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Issues with Time Warner Cable

I mentioned last week about getting our first utility bills now that we’re in our new house. Our Time Warner Cable bill was one of the most confusing ones. When I called and ordered our services back in early December, I just set up digital cable TV and internet. I was quoted a price I was satisfied with.

At that time, I talked at length with the customer service woman on the phone about exactly what we were getting, how much each service would be, and how much the total monthly bill would be — including taxes and the initial set up fee. With all the exact numbers, I got the woman’s name, and I had everything written down.

A few days later, we decided to add digital telephone service to our package (is cheaper than going through the telephone company). I called TWC again. I had to give the telephone number associated with our account, our names, our address, and the last four digits of my social security number. I understand this bit of verification, as it prevents someone from screwing up my account.

After talking out the order, I asked what the final price would be with all the services. The monthly bill she quoted me didn’t add up to be the previously quoted monthly rate plus this new service. Digging deeper, our services were not as I had set them up previously. Our Internet service was bumped up to the next higher service, and we were charged for something the other customer service rep had said was free of charge.

The woman I was talking to couldn’t give me the prices I was earlier quoted, so I got transferred to someone else. When the new guy took my call, he asked for all my verifying information again. But after many minutes with this guy, I still couldn’t get the prices I had been quoted in the original call.

Then I ran out of time. I had expected the phone call to add one service to our package to take less than 10 minutes, and already I had been dealing with this for half an hour. I told them to just not change anything with my services. “Leave them as they are right now, and I’ll call back later when I have more time.”

The next day, I called TWC back. I had more time to get this crap straightend out this round. I gave all my verifying information again. Then, before even mentioning wanting to add a service, I asked this guy to tell me what I was currently signed up for, and what the monthly bill would be.

Lo and behold, everything was completely correct according to my original information and notes. What. The. Hell? I explained to this guy what had happened the last time I called, and he had no idea why I was told what I was told. Everything he was seeing and telling me, was right. So I had him add the digital telephone service to our package. And all the numbers added up properly. I was satisfied.

Then, a month later, we get our first bill. The monthly charge showing on the bill is about $15 more than I had agreed to. What. The. Hell, part 2. So I called TWC, yet again.

I had to give my verifying info, again. This time, my Internet service had been bumped up to the next level, for $15 more a month. The woman I was talking with couldn’t fix this error, so she forwarded me to someone else.

I had to give my verifying info, again. Talking with this second woman, she just tried to explain to me the pricing structures for the different services. “I understand the better plans are more expensive. I didn’t sign up for this level plan. I signed up for the lower plan, for the lower amount.” This woman couldn’t make the change I was insisting on. So she forwarded me to someone else.

I had to give my verifying info, yet again. I actually cut off her questions with my answers, having learned the drill by this point. “This is the third time in this one call that I’ve had to give this information,” I said. This woman was apologetic, and very nice with me, (they had all been polite), but the situation she was telling me was ridiculous.

The service she saw on my account was a level above what I had ordered. And the level I had ordered was now $5 more per month than what I was quoted at set up — the price had increased between my signing up for it, and my getting the first bill for it. She tried to explain the different levels of service, and asked me questions to help her determine which I needed, but this just served to annoy me. “I did my research before signing up, originally. So I just want what I signed up for, at the price I signed up for.”

She offered a lower service for lower money. What. The. Hell, trilogy! I was calm and polite, but firm and clear. “I want the level of service I originally signed up for, at the monthly rate I was originally quoted.”

She looked into if she could get me a deal. She came back with my original service at only $2 more than the original quote. Though I was calm, and still polite, I guess she could tell I wasn’t satisfied with that option. So she looked into another deal.

She came back with my original service at $8 less than I originally agreed to. What. The. Hell, rerun. Really? Really? I asked her, to double-check, that this is my original service level. It is. Great. Set it.

Very strange. All I was asking for was my original service level at my original price. After all this rigmarole, trying to get me upgraded, they end up giving me a better deal than I was asking for? I was stunned by the sheer ridiculousness of it all.

“Anything else I can do for you,” she asked.

Well, since my bill was almost due, and I was already on the phone with them, I asked her to connect me with their bill pay department. She was very polite and nice — all the TWC people I dealt with on the phone were very polite and nice, though confused and/or useless — and wished me a good day and forwarded me on to the bill pay department.

Glory! I didn’t have to regive my verifying info this time. But as we began setting up the transaction to pay my bill, she warned me that doing this through a representative, I would be charged an extra $5. What. The. Hell, syndication. She could connect me with the automated system to do it myself, and that would be free.

“Well, connect me. I’m not going to pay you an extra five bucks so I can pay you for my bill.”

Soon the automated voice prompted me for my verifying info. Really. I verified. Then the computer system told me my balance due: the same damn amount — no change for getting all this corrected.

You gotta be freakin’ kidding me. I hung up.

Bullgrit

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