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"Dad, do we still have Optimum?" |
A single dad certainly doesn't expect to have the vendors and products he brings into his family's home create additional dangers, but that's exactly what has happened to at least one single dad when Cablevision's Optimum (now Altice USA's Optimum) television service failed to protect his child.
Office of the Attorney General
Eric T. Schneiderman
The Capitol
Albany, NY 12224-0341
The Capitol
Albany, NY 12224-0341
Re:
Cablevision/Optimum Complaint: A Negligent Failure to Protect Children
Dear Mr. Schneiderman:
In 2014, I was a customer of Cablevision/Optimum television
service. Using the Cablevision/Optimum website, which had been recommended in
the company’s own tutorial, I established parental controls including password-protected
time, rating, and channel exclusions. I verified that the parental controls
worked and prevented my children from accessing what I considered to be
inappropriate programming. However, at some point, those parental controls failed
and Cablevision/Optimum gave me no notification of the failure.
As a result of the failure of Cablevision/Optimum’s parental
controls, my then nine year old son accessed inappropriate programming,
including pay-per-view, during a period that began on June 14, 2014 and ended
when I discovered the failure on June 25, 2014.
I terminated my account with Cablevision/Optimum and have
subsequently returned all of Cablevision/Optimum’s equipment and paid all
balances with the exception of $177.95, which represents the charges related to
pay-per-view charges. In spite of numerous phone calls and correspondence,
Cablevision/Optimum has refused to take responsibility for the failure citing,
“It wasn’t our equipment.” I am unclear whether the company’s explanation
suggests it does not take responsibility for the cable boxes it leases to customers
or whether they do not take responsibility for its own Internet applications
because those applications are accessed using customers’ personal computers.
Regardless, Cablevision/Optimum has not explained how it will
prevent similar service failures that may result in children accessing
inappropriate and potentially psychologically damaging programming. In
addition, Cablevision/Optimum has continued to hold me responsible for the
$177.95 cost of the programming that my son accessed and referred the balance
to a third-party collector, which threatened to report me to credit rating
agencies.
Very truly yours,
Xxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxxx
C: Better
Business Bureau
Cablevision/Optimum
xx
So, let's review: The customer used the Optimum/Altice
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Third-Rate Optimum: Parked on a customer's lawn. |
A guy doesn't have to look find hundreds of other complaints about Cablevision/Optimum/Altice. Donald of Norwalk, Connecticut writes, "There is no rating low enough to fit Optimum from Cablevision. Packed with lies and misinformation."I do not recommend the service from Cablevision to anybody," writes Niraj from Jackson, New Jersey. "Please get any other service and avoid Cablevision . . ." To read the scores of other customer complaints, visit the Consumer Affairs web pages, including Consumer Affairs: Optimum Complaints and Reviews and Consumer Affairs: Cablevision Complaints and Reviews.
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Optimum: Unsafe for Children |