Time Warner Cable Consumer Reviews - Page 4

CARROLLTON, TEXAS -- If you are thinking to get service with Time Warner Cable think it twice. I have been with Time Warner Cable in the past and to this date they still suck. I have decided to accept an offer that was left in my front door. "Get Time Warner Cable today with installation fee waived." Well I have decided to call and had them come to my home. I was getting the basic cable TV and wireless service 3. I have decided to get more channels and a higher range on the wireless so I called the Time Warner customer service the day before the technician came over to my home. I was told to tell the guy to call Time Warner from my home to upgrade and get what I wanted.

Well it turned into "The nightmare before Cable". Lol! This guy was rude to start with. My partner was home when he got there and I called to tell him to call Time Warner for me instead of getting basic TV and internet 3 to get cable and internet #7. I was like OMG! Was this guy having a bad day or what? (Wait I am the one who will have bad days with Time Warner.) This guy (if I can call him technician) had no clue what he was doing. I hung up with him and was on my way home hoping to be there on time to talk to him in person but he was already gone. The cable TV was installed all right. The internet...

He installed the basic 3 not the range 7 and I could not get a signal in my computer at all. Here I go calling Customer Service again. The phone representative said "Sorry for the inconvenience. We will reschedule to install the following week". "Wait wait a minute! Next week? No no no. I need my internet now" (I said). The phone representative then said she will contact the guy that was in the area already to get it installed. Oh God here we go again.

The guy came. Not so rude this time. He was not able to install the internet at all for some reason. I don't know why. I am not a technician. He is. Well, he had no clue either. Can somebody please help me here? I got so frustrated and told the guy to just install the standard cable and forget about the internet. Everything was OK. We were enjoying our TV until the bill came over. Wow! What the **? Time Warner was charging me 3 installation fees, $29.99, $39.99 and another $39.99. Does this make sense to you? I was supposed to get free installation but I got 3 charges here.

Here I go again. I called customer service but of course the call had to escalate to a supervisor. I was livid (Not rude. Let me make that clear). Time Warner decided to remove those charges and they told me that it will take about 3 days before my due date 8/27/09 to get just the normal charge. Should I believe them? I am so afraid of that new bill. Bottom line, I have Time Warner Cable because I have no choice. They are the only ones in my area unfortunately. I hope that Verizon or anybody else get our area also for me to say "bye bye" technician.

GOLDSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA -- I just moved back to the USA from Germany. After 5 years of military service I was excited to be able to get back to the "real world" of home convenience and what I thought would be superior service, at least that's what I thought when I left the states 6 years ago. Shortly after purchasing my first home after arrive in NC I was impressed with the bundle deal TWC had for phone/internet/cable. When I called I let the cs representative know that I wanted basic cable, high speed internet, and digital phone service.

After listen to the representative fumble through the scripted mumble jumble I explained to her that I would like to get an international calling plan so my wife can stay in contact with family in Germany and Poland. I specifically ask for this because she needs to keep in contact with her family and if I didn't she would not be happy which means I would not be happy. The cs representative explains to me that it would no problem. For 19.99 you can get 1000 minutes to call land lines, mobile phones cost extra. Sounds great, just what I need. So hook up and service are accomplished.

Over the next 2 months calls are made and the family is happy. After reviewing the 2 bills that followed the initial service bill I noticed that I was being charged $90 and $72, respectively for digital phone service. What's going on here?? I was told it should be 19.99.

So begins the cs representative journey into the 9 rings of dumb! I always try to take the honey vs. vinegar approach, but these people pushed my limits. The first call after waiting 15 minutes to talk to someone, oh yeah and the extremely annoy automated system to get to the holding cell, I had to explain to the cs representative that I originally asked for the international plan and didn't receive it. She then proceeded to tell me I did not have it and she could set it up for me. OK that's great but what about the 2 months I didn't have it? Her response was that she could not help me with that because she could not see on the computer that I asked for it.

After politely explaining to her that that was not expectable she told me all she can do is put in a trouble ticket so a supervisor can pull the tape and review it to see if I did ask for it. First of all have we reach a time were so many people have defrauded this company like this to assume that I, THE CUSTOMER, would be wrong? This is bad business. I know that the company recently reported that they are losing millions right now, but come on this is a mistake on their local customer service department, due to lack of training and caring. It did not occur to me that I should ask when I would be notified of the results.

