Complaint Review: Time Warner Cable - Cincinnati Ohio

Time Warner is a crooked game but it's the only game in town for what I need.  My wife and I purchased a house and our cable/internet/phone provider was not available at the new location.  We went online Monday 8/25 to set up these services and selected Saturday 8/30 as our installation date. 

The next day we received an email asking us to call and confirm our information.  After spending 20 minutes or so hanging out on the line waiting for a customer service representative, we were told everything was fine and they did not need any information from us.  This exact scenario played out the next day when we received a second notice saying they needed additional information.  We were concerned that we were still receiving emails requesting information but twice we were told that everything was fine.

Saturday came and we hadn't heard anything from Time Warner so I called them at 2:00 PM and was told there was no order in the system for us.  I had paid $35 for installation so they were at least able to track me down by that charge...or at least that's what they told me. They had to reenter my order into the system (about 45 minutes on the phone) and said the soonest I could have service would be Friday 9/5.  I told him this was not a viable solution because I need internet and my phone number for my job (outside sales rep).  After asking to speak with a manager or someone who could expedite my service, I was told a dispatch manager would call within a half hour of me hanging up.  The call never came and since I was in the process of moving, I didn't have time to follow up that day.

I called again on Sunday to see what I could do about getting my services installed and was told that there was nothing in the system for me even though I gave them the confirmation number on the emails we were still receiving for additional information.  Again they had to re-enter my services but for some reason I was on the phone for an hour and a half this time.  Monday was a holiday but I was told that I could have my services installed Tuesday 9/2.  I asked for an email to confirm this and was told they could not provide any documentation for me but she promised I would have my service installed on Tuesday.  While not ideal, I only had to miss a half day of work this way and at least the nightmare would be over...or so I thought.

I was supposed to have a technician midday on Tuesday however I received a phone call instead from a sales associate asking if there was any way he could talk me out of cancelling my services.  I explained that I was not cancelling my services and in fact I was sitting in my living room Indian style (or Chris-cross-applesauce as I believe it is now called) waiting on my installation technician.  I was told that since I was porting my number over and my number wasn't released from my old provider, my installation was cancelled.  This explanation really made no sense to me but I had been fed a ton of nonsense all weekend from them and I had given up on trying to find the true source of this problem.  I was told again that I would not be able to have my services installed that day but they would be able to install my services on Thursday 9/4. 

Thursday came as did a phone call from the sales rep saying that there was no way I was going to able to have a technician install my services that day. It was going to have to be Friday 9/5. I was told that my entire first bill was going to be waived, I would then have $25 off my next bill, my number would be ported over, and they would install two interior cable lines for no charge (the house I purchased was recently remodeled and for some reason, cable was removed from some of the bedrooms).  I would have rather had my phone and internet installed than the money off of my bill but there was nothing I could do.

When the technician arrived on Friday, he had no idea that I had a number that needed to be ported nor that I was told I would have two interior cable connections installed.  He was very polite though and did install my cable box, phone and internet very quickly and professionally but said he would not be able to fix the rest without a separate service call.  I called my sales rep twice and never heard back.  Here we are almost a month later, I'm going to have to cancel the phone number that I wanted ported thus losing the number and I've received a bill for my first month's services with a $75 credit for my troubles (really a $40 credit when you take into account my initial installation payment).  So much for the first bill being covered.

So why create this report? I have a few reasons I guess.  One, is so others who may actually have a choice in their provider hear my tale of woe and think twice before going with Time Warner.  If Al Qaeda Telecom opened up in Cincinnati, I probably wouldn't switch, but I wouldn't judge any of my neighbors if they did. Secondly I value my time too much to sit on a phone again with customer service just to be lied to again so I thought I'd just vent here and get the same result.  I'm a fairly laid back individual but these lies are just too much for me to stay silent about.  Losing the phone number stinks but I need new business cards anyway and most people call my cell phone.  I also have a few buddies who used to run cable in their younger days, so I can install the interior plugs on my own.  Best of luck to the rest of you stuck with them like I am though.

Thank you,