Big cable and phone companies can thank 2011’s Hurricane Irene for keeping them from scoring #1 on the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s top most disliked companies in America. Those choice spots were reserved for utility companies on Long Island and in Connecticut.

But even the rain-soaker that left millions without power for weeks couldn’t keep America’s perennial hatred of cable and phone companies from the top 15 list:

#3 Charter Communications – The “Don’t Care-Bears” of Cable

America’s worst cable company delivers downright shoddy customer service and dodgy billing practices a loan shark would not dare try. The company has been flopping around like a beached whale since exiting its “stiff our creditors good with a quick trip to bankruptcy court,” and is now back to stiffing their customers instead:

“The sales rep originally promised us a $42.95 a month for services, with an introductory price of $24.95 for the first 3 months (a savings of $18 a month). After the introductory period ended, the company started charging me $56.95, when I finally caught on that they were charging me $14 more per month than what is said on the Work Order (could provide at anytime for proof), he never once mentioned that there will be a $10 more per month, and now the company says if you have no other cable service with us (Charter Communications), you are to be charged $10 more per month!!”

#4 Comcast – Hey, It Could Be Worse — At Least We’re Not Charter!

Comcast had a bad year with faulty e-mail, failing equipment, and more excuses than CVS has pills. Unprofessional contract installers also have problems keeping their hands to themselves. The largest cable operator in the country has also been known to empty checking accounts when they want their money, and there are horror stories about installers leaving wires, clips, and nails scattered on front lawns, quickly becoming projectiles when the mower runs over them.

Their cable service shampoos in mediocrity scoring 61 out of 100 and the “digital phone” service they run is the conditioning rinse, doing slightly better with a score of 67.

#6 Time Warner Cable – Always Listening to Customers, and Then Ignoring Them

Rated 63/100, Time Warner Cable managed a four point improvement over last year, which will be promptly erased if they keep experimenting with Internet Overcharging schemes.

Derided for “third world” customer service worthy of a despotic backwater dictatorship, slow Internet speeds, endless outages, and gouging rates, the ACSI has few nice things to report about America’s second largest cable conglomerate.

One customer vented, “TWC has destroyed my business and doesn’t give a damn: I first complained five weeks ago about outages and miserable upload speeds. I need to send large files to clients. I’ve had two technicians visit, who both found it was in the neighborhood. Today, I found the situation has not changed and am told there’s no further work order.”

Customers also complain about being stuck with Time Warner because there are no competing services in the area.

That being said, we’d rather have Time Warner Cable than AT&T or Comcast, and our personal customer service experience in western New York has been excellent for us, so it depends on where you live (and what competition they have in your area.)

#7 Cox Communications – Beam Me Up, Scotty!

Now we know where Time Warner’s four extra points came from — at the expense of Cox Cable, which is down by that same amount turning in a truly pathetic score of 63 out of 100.

Time Warner Cable occasionally threatens to buy out Cox, at least if industry rumors prove true, which might actually be an improvement.

Cox’s problem is time-honored for the cable industry — it gouges customers with outrageous rate increases the oil and gas industry don’t have the stomach to attempt.

Customers complain Cox is the High Priestess of Bait & Switch, signing customers up on one promotion and then shifting them to another, pretending the original offer was a figment of someone’s imagination. One customer:

 “I setup 2yr service w/Cox —1st yr @ $29.99, 2nd @ $49.99. Now after 6mon they changed it to 1st 6mon @ $29.99, 2nd 6mon @ $49.99, and 1 year @ 79.99.”

#11 CenturyLink – (Last)CenturyLink — America’s Worst Phone Company (Hey Frontier, You Get a Pass This Time)

CenturyLink, you must be so proud of your 66/100 score. In fact, add one more “6” and you’ll convince customers who already suspect you are the devil’s phone company.

“They lie about everything and do nothing,” one customer told ACSI. “I have been having issues with my Internet for a year and they have yet to help.” Another customer wrote that they’ve “had issues with CenturyLink employees flat out lying to [me] about the bill.”

Billing issues are most likely to be cited by complaining customers along with customer service representatives having less knowledge about the company’s products than customers do.