So I wait and wait.. Almost 6 weeks later I call back and I work my way through the automated system to get to the holding cell. 20 minutes later a human answers the phone. He is a kind sounding gentleman named **. After explaining the history of my previous calls he begins to stumble and checks the computer system. I am in the holding cell for 5 minutes he comes back on and tells me that he sees that a supervisor has pulled the tapes on 23 Jan and 30 Jan. I called about that in December! I ask to speak to a supervisor, he hesitates and says one is in a meeting and the other is on a call with another customer. I insist to speak to him.

HOLDING CELL TIME: 10 MINUTES. Supervisor ** then gets on the line. I go through the history with him, he pulls it up and tells that the tapes from my original call were reviewed 2 times. But he does not know the results of the review because it was someone else. I ask "so what does that mean to me?" He informs me that I did not ask for the service originally and if it was asked for I would have seen some credit on my account bill. I ask why I would not be called to be informed. His response is that policy tells them to not to call, just show any or no change on the bill.

My next question is, is it possible to hear the tapes for myself? His answer is no because NC law does not allow it. How about a transcript? No sir. I tell him that I understand how a poor process works and the signs of a poor process are here. And I will not accept a second handed answer that the tapes were checked. I would need hard proof. Note: every answer given to me also included the same response: I did not review the tape. I don't have access to what was on the tape.

At this point I realize this guy will not bend over backwards to help me with my problem. I explain to him that I am not satisfied and I will have to change service to another company(s). He tries to explain to me that it standard policy that start up service calls are explained in detail. Meaning that if asked for international calling plan that they should have explained to me all the details of that plan. After asking me what countries I was calling, I told him Germany and Poland. He quickly explained to me that Poland is not on the plan. My wife, who's listening on the other line, hands me the welcome letter for the international calling plan.

I tell him that it is. He then tells me that not all cities are included in those countries. The letter does not mention this fact. He then tells me that all cs representative must and do explain this in detail insinuating that I was wrong. I tell him I'm switching to another provider and he apologizes to me. I then call back to ask what the prices would be for digital phone services with the international calling plan. The friendly cs representative tells me the plans covers Germany and Poland, but land lines only. I ask if there any other restrictions or details, she says no. I explain that will have to call back.

Finally I decide the same night to switch to a satellite provider. After an amazing customer service experience I am good to go. By the way, it was outsourced cs most likely from India. But ** were extremely helpful! I then call TWC back to cancel my cable service. 4 busy signals later I get through. ** answers my call and I explain I would like to change my service. She pulls up my account and then tells me there is an error showing on my account. She puts me in the holding cell.

5 minutes later she gets on and tells me she is trying to find out why she can't get in. Holding cell 5+ minutes. She comes back on and tells me someone else must be in my account. I tell her about the call earlier and she puts me on hold. Holding cell 3 minutes. She comes back and asks me who I spoke to, I tell her **. Holding cell 2 minutes. She comes back on after tracking down who ** is and tells me that he is on his lunch break and he must have left my account open. I ask her to be sure to get word to ** to get it closed so when I call back in the morning I can cancel my cable service. She apologizes in sleepy voice.

I will be changing all my services over to other providers this week. Mainly due to the poor service from Time Warner cable and their obviously poor processes in managing their customer service. They made me wait, they were not helpful, they insisted I was wrong and they could not prove. Stay away from TWC they are losing money due to poor business processes, and will try to recoup it by charging customers more without them knowing it.

CINCINNATI, OHIO -- I had Time Warner for some time in a bundled package that included cable and Internet. As with anything to do with Time Warner, if you do not need their help then the service, although majorly overpriced, is good. However, when you need help from this company, then you see the real side of the company.

Around March, 2008 I had problems with the phone company not working after an outage near my house. As they were either unwilling or unable (or rather too inept) to fix the problem, I called Time Warner and offered to bundle phone with the cable and Internet that I currently had with the company. They sent out an installation tech and had the product installed on that Saturday. Two days later the phone stopped working. To make a long story short, it took them well over a month to actually install the phone and get it working due to the lack of workmanship and skill of the installers (including stapling through the actual phone line).

However, when I signed up for the phone, cable, and Internet bundle, I had to agree to two years of Time Warner. The young man on the phone took me through the verification taped conversation and at the end, when he asked if I would agree to the two years, I told him that I would if they would do what he agreed, which was what I had, plus the phone, for $ 150.00 per month that included taxes. I made sure that I had that caveat in the conversation, as I have seen Time Warner in action, which is to promise everything and deliver nothing.

