Time Warner Cable Internet Consumer Reviews

KINGSTON, NEW YORK -- We just built a house and planned to move early in the morning April 30, 2013, and since I work in communications full-time out of my home, I wanted to make sure I had Internet and phone up and running by the time we moved in - without phone and Internet, I can't work. On April 10, my builder said it was time to call Time Warner to get a tech to bring out cable to run in a conduit between the cable box by our driveway up to the house's cable box. Everything else had been installed by the developer and builder, and the builder had just done the same thing with the house next door (which took about two days).

My builder said that if it was going to take too long, Time Warner could just drop off the cable, and he would run it up to the house. When I called Time Warner April 10, the woman who handled the call took directions to our house down several times (since we're not in GPS currently, it can be hard to find), and said a tech would be out “in two to five days” and that we should have no problem getting our triple play system up and running by April 30. She also used my cell as the account number, and I said that if the tech had any trouble finding the house, feel free to call me. Then she gave me a work order number, and said she'd call me once it was installed to set up our triple play account.

By April 15, no one had shown up at our property, so I called Time Warner and was told that a tech had been dispatched April 11, but couldn't find the house. Apparently, the tech hadn't bothered to try to phone me to get directions and no one at Time Warner was going to call me to let me know of the problem. And when I asked why the tech didn't just use the directions on file. The man handling the call, **, said there were no directions on file. So he set up another work order with a different number, put the directions into the file (which I made him read back to me), and said it would take another “two to five days” for someone to run the cable.

The next day, April 16, I received a call from the original woman who set up the work order at Time Warner, demanding to know why I had called Time Warner. I was absolutely flabbergasted and said I called Time Warner because no one had shown up at our property! She seemed angry that I'd called, and said I should have waited for her to call me. I couldn't believe there appeared to be some sort of infighting at Time Warner about who was setting up our account!

Around April 22, I called Time Warner because again no one was showing up at our house. I got a guy named **, who was able to see both work orders, but couldn't put me in touch with anyone I'd spoken with previously. Even though he said he knew ** and the division that ** was in. Nor could he give me any idea of how long it was going to take to lay this cable.

He described a process, that included getting permits, etc., that might take several weeks. I was almost speechless, since I had originally been told it would take a few days. So I repeated that really all we needed was for Time Warner to DROP OFF the cable, and we could do the rest, but he said again that was not possible. I reiterated that no permits were necessary, but he didn't seem willing to listen to me.

At this point, I was so busy trying to move that I was only able to call Time Warner a couple times to try to straighten this out, to no avail. Nobody could tell me when someone would show up, why Time Warner couldn't just drop off the cable, or exactly what needed to be done. Yet, even on Friday, April 26, I was still being told that Time Warner would probably have the service up and running by April 30.

On April 30, the day of our move, Time Warner finally came to life, called me and said it would take two weeks to lay the cable! No explanation given. I was angry – originally, I had been told service would be up and running by April 30, and now it seemed the process was only being initiated on April 30, and it was going to take much longer than anyone had ever said it would to date.

I told the woman who called that if Time Warner could just drop off the cable, our builder could get it up to the house himself in less than a day. FINALLY, she agreed that Time Warner would do that. So she asked for our builder's name and number, which I gave her. She said Time Warner would call him to find out when he would be there so they could drop off the cable. (Time Warner never did call our builder.)

Instead, on May 1, a tech finally showed up at our house! It took about an hour to pull the cable from the box at the end of the driveway up to the house. I told the tech, **, who was very sympathetic, about what had happened, and he said it never should have taken Time Warner THREE WEEKS to run a 50-foot cable. That afternoon, I called Time Warner to set up our triple play and was disappointed that the earliest they could come was FIVE DAYS LATER, on Monday, May 6 in the morning. Still, I was thrilled we finally had the cable laid. It was a week of lost work (about $1,000), but at least I'd be up and running the week of May 6, I thought.

Little did I know.. On May 4, Time Warner called my cell, which my husband picked up, and a woman told him she was confirming that Time Warner would be by on WEDNESDAY, May 8 to set up our triple play. When he told me, I hit the roof, and called Time Warner to find out why they were delaying the installation of our triple play by two days. The woman who took the call said that Time Warner had cancelled Monday's appointment, and that she would call me back within two hours to resolve the situation. She never called back, so several hours later, I called Time Warner again and got another operator.