That being said, at least they don’t have the Frontier employee who insisted on telling us about the company’s wireless “wee-fee” network.  She admitted she had no idea it was “Wi-Fi.”

#14 DirectTV – Hey, We’re Looking Pretty Good Compared to the Other Guys

The satellite company managed 68/100, and the biggest problem they still have is misleading contracts and promotions that leave customers out of pocket for hundreds of dollars for deals that go un-honored and rebates that never arrive.

Discounts seem “luck of the draw” among customer service representatives:

“DirectTV raised the price for 30% after one year and said that they told me about this verbally, which is not true. My agreed price with Saha on the phone, a DirecTV employee, was $56.99 including two receivers and one HD/DVR receiver. DirecTV overcharged me on my first bill. When I complained, they said they forgot to give me my 30% discount. So over the next six months, they kept revising my bill but never got it right.”

Sally Medina is a Sacramento mom grandfathered with her daughter on an unlimited data plan, or so she thought.

When daughter Leticia started getting text messages from Verizon alerting her she used half of her data allowance for the month, the Medina family learned for the first time Verizon had quietly switched them away from their unlimited data plan to one with just a 2GB usage allowance.

The family suspects the change was made when Leticia upgraded to a new phone back in January, and did not realize it until slowly growing data use finally triggered the first usage alert from Verizon.

Medina is angry because Verizon pulled the rug out from their agreement to allow the family to keep unlimited data.

“This was the agreement. We did our part. I think they should follow through on theirs,” Medina told CBS Sacramento consumer reporter Kurtis Ming. “They told her it was going to be unlimited so she didn’t question it.”

Too late to fix it now, came the reply from Verizon Wireless, who refused to switch the family back to unlimited data.

“Selling data consumption is incredibly lucrative, especially since data consumption is expected to rise. People are getting more hungry for it. And also people will start using more data as the network speeds improve,” CNET senior editor Jessica Dolcourt told the consumer reporter.

Dolcourt added carriers have a vested interest kicking customers off unlimited data as quickly as possible so they can start earning the additional revenue that comes with more expensive tiered data plans.

Verizon today launched its biggest change yet with its new “Share Everything” plan. Consumer groups like Free Press agree it does represent a big change. Verizon used to charge $29.99 a month for unlimited data. As of today, it charges $50 for 1GB on its newest plan.

The company says existing customers grandfathered on unlimited data plans can keep them, but only if they do not upgrade their phones or are willing to pay the unsubsidized upgrade price, which can run as high as $600. Either way, Verizon Wireless will get paid.

In light of the media attention on the company, the Medina family ultimately won what they wanted — an apology from Verizon and a return to unlimited data for daughter Leticia. But even she will not escape choosing a different plan if she wants a discounted phone in the future.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KOVR Sacramento Verizon Sneaks Away Unlimited Data 6-27-12.mp4[/flv]

KOVR in Sacramento reports Verizon Wireless snuck away an unlimited data plan that one local customer was promised she could keep.  (2 minutes)

Frontier has dealt with PaymentOne for years. This bill shows unauthorized cramming charges billed to a Frontier customer in the fall of 2010.

An Oregon man found himself facing $300 in early termination fees from Frontier Communications after the phone company first refused to intervene on his behalf and credit his account for unauthorized “phone cramming” charges.

Tim Curns was with Frontier since the 1990s, but not anymore.

“I pulled the plug,” Curns told KGW-TV after unsuccessfully trying to get Frontier to help remove an unauthorized charge from his land line phone bill.

Curns found a $14.95 charge on his bill from something called “PaymentOne.” When he called Frontier, they could not tell him what the charge was for and at first refused to credit him for the unauthorized charge. That is surprising because Frontier has been billing customers on behalf of PaymentOne for more than two years.

With Frontier uninterested in investigating the phone cramming incident, Curns was told he would be on his own trying to stop PaymentOne from billing his phone line every month.

Curns tried to tackle the problem himself, first calling PaymentOne and learning the company had enrolled his line for the service despite having the wrong mailing address on file. Frontier, upon learning that, eventually agreed to a one-time courtesy credit but could not promise additional charges would not be forthcoming the following month.