Over the next three months, the bill was never what he promised and I ended up having to drop services to get it to the $ 150.00 that he had promised. The other problem that I had was that in July of 2008, I had to move to another state. I let them know that I was moving well before the disconnect and when I disconnected, I took the equipment and at a local office paid the bill. I asked twice if that was the final bill and the girl at the counter said "Yes," but refused to write it on the receipt as the final payment.

Two months later, in September, I received a bill from Time Warner for an "early disconnect" Program fee. Which meant that they wanted $ 150.00 plus tax for my disconnecting early from the agreement that they never fulfilled. I contacted the local office and their response was to pay the money. They told me that they had me on tape agreeing to the fee, but would never play the tape, nor could they produce it, although everyone I talked to swore that I was on tape agreeing to it.

Tiring of their ongoing "scr*w you" attitude, I contacted the corporate office who finally found someone in the Dayton, Ohio office who I could finally talk to. Her response was that they normally forgave the fee if the person had moved. I sent all of the information that she asked for. After this conversation, I could never get her on the phone. I got a bill in October that still had the fee on it. When I called the main office, they had the young lady return the call. She told me that they decided that I should pay it, although she, too, could not produce the tape that had me agreeing to it.

I then called the corporate office again, in Stamford CT. The President's office called Dayton and confirmed that I had to pay or they would attack my credit report. I got a letter the next day from a credit bureau that asked for the money and a fee, totaling almost $ 200.00 or they would report me. This is a tactic of a con man or a criminal. Do things fast and do not let the mark think. This entity is a criminal enterprise who has a government license to steal. They have the cable monopoly in the area and do not care if they give proper service or if you get what you pay for.

Remember, the facts are these, they never fulfilled their end of the contract. The amount was never what they promised and they never took steps to make this happen. I had to drop services to get it under $ 150.00 (or $ 150.00 with taxes, which is what they promised). I had to move in order to keep a job and again they did not care. All they want is their money. I have sent the check, for the $ 150.00 plus tax, as I do not want these criminals to ruin my credit, however, they are nothing more than common criminals who care little for customers.

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- I am sending the following letter to everyone in the Time-Warner Corporate management that I can find. I have lost hope that they will help me, but at least some might actually hear of my problem. The local office has done nothing to help.

I am sending this letter to many within your organization in hopes of finding someone who actually cares about customer service. Is it in bad form to write to one so far up the chain-of-command, as you are? Customer service is not a matter of concern among the local Time-Warner representatives. By that I mean, the service technicians who visit people in their homes, the reps. who work the phone lines or the staff and management of the local Time-Warner offices. I would hope that by the time someone reaches your stature, they would have learned to care. Sorry if I sound bitter.

This letter will constitute my 7th attempt to resolve my current problem. I have to state that I have been a very satisfied customer, for many years, until now. I also have come to realize that longevity within your customer-base gives me no standing with you. I suppose it is easy to simply let dissatisfied customer leave, and seek new ones, than to resolve problems when they arise.

On Thursday, July 31st, a technician came to my new apartment, to transfer my service. He worked on the installation in our living room for a good while. Eventually he said he did not think the outlet was connected in that room. So he would 'test' the equipment in a back bedroom. After ascertaining that there was an active outlet back there, he stated that the outlet in the living room would have to be connected.

At this point he said he was going to the office at the apartment complex where we live and speak to the maintenance personnel. He also stated that he would be met thereby someone directly associated with Time-Warner, since he was contractor-labor. Before he left he asked me to sign the work-order.

Up to now I had no reason to doubt his integrity and signed the work-order. I did not stop to think that I was actually signing off on the transfer of service. This is a point of concern to me, because I was not thinking in terms of whether or not Time-Warner or it's representatives were trustworthy. I have reached that point in my thought-processes now due to circumstances, but at that time I was still naive and believed what I was told.

A few minutes after he left, he called back and said, "A Time-Warner Specialist will return tomorrow with the maintenance crew, to make that connection in the living room." This is as near a quote as I am able to render. I am certain of the words "Time-Warner Specialist" and "maintenance crew". The implication was that personnel representing the apartment complex would also be on-hand for a combined effort.

I can't tell you how pleased my wife and I were. The fact that I would have to take off work on Friday, Aug. 1st, mattered little to me at that time. I still had plenty to do in getting the new apartment right, and it would be worth it to have the television connected. This is a 52 inch, flat-screen TV, worth $3000 which rests on a new $1700 entertainment center. It is the focal-point of our living room.