This is what she told me: “We never do installations on Mondays.” And I said, "So why did the agent who set up our triple play schedule an installation time on Monday?" And she replied: “Well, we DO do installations on Mondays, but we really don't, and we don't have any available technicians right now.” I said, “WHAT are you talking about? What kind of a system is that? DO YOU or DON'T YOU have techs available for installations on Mondays?” Then she said she'd note in the file to expedite our installation if a tech became available, but the installation appointment was now for Wednesday. So another half a week of work lost ($500).

On Monday, May 6, I was at a local shopping center and got a call on my cell phone from a Time Warner tech who said he was going to install our triple play but needed directions to our house. He was about two minutes away, he said. Overjoyed that Time Warner had apparently rescheduled the Monday appointment, I gave him directions and said I'd meet him there in five minutes. But as I raced up our driveway, the tech called again and said, “I'm sorry, ma'am, but I just got a call from my supervisor telling me that Time Warner has cancelled the installation appointment.”

I was so angry – but I stayed calm. I said, “You mean to tell me you're about 30 seconds from my home, and now Time Warner has again cancelled the installation appointment, despite the fact that A) you're available, and B) I've raced back here to my house to meet you?” His answer: “Yes, ma'am, I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do about this. I'm very sorry.”

On Wednesday, May 8, I was in the driveway around 9 a.m., and a Time Warner truck drove up. I thought it was the installation tech, but it was instead **, the tech who pulled the cable up the driveway. He was aghast that I still didn't have service and couldn't figure out why it was taking Time Warner a month to do all this. He said he would call his supervisor to put in a report about it. He said he had come by to make sure the installation tech had done the work right and closed up the cable box.

Finally, at 11:30 a.m., the installation tech showed up. ** was very nice and installed everything. He groused quite a bit about Time Warner, and how they overwork their techs, setting up piggyback appointments that were impossible to finish in the small amount of time given. Then there were problems with the Internet service, which was supposed to be “Turbo,” but was taking minutes to download a page.

** said everything was set up correctly, and he couldn't figure out what the problem was. He spent an hour on the phone with a Time Warner tech, but they still weren't able to resolve the problem completely. Then ** said he had to leave, as he was already two hours late for his next appointment, but that he'd call me later to make sure it was working. He never did call, and it wasn't working.

On the afternoon of Thursday, May 9, after struggling with the internet all morning, I called Time Warner yet again, and finally got a tech named ** on the phone. He spent an hour with me, trying to figure out what the problem was. Finally, he was able to figure out that I was in a “bad channel.” He switched me from channel 1 to channel 7, and that fixed the problem. By then it was 5 p.m. It had taken exactly a month, with eight work days lost ($1600), from when I made my first call to Time Warner to get a routine triple play system up and running – something that normally takes, what, a few hours?

Then, of course, there's the fact that Time Warner installed a corrupted cable box and/or wire so our TV cable system didn't work for another week, necessitating a call of an hour and a tech visit, but I don't even care that much about that. At least I didn't lose any work (or sleep) over that one! But I really do wonder what I'm paying sky high rates for here?

DALLAS, TEXAS -- I'm going to detail out the experiences I've had cancelling TWC's service, because the amount of time I've had to spend ensuring the job is getting done by TWC has been absolutely unacceptable. The reason I cancelled is because I was moving to an area that had Verizon, which I feel is a better service as far as technology goes.

I called a week or two before my move date of 9/24 to schedule my service to be disconnected (trying to be proactive). I was very clear with the representative that I needed the service all the way through 9/24. The representative assured me that the service would be disconnected on 9/24. Great, I wouldn't expect to have to call again at all after this. Just receive the final bill with charges through 9/24, and then turn in my equipment and done. Not quite.

On 9/19, my service was disconnected early (physically unplugged). I called to have it corrected and had to wait until the following day for a tech to come reconnect it. I asked to speak to a manager, and was told that he would call me within 30 minutes of my call with the rep, and I never got a call. One of my biggest peeves is when a company says they'll call me to resolve my issue, then doesn't call. This is embarrassing since it was even a manager.

I need internet because I work from home, so this was quite an inconvenience. It was then disconnected early again on 9/23, so I had to call again to get it reconnected. The representative assured me that I shouldn't have any more issues because they had noted it in the system. So my service then stayed on through my move date, 1 more day.

Then, I receive a bill for $382, which was apparently because each time the service was restarted, I was billed for a full month. I called again, and the representative adjusted it and I paid my final (so I was told) bill of $18.92. I was told that all I needed to do at that point was turn in my equipment and I was all set, I also asked what the time frame was for returning my equipment. I work a lot, so it's hard to get to a physical location to drop it off, so wanted to know if there was a due date so I could plan my schedule.

