After such a long time with barely any postings, I hate to post a grumpy post, but I’m feeling very, very grumpy right now thanks to Time Warner Cable. I am not a happy customer.
As many of you know, I’ve been absent from the blogosphere because my “big” computer pretty much croaked. It’s been dying a slow death for about a year now, and although I’m typing on it currently, I know I still must buy a new computer soon. I plan to make the big purchase by Dec. 31 for tax reasons.
In an effort to set something up at least temporarily, I tried to connect Ryan’s old laptop to the high speed modem. I installed the drivers etc and nothing worked. I called the cable company’s customer service line, and for days now have been told I could expect to wait more than an hour for a customer service representative. Well, I’ve had things to do and couldn’t wait more than hour.
But, last night was a slow night. I was just watching TV, so I called and sat on hold while listening to the TV and working on Christmas ornaments for the HPS Craft Bank. Finally, I got a real life human being on the phone. She was a very nice human being and did her best to help me, but apparently Time Warner Cable has the same troubles their customers do. She kept getting disconnected from whatever she was looking at to help me. After an hour, and many of my cell phone minutes as I have phone service through the high speed modem, she concluded the modem was indeed dead. She then told me it would be at least a month, maybe more, before she could have a service representative out to my house during hours that weren’t in my work day. (I’m about to miss several days going to NIH, and I’m sure I’ll have a flurry of doctors’ appointments when I get back.)
Chatting with her, I learned that this hour-long wait in the evenings is a regular occurrence and not a result of lots of holiday gift giving trauma. She told me that if I could call in the afternoon, there would be no wait. Well, that’s because most of us are off busily working to pay those cable bills for our crappy service. Here’s an idea – if you’re business is routinely causing your customers this much trouble, then you either need to fix what’s causing so many calls, or at least hire more customer service reps for the evening hours.
The very nice lady human being was sympathetic to my angst, especially since I managed not to yell and stressed that I was not upset with her but rather “the man.” Perhaps she’s got stories she could tell about big bad Time Warner Cable too – I don’t know. I bet, however, that after working in the inner sanctum of the Time Warner customer service world fielding complaints all day, that she’d have some good stories to tell over a beer. I didn’t want to get her in trouble, so I didn’t ask. But, I did want some compensation for the cell phone minutes we were burning up.
She told me that if I scooped up the modem and took it to a “Time Warner outlet store” I could easily exchange the dead modem for a new one and be up and running in no time.
For most people this would be an easy solution, but for me – a legally blind person that can’t drive – it was not exactly an acceptable solution. When she told me where the store was, I told her that it would cost me about $30 each way in cab fare to go and get the modem, and that after spending now two hours on the problem, I didn’t feel I should have to eat the expense. She agreed and credited my bill generously, both for the cab fare and the minutes.
I was somewhat placated.
That is until today when I visited “cable hell” in person. If you (like the rest of us) are a sinner in need of some reminder of how horrible hell might actually be, you can just visit the Time Warner retail store for a little inspiration to make sure the knees of your pants are sufficiently well worn.
I went to the ATM to get the money for the cab, and then went to McDonalds to get some lunch. From there, I called a cab. An hour and a half later, the cab finally arrived. I expected that this exchange would be an easy one – that I could have the cab wait while I ran in, handed them the dead modem, got the new one, and out I’d be.
Wrong.
When I walked in the door the place was packed with other grumpy customers. It was clear I couldn’t have the cab wait. I had to go back out and pay driver and send him on his way. They were on number 52 and I was number 91. I spent another 45 minutes waiting. They did get through the numbers somewhat quickly as most people weren’t patient enough to stand around holding their various offending cable parts in hopes that one day they might actually be helped.
The people at the outlet store were amazingly friendly and cheerful despite a shop full of upset customers. I was somewhat impressed by that. I’d personally would find it rather easy to feel frustrated in such a situation and perhaps even hate my job.
Many of the unhappy customers were standing there holding HDTV cable boxes that they’d recently upgraded to, probably for the holidays. I heard one of the cable employees off-handedly tell one of these customers, “Oh yes, we’ve had all sorts of problems with these boxes. At least 50 percent of them don’t work.” Now, I don’t know if her statistics are correct, but given the high number of them being returned, there was clearly a problem. And this bit of news was indeed music to the ears of the lady standing next to me who was back at this retail outlet for her third box in six weeks.
Finally, my number was called. I handed over the old modem and in under five minutes was given a new one and sent on my way. (I, of course, had to wait another 45 minutes to be picked up by the cab.)
The new modem is all plugged in and I’m back online. The only trouble is they gave me the wrong model and there’s not a place to plug in my phone. So, now I’m back online, but I have no land line phone and I’m going to have to go back to cable hell again! Another cab trip, another entire afternoon shot.
I am not a happy customer, and Time Warner is going to hear about it.
BTW – if you need to call me, call me on my cell – hopefully Time Warner will be paying for the minutes.
Cable hell update:
Okay, now I'm feeling a bit stupid, a bit happier, but still not a happy Time Warner customer. I waited until after 11:00 pm to call customer assistance hoping they wouldn't be so busy. I got service within seven minutes - much better. It seems there was a thingie over the hole where the phone was supposed to plug in, and because it was perfectly flat I couldn't feel it and thus know I was supposed to pop it out. Grin, blush - so now my phone is working again, I think. And I didn't have to make another trip. Thank God! A grand total of seven hours of my time on this problem was quite enough.