I called my boss and managed to take off yet another day. On Friday, I waited for that specialist and crew. The time-window given was 12-noon to 8pm. At around 4pm I began to worry because I felt that the apartment personnel would probably leave around 6pm at the latest. So I called the local number for service, 210-244-0500. The man that answered did some checking and reported that there was no work-order pending, and no comments on my account regarding an additional visit. He asked if I had not ordered a single connection, and did I not receive such? I answered yes, to both questions. So he offered to start a new work-order.

I explained to him as slowly and carefully as I could the exact nature of the situation. ...that I had been told a specialist was coming, that a crew from the apartments would be working with them, that they would arrive between 12-noon and 8pm. He was completely disinterested in my little tale and just wanted to get that work-order written. He kept repeating, "I am following procedure". After quite a while and a lot of back and forth between us, I let him go. I told him I would visit the local office and work out the problem with them.

As soon as I got off the phone, I paid a visit to the apartment complex office. There I spoke to ** who was also on duty the day before. One of the maintenance crew, **, was there as well. I asked them if the Time-Warner technician had stopped by the day before. They said he had not. It seems as though when he called back with the wonderful good news of the Time-Warner Specialist and work-crew coming on Friday he was probably already well on his way to his next stop.

What is particularly insidious about his conduct, apart from even the blatant lying, was that his lie would cost me a day's wage. He could have told me the truth just as easily, and we could have both moved on by now. Instead, as a representative of Time-Warner, sub-contractor status not-withstanding, he lied to one of your customers. Does it make any difference to you? No doubt he has moved on but my wife and I are still staring at our partially assembled entertainment center wondering when this situation will be resolved and we can finish it out. (It is quite large and parts can only be assembled after the equipment is installed.)

So, I left the manager's office and drove to the local Time-Warner office at IH 10 West and Callaghan Rd. Once there I spoke to a nice young lady at the window. I asked if I could speak to a manager about a certain situation which I did not feel she could resolve. ** explained that the supervisor was out on vacation and would be unavailable for some days.

I did my best to explain the situation to her. She listened and left me for a time, I believe stating that she would try to reach the technician. She went back and forth from the window to the back explaining that she was 'still trying'. At one point the customer service rep at the window next to mine, told a customer that she had just spoken to the supervisor.

When ** came back once again, I mentioned this, and said that I would still very much like to speak to the supervisor as well. She seemed a little non-plussed and told me that the supervisor had only just stepped in for a moment, from her vacation. I suggested that we could meet...

When the supervisor did come from the back room she also seemed a little put out. No doubt she was anxious to get back to her vacation. She asked what the problem was, and I asked if I needed to start over from the beginning. At that point she made it known that she was aware of the problem and I should call the supervisor of the technician that came to my house. I know the technician only as # **. He was not wearing a name-tag, and I can't recall the name of the company on his uniform shirt. I do remember the large bronze-colored, hexagonal-patterned earrings he was wearing.

Anyway, I told her I did not see any reason for me to call that man, the technician's supervisor, since he and I have no working relationship, no contract for services of any kind. Furthermore, Time-Warner is the one who receives my monthly payment, and Time-Warner is the one I had arranged to have my service transferred with.

To date, this work has not been done. Up to now, none of my efforts to resolve the issue have met with success. Not only has Time-Warner not met their commitment to provide the service for which I am paying, but I have been billed 39.99 for the transfer. This comes as a double surprise to me because not only has the service not been provided, but there was no mention at any point in time, of a charge for the transfer.

Time-Warner has already received payment for the services which have not been provided. I don't want to get side-tracked on the transfer charge- if that is standard operating procedure for you, I won't fight it. But it would be best in the future to make folks aware of that charge before performing the job. And only charge for it, if the work has been done.

Just FYI, the supervisor in your local office also told me that the technician is denying ever stating that a Time-Warner Specialist and work-crew would come to my apartment, and that it was up to me (or someone) to get that living room outlet working. At this point the supervisor (the one in the office) also stated that if I wanted to re-schedule the visit, she could do that for me, but if the outlet wasn't working they would not complete the job.

So what do I do now? Is there anyone within the Time-Warner organization who has any interest in my situation? I am painfully aware that my little business means nothing to you, who are 2nd largest cable television provider in the U.S. It will not make any measurable difference to you if I stay or go, as a customer. It only comes down to whether anyone up there, where you are, has integrity and cares about doing the right thing.