I had the equipment for about 2 weeks because I was moving and thought I had some time to return it (after being told there was no due date at all). I then get another email from TWC saying I owe $380 dollars again, after squaring this away previously. I call again to find out what happened. Turns out that they wouldn't take my call because I'd already been sent to collections for a balance that I thought was removed from my account and was charged for "€œunreturned equipment"€ after only a couple weeks.

I get that I probably should'€™ve returned the equipment earlier, but I was told I had no due date for turning it in so I was taking my time. I immediately took the equipment into a physical location in Plano thinking that I could resolve all my billing issues in person and be done. Well, they told me to call customer service to get the balance resolved, and that they couldn't do it in store. Seriously? TWC doesn't allow their employees to resolve customer issues face to face? Ridiculous. So I call again on 10/14 and spent 30 minutes on the phone with a representative trying to convince me I owe the money.

Apparently the service wasn'€™t physically disconnected until 10/7, so they tried to charge me through then when I moved completely out on 9/24, as I had stated several times with each person I talked to. She finally reads through the extensive notes for my account and sees that I don't actually owe anything, and adjusts my account, but said that there was about $18 in fees that it wouldn't let her adjust, so she said to wait and she would call me back on Wednesday to confirm that the fees had rolled off my account. I never received a call. This was the second time in this experience that I was told I would receive a follow up call and didn't.

I got an email 10/18 saying that I still owe $18 to TWC because obviously the fees identified by the representative on Monday had not rolled off my account. At the time I wrote this review, I was on hold with yet another TWC representative (identified as a "brief" hold) for the 25 MINUTES so I decided to write how frustrated I am with their service. I was told that the balance was now zero and I would receive a final bill stating that I don'™t owe anything. I have yet to receive this final bill on 10/25. If this is how other customers experience this service, frankly, I'm surprised they'™re still in business.

I'm hope this is the last time I ever have to speak with a TWC representative to resolve an issue that should've taken one phone call. So far so good, but it'€™s only 10/25. I sent this review to TWC and said that I would make sure I would post this anywhere I could to ensure potential customers knew what they were getting into. I'€™ve never written such an extensive review on customer service, but this whole experience made me so upset that I really want TWC to read this and hopefully improve their processes so this doesn'™t happen to anyone else in the future.

EL PASO, TEXAS -- I am paying for 20mbps download speeds. That's all. Just some decent internet. If you could just give me 16 or so reliably, that's all I ask. Instead, Time Warner, instead, you can barely give me 2mbps download speed, and even that isn't reliable! Frequently dropping to. 5, .8, .2, oh we're up to 3mbps now... Hey did it just spike up to 14?? That's great... oh its back down to 1.3 now. Fantastic. Why Time Warner? Why?

How many times do I have to call your customer service? They're very nice over the phone by the way. But I still don't want to talk to them. I just want to surf the internet. How many times do I have to have a tech over? Why do I suddenly get that 20mbps download speed I pay for for an hour or so after the tech leaves, only for it to drop back to it's normal abysmally depressing speeds?

If I wanted dial up I would get dial up Time Warner. You don't understand Time Warner. You're the only option I have. I can't even get Comcast where I live. Why can't we just be friends? 20mbps Time Warner. That's all I want. I'll even take 15, even for a few hours at a time. That's all I ask. I beseech you Time Warner Cable. I give you money. I give you money every month. Why can't you give me internet?

WILLIAMSBURG, KENTUCKY -- I had internet service with Time Warner for 12 years without a single late payment and when I moved they sent me a bill for not returning a modem. I called them and they gave me an exact address to send the modem so it wouldn't get lost because according to person I spoke with the equipment gets lost all the time. I sent it in and had confirmation via tracking # that they had received only to continue getting bills. I spent hours and hours on the phone with their billing department, speaking to supervisors of all levels. They kept telling me that it must be lost somewhere because they never got it and to not worry it will show up.

4 months later they sent me to a collection agency. I called them for the eighth time and they all the sudden can't do anything about resulting in me having to pay the $65 for the missing modem that I have confirmation that they received. Basically no matter what kind of customer you are they are not willing to help you out even when you have proof they received their equipment. Never will I use Time Warner again.

COVINGTON, KENTUCKY -- After several years with Time Warner and the hassle of calling them every year to fight over the 50% increase in my monthly bill (according to them it was not an increase, just a loss of my discount) 100% I finally switched providers. I managed my account 100% online with eBill as they request. I also used autopay. The minute I canceled my service they disabled my online account access. This is the only company I know that does this.

