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 setup 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 maybe 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 calle3d 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 th 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:

1) 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.

2) 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?

SWITCH TO AT&T!

I can truly relate to the previous complaints on Time Warner customer service! Last Wednesday, 4/16 I called because my internet stopped working. They ran diagnostics and found that I had to have a service appointment. Of course, the earliest possible date is Monday, 4/21/08. Someone called me Saturday to confirm that I was still having the internet problem - I said Yes! On 4/21/08 my service appt. is between 1pm - 5pm. I called around 2pm to see when they might be coming. I was then informed that my appointment was cancelled by the Technician who reported that issue was an outage problem and it has been fixed. However, no one bothered to call and ask. They put me back on the service appt. list for 4/21/08 by now it is 4pm so I have to wait now until 8pm. The technician comes an hour after I get off the phone. He comes and informs me the issue is with my neighbourhood - no internet lines working and maintenance have to come fix the lines. Great! I call back later on that evening to see if that was done yet or when it would be done. Customer service has No Idea about what the technician told me. He said he would take all information down and schedule a maintenance call first thing today. Now it is 4/22/08 Time Warner rep calls me this morning to schedule confirm a service appointment. So then I had to explain to him that it should be a maintenance call not service call. He was supposed to call me back when completed. It is still not done. If this is not resolved by tomorrow I will be cancelling my services. The lack of communication between technician centre and call centre horrible. I am telling one centre what the other told me. It's like being the go between for two arguing kids.

When we moved here I found out that Time Warner was the only cable company available. We have Dish network and like it, but we needed internet and a phone. The first time I called I was told they had to do a service availability request, and the csr saw that my neighbor has TWC but they have to come anyway. It is supposed to take three days. A week later I call and get someone with an Indian accent and is rude. He tells me not to call as it takes ten days for the service request.
Three days after that (a total of ten days) I call and talk to John. He tells me there has been no request put in. By the way he sounds like he is eating and out of breath which is not something I like to hear over the phone. So he puts in a new request and says to call back in about a week. Two days later the TWC van pulls up in the driveway, I see him write something down, and he drives away. Ten minutes later I get an automated phone call from TWC that says " Service is available in your area, please press one to be connected...we have a special that ends on this date...etc"
Excited, I call back and talk to a woman who informs me that the service request has not been completed, and it takes a few days for the tech to put it in the computer. When asked about the message, I was told it was an error.
Two weeks and many phone calls later, I get a call from John, who still sounded out of breath, and he said that (Surprise!!) service is indeed available. So I set up the bundle for $99 for the cable, phone and internet. They were supposed to come out next Tuesday (he called on a Tuesday) between 8am and 12pm.
Ten minutes later, John calls back, and left a message that phone service was not available in my area, and that they would still honor the $29.99 price for internet and cable. He also said he had a Friday am appointment available, and if I wanted that then to call and reschedule.
I called back and talked to a woman to tell them I did not want to reschedule, she said fine, and that was that.
Friday at around 10am, I hear knocking. It is pouring rain out and I open the door to see a guy in all white, driving a plain white truck. He says in a very heavy spanish accent that his name is Jose, he IS Time Warner and he is here to install my cable. I tell him my appoinment is on Tuesday and I am about to leave. He thanks me, and says I am doing him a favor since it is raining, and leaves. The next day I get a phone call from TWC, saying the tech was unable to make contact with me and when do I want to reschedule.
I tell them I called and made sure my appt was Tuesday, and I was told that it had indeed been changed to Friday and the next available date was Thursday.
Early Thursday, Jose shows back up, walks in and asks where I want the cable installed. We had Dish cables running in the walls, so he assumed he could use those. I informed him that we were keeping those cables as I had paid for the next couple of months of Dish, I want new lines run, and he was less than thrilled. He then tells me he will be drilling holes in my floor. I tell him we want them in the walls. He goes on a rampage about how I should have told them that when I made the appointment, that he didn't want to do it, and he wasn't qualified, and that it would take too long. And that it costs $40 per wall. He then walks out the door after fussing at me for my lack of something, and leaves.
My husband then calls TWC. About five minutes after he leaves I get a call from a very nice southern woman from the local office. She asked what happened, then apologizes several times and says Jose is one of the best techs and didn't know why he would say these things. I told her that I knew why. He is a subcontractor and gets paid per job, not per hour. She apoligized some more and told me they would make it right, and we would not be charged for the wall outlets since I had so much hassle, and was told intallation was free. (I asked when I set up the appointment if there would be ANY charges for installation, the modem, etc, and was told NO it was all no charge)
A few minutes later two guys show up, who were very nice. Within an hour they had everything up and going. However there was a problem at the pole outside and was informed that someone would be coming out in a couple of days to fix it, and our cable would be fuzzy until then.
Fast forward a few weeks. I have had internet problems, cable problems, another visit from the nice techs, endless conversations with not so nice call center reps and am waiting now for them to come switch out a bad digital box. We were told that we would be credited for services since our box has been messing up for over a week. And I just got a bill for over $300 and haven't even had the service for a month! I have spent more time on the phone with them than using their services. If I had another provider I would not be with TWC, but they are a monopoly in my area. What do I do?

