this company more money for less services to avoid late fees and being sent to collections. The monopoly system for telecommunications is a policy decision so I know this company has 0 incentive to help me, but $90 for wifi seems outrageous. $14 for a modem? It appears they are charging for me 2 modems when I only have 1. I think the billing process seems so sloppy and their strategy may be overcharge with fee after fee in the hopes no one calls and challenges them on it. I wanted to flag this for the BBB because I think this behavior is predatory. I simply want my bill to be fixed / explained to me because right now it seems like I am getting ripped off.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/15/2022

  The statement included unreturned equipment charges which have been credited. There is a total credit of -$47.27 towards future billing and a monthly rate of $56.46 for 600mbps, equipment, estimated taxes and fees through 09/09/2023
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/06/2022

  Type:Customer Service 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.

  This business has a cable line that is down and blocking our driveway, making it impossible for us to leave, or for emergency services to reach us. It has been down for 5 days and after calling 6 times, speaking to 5 different people during just one of those calls, we were told we were out of luck and had to wait days before someone would be out to secure the hazard. Having a medically complex child, we need to be able to leave our home in our car to get to a hospital, and an ambulance needs to be able to reach our home without being blocked by this cable line. We also have no heat as our propane company cannot deliver propane to our home. The cable line fell on 12/1/2022, and they report that they cannot fix it and free us from being trapped in our home until 12/7/2022. This is unacceptable and extremely dangerous.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/15/2022

  A Noncustomer case was successfully created with Ticket #******* for our team to come out and investigate the wire and if it belongs to Astound, it will be reattached or removed. 
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/05/2022

  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.

  My internet service kept failing so Astound sent a technician to my house. At no time did they mention charging me a fee for the technician's visit. I have used the same cable company for ten years before it was bought by Astound, and they had never charged me a fee for sending a technician to my house. The technician determined that the problem probably existed in the cable equipment out in the yard, in other words, their equipment and not mine. Then they charged me a large fee for the technician visit. After I received my bill and called to contest it, the person on the phone kept trying to sell me a service protection plan. Why would I need a service protection plan for a service I am paying for? I am literally paying you for this service.If you're going to charge a fee, let the customer know. I was blindsided by this fee.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/15/2022

  On 11/17/22 , we agreed to credit half of the technician visit fee totaling $39.98 The charge was applied 11/16/22 as the technician who came out for a visit determined that there was a loose fitting and unless a customer subscribes to the service protection plan, there is a charge for appointments when the issue is determined to be a customer's inside wiring, own devices, or wiring within 10 feet of the home. There seems to have been further work done here after the visit, so we have waived the other half of the technician visit charge and suggest signing up for the service protection plan for $4.95/mo before scheduling a technician visit. The bill that was due 11/18/2022
   for $44.99 was not paid until 11/28/2022 so there is currently a charge of $15 left on the account for a late fee. 
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/03/2022

  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 have been a customer of RCN/Astound for several years, paying for gigabit internet service. Over the past 9 months, my internet speed has sporadically dropped to 30 Mbps at least 20 times. On at least 6 occasions, I have reached out to customer support when it did not correct within a day. Three times they have sent out a technician, which has temporarily fixed whatever issue is going on. The last time, on 8/18/2022, I was charged $79.95 for the visit. The issue turned out to be that RCN/Astound had changed my internet package, without notifying me, to 500 Mbps, which apparently conflicted with my router's settings. Upon receiving my bill, I reached out to one of their agents. I was told that the agent did not have the power to refund the charge. I asked to speak to a manager, and was promised a call back. I never received a call. I was also encouraged to sign up for some sort of "insurance" to cover issues like this. This reeks of a scam - I should take out insurance against their incompetence? Tonight my internet dropped speed again. I reached out to an agent, scheduled another technician visit. I asked for details about the previous charge, and was told that they had found that there was an issue with my wiring inside my house. This was NOT the problem - it was a misconfiguration on their end. I request a refund of the technician visit fee of $79.95, as well someone to figure out why my internet service keeps dropping to unacceptable levels, and fix it conclusively. I am paying a premium for high speed internet service, not unpredictable sub-broadband speeds.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/13/2022

  We completed a maintenance visit 12/06/2022, there has been a change to the internet speed package, however, the 500mbps package applied 06/06/2019 had a free upgrade to 1Gig then the service was rebundled to pay for the 1Gig 08/17/2022 when the customer called to lower their bill with a new promotional offer. Wireless speed is not guaranteed as it can be affected by factors outside of our control. For accuracy, please test speed at il.speedtest.rcn.net The last speed test was run 2022-12-05 19:09:59 Desktop N/A NULL ************* ****** ********* on Chrome OS 64-bit ConType: 4g il.speedtest.rcn.net Levels 0 697Mbps Download
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/23/2022

  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 have internet through Astound and it has been so unreliable it's basically unusable. It goes out a minimum of 4-5 times every day. I contacted Astound about it multiple times and at first they ignored it. Then they eventually sent a tech out who said it was nothing to do with our equipment. He said that the problem was with their lines outside and the entire neighborhood had the same issue. He said they would fix it the next day. That was almost a month ago (10/29/22) that they were supposed to fix it but they never did. Since then my internet is still cutting out at least 4-5 times every day which is a huge issue because we have a lot of critical things connected to it like our security systems. I've contacted them multiple times since then and they still refuse to come resolve the problem. I live in an area where they are basically the only ISP so since they have a monopoly with no competition I can't just switch to a different company. My account with them is under my wife's name (***************************)

  Business Response

  Date: 12/02/2022

  The Astound rental modem was returned 11/30/2022 and the customer is now using their own modem. Per the modem history, there has not been any loss of signal since it was installed. The customer owned modem seems to be performing well. Please call ************ 24/7 if technical support is needed in the future and if we are remotely unable to resolve an issue, we would be happy to send out a certified technician. 
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/22/2022

  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.