Every word in this letter is as true as I can possibly make it, according to my best recollections. However, I left a lot out, in order to keep this letter short... There is also the matter of my other email-attempts to resolve this issue. I'll let that go.

My wife was present during the technician's visit, and although she did not hear the phone conversation wherein the technician stated that the Time-Warner Specialist was coming, she was aware of him leaving our apartment, to speak to the maintenance staff (which he did not do), and she heard me discussing plans to be home on Friday, for that return-visit.

Please intervene for us. My home telephone number is **, and at work it is **. I am at work from 7:30 am to 4pm, Monday through Friday. My email address is **, although I would prefer a phone call, or even a face-to-face if that were possible.

DALLAS, TEXAS -- I have always had cable with Comcast now Time Warner. A year ago I decided to get the all-in 1 service (cable, internet, phone) to save money. Well, that is when my issues began. Switching from my telephone service to TW became complicated. They gave me a date that my service would begin and they were off 4 days. Well AT&T disconnected my service because the number was TW. So I was without telephone service and internet. This is when dealing with their customer service became a pain. Holding on the phone for 15 to 30 minutes. Finally, after 4 days I had phone and internet service.

Well about 3 months ago I began experiencing dropped phone service and scrambled box signals. I called about both items and was told because I had continuous issues with my box it probably needed to be replaced and I needed to go to a service center because they didn't come to your home to replace boxes. Well I eventually did just that.

I went and picked up another box and hooked it up and called so that a single could be shot to my box from their location. This process didn't work so they were sending someone out on a Saturday morning. The Thursday before my service appointment, my phone and internet went out. I couldn't get a dial tone So that same night I called TW and the customer service person told me that they would note my account and that the service person could resolve my phone and internet issue on Saturday.

Saturday arrived and no one had shown up, so I placed a call to TW. The person I spoke to told me the number I gave them was bad. Well that number was the none working TW phone line. So she told me there isn't anyway we can get someone there today we have to reschedule for our next available time on Tuesday and this was an all day appointment from 9am-7pm. I complained to the CS person and told her I wanted to speak to a supervisor and she told me no I couldn't and also I was told by this particular person that I wasn't the only TW customer and that I had to wait again.

Someone showed up at my house on Tuesday and repaired everything my phone, internet and cable. However, there were still issues in one of my rooms. So the tech scheduled a “crawler” to come out to my home and find the wiring issues I was having. This appointment was set 2 weeks out. During this time my phone would go out while I was speaking. It went out at least 5xs during this time. It would eventually come back in 10 minutes. It was simply a pain.

The 2 weeks were up and someone came to my home and gave me a window of 8am –12pm. They were 1 ½ late. After the wires were repaired and my phone was repaired, I was told to call TW and have them shoot a single to my cable box and it didn't work after 3xs. Someone had the wherewithal to schedule a tech to come to my home on Saturday.

This is the day I decided to move on. My window of time was 8am-12pm for Saturday. I called at 10am and was told someone was still coming. I called again at 11:30 am and was told someone will be there. I called again at 1:30 pm. The CS person told me they would contact the service department and someone will contact me shortly. No one ever called me.

I called again at 2:30 pm and this customer service person contacted the service department and then sent me to a supervisor. This supervisor told me he would contact the service department to find out what was going on and call me back. The supervisor called me back around 6:30pm and told me someone would be out to my home between 2-5 pm on Sunday the next day. NO ONE EVER SHOWED UP!

I didn't call Time Warner and complain. I just decided Monday morning I was going back to AT&T for my phone and internet and DirecTV. I will not waist any more hours of my life with cable. In my opinion, they shouldn't have decided to grow as quick as they have without having proper service in place.

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI -- Time Warner strikes again... yesterday, May 19th, Time Warner came to install my new phone/cable/internet services. Really this was just an upgrade since I already have the cable service and had the internet previously. The appt. was for 8-11am and the techs (used loosely) arrived at 9am. They entered my home and were happy to find the wiring already in place so this would be an easy job for them. Upon "completion" the tech came to me for signature. I asked if the internet was set up including email and passwords, he said "no" and then proceeded to do so.

Seeing that we may have an issue beginning here I checked the phones, all clear, then the cable which had been upgraded to the new digital DVR. There was no sound! I assumed the second tech must have checked this since he was working on the cable and was now sitting comfortably in the car waiting on his partner. The tech was not sure what to do, and had to call the lead tech for assistance, no luck!!

