Time Warner Cable Hates YOU!

Time Warner Cable Hates YOU!

by Serendipitous | Published on September 21st, 2008, 12:51 am | Greensboro

Okay, so here's the deal. I'm trying to pay TWC bill. Online payment has changed...

So I try to login as usual. I get the "we don't know who you are" message.

Sooo I think, maybe this new crap means I have to re-register... So I try to do that. It asks for account number and ZIP. I type that in... "still don't know who you are" message appears.

Sooooo I notice the "system" is confused about where I live... It's supposed to be Piedmont Triad TWC but it shows another TWC region.

Sooooooo I throw in a "can't be confused that it's a Piedmont Triad account" ZIP. Finally a new message that the account is already registered. :roll:

Sooooooooo, I go back to the login with my original info, and the POS keeps timing out. :evil:

Sooooooooooo, I'll deal with this later. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow. Evidently they don't want my dollar$ that badly. I don't feel like calling customer (dis)service, and I don't want to revert to sending checks or dropping off checks at their office...

Yeah... I love the new $7.00 late fee charge.... Lovely.

Liv wrote:Yeah... I love the new $7.00 late fee charge.... Lovely.

Great. I guess they're gonna want that too.

Probably... I got news for them... they disconnect my line, I won't be returning for service... I've had a great relationship with them for several years now, and it appears they're turning up the heat on their customers for more money.

Seriously!!!

Does anyone else pay their Time Warner bill online?

http://www.timewarnercable.com/Carolinas/payxpress/default.html

The POS is still timing out.

I realize I'm a bit late to this discussion - but are there really no DSL providers in your neighbourhood?

Bell, Earthlink, Cox? Cable always gets sewn up by one company, but while DSL has to run over the telco last mile there are usually several providers.

Serendipitous wrote:Seriously!!!

Does anyone else pay their Time Warner bill online?

I think my wife arranges with the bank to send them a check every month. So we don't use the TW site for anything. Happily...

Soooooooooooooooooooo I finally got it to work with my existing info. My best guess is the site/app was having issues and there is no weekend support for it.

Oh looky, the email after paying my bill:

TWC Confirmation Email wrote:We have received and are processing your one-time bill payment request in the amount of $ more money than you should be paying

We invite you to visit Time Warner Cable online and enroll in the most convenient method of payment: Recurring Bill Payment. Once enrolled, your bill statement is automatically paid each month through your chosen payment method (debit card, credit card or directly from your bank account) so we suck your money away from you.

Thank you for visiting Time Warner Cable online. We value you as a customer and appreciate your business and taking your money from you when we know our service isn't worth as much as we charge.

Yeah, I'm still not surrendering control of when they get my money.

A Person wrote:I realize I'm a bit late to this discussion - but are there really no DSL providers in your neighbourhood?

Bell, Earthlink, Cox? Cable always gets sewn up by one company, but while DSL has to run over the telco last mile there are usually several providers.

I actually have Earthlink... And they actually re-sell Time Warner's Cable lines. But I pay through Time Warner on their website....

The Telco's have DSL but it's so damn slow around here because of their unwillingness to update infrastructure. In my direct area the Telco doesn't even have 1970's telco technology like Anti-echoing... So often when I dial locally through my broadband phone (and only locally) there is a 3 to 4 second delay in the system...

There is a broadband service (or atleast used to be) that I think works on the same technology as the cell network, but they're about 15 miles west of here for my coverage.

The subject of this thread is sofa king true.

TWC hates me.

I swear they are trying every avenue to get me to do recurring payment but THAT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!

Evidently I was so traumatized in September that I forgot to pay my bill in October. :roll:

So today, I went to pay it online. Of the two options "Pay Full Amount" or "Other", I selected Other and put in the amount I should have paid in October. So then it goes to a review page where you Submit the payment. Then I went and checked my confirmation email, which says it is taking the full amount.

The payment is good (i.e. not going to bounce), but dang... now they got their November payment sooner than I planned on giving it to them!!!

I'm telling you if Netflix would start beaming "real-time" tv over their net-flix box, I'd go with them in a second.