Engraged, Curns said if Frontier could not stop unauthorized charges, he could stop being their customer. At that point, the Frontier representative surprised Curns with news he was unknowingly committed to a two-year service contract, and he could cancel his service… if he paid around $300 in early termination fees.

That would leave PaymentOne with their money, Frontier enriched on an early termination fee the customer never knew he would owe, and little left in Curns’ wallet.

“My question to the phone company was, okay, if you make an adjustment on this bill for 14.95 what are you going to do to stop this from being a recurring charge,” Curns said, “and they said there’s nothing they can do, you have to call these people.”

So Curns called and said PaymentOne told him the name of that company is My Global 4-1-1, which is a front company for a firm called Doink Media LLC, which the Federal Trade Commission been chasing all over the country.

Kyle Kavas, Spokesperson for The Better Business Bureau said, “most of the time it’s just companies that are randomly picking out phone numbers and charging them. Those cramming charges are very dangerous because they come from companies that are usually scammers.”

KGW received this less-than-helpful statement from Frontier:

“Frontier takes customer concerns very seriously and always tries to make things right. Our normal policy on a ‘cramming’ issue, which is an unauthorized charge on a customer’s account, is to assist the customer in contacting the 3rd party company who added the charge. These 3rd party companies get a customer authorization from the customer although in some cases the customer doesn’t realize they’ve authorized the charge. An easy way to avoid these is to have a 3rd party block put on your account by calling Frontier Customer Service.”

Curns called Frontier and learned although the company does not currently charge a fee for third party charge-blocking, it might in the future.

What Frontier doesn’t admit is that it earns a piece of the action from every phone cramming charge found on a customer’s bill.

Curns ultimately decided to pull the plug on Frontier for good, paid a pro-rated early termination fee, and recommended other customers follow in his footsteps before unauthorized third party charges make their way to another phone bill.

For now, customers can call Frontier customer service and request all third party charges be blocked from your phone line. The service is free of charge, although there are no guarantees it will always remain that way. It would also be a good time to review your current account and learn if Frontier has put you on a contract plan with an early termination fee attached. If you did not authorize this, demand it be removed from your account at once. If you did authorize it, have Frontier note your account that you do not want it automatically renewed at the end of the term, a practice Frontier regularly engages in, and note your contract expiration date.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KGW Portland Frontier Cramming 6-26-12.mp4[/flv]

KGW-TV visits with Tim Curns to discuss Frontier’s “look the other way” attitude about phone cramming charges.  (2 minutes)

Verizon FiOS customers are receiving letters this week informing them the company is locking down video content from being recorded and copied by viewers:

We also would like to inform you that on or after July 31, 2012, Verizon will begin to implement the requirements of certain premium channels (which requirements are authorized by the Federal Communications Commission), that prohibit the copying of recorded content to more than one recorder (such as a DVR or mobile device). This may affect the functioning of some multi-room DVRs. Recent software updates from the manufacturers of these devices may provide options, such as streaming, that preserve multi-room functionality for affected channels.

Consumers using DVR boxes should still be able to record whatever shows they want, but those using external copying or recording tools, or use CableCARDs, will be stymied from copying digital content protected by a copyright flag, and CableCARDs will now have to be pre-authorized to authenticate customers for access to the channels they want to watch.

In real terms, this will likely create hassles for customers using third party viewing devices that can stream shows from one place to another, if those devices detect and respect the copyright flag set by the provider.  This could also block access to certain streaming apps, unless they are rewritten to support the copyright sensitivity of the programmer.

As Verizon Wireless implements its new “Share Everything” plan today, customers who discard their unlimited data plan in favor of Verizon’s new usage-limited plan can give the company even more money to make sure they are not bill shocked if someone on a family plan goes hog wild.

Verizon’s “Usage Controls” feature runs $4.99 a month and gives customers a tool to customize allowances for each plan participant:

Even with the new usage controls, some customers are upset Verizon will extract more from customers’ wallets if they switch plans.

“My plan for my wife’s phone will be going from $33 for minutes, $10 for text, and $25 for data, all per month, to a plan that is $40 for minutes and text and $60 for data, all per month,” writes one Chicago Tribune reader. “So my monthly bill is going from $68 to $100, plus taxes and fees. If I add one more Smartphone, the total goes to $150 per month. How exactly am I saving anything?”