Business Profile

Internet Services

Astound Broadband powered by RCN

Headquarters

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Complaints

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

Customer Complaints Summary

722 total complaints in the last 3 years.
295 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

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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:08/17/2022
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.
My complaint does actually include a "health issue" however my husband is the patient. The problem stems from the fact that the MONITOR between his DEFIBILLATOR and the doctors ****** REQUIRES A PHONE LINE.I had an appt between 2-4 with Astound (recently took over WOW) for yesterday (8/16/22). The appt was initially for problems with the cable. But we realized that our phone line was out. No one ever showed up.At 4:00 yesterday ****** took my info, At 7:35 "****" said my ticket was still open. They both said service could still show up. **** told me that dispatch would call me shortly. Didn't happen.Today at 11:00 I spoke with "*****." I said I needed to talk to a manager because this has turned into a serious matter. She said managers don't take calls, and she has no way of contacting Dispatch. And she filed another report for me.At 2:00 I spoke with "******" who said (again) someone will call in the next ***** minutes.At 4:07 i was talking with "*******" and got disconnected at 4:16.At 4:22 I spoke with ******* who spoke with his lead and they gave me appt for Saturday, August 20. By then my husband's defibrillator with have been disconnected with his doctor's ****** for 4 days. (As far as we know. We don't know for sure when we lost phone service.) I feel that is an unacceptable length of time given the circumstances of the medical monitor. When this happened in the past for whatever the reason, WOW (their predecessor) and **** have taken this seriously, and sent someone as soon as possible.Astound has now given me a Saturday appt - even though they missed my appt yesterday. Saturday, unless , by chance, someone else cancels. Then I have to hope that we're not at a doctors appointment if that should happen. I find their lack of concern over a medical device is lazy and reprehensible.
Business Response
Date: 08/24/2022
There was an appointment scheduled on 08/12/2022 for a visit 08/16/2022 ****PM for the cable box freezing, there was no mention of phone service issues on the work order. On 08/16/2022, a technician arrived and our dispatch contacted the customer but there was no answer so they left a voicemail for the customer and the work order was closed as there was no access. On 08/17/2022 a supervisor scheduled a visit for our soonest availability, 08/20/2022 ****AM everything was working properly at the time of the visit.
Customer Answer
Date: 08/24/2022

Complaint: 17731208

I am rejecting this response because:
NO technician arrived on 8/16. We were home all day and our doorbell was working. And at 3:00 (in the middle of our 2-4 window) my husband's nurse was at home with us.
You called our home phone that was NOT WORKING. THEN someone left a message on my cell phone at 2:57. I didn't know this until the nurse left around 3:30. I then desperately tried to call the "number" left for me - 1-800-CallRCN (which didn't help when I was in a rush). That's when I realized my phone wasn't even working.
In the first place, no one EVER said that my appt was contingent on answering the phone. I could have been in the bathroom or taking out the garbage. I confirmed that my appt wasn't contingent on answering the phone with the first person I got in contact with at RCN. As I said, I apparently could not answer a phone that wasn't working and my service is with you - RCN!
Again, NO TECHNICIAN ever arrived as you say in your response.
Regards,

*******************
Business Response
Date: 08/31/2022
A technician visit was completed 08/20/2022 ****AM and total credit in the amount of $123.92 was applied to the account on 8/12. In all events, we have scheduled for our soonest availability as landline phone is necessary for emergency purposes in some cases. The technician 8/20, ******, noted that there were no issues found at the time of the appointment 8/20 and all services are in working order.
Customer Answer
Date: 09/04/2022

Complaint: 17731208

I am rejecting this response because:

I do not reject the response in its entirety. However, you should be able to give me responses to all of my issues.
1. Fact - on Friday, August 19, 2022 my husband DID have a cardiac event. We did not know this until after the phone came back. Thank goodness it was not a dire emergency. It was a mild problem, but had my phone been working, the doctor's ****** would have been able to communicate.
I need to tell you that a 4 day response is not an emergency response. AT&T as well as your predecessor, WOW, did much better. We never lost a phone connection for more than
24 hours.

2. You do not address the fact that in the last communication Astound said that a technician had arrived. I wouldn't mind an apology since NO technician arrived so your information is faulty at best.
3. And the fact that your dispatch center said I didn't answer a phone that was not working is laughable. If Astound doesn't know, then no one would know. I didn't know until I picked it up to call Astound back.
4. Does an appointment hinge on whether or not a subscriber can answer their phone - or not?! My phone is not attached to me at the hip. Not fair to cancel my service call just because I couldn't answer my phone - that is IF it had been working.
Oh, and, that credit surely would not have been applied had I not sat on the phone AGAIN to discuss again.