Leon (Sun Mar 2 14:51:38 EST 2008)>Re Rachel Elam, 7323 Anaca point road.I want to register a formal complaint for the service I have received in Wilmington. I switched to you for digital phone and road runner on 2/05/08. Installation was delayed over a week past the scheduled time, no real problem, After about a week the phone went out and was resolved over the phone, again ok except for over 45 minutes of my cell phone time, mostly on hold. Then on Wed night 2/27/09, the phone and road runner both went out and was reported to you on Thursday am. After another 30-40 minutes of cell phone time, it was decided you would have to send a service man out. He came out Friday AM, and spent about 1 1 /2 hours inside and could not find the problem. He said the problem is in the line on the pole, so someone would be out later in the day to fix it. Now it's Sunday. I called your customer no-service line and again spent another 40 minutes of my cell time again. I was told they would send out a lineman out today to fix it. I gave them my cell phone number to call (since I don't have a home phone). Shortly after I called, my wife saw a truck in our driveway, He sat there for a short time, then drove away without even getting out of the truck

Bottom line is: I have over two hours in cell charges, A total waste of my time Friday waiting on service, No telephone or internet service since last Wednesday. Another waste of time today. I WON'T CALL YOU AGAIN. IF IT IS NOT FIXED TODAY, I WILL BE SWITCHING BACK TO MY FORMER PROVIDER. Which by the way, I only had one outage with them over a 10 year period and it was resolved the same day.

Leon Elamint Road, Wilmington, NC 28411 phone # 910-686-3513.

Leon (Sun Mar 2 14:51:40 EST 2008)>Re Rachel Elam, 7323 Anaca PoI want to register a formal complaint for the service I have received in Wilmington. I switched to you for digital phone and road runner on 2/05/08. Installation was delayed over a week past the scheduled time, no real problem, After about a week the phone went out and was resolved over the phone, again ok except for over 45 minutes of my cell phone time, mostly on hold. Then on Wed night 2/27/09, the phone and road runner both went out and was reported to you on Thursday am. After another 30-40 minutes of cell phone time, it was decided you would have to send a service man out. He came out Friday AM, and spent about 1 1 /2 hours inside and could not find the problem. He said the problem is in the line on the pole, so someone would be out later in the day to fix it. Now it's Sunday. I called your customer no-service line and again spent another 40 minutes of my cell time again. I was told they would send out a lineman out today to fix it. I gave them my cell phone number to call (since I don't have a home phone). Shortly after I called, my wife saw a truck in our driveway, He sat there for a short time, then drove away without even getting out of the truck

Bottom line is: I have over two hours in cell charges, A total waste of my time Friday waiting on service, No telephone or internet service since last Wednesday. Another waste of time today. I WON'T CALL YOU AGAIN. IF IT IS NOT FIXED TODAY, I WILL BE SWITCHING BACK TO MY FORMER PROVIDER. Which by the way, I only had one outage with them over a 10 year period and it was resolved the same day.

Leon Elamint Road, Wilmington, NC 28411 phone # 910-686-3513.

Leon (Sun Mar 2 14:52:14 EST 2008)>I want to register a formal complaint for the service I have received in Wilmington. I switched to you for digital phone and road runner on 2/05/08. Installation was delayed over a week past the scheduled time, no real problem, After about a week the phone went out and was resolved over the phone, again ok except for over 45 minutes of my cell phone time, mostly on hold. Then on Wed night 2/27/09, the phone and road runner both went out and was reported to you on Thursday am. After another 30-40 minutes of cell phone time, it was decided you would have to send a service man out. He came out Friday AM, and spent about 1 1 /2 hours inside and could not find the problem. He said the problem is in the line on the pole, so someone would be out later in the day to fix it. Now it's Sunday. I called your customer no-service line and again spent another 40 minutes of my cell time again. I was told they would send out a lineman out today to fix it. I gave them my cell phone number to call (since I don't have a home phone). Shortly after I called, my wife saw a truck in our driveway, He sat there for a short time, then drove away without even getting out of the truck

Bottom line is: I have over two hours in cell charges, A total waste of my time Friday waiting on service, No telephone or internet service since last Wednesday. Another waste of time today. I WON'T CALL YOU AGAIN. IF IT IS NOT FIXED TODAY, I WILL BE SWITCHING BACK TO MY FORMER PROVIDER. Which by the way, I only had one outage with them over a 10 year period and it was resolved the same day.

Leon Elam.

We have had issues with our service from them for at least two years! We have made numerous calls, sometimes two and three times a week. The problem still is not fixed, and when you call them, you get the run around. You are not put to a supervisor that will take care of the problem, nor do they call when they say they're going to call. As of right now I am paying for phone services that aren't even working! they were supposed to call 30 mins. before they came out to fix it, and they did not call so that I could be there! They refused to get someone out tonight to fix the problem that started three days ago when a feature started not working right! Seeing how I cannot call them from my home phone because it is not working, I actually had to pay to call them from a pre-paid cellular phone! This is un acceptable for a company this large, who makes it out to be that they are the best, when they cannot even fix a problem that has been going on for two years. They expect us to pay the bill, but they are not holding up to get the problem fixed. A supervisor has even went as far as saying that she was going to disconnect our service because they are too lazy to get it fixed correctly! Yet when the technicians do come out they tell us there is a problem and the company is ignoring it!