I now have no access to my historic account information.I can't see my historic bills anymore or manage my autopay/bill pay for my last bill. Everyone knows the history of poor customer service with Time Warner but when I turned in my equipment I had to deal with long lines that took me forever just to return my equipment. Then I find out I can no longer access my historic data or remove my billpay information for my own peace of mind). I had to wait for a significant amount of time on the phone to determine what my final bill is.

HOUSTON, TEXAS -- Is there a negative star rating I can give because they don't even deserve one star! In order to receive the high speed internet that I pay for I had to buy another modem since the one provided did not function properly and they refused to replace it.

After purchasing my own modem I connected it and called to have the IP address put on my account. I provided them with my phone number and address and they refused to help me unless I provided them with sensitive personal information over the phone. I was not comfortable doing this and after a lot of run around and arguing from their customer "service" representative I was transferred to a manager. Or at least I was supposed to be transferred to a manager. 2 separate times I was place on hold. Initially there was hold music playing but after a while nothing. No message on how long I was going to be waiting or anything of the sort.

After a while of silence I had no idea whether or not I had been disconnected. I had no idea if I was ever going to be helped or not. Eventually I was forced to hang up because there was no indication that anyone was ever going to pick up my call. This happened 2 times and of course I had to go through their nonsensical automatic call bank before I could get in contact with the unhelpful minion. Then I was never able to get a hold of anyone higher up who could actually help me. As of now the issue has STILL not been resolved and after being a faithful customer for years I'm still not getting what I am paying for. This is not the way to treat your customers!

SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK -- After 2 years, I need to cancel my internet service. Time Warner puts you through a convoluted phone labyrinth on which when you finally make it to the right representative, the call fails. It has been 4 times of phone failures, pretty sure they just hang up on you. I've wasted an hr trying to cancel so far:

The conversations I had with the representatives were full of questions and misleading initiatives to prevent you from canceling the service. They unreasonably believe that you are asking their permission to disconnect - someone should explain them that we customers have the right to end the service we don't want to pay anymore. Period. Time Warner - this is so not the way to retain customers. Everyone out there watch out! I certainly will never trust Time Warner and spend my money on their services.

IRVING, TEXAS -- Worst customer service I ever had. Never go with them, you have struggle a lot for proper internet connection. It gets disconnect every now and then, and my internet gets really slow and when I called customer service they told to reboot my modem and it will be up for 4-5 days and again it will be slow. It happened for me for 6 months and then I disconnected and I has to reboot my modem every week in these 6 months.

And while I terminate the service they charged me extra and I have to call multiple times to get refund and they send mails from recovery department for the extra charges they posted on the account, it really sucks. If you want peace of mind with your internet DO NOT go with them.

ADDISON, TEXAS -- I'll just put this in a list format:

• Took me seven hours to sign up for basic internet (was finally able to get it done because I eventually found someone that was from the USA).

• They lied to me about the gift card they offer. They told me there was nothing I was supposed to do except pay my first two bills on time and it would be in the mail. Lie. They refused to give it to me after I inquired about it.

• I pay for 15 mpbs download and get a measly 3 mbps download. No other company I have ever dealt with has ever charged me a price for something I never even received. I received 1/5th of what they promised me.

• The customer service is awful. When I asked for a credit to my account (because I was paying a higher price for... nothing?) they offered me a measly $10 credit.

• Actually going to switch my service this weekend. I don't care if I can only find up to 6 mbps download with other providers. It's still much better than paying for 15 and getting 3.

• This company is criminal. If you have any sort of cognitive brain function, DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE.

BEAUMONT, TEXAS -- Super sucky issues with Time Warner cable... 9/3/2013.

1. TWC charges $10/month for cable box, $5.99 for internet modem.

2. I want to cancel cable TV, keep only internet. I will have to pay $40 fee for some BS reason that they have to send technician out here to block cable signal even if I return the set top box. Signal nowadays got scramble, there's no way we can steal the signal and if that's the case, it's not customers' responsibility for them to send technician. Who does that nowadays!?!

3. It is IMPOSSIBLE to get in touch with customer service IF you want to downgrade or cancel the service. You actually have to go in line at the local office.

4. I have been customer for close to 5 months. Paying $80 Digital Cable/3Mbps Internet+$10 set top box+$6 for modem+tax = $107/month. And I would like to change my package to $65 for Basic Cable + 20Mbps internet as advertised... guess what... I cannot do that because that is available for new customer only.

I am going to return EVERYTHING to them tomorrow... this is some BS of 21st century in the United State. I am so sorry for people who work for TWC, TWC Executives should be ashamed of themselves!!! The company only relies on small town where people have no choice, I hope they go bankrupt soooon!!!