I would love to see FIOS or Charter come into town. I hated Charter while I was in Boone, but any competition should help the price and service in town. Then I can use that extra cash for more bandwidth >.<

I think that maybe it's a cable company thing. We don't have Time Warner here but I have an equal disdane for the company that we DO have. I dumped my cable company and haven't looked back. I don't watch it enough for the money that they charge which is too much. Fortunately the DSL here is just about equal to cable and Verizon has just started offering FIOS...

Sanjuro wrote:
Matt wrote:
I heard there's new cable serive coming. That's a good thing. Competetion will drive prices down and/or quality up.

I heard something about that too. Forgot the name (Comcast?) but they are huge up north. Competition is a GOOD thing!

While competition is a good thing, there are no plans to bring a cable competitor to this area at this time.

Also, while it may seem that TWC doesn't care out its customers, the call center representatives & managers do. Equipment is always going to be touch & go b/c there's no way to predict what could happen within an area or within one single digital converter. If you are experiencing recurring issues with any of TWC's equipment, feel free to request a "senior technician" to come & review your issues. There is NO CHARGE to have a technician stop by (unlike satellite companies who charge) & the technicians will even swap out your equipment if a problem is within the equipment itself.

Another option would be to stop by your local TWC office to swap equipment or speak with someone directly without having to wait for a technician or schedule your life around the time frame you are given for a tech to stop by your home.

Dear Valued Customer,

At Time Warner Cable, we value our relationships with our customers and strive to keep you informed about the service we provide you and your account with us.

It has come to our attention that the cable modem we provided to you for use with your Road Runner service needs to be replaced. To receive the full benefit of your service, you will need to switch out your current modem for a newer model. This newer model can be shipped directly to you free of charge.

Click here to have an upgraded modem shipped to you.

We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to continuing to provide you Road Runner service. We apologize for any inconvenience this equipment upgrade may cause. We value and appreciate having you as a Time Warner Cable customer.

Sincerely,

Time Warner Cable

Anyone care to explain this??? Mine is working just fine and dandy... are they wanting to send me one with more control features for TWC??? This sounds a bit dodgy to me from their wording...

Liv wrote:
Dear Valued Customer,

At Time Warner Cable, we value our relationships with our customers and strive to keep you informed about the service we provide you and your account with us.

It has come to our attention that the cable modem we provided to you for use with your Road Runner service needs to be replaced. To receive the full benefit of your service, you will need to switch out your current modem for a newer model. This newer model can be shipped directly to you free of charge.

Click here to have an upgraded modem shipped to you.

We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to continuing to provide you Road Runner service. We apologize for any inconvenience this equipment upgrade may cause. We value and appreciate having you as a Time Warner Cable customer.

Sincerely,

Time Warner Cable

Anyone care to explain this??? Mine is working just fine and dandy... are they wanting to send me one with more control features for TWC??? This sounds a bit dodgy to me from their wording...

Might be interesting if you call TWC and check on the validity of that email. Or have you already looked for a scam alert?

Wonder if it has something to do with that "pay for what you use" system they are trying to implement.

What is your current model? Is it this?

Nope mines a Toshiba PCX2200

It's old school baby...

Make them pull it from your cold dead hands.

Have I mentioned how much I hate Time Warner yet today?

Exactly... I have a feeling if there was a benefit to having the new one, they'd list the reasons in the email...

TWC wrote:
While competition is a good thing, there are no plans to bring a cable competitor to this area at this time.

Well, yes. You have the only game in town. As soon as that changes you will lose at least 25% of your business immediately. If the competition is better, more will follow.

TWC wrote:Also, while it may seem that TWC doesn't care out its customers, the call center representatives & managers do.

Not the ones answering phones for Greensboro. Oh and the person to person counter help is downright catatonic.

TWC wrote:Equipment is always going to be touch & go b/c there's no way to predict what could happen within an area or within one single digital converter.

On this I can agree. However, my problems happened over and over with the digital boxes, and I went through 4 modems before I got the current one which seems to be working. I would actually be even more pissed if I didn't have a TWC office relatively close to work.