As many of you know, I’ve been absent from the blogosphere because my “big” computer pretty much croaked. It’s been dying a slow death for about a year now, and although I’m typing on it currently, I know I still must buy a new computer soon. I plan to make the big purchase by Dec. 31 for tax reasons.
In an effort to set something up at least temporarily, I tried to connect Ryan’s old laptop to the high speed modem. I installed the drivers etc and nothing worked. I called the cable company’s customer service line, and for days now have been told I could expect to wait more than an hour for a customer service representative. Well, I’ve had things to do and couldn’t wait more than hour.
But, last night was a slow night. I was just watching TV, so I called and sat on hold while listening to the TV and working on Christmas ornaments for the HPS Craft Bank. Finally, I got a real life human being on the phone. She was a very nice human being and did her best to help me, but apparently Time Warner Cable has the same troubles their customers do. She kept getting disconnected from whatever she was looking at to help me. After an hour, and many of my cell phone minutes as I have phone service through the high speed modem, she concluded the modem was indeed dead. She then told me it would be at least a month, maybe more, before she could have a service representative out to my house during hours that weren’t in my work day. (I’m about to miss several days going to NIH, and I’m sure I’ll have a flurry of doctors’ appointments when I get back.)
Chatting with her, I learned that this hour-long wait in the evenings is a regular occurrence and not a result of lots of holiday gift giving trauma. She told me that if I could call in the afternoon, there would be no wait. Well, that’s because most of us are off busily working to pay those cable bills for our crappy service. Here’s an idea – if you’re business is routinely causing your customers this much trouble, then you either need to fix what’s causing so many calls, or at least hire more customer service reps for the evening hours.
The very nice lady human being was sympathetic to my angst, especially since I managed not to yell and stressed that I was not upset with her but rather “the man.” Perhaps she’s got stories she could tell about big bad Time Warner Cable too – I don’t know. I bet, however, that after working in the inner sanctum of the Time Warner customer service world fielding complaints all day, that she’d have some good stories to tell over a beer. I didn’t want to get her in trouble, so I didn’t ask. But, I did want some compensation for the cell phone minutes we were burning up.
She told me that if I scooped up the modem and took it to a “Time Warner outlet store” I could easily exchange the dead modem for a new one and be up and running in no time.
For most people this would be an easy solution, but for me – a legally blind person that can’t drive – it was not exactly an acceptable solution. When she told me where the store was, I told her that it would cost me about $30 each way in cab fare to go and get the modem, and that after spending now two hours on the problem, I didn’t feel I should have to eat the expense. She agreed and credited my bill generously, both for the cab fare and the minutes.
I was somewhat placated.
That is until today when I visited “cable hell” in person. If you (like the rest of us) are a sinner in need of some reminder of how horrible hell might actually be, you can just visit the Time Warner retail store for a little inspiration to make sure the knees of your pants are sufficiently well worn.
I went to the ATM to get the money for the cab, and then went to McDonalds to get some lunch. From there, I called a cab. An hour and a half later, the cab finally arrived. I expected that this exchange would be an easy one – that I could have the cab wait while I ran in, handed them the dead modem, got the new one, and out I’d be.
Wrong.
When I walked in the door the place was packed with other grumpy customers. It was clear I couldn’t have the cab wait. I had to go back out and pay driver and send him on his way. They were on number 52 and I was number 91. I spent another 45 minutes waiting. They did get through the numbers somewhat quickly as most people weren’t patient enough to stand around holding their various offending cable parts in hopes that one day they might actually be helped.
The people at the outlet store were amazingly friendly and cheerful despite a shop full of upset customers. I was somewhat impressed by that. I’d personally would find it rather easy to feel frustrated in such a situation and perhaps even hate my job.
Many of the unhappy customers were standing there holding HDTV cable boxes that they’d recently upgraded to, probably for the holidays. I heard one of the cable employees off-handedly tell one of these customers, “Oh yes, we’ve had all sorts of problems with these boxes. At least 50 percent of them don’t work.” Now, I don’t know if her statistics are correct, but given the high number of them being returned, there was clearly a problem. And this bit of news was indeed music to the ears of the lady standing next to me who was back at this retail outlet for her third box in six weeks.
Finally, my number was called. I handed over the old modem and in under five minutes was given a new one and sent on my way. (I, of course, had to wait another 45 minutes to be picked up by the cab.)
The new modem is all plugged in and I’m back online. The only trouble is they gave me the wrong model and there’s not a place to plug in my phone. So, now I’m back online, but I have no land line phone and I’m going to have to go back to cable hell again! Another cab trip, another entire afternoon shot.
I am not a happy customer, and Time Warner is going to hear about it.
BTW – if you need to call me, call me on my cell – hopefully Time Warner will be paying for the minutes.
Cable hell update:
Okay, now I'm feeling a bit stupid, a bit happier, but still not a happy Time Warner customer. I waited until after 11:00 pm to call customer assistance hoping they wouldn't be so busy. I got service within seven minutes - much better. It seems there was a thingie over the hole where the phone was supposed to plug in, and because it was perfectly flat I couldn't feel it and thus know I was supposed to pop it out. Grin, blush - so now my phone is working again, I think. And I didn't have to make another trip. Thank God! A grand total of seven hours of my time on this problem was quite enough.
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