Regards,

*******************
Business Response
Date: 09/13/2022
Yes, if a customer does not answer the pre-call, a visit may be cancelled or need rescheduled. We do sincerely apologize for the service issues and missed visit.
Initial Complaint
Date:08/17/2022
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.
Astound/RCN took over my accounts (plural) from WOW earlier this year. Shortly after the takeover I started experiencing delays in service. For the first two months I attributed this to teething problems because my WOW! service had been excellent and they were using the same equipment. However in the last two months the service has been experiencing ever increasing delays where the service is down or reduced for DAYS at a time. At first, they apologized and offered some compensation on the accounts. Then they offered it on one account and now they won't even answer the phone for most complaints. This time however it has gotten worse. Last Friday (August 12, 2022) the service simply stopped working on one of the lines. However RCN/Astound didn't answer their phones (a recording said they were having issues call back later). Then they were down all weekend long with no tech support. Monday, they told me the problem was that I had old WOW equipment and they would send a tech out to replace it. Tuesday the tech came out and said it was the same equipment they were using. I called back and asked for a supervisor. No callback. I called back again today and asked for a supervisor and was told it would be two hours, again 6 hours later no callback, no service on one line and intermittent service on the second account. NO one will answer any questions about these outages.
Business Response
Date: 08/24/2022
During a call with a supervisor 08/17/2022 6:41 pm, a technician visit has been scheduled for 08/25/2022 8-10AM
Customer Answer
Date: 08/24/2022

Complaint: 17731207

I am rejecting this response because:
Over the past 4 months I have received many "promises," of service. I have been lied to by the call center on two separate occasions about actions to be taken, without any of those actions being followed up on after the call ended. It is difficult at this time to accept anything is going to be done, when just today I got a call telling my service had been restored and when I asked on which account they couldn't even answer the question. Granted, everyone has been polite but paying for two accounts, neither of which is working very well is frustrating. Earlier today when I called (multiple times) I got the same recorded message that the service wasn't working to call back later - on the billing number, the sales number and the tech support number. My number is on file, having someone call me who can answer technical questions without reading from a script would go a long way to resolving this problem. Having a technician come out who can fix it would be a better one. The last one, who was out here last Tuesday couldn't do either - and neither could his supervisor, whom he called in my presence. I'd appreciate just a simple honest answer, without promises that are not being kept.

Regards,

*****************************
Business Response
Date: 08/31/2022
Maintenance follow up was completed 08/29/2022 and internal technician visits are scheduled 09/02/2022 ****PM for both units at *****************************************************
Customer Answer
Date: 09/01/2022

Complaint: 17731207

I am rejecting this response because:

The local business lied to me about the service. Specifically, on numerous calls to the office about the "Outage" I was told they were doing maintenance - even though one of the systems was often up during this time (one would be up, one would be down both coming into my home on a single line). On numerous phone calls the on-phone technician "*******," told me my STATIC ** number. Finally, the last technician told me that RCN no longer even has static ** numbers and the ** I had under WOW was gone. THIS TOOK 4 MONTHS of troubleshooting, complaints and calls. As I stated in my last message, I want compensation for the waste of time on the second line which is useless to me. Do I need to mention that at NO TIME was I told there is another technician coming out tomorrow? Had I not gotten this letter there would be NO ONE HOME when he/she got here. Then the business would have claimed they tried to fix it - again, but no one was home. If the issue is not resolved tomorrow, and let's be clear, the resolution is compensation for months of lying about the service I had, a clear plan to address the multiple outages, then I will cancel one of the accounts and contemplate the second account and going forward with RCN/Astound. The issue here is they took over a company and were more interested in telling me about the numerous fees, than they have been about the restoration of service. NOT ONCE have I been able to speak to member of the RCN/Astound staff, who can give me honest, complete answers. Simply sending "contractors," out with little knowledge of their own company's topology and network is about as useful as my cat talking to me. Even now weeks after I changed out the modem - on their advice, which cost me several hundred dollars to do, they have not been able to tell me what to do with their useless equipment sitting here.

