Time Warner customer service is really the worst
So, if you’ll remember, just before I left my cable went out and my calls to Time Warner’s RoadRunner customer service was the most unbelievably horrible service calls I’ve ever had. To sum up, it ended upbeat with the cs rep hanging up on me, believe me that was a high note from the rest of the conversation. Now that I’m back, I thought I would investigate their business level accounts thinking that they must treat their business clients much better than their residential clients.
Well, it started off with a 9 minute hold time. That was wonderful, I can imagine that when my service goes out, it would be at least that long to start talking to someone, but I thought to myself, that’s life - at least once I get to someone they would be nice to me and more importantly wouldn’t tell me that they wouldn’t get a chance to look at it for a week. So I held.
9 minutes later a lady comes on and I ask her about the differences between business and residential service. I am, for example, on RoadRunner Premium. “Premium?” she asks, “We don’t have a premium service, we have … premier.”
“No, I’m sorry - I mean, Premium residential service.”
“You’ve called the business line. We don’t know anything about residential service, we don’t have a Premium, we have premier. You can call the residential line to get information on residential services.”
Sigh. And it pretty much stayed there for the rest of the call. At some point, I thought I was being too vague… I said, “I’m looking at your website and a comparable service to Premium residential is like 3 or 4 times the cost. Are you telling me that the only difference is the cost? You simply charge your business customers more?”
“Yes.”
“But I know that’s wrong, on the site at least you have static ip addresses”
“Well we have other services”
“Ok! Can you tell me what they are?”
“If you look on the web site you can see the service levels and their prices. We have premier…”
Perhaps we were getting too stuck on Premium service level, I tried a different tactic…
“I’m not asking for specific details about residential, but is there anyone there that can pitch to me why I would want business service instead of residential?”
“No one here knows anything about residential service.”
It really is unbelievable. It is more than possible that someone at Time Warner, simply by speaking knowledgeably and reasonably with me could have had me happily paying RoadRunner 3 or 4 times more every month. Instead I’m left looking around for alternatives to cable internet. And I guess that’s a life lesson for me on why monopolies are bad.
August 12th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
[...] maybe it’ll take some time for everything to get back to normal. I’m still amazed at Time Warner’s complete lack of interest in upselling me better service - the $60/mo I’m now paying sprint could easily have been more [...]
August 14th, 2007 at 10:24 am
[...] you are an avid reader of this blog you will already know the pain inflicted on me by Time Warner and their horrendous customer service. I won’t bore you with the details - suffice it to say that because Time Warner is so awful I [...]
August 15th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Time Warner does indeed suck.
There is a new site out there at is dedicated to Ranting and Raving about Cable Companies.
Check it out at http://www.cablerant.com
August 16th, 2007 at 9:32 am
[...] include NYC. With WiMax supposed to actually be able to achieve 10Mbps up and down, I will happily toss my Road Runner out the window and switch to [...]
August 21st, 2007 at 10:25 am
[...] you know I hate my cable company, Time Warner. Hate isn’t the word, loathe perhaps and maybe just a little fear. So I’m looking for [...]
September 12th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Time Warner is the absolute most pathetic group of managers when it comes to phone service. If you have two lines in the house, they often act like one so that when you are talking on one phone line and the other rings, you cannot hear your conversation on the call while the other line is ringing or is in use. It is not fixable in the Circle C area, and about 200 of us have this problem. The technicians admit that TW has no business in phone VOIP and they have many unfixable problems. Phone calls always put you on hold, and then the poor customer service reps have no ability to help you, they even agree how bad their services are, and then they apologize for “any inconvenience” while they continue to charge you full price for your lousy service. Internet service and phones go out frequently, without warning or money back. Especially in the middle of an online stock trade. And then, to top things off, I called yesterday to convert my residential 2nd line to a business line - no can do! The rep actually told me we do not have the ability to convert that line due to our backend computer systems –we cannot charge you more for the same line. They can open up a new business line, but I cannot keep the phone number. She said this is a new policy — another great idea from the management there at TW. Why on earth can’t you convert your 2nd line that is already in your home from your personal name to your company name? I am willing to pay more for the same phone line and their “backend” can’t do it. Maybe TW should stop making decisions with their “Backend” and use their head. Their lack of service will force me to take that phone number to AT & T, another stellar company, I am sure.
TW has taken Austin hostage and there is no end to the idiocy.
September 12th, 2007 at 8:42 am
Sorry, Cat. It is unbelievable just how unbelievably awful Time Warner is - like on every level. It’s not even that they don’t care about their customers, they can’t even do their own jobs and make more money. Here’s two reports (you and me) of people who *wanted* for some unknown reason to actually give Time Warner more money and they just wouldn’t take it. We did all the research and sales work for them and all they had to do was take our money and they wouldn’t.
Unbelievable. AT&T is most likely no better, although thus far I haven’t had much cause for complaint with the new iPhone. :)
September 12th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I am so very pissed off at Time warrner.Long story short 3 times they have not shown up to install my phone line,and yes they don’t call to let you know that they won’t be showing up.It has been 14 days that we have no phone service what so ever. They also make appt. for you with out your knowledge,The only reason that I know of my appts are because they never showed for the first appt that I did make and as I’m calling to see if they are running late,The recorded message lets me know when they have schuled the new appt without my knowledge.When I call to see when the installer might be showing up I have been on hold for more then 30 min on more then Three occations,Then when I get in I”m told no one will be showing up.
September 12th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
That is awful, I’ve never had such a bad experience with the appointments - thanksfully! I mean, it’s ridiculous how long you have to wait to get an appointment and how big the range of time they give you is. But that’s crazy that they just don’t show up and reschedule without telling you. It’s unbelievably. Goes to show what a monopoly lets you get away with.