I live very near a Time Warner store and suggested that may be he could swap out the box there. He advised Time Warner did not allow that anymore and that he was a 3rd party contractor. He told me they have some internal fraud which has now caused a change in this policy. He took my cell number and said he would get another box and call me to make sure I was home before he came back to install. Guess what? He didn't call or come by and it was 3pm!

I decided to call customer no-service and find out what was going on. They knew nothing about this and showed the job complete. They also told me it was too late for them to contact the installer as it was 3:30pm. I told them I knew that they worked until 7pm so they needed to find someone to come and install this box. They said this was not possible and I advised the agent to find someone who could help. (My experience with TWKC tells me that if you scream and demand to speak with a supervisor, you usually make some progress).

They found the installer and determined he was gone for the day. They said they would escalate this to his supervisor and she would call me back. Having called TWKC many times, they seem to have an issue with returning calls, so I was not willing to accept this and told her I wanted to hold and have her conference us. She refused and I got her name and number and said the supervisor had one hour to call me or I would call her back. Surprisingly, the supervisor did call back, however, during that time I had used my limited knowledge of cable boxes and it had started to work correctly. I thought I was done with TWKC, but oh was I wrong!

The next day I had watched the TV multiple times and used the DVR with no issue. I went upstairs to make dinner and came back to a flickering TV set and a dead cable box. Prior to calling I always try to reboot the box and remove the power cable. This did not work. Back to the phones... TWKC no-service.

I finally reached an agent after 5 min (short for TWKC standards) and was advised there was no outage in my area, which I knew since my 2 other TV's were working fine. I described the previous day's situation and that my box was dead. I was told someone could come out a week from Wednesday, 8 days away!! I told the agent there must be something that can be done to get someone out here more quickly. He advised that no one in his Costa Rica office was able to do that. I asked to be transferred to someone in the US, preferably KC. He did so.

When I reached the KC office, I was told it was not possible to have someone out any earlier. I asked to speak to the person I had spoken with before and I had her extension but she was out of the office. She told me she would send an email to the department and I would get a call back. TWKC email and phone work the same... not very well, so I insisted that she call and not send an email while I waited on the line.

She said she was unable to call them and I asked her to have her supervisor call for her. The supervisor then came on the line and I had to explain everything again. He told me that dept. was gone for the day so I would get a call back tomorrow. I told him this was not acceptable and that with a brand new box and given all the issues, I expected some compensation for my time. I told him I was also only willing to go to the store if he credited 1 months service, which he refused. He told me he could credit 2 days but no more. I also told him I wanted a credit for the activation fee from the previous day which he agreed to.

Having spent so much time in 2 days with these people, I told him again I would only accept 1 months service credited. He said "no other utility company would do that" therefore he would not either. I told him "you are not a utility" he said "yes we are, we are the cable company" I informed him they are a bad cable company at that and thank god for AT&T now coming on the market so we have another option from TWKC. He continued to refuse to credit my account. I finally hung up and will go to the TW store tomorrow.

I am really concerned now for a few reasons: How long will such poor service be allowed? Time Warner has been bad since they entered the KC market and I don't know many people who are happy with them. What happens when I have phone problems in the future? Will I also have to wait one week or more for someone to come out? The only thing I can say to anyone reading this is SWITCH TO AT&T and forget Time Warner!!!!

BAY VILLAGE, OHIO -- I would like to register a complaint. I spent the entire day, yesterday (April 12, 2008), on the phone with Time Warner. I spoke with four different customer service reps. This began in the morning and ended in the late evening. The bottom line for my complaint is that Time Warner is taking away channels and raising prices. This is really foolish, when you can obtain more services from other providers for less, namely AT&T U-verse.

A technician arrived to install digital phone, yesterday morning. I realized within twenty minutes after he departed that the phone quality was poor, Time-Warner had failed to provide me with Voicemail, and they also downgraded my television cable. This was not what I ordered. I immediately called Customer Services. I stated that I wanted to terminate the digital phone service immediately, that I was upset with the changes to my cable and that wanted to roll back the services to previous setup.

The first rep was unable to change my subscription back to the previous setup. So, she attempted to put together a new package. She said that my bill would increase by twenty dollars per month. She also said that she did not know how to remove the phone and that another rep would call me back. Nobody called, so I finally called Time Warner again and received a notice that all my services were scheduled to be removed on April 29, 2008. I finally reached a representative and attempted to straighten out the mess. I was put on hold and then cut off. I called again, repeated my story, and asked for help. I was put on hold and then cut off, again.

