- Report: #247921
Complaint Review: Time Warner Cable - Racine, Milwaukee,etc Wisconsin
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Time Warner Cable
www.timewwarnercable.com Racine, Milwaukee,etc, 53182 Wisconsin, U.S.A.
Phone:
414-278-1150.
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Time Warner Cable Customer Care, poor service, illegal transaction Ripoff Racine Milwaukee Wisconsin
I had an overdue bill with Time Warner cable, and when you have two people laid-off it's hard to pay bills. Anyways, I called Time Warner Cable to make a partial pre-dated payment.
Just in case no one knows what "pre-dated" means, it means like a pre-dated check. You schedule it today, but it wont be paid until later (5 days in my case).
Anyways, I asked to do a partial payment of about $100 or so, instead of $154 or so, my amounts could be a little off. The gal then told me that you could only schedule a payment for 5 days in advance, and I was calling for 6 days, so I said okay, and called back the next day.
I then spoke to a gal named Rhonda. I scheduled a partial payment to be made for 5 days from then, so that my cable would not be interrupted. As it was, our cable was already messing up and you couldn't access half of what our service provided (which also cheated us because the bill statement said that our services would NOT BE INTERRUPTED if payment was made by 04/05/2007) and we always had problems with the service overall to begin with. Anyways, they tried to tell me I was wrong and that any other services would be taken away until payment, but I have it in writting on paper from Time Warner. So I confirmed that no money would be taken out of my account until 5 days from then.
After we hung up, I called back about 4 minutes later. Because when I had asked to make a partial payment, they said they would only authorize our services if I promised to call back within 9 days and finish the rest of the payment. I decided that it would be a waste of time and I would forget anyways, so I called back.
I said, now read carefully "hi Rhonda, this is Miss Christman, I spoke to you a few minutes ago, why don't we go ahead and make that a full payment now instead of a partial" Is it just me, or am I only asking for the amount to be changed and paid. YESS!!! THAT IS CORRECT! No where at any time did i authorize the payment to be taken out of my account any earlier and she never asked if I wanted it to be changed she just said okay, and hung up.
Well, 2 days later, i checked my online bank statement to see my funds after i paid my rent. I noticed that the day before, Time Warner had taken out the money 3 days early! My rent check bounced, which is $560.00, + what the bank charged and what the landlord charged me for a bounced check fee!
I then called to speak to a supervisor to have something done about it, at least complain because it was an "illegal transaction", I did NOT authorize payment befor the 5 days were up, I only changed which amount it would be. I talked to some lady who was stepping in for the supervisor and she said she checked the recorded lines and read back to me exactly what I said! DUH!!! I dont care if the woman mis-understood me, I was told I was wrong and that I authorized payment to be made then and there! and I DID NOT!
I did not say:"Okay Rhonda, I want you to pay it all now, and INSTEAD OF WAITING 5 days, lets just have it taken out today"
no, she just went ahead and did it. and then the "supervisor" wanna-be started yelling at me and saying "now i let you talk, you let me talk" and she kept repeating the same line over and saying Rhonda was right.
I work as a CSR, I know proper customer service, and i was treated pathetically, especially when i was trying to give the company money.
I want to let ANY AND EVERY person know, whether you are paying for your cable services or phone services, NEVER TALK TO CUSTOMER CARE OVER THE PHONE! they dont give a rat's behind about what you say, and cant even understand simple english obviously. I just wanted fair treatment, and i got s**t! Always make your transactions in person, because it isn't as much of a hassle in the end.
Audrey
Union Grove, Wisconsin
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Time Warner Cable
Just in case no one knows what "pre-dated" means, it means like a pre-dated check. You schedule it today, but it wont be paid until later (5 days in my case).
Anyways, I asked to do a partial payment of about $100 or so, instead of $154 or so, my amounts could be a little off. The gal then told me that you could only schedule a payment for 5 days in advance, and I was calling for 6 days, so I said okay, and called back the next day.
I then spoke to a gal named Rhonda. I scheduled a partial payment to be made for 5 days from then, so that my cable would not be interrupted. As it was, our cable was already messing up and you couldn't access half of what our service provided (which also cheated us because the bill statement said that our services would NOT BE INTERRUPTED if payment was made by 04/05/2007) and we always had problems with the service overall to begin with. Anyways, they tried to tell me I was wrong and that any other services would be taken away until payment, but I have it in writting on paper from Time Warner. So I confirmed that no money would be taken out of my account until 5 days from then.
After we hung up, I called back about 4 minutes later. Because when I had asked to make a partial payment, they said they would only authorize our services if I promised to call back within 9 days and finish the rest of the payment. I decided that it would be a waste of time and I would forget anyways, so I called back.
I said, now read carefully "hi Rhonda, this is Miss Christman, I spoke to you a few minutes ago, why don't we go ahead and make that a full payment now instead of a partial" Is it just me, or am I only asking for the amount to be changed and paid. YESS!!! THAT IS CORRECT! No where at any time did i authorize the payment to be taken out of my account any earlier and she never asked if I wanted it to be changed she just said okay, and hung up.
Well, 2 days later, i checked my online bank statement to see my funds after i paid my rent. I noticed that the day before, Time Warner had taken out the money 3 days early! My rent check bounced, which is $560.00, + what the bank charged and what the landlord charged me for a bounced check fee!
I then called to speak to a supervisor to have something done about it, at least complain because it was an "illegal transaction", I did NOT authorize payment befor the 5 days were up, I only changed which amount it would be. I talked to some lady who was stepping in for the supervisor and she said she checked the recorded lines and read back to me exactly what I said! DUH!!! I dont care if the woman mis-understood me, I was told I was wrong and that I authorized payment to be made then and there! and I DID NOT!