  I was migrated to Astound when they acquired Wow. Since then, my internet has been decent. Seems like there are strange slowdowns of service at odd times where ping increases, and occasional packet loss occurs. It seems to resolve itself after some time. My issue is that I was paying around $50/month for gigabit service with Wow. Astound has started charging me $78.99/month. I also see on their website that they offer customers gigabit service for $40/month. I called to ask why I'm being charged more. With Wow, if my ******************* increased, I could call, ask about it, and they respected me as a long-time loyal customer and lowered my bill back to what I was being charged. I called Astound today, to ask about my bill and see about getting it lowered, and the first rep I spoke with ended up hanging up on me when I asked from a supervisor. His words were "OK, bye." The second rep got a supervisor on the line who informed me that the price online, is "online-only" pricing, which is not stated anywhere in the description. He also told me that I would need to be switched to cancel my service and wait 60 days, switch to Astound codes, and then be eligible for the online price only if I used Astound equipment. As a network technician myself, I was shocked as how insane the excuses were. Wow used to offer a simple service for a simple price. Astound was coming up with excuse after excuse. I don't want codes changed, I don't want the quality of my service degraded, I don't want my bill to go up by 30%. They would not offer $40/month gigabit pricing for 12 months, with NO contract, on the website, if they weren't making money off of the customer. ******************** can either choose to treat all the Wow customers they acquired with the same level of customer service that people loved Wow for, or lose us as customers.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/23/2022

  Astound continued to honor the promotional offers that WOW customers had applied. **************** had a discount offer applied 05/05/2021 which expired on 08/04/2022. On 11/22/2022, we applied a first year, no contract 12 month offer for an Astound package of 1Gig for $54.99/mo before estimated taxes/fees. 
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/23/2022

  
  Complaint: 18451604
  
  I am rejecting this response because: theyve made no mention of the customer service rep  hanging up on me, whether or not I was switched to astound codes, lying about having to use astound equipment, or the ludicrous other excuses and explanations they gave me over the phone. Blatant, outright lies. 
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************

  Business Response

  Date: 12/02/2022

  We apologize for the disconnected call, upon reviewing the call, 11/22/2022 11:43 am the call was disconnected on the customer's end after stating they would like to speak with a supervisor. 
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/02/2022

  
  Complaint: 18451604
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The ** rep disconnected the call. Why would I hang up willingly and call back immediately after stating I was hung up on. I still have not received an answer as to why they cannot honor pricing they advertise. 
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************

  Business Response

  Date: 12/07/2022

  We apologize for the lost call. Additionally, the current rate of $54.99 for 1Gig was applied 11/22/2022 as a courtesy. We typically only offer first year promotional offers for the first 12 months of service. We do not have any lower rates that **************** is eligible for. 
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/21/2022

  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 am filing a formal complaint against RCN due to horrible ************ that is disrupting my ability to work remotely, disrupting my children's educational services, and disrupting my wife's ability to work remotely as well. Despite having called RCN countless times and being patient and polite towards them this WiFi issue continues to be a huge problem. The service is terrible. Here are the areas of concern: 1. service interruptions, 2. service slow pace, 3. service inconsistent, 4. service constantly resets itself, 5. despite having replaced equipment on several occasions, as well as, having an RCN technician come to our home more than twice, this problem is ongoing. We are frustrated with how passive RCN handles the matter. We are paying over $75 a month for ************ that isn't worth two dimes. As such, I have reached my limit. Over the past year, I have lost numerous hours of work due to these ongoing issues. My child's virtual education has been constantly disrupted making them behind on school work. My wife's online business has suffered financial loss. And yet, RCN gives me the same passive "we're sorry you're having these issues..." I should not have to file this complaint in order to get to RCN's full attention. After all these issues, despite paying my bills consistently, they had the nerve to give me a lousy $10 credit. UNACCEPTABLE! The credit needs to be a true reflection of the massive amount of work hours and school hours my family have lost due to the repeated pathetic service that RCN provides our community. And after seeing over 300 complaints against them apparently my family is not the only one's suffering from terrible service and passive solutions that DO NOT last. As such, we are requiring compensation as noted in the resolution section of this complaint. Even during the 2020 pandemic we continued to pay our bills, but this service continues to be horrendous! Customer number: ***************.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/22/2022

  A technician visit is scheduled for 11/22/2022 ****PM to address internet connection issues. There is a case requesting a lead or supervisor for this visit. The technician visit 11/20/2022 ****PM indicated there was a modem provisioning error and there has not been a technician visit since October 2020 prior to this. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/19/2022

  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 have internet service through Astound Broadband. They automatically withdraw $83 every month. I use my own approved equipment. The service has been spotty all week. Internet goes out completely overnight. Currently it has been completely out for 2 days. Astound customer service can only run a reset. I am convinced the problem is outside. Astound states they show no power outages. They're only option is to send a technician and a charge to me when I am pretty certain the problem is outside of the house. Myself and my wife depend on this as our work depends on it. This company has been a problem ever since it acquired Wide Open West internet. Their customer service is non-responsive choosing to put the blame on you first. I pay for the gigabyte high performance service. I want the service restored. I do not want to pay for something that is not my fault. Sending a technician four days later is not an option. Remote work is done from this location as well as online schooling. I cannot get a satisfactory response from Astound.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/21/2022

  There has been an issue with service based on the modem history between November 18 and November 20, which we have applied credit for. Please schedule a technician visit if the issue persists, we are unable to verify that this is an area issue, as neighboring modems do not reflect the same history of a lost connection.