Regards,

*****************************
Initial Complaint
Date:08/17/2022
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.
Astound Broadband came out to my house on August 15, 2022. The were supposed to be installing cable on 4 TV's and internet. The technician didn't seem to know how to hook up cable to the main TV in the house. He said he was missing some equipment and would return with the equipment the next day August 16, 2022. He did not call or return the next day. I called Astound Broadband on August 16, 2022 to let the company know all of my service were not installed and the technician had not returned. I was told I would be contacted within 24 hours. I was not contacted. I called Astound Broadband again on August 17, 2022 to speak to a supervisor because I still didn't have cable service on my main TV. The supervisor told me she didn't have any technician to finish the install on August 17, 2022. After having partial service for 72 hours I did receive a bill from Astound for almost double the price I was quoted.
Business Response
Date: 08/24/2022
An installation was completed 08/15/2022 4-6PM however, the account was disconnected 08/20/2022 after a chat request. On 8/17, a supervisor spoke with ****** and explained that we can reschedule an appointment for a different technician to come out to the home but this was declined and as the account has been disconnected, all equipment needs to be returned.
Initial Complaint
Date:08/17/2022
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.
Astound Broadband provides a return label for their modem through ****** I used the label and shipped through ***** which has confirmed the delivery. Astound conveniently denies the modem ever arrived and claims I owe them over $300 in payments for a used old modem. This seems like a completely illegal practice and an abuse of their power.
Business Response
Date: 08/24/2022
Please send us the ***** tracking number or forward the email from ***** confirming delivery to *********************************
Customer Answer
Date: 08/24/2022

Complaint: 17730009

I am rejecting this response because: I have already tried giving the tracking number to the help desk over the phone, who have been enormously rude the entire time.
I just emailed the tracking number again as requested. The number is 274713545359.
I will accept your response once the matter is settled.

Business Response
Date: 08/31/2022
The equipment has been removed 8/25. The balance owed for prorated service charges is $27.15.
Customer Answer
Date: 09/01/2022
[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 paid the prorated amount. I still consider this practice by Astound to be harmful. The fact that I had to complain to the BBB for them to recognize that they were at fault is suspicious.

Regards,

*****************************
Initial Complaint
Date:08/14/2022
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.
RCN cut cable in cable box and wont send someone to fix / give a time frame to resolution. They sent out a tech on Saturday and said he cant fix it and they will need to send construction out and said they cant schedule anything.Tried to schedule something after spending an hour trying to get a human on the phone to be told I will be reached out to at a random time M-F from 8-4 for it to get fixed. Seem to ignore the fact I cant work without internet as Im remote.Only been w service 10 days and told cant get refund or credits for this because they cant do it while my internets down ? That doesnt make sense.
Business Response
Date: 08/19/2022
We have escalated ************************ concerns to our construction team and they stated they will contact the customer to coordinate the pending construction work.
Initial Complaint
Date:08/11/2022
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 signed up for service via their sales rep on in early-mid April 2022. I was very clearly offered a promotional package of 44.99 for 1 gig internet, with a free modem, and a $200 gift card after 2 months of service - these promotions are clearly visible on their sales reps facebook page. I was told it would be installed and ready by move-in date on April 30, 2022.

When I moved in, after many calls, it was not installed. It took nearly a month to finally be installed, and they offered no explanation as to why. By that time, they had an even better promotion of free HBO max for 12 months on top of the prior rates. My account was also set-up incorrectly with regards to email and address, so I was not notified about my first bill until it was late - either by mail OR email. They charged me a late fee despite their mistake. Additionally, despite the extreme inconvenience, I was still charged an activation fee. Lastly, during installation they falsely stated their optional $10/month Eros was mandatory and installed it without asking me first; it has been nothing but faulty signal-wise, and I have just now been informed it's optional after calling in.

I'm currently being charged 49.99 (instead of 44.99), a "one time fee" of $1.00 (with no explanation), taxes of nearly $12, the $10 for the Eros, and they've told me I'm no longer qualified for their gift card as I was late paying my bill despite their mistake of never notifying or sending it (the date was never clear as it was installed late anyways).