Now at this point, you're probably wondering whether I was nasty to these people. I was absolutely not nasty. I was bending over backwards to be nice to them. I knew that I had to be really nice, in order to get my order corrected. So, I stayed patient, calm, and polite; I thanked them for their help. I finally reached a rep named Shannon and she seemed to know what she was doing. She partially restored my cable lineup. Because Time Warner has reorganized their channels, the package that I had previously was no longer available.

So, I was put on another plan in which I lost the channels that I watch regularly, gained some others that I do not like, and had to eat a twenty-dollar increase on my monthly bill. Shannon also pointed out that this rate was also only for six-months. After that, there would be another increase. I repeated back what I thought she said, “Bottom line... they're taking away channels and charging more." She replied that “it seems that way but it's because you were on a plan...”

I understood the situation perfectly, despite the narrative about how Time Warner was realigning their channel lineup. When you set aside the crap, Time Warner completely screwed up this order, will not or cannot correct it and penalized me in the end. So, why should I pay more for less when I can get everything that I want from AT&T U-Verse? Why should I be patient? Why should I recommend this company? Why can't I watch the show the Sundance channel that Time Warner interrupted? Why is all of this so complicated? Quite frankly, I'm afraid to send this complaint because I will probably get penalized with another increase in my bill.

When I attempted to send the text of this letter in the Contact Us area of the Time Warner website, the text area was too small for my letter. When I attempted to connect to a Live Chat, I received a message that it was unavailable. What a company!

SUSSEX, WISCONSIN -- Three weeks ago I attempted to call to have my voice mail fixed on my home phone through you. After 45 minutes on the phone continually being told I you would be right with me, I hung up. A couple times since then I attempted to call only to wait endlessly with no response. Last week I attempted to contact AT&T about switching to their service. I was connected IMMEDIATELY to someone willing to help me. Unfortunately, for the exact same services I have now it would cost me an additional $20 a month. I therefore declined their service and decided to give you one last try.

When I called I was set up with a package I was agreeable to with a reasonably good install time. It was to occur August 22nd between 11am and 1pm. I ensured twice that they would contact my cell phone 10 minutes ahead of the tech's arrival so that I could meet them there, as I work close by. At 11:00 this morning I called once again to verify they were going to call me ahead of time. I once again gave them my cell phone number to call.

At 12:30 I went home to eat lunch assuming the tech would be there shortly. Upon arrival I found that someone had called my home number. Assuming the worst (as I have learned to do with your company) I called again to verify that they hadn't screwed up. I was told by Justin that nobody had been out to the house yet, and seeing as it was 1pm already I asked him when my appointment was going to occur. He stated that he would have dispatch. Call me back within minutes.

After 45 minutes of waiting and no calls coming back I once again called your number. This time I was told by "Chamiqa"? that they had attempted to call me at 11:59am and that they had tagged my door. I never received a call on my cell as requested, and there was no tag on my door. I was told I could reschedule. I threw my phone in disgust.

After cooling off I called AGAIN and asked to immediately speak to a supervisor. Kristi informed me that she needed some basic information and she would get me in touch with a "lead". After sitting on hold twice she asked to be able to call me back, as no "lead" was available. 20 minutes later she called to say that they had gone to the wrong address. At that point she stated that she would reschedule the appointment. That appointment couldn't happen until August 27th. At that point I had had enough, as I still wasn't speaking to a supervisor and I was being treated as if this was MY fault. I am still waiting to hear anything in return.

MISSION HILLS, CALIFORNIA -- I don't even know where to begin with how horrible Time Warner is. I've been dealing with them since May 18th, 2007. Against my better judgment I brought my digital box to their Van Nuys office and exchanged it for an HD box. What a nightmare that turned out to be. I had to exchange a box before and the one I got in return the menu was in Spanish so I had to return it for another one. I didn't want that to happen again so before I left I asked if the person could check to make sure the menu was in English.

She wanted to know why I didn't I fix it myself if it was in Spanish. I told her that if I spoke Spanish I would but I don't so I can't. She then told me she wasn't going to check. If it was in Spanish to call their Non-Customer Service. I got home and thank God the menu was in English, BUT the cable box didn't work. I called their Customer Service and the girl who answered proceeded to yell at me, telling me that I should have never been given the HD box, that a technician would need to come out. I told her that I had a digital box before that worked fine so no one needed to come out. All she needed to do was activate the box/send a signal to it. She refused.