September 17th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
This has happened to me as well. They are unbelievable.
You might also want to spread the word on MeasuredUp.com, a website for reviews of products and stores that you really like (or really hate). It’s at http://www.measuredup.com, and it’s very easy and rather cathartic.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
[...] So you know how I feel about Time Warner customer service. I’ve got another blog post brewing about how much I hate Delta Airlines. But in all of these things, the only possible resolution is to bend over and take it from them. Well, especially so in the case of Time Warner. They care so little about you, it isn’t even worth their time to help you give Time Warner more of your money. [...]
November 13th, 2007 at 10:55 am
[...] go what incentive does a company have to do anything good? Look no further than the telcos or the cable cos to see proof of [...]
November 29th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
[...] no incentive to have good customer service. Where you going to go? People don’t like that. I don’t like that. She don’t like that. Here’s the proof of this oh so frustrating [...]
January 11th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Yes. Their service is terrible. I have Time Warner digital TV cable. It’s out service about 3 times a month or even more. When I call them, it is very hard to go through and they never try to fix the problem. I don’t know what to do!!!!
January 11th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Sadly, there’s simply not much you can do. That’s why they get to be the way they are. Unless you’re down with an alternative like satellite or FIOS which are clearly not widely available. Ugh. Nothing to do but rant, that is. :)
January 18th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
TIME WARNER IS THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH. I TRIED TO PAY THEM AND THEY PUT ME ON HOLD FOR 51 MINUTES. I TOLD THEM THAT I WAS CALLING FROM MY CELL PHONE AND MY MINUTES WERE LIMITED. I FEEL LIKE SENDING THEM MY CELL PHONE BILL. I HAD TO HANG UP. THEY NEVER DID ANSWER. I WILL BE GETTING DISH NETWORK SOON.
January 18th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Marcy, I feel your pain. Good luck with your satellite - here in ol’ nyc I’m stuck with cable. Wouldn’t mind getting FIOS, probably trading one devil for the next, but at least it’d be a devil with bigger broadband! :)
January 20th, 2008 at 1:30 am
They must have switched thier call center back to the U.S. I was an adelphia customer when TW took over. All of a sudden my connection would not stay up longer then 5 min. (this was for six months). I called customer service and recieved a script reading person, whom was from another country (not a problem with teh people), and would not listen to my problem, but kept reading a script. Finally this friday I called again and the call was answed by the Denver call center. The tech listened to the issue, and said it was most likely the modem, because they had problems with some of the Adelphia Modems, a tech arrived the next day (saturday) switched the modem, and service back up.
AFter 6 months of calls, emails, BS form letters back (its my computers, firewall, wiring, etc.).. and it was fixed in 5 min.
Hope other companies follow suit and bring service back to the U.S.
January 20th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Charles, wow you are lucky - one day lead time on a service call? I’m pretty sure I’ve been calling into the states, but my experience was not so good - they simply have week long (at least) lead times with no possibility of increased urgency despite premium service or business class service. And no sense of actually trying to help the customer. Sigh… I hope the TW follows its own lead and provides the service you received to everyone! :)
January 29th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Time Warner is the worst customer service I’ve ever USA.
They are ruse, untrained, careless people.
Thank god, I am getting out of this deal this week!!!
February 2nd, 2008 at 3:12 pm
time warner absolutely sucks, i called them they set up a appointment a week and a half later, they bring a guy out who gives me a new cable box which he acknowledges won’t work properly until an update sometime in march, then when i ask him to take cae of my internet problem he tells me that he is prominently a cable guy and thus isnt really qualified to fix my internet connection, so thus i am forced to make another call and wait another week upon which i am greeted by THE EXACT SAME GUY who then proceeds to fix my internet temporarily….sigh can a brother get some help here?
February 5th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I wish I didn’t like Time Warner’s cable service so much (Demand Channels) because I hate their customer service. Time Warner is coming out to repace the cord to my wireless internet box which converts my cable into my internet signal. This cord coverts volts into watts 120V/26W and unfortunatley you can’t buy them at the local electonic store which is what the level 1 technician told me to do. The level 2 technician was informed and polite, cudos to her but every other person I have ever spoke with at Time Warner seems to make up the answers as they go along and remember the educational level of the people we are talking about. I have to take time off from work on two seperate days to have someone bring me a longer cable wire and another to bring me a chord that I would gladly pick-up at the Time Warner Store. FRUSTRATING
July 12th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
While I was on vacation–out of state Time Warner disconnected my phone service without my authorization or permission. A week out on the road we checked home for messages on our answering machine and got a disconnect message. My wife runs her business off this number and we have already lost hundreds of dollars. After we discovered what TW had done I pulled off the road and called them on my cell. I have limited minutes and I was kept on hold for over 30 minutes only to be told by a somewhat confused customer no-service agent that there was a likely chance that we had lost our phone number that we’ve had for many years–and on our business cards. To make an already long story shorter, it was all downhill from there. They said it would take almost 2 weeks to reconnect (even tho they admitted that it was their screw-up in cutting off our phone) and that we would need to be at the house for the reconnect. It didn’t matter that I was out of state and couldn’t “beam” up. Response: “Would you like to speak with a “level 3 manager”? Another 35 minutes on the side of the road with my cell phone literally heating up my ear–burning minutes. I tried 3 more times—NO MORE!!! Time Warner is a Ship of Fools! To say that we are angry doesn’t even come close. I hate them for what they put us through! How do they stay in business??? Who regulates them??? It’s back to Verizon and Dish…
July 17th, 2008 at 7:28 am
[...] know I hate Time Warner, right? Because they suck? So, naturally, I’m waiting for Verizon to roll FIOS out here in [...]