I would like a refund for my Eros (it never worked anyways and constantly dropped signal), my bill adjusted to reflect my promotional pricing, my $200 Visa gift card as promised, the HBO max promotion, and my activation fee refunded. This has been nothing but complete deliberate misrepresentation at every step. Attached is the first contact I was able to have with them and the date they corrected my contact and account information, again only after I had called.
Business Response
Date: 08/19/2022
We have reached out to the local market to determine if the customer will be receiving the gift card offer, although the first statement was past due. There is an open case for your reference, this case number is *******
Initial Complaint
Date:08/10/2022
Type:Service or Repair 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.
Over the past several months to a year our internet service with RCN has been increasingly getting worse. It started with the Wi-Fi cutting out sporadically and then up to several times a day. Had a few technicians at my home and we settled on a new, upgraded router. Seemed okay for a bit but then started up again within a few weeks. More calls, more technicians, same story of how this time it was promised to be fixed. Most recently, within the last 2 months we are losing internet entirely. The only way to get it back is to reset/unplug the modem and have it reboot. For someone who works from home this is unacceptable. I need someone to give me a real fix here. No more touch this, turn that, pug/unplug things. For weeks now we were told to have the technicians escalate the issue but each one has ignored us. I do not need new wires in my house, I do not need a new box set up outside, I do not need the lease (?) time adjusted on my equipment, I need the internet to actually work uninterrupted and a refund for the lost time to both my personal and work schedules to accommodate at least a half dozen techs in the recent past. Here are some real facts: Today internet went out at 10am, 12:25 pm and 2:39 pm. For history, on Feb 13th the service was out at 11:14, 11:39, 12:44, 1:01, 1:49, 1:59, 2:28. A tech came and gave us a new set up at 3:14. On Feb 14th the first occurrence of outage was 8:46 am. I stopped keeping track. Now imagine this for another 6 months.
Business Response
Date: 08/18/2022
A technician visit 08/06/2022 ****PM determined there was an inside wiring issue. We see 9 interruptions in the signal to the modem since the visit and suggest calling ************** 24/7 to schedule another technician visit.
Customer Answer
Date: 08/18/2022

Complaint: 17699736

I am rejecting this response because:

Complaint: 17699736

I am rejecting this response because:

I have had at least a half dozen technicians in my house over the past 8 months. The last technician said the wire was loose and that tightening was the solution to all my problems. It clearly was not the solution nor was it a bad wire, bad outlet, old router.... or any of the other various reasons I have been given. A supervisor has been notified so we will see what happens after that. But for the record I have noted 14 outages since the visit.

Regards,

***********************

Regards,

***********************
Business Response
Date: 08/19/2022
A follow up visit has not been scheduled yet and the modem last lost connection around 6:17PM on 8/17.
Customer Answer
Date: 08/29/2022
[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:

In reference to complaint ID ********, issues still continued so yet another tech was sent to my home. The most recent ticket was set to be a supervisor visit but the person sent to my home was in fact not a supervisor. I think this may have been in my favor because **** was wonderful. Unlike the several contracted technicians, **** stated he was an actual Astound/RCN employee and it seems to have made all the difference. Not only did he check the same/usual things he found an issue with a wire others either didn't check, didn't check thoroughly, or simply ignored. Additionally, he acknowledged there are issues with the equipment we had and made sure to not only give us upgraded equipment but he took it upon himself to ensure we were not charged anything additional for it. Since the appointment we have had no dropped internet that we are aware of any only small pockets of time where the ***FI seemed a bit weak. Hopefully someone gives **** a raise!
At this time this ticket can be considered closed.
Regards,

***********************
Initial Complaint
Date:08/09/2022
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.
Astound has failed to provide service to my address. I have been in a conversation with them since last week about the lack of land line service to this address. They gave me an appointment a week away and refused to address the fact that I need my phone for business calls because the cellular phone is unreliable.My last chat was with ****** who talked to be about the weather and staying hydrated instead of addressing my concerns.
Business Response
Date: 08/10/2022
On Fri, Aug 5, 2022 at 5:04 pm we were contacted to set up a technician visit for 08/12/2022 *****P which is our soonest availability. We have an escalation case entered and if anything sooner becomes available, we will reach out to reschedule with **************. There was a Long Distance call completed 08/05/2022 7:38 pm and the phone modem is currently in service. Credit has been applied for service charges 08/05-08/12/22.
Customer Answer
Date: 08/10/2022

Complaint: 17693103

I am rejecting this response because: The business has poor customer service. I have told them several times that I need the landline for business purposes and that a whole week's time is excessive.
They refused to answer questions concerning priorities. I feel that they are too rigid and non-customer friendly.
Regards,

*****************************
Business Response
Date: 08/10/2022
Technician visits are scheduled based on our availability and the customer has the soonest available appointment. We will forward this feedback to our customer service department management team.
Customer Answer
Date: 08/11/2022

Complaint: 17693103

I am rejecting this response because: it does not address priority. My landline has been down for a week.

Regards,

*****************************
Business Response
Date: 08/11/2022
The landline is working on our end and we are able to call and get voicemail. The ringer on the phone may be off or there may be an issue with the receiver which we do not cover. We do still have a technician visit for our soonest availability, tomorrow, 08/12/2022 *****P
Customer Answer
Date: 08/11/2022

Complaint: 17693103

I am rejecting this response because: All 3 phones are dead. They told me that it was the battery when I last spoke with them.

Regards,

*****************************
Business Response
Date: 08/12/2022
A technician is coming out today between ***** to resolve the issue with the phone. This is our soonest availability.

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Astound Broadband powered by RCN is NOT a BBB Accredited Business.