I did not say:"Okay Rhonda, I want you to pay it all now, and INSTEAD OF WAITING 5 days, lets just have it taken out today"
no, she just went ahead and did it. and then the "supervisor" wanna-be started yelling at me and saying "now i let you talk, you let me talk" and she kept repeating the same line over and saying Rhonda was right.
I work as a CSR, I know proper customer service, and i was treated pathetically, especially when i was trying to give the company money.
I want to let ANY AND EVERY person know, whether you are paying for your cable services or phone services, NEVER TALK TO CUSTOMER CARE OVER THE PHONE! they dont give a rat's behind about what you say, and cant even understand simple english obviously. I just wanted fair treatment, and i got s**t! Always make your transactions in person, because it isn't as much of a hassle in the end.
Audrey
Union Grove, Wisconsin
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Time Warner Cable
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Jay
Private,Michigan,
U.S.A.
The payment change
#2Consumer Comment
Fri, May 11, 2007
"why don't we go ahead and make that a full payment now instead of a partial" Written word oft loses the context, thus what the others are saying, I agree w/ - that this sentence says "I'd like to make the full payment now." Have you asked them if they have a voice recording? I know some cable companies record all calls (or @ least they say the do :) ). While the CSR could have clarified, you could have said it differently as well. Equal 'blame', in my eyes. Chalk it up as a lesson learned - next time say, "Instead of making a pre-dated partial payment, let's make it a pre-dated full payment." I've also never heard of a pre-dated payment, but every company is different.
Audrey
Union Grove,Wisconsin,
U.S.A.
update
#3Author of original report
Fri, May 11, 2007
This has nothing to do w/ people being laid off, I was just mentioning it, and that was the fact that i had 1month 1/2's worth of a bill to pay, I DID NOT ASK FOR AN EXTENTION. I am sorry i MENTIONED IT because you are single mindedly only looking at that comment. and no, Rhonda is not right. She would have to confirm that the payment is no longer being made in 5 days. the fact that i said I would like to make a full payment now instead of a partial payment, the word "now" is not being used as a "time-frame" the entire sentence would have the same meaning as if i were to only say "I would like to make a full payment instead of a partial...". The word "now" can be used as an adverb and a noun, but I wasn't thinking that someone would jump to the conclusion and say okay, we'll not only change the amounts being paid , but the time in which the payment would be taken out as well, and for the fact that i did tell them that the money would not be in the account until 5 days later, that constitutes for what i said and that they should have confirmed the transaction.
Audrey
Union Grove,Wisconsin,
U.S.A.
Time Warner Cable
#4Author of original report
Fri, May 11, 2007
Two people were laid off besides myself, so NO i was NOT laid off! and yes, I work as a CSR, which stands for Customer Service Rep. Anyways, they do schedule payments to be taken out 5 days ahead of time, just talk to the payment center! And the reason we kept it, was because the antennae for local tv didn't even produce one channel and even so, the cable service is supposedly the "fastest connection", and "... a home entertainment experience that makes it all possible". So, we kept it, because I wanted what we were paying for. CABLE SERVICES And No I didn't have enough money in the account, that is why it was scheduled for 5 days ahead, for the day of PAYDAY and that is EXACTLY what I told them in the beginning! AND.. do you still work for TIME WARNER? If you don't, then you have no right to defend them, the technical department has nothing to do with the payment department, as far as im concerned, when i asked the technical department a question about payment options, they were soo oblivios as to what I asked. I know where i work, im trained to be able to answer questions for another department. You shouldnt have to wait on hold for 45 minutes or wait 1hr 15 minutes for a callback.. thats rediculous too. Also, you need to get facts straight about what payment options are available befor you start jumpin my gun! THANKS! =]
Edward
Vine Grove,Kentucky,
U.S.A.
Time to make the donuts
#5Consumer Comment
Fri, May 11, 2007
Life is hard. We all have problems. Yours are no different. Unfortunately, I have yet to see a contract, that has additional clauses for those problems, in ones personal life. It would be nice if the contract stated, that if you have two people in the household that are laid-off, you get an automatic extension. Life would be so peachy, if people only had to pay if they wanted. Of course, you embellish your story, by mentioning, that you were not getting half of the services, already. That would be a different issue. I hope they fix those problems, when you get the service back. I did follow your instructions. I did read carefully. Rhonda did exactly as you instructed her to do. Why don't we go ahead and make a full payment NOW, instead of a partial Doesn't, NOW mean NOW? If you had of been talking to me, I would have understood that to mean you want to apply full payment, as of that moment, not 5 days later. You have a high cable bill. Was the amount for just one month or for two months? You losing your cable services may be a blessing in disguise. Since the two laid off people will no longer be able to sit in front of the TV all day, maybe they can go out and find a job. Until you get your cable service back, it is time to pull out the Monopoly game and have some family fun.
Steve
Cary,North Carolina,
U.S.A.
Your kidding right?
#6UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, May 11, 2007
You have "two people laid-off it's hard to pay bills" and you are worried about paying your cable bill?! I have never heard of a pre-dated electronic payment like what you are talking about, but I worked more in tech suppport than customer service when I was there. "our cable was already messing up and you couldn't access half of what our service provided (which also cheated us because the bill statement said that our services would NOT BE INTERRUPTED if payment was made by 04/05/2007) and we always had problems with the service overall to begin with." SO why keep it if its that bad? Your rent was supposed to come out THEN the cable payment was supposed to come out, did you have enough in the account to cover both? "it was an "illegal transaction" So if it was "illegal", did you file a fraud complaint with your bank? "I work as a CSR" So which is it? Are you working as a CSR or are you laid off??