TWC wrote: If you are experiencing recurring issues with any of TWC's equipment, feel free to request a "senior technician" to come & review your issues. There is NO CHARGE to have a technician stop by (unlike satellite companies who charge) & the technicians will even swap out your equipment if a problem is within the equipment itself.

Yeah, because I like having to use up time while a 'senior tech' comes out to do whatever. NO thanks. I did have a problem with my Directv box once, they shipped me a new one via FedEx and I swapped it myself. No need for a tech or a wasted day. I called their VERY friendly support line and they switched it on.

TWC wrote:Another option would be to stop by your local TWC office to swap equipment or speak with someone directly without having to wait for a technician or schedule your life around the time frame you are given for a tech to stop by your home.

As mentioned before.. I've done this. Those people only know one thing.. taking payments and handing our receipts for old equipment.

Seriously guys, to anyone still reading this, here is the straight dope...

Customer Service:
Directv's service has always been super friendly and top-notch. The techs (both contracted and blue-shirts) are WAY more qualified and professional. Time Warner used to have good techs, but not anymore. Apparently they are training apes now. I will say this, Time Warner in Greensboro seems to have pretty good options for picking a time for the tech to come out. But since its comparable to Directv's options, I'd say that cancels out.

HD owners:
Directv has infinitely better HD picture and WAY more channels to chose from for the buck. Time Warner cant keep up with the demand because of infrastructure (cables underground vs a satellite signal). Want more HD channels? All the Dish companies have to do is fire up another bird (satellite) or pay to allocate space on a bird already up there. The cable companies have to dig and replace cable to wherever they want to offer the new services. Thus the time Warner "HD" picture is awful due to the amount of compression they have to do in order to fit HD channels on their lines. BTW, my Directv box just got an upgrade the 1080P.

Quality of Equipment:
Again, the winner is Directv. I've had a much greater loss per piece ratio with TWC. I've had 3 separate Directv boxes that outlasted my service! Meaning, I quit using them, they didn't quit me.
The Directv user interface on screen is much faster, cleaner, and loaded with way more options. This is especially true if you have HD DVR. The Time Warner interface looks like it was designed by and ATARI game programmer. Also, asthetically the Directv boxes look better.. Compare Time Warners clunky HDDVR box to Directvs sleek glossy DVR box. Even has animated blue LEDs on the front and a minimalist styling.

What I miss about Time Warner:
The Mojo channel and the show "3 Sheets". Directv cant get it cause its a channel owned by Time Warner. Oh well. I will have to settle for the 50+ more HD channels Directv offers over Time Warner to console me. and download 3 sheets off the internet. :dance:

My experience with Time Warner Cable has been actually different. First time we got cable service, we just signed up for Earthlink high speed, but somehow for a year we got the basic analog channels too. Then one day they got turned off and a note in our door inviting us to subscribe to TV service. We did. We've moved two times since and installation has been prompt, on time and efficient. I have never had a cable modem blow out, but I have had a DVR crash out. That got replaced with a HD-DVR, despite the fact that we don't have HDTV (we can view the HD channels though). I remember 3 service outages. It's reliable enough that I have the broadband home phone from Lingo running over the Roadrunner.

As for an alternative... AT&T and Clearwire are your choices here I'm afraid. Either that, or a reseller of TWC, AT&T or Clearwire.

I am however going to re-evaluate our services from TWC soon anyway on economic grounds. I can no longer justify $77.49 a month for two outlets, one that has only analog and one that has a DVR and digital service... when I can get the same TV from DirecTV for 3 rooms? I have 3 TVs in the house, the third is not hooked up to cable. Dish Network might be cheaper still for all I know.

Mark.

I'm going to start a freaking satellite company that gets 2,8,12,45 CNN, BBC, & all the Discovery and History channels.... and that's it... We will offer HBO as a sell up... all for $9.95....

Who the hell watching deer slaughter TV, or Jeezus 24, or the test-bar channel?

True. The first company that offers channels à la carte will make bank.