I asked to speak to a Supervisor. She said one would call me back within 2 days. It's been almost 3 months and I'm still waiting for a call back. A little later I called their Customer Service again and got another rude person. He said he tried to send a signal but it didn't do any good. He advised me to unplug the HD box from the AC. I told him I already did that several time and nothing happened. He then started arguing with me and told me to do it again. I told him that I worked in the Fiber side of Verizon and knew exactly what was wrong. The box needed to be activated. He wouldn't listen to me.

I finally got fed up and hung up on him. 5 days later a technician came out. It took him less than 5 minutes to fix the problem. He called their dispatch department to get the box activated. I was furious but I let it go. I let it go until the middle of July. I started getting pop up reminders that a program that I wanted to watch was on in 5 min. I never set any reminders. I called their Non-Customer Service again and the first thing out of the persons mouth was a technician needed to come out. I told him that he was wrong and it was a software problem. We were going back and forth for several minutes until I asked for a Supervisor. He told me one would call me back.

I told him I have been waiting for a Supervisor to call back since May and wasn't waiting anymore. After waiting for around 10 minutes a RUDE so called Supervisor came on the line. He refused to do anything. I asked for his supervisors name. He refused to give it to me. I asked for the Local Managers name. Again he refused. I asked for the Area Managers name. He refused again. I asked for the President of Time Warners name. You guessed it. He refused again. I asked for their corporate address. He said to look it up online. I asked for their Customer Relations number. He gave me the same number as Customer Service.

I looked on Time Warners Web page for their address and Customer Relations number. I couldn't find anything. I finally had to call directory assistance to get their number in New York City. I got through to someone who said that they'd refer my complaint to their Presidential Office. About 9 days later I finally got a call back from the Presidents Office. The person who I'm still dealing with to this day is really nice and helpful, but he's starting to get me mad. We tried a lot of troubleshooting to get the pop ups to stop but nothing worked.

We finally agreed that a new box should tried. At that point I made a BIG mistake. I decided that I wanted to get their DVR. The person in the Presidents office gave me the day and time frame I wanted. He also said that he would send a senior technician out. About an hour before they had to show up I started getting worried I would be blown off so I called their Non-Customer Service again. I explained my worries to the person who answered and asked if he could verify with their dispatch to make sure I wouldn't get blown off. He refused.

I didn't ask for a Supervisor because I knew they wouldn't do anything. The technician finally showed. Late. I started to tell him what was wrong. It was a short and one sided conversation. This so called senior technician hardly spoke English. He tried for around an hour to get the HD DVR to work.

I tried telling him that my TV had to be on input 6. He kept saying it had to be on channel 3. Nothing worked on either setting. A little while later another technician came out. Thank God he spoke English. The second technician figured out what the problem was. The first guy had the cable box on a channel I don't get. I was so happy my TV was working again that I forgot that the TV had to be on input 6. I didn't notice anything was wrong until I went to a HD channel and I was still getting 480 resolution. It was a Saturday so the only thing I could do was leave a VMS message for the person I was dealing within the Presidents Office.

I also called him the following Monday. I told him I wanted someone that spoke English out that day at 3:30 PM. The technician did show at 3:30 PM and he spoke English. I told him that I wasn't getting 1080 HD resolution and my TV had to be on input 6. He looked what I had hooked up and said that I could not have my personal DVR connected to their DVR. I told him that the person in the Presidents Office said I could.

He said that person was wrong. He started unplugging things and said my TV had to be on input 5. I thought that was odd since 6 is the HDMI input on the back of my TV. I figured he was right though since he got my HD channels working properly. After he left I thought about it and realized he was wrong. Everything worked the way it should except for the 1080 resolution until he started unplugging things.

I called the person in the Presidents Office again. He said I was right, and their technician was wrong. He told me how to hook everything back up. Well today I started to do just that. That's when I discovered the technician disconnected my HDMI cable and used component cables. I got the HDMI reconnected and tried to get my personal DVR connected the right way, but everything I tried didn't work. I left another VMS message for the person in the Presidents office saying I wanted someone out Monday at 3:30 PM. We'll see what happens next.

STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT -- Service outages, threats of retaliation for nonpayment, when I had already signed up and been confirmed for such payments. Hassle and delay when attempting to terminate service. Refusal to provide retroactive credit for days of non-use after they said they were unavailable. Twenty minutes of hassle and screwing around when I finally did reach someone to cancel.