Dear Time Warner Cable:
Give me back my email!
It’s been 10 days with no ability to receive or send email whatsoever. And all you have to say about the matter is that you’re having “issues.”
For days, I couldn’t get a response out of Time Warner, but I did hear from AT&T. Now that’s what I call strategic marketing!
Well I have issues ALL THE TIME, but do you see me holding your emails hostage? I think not!
Not only have you absconded with my email, your fees keep going up while your service keeps heading south. And yet I’m stuck with you.
I could switch to satellite but I live in a condo and for some reason the Homeowners’ Association doesn’t look kindly upon me putting a satellite dish on top of the building.
Or, I could get AT&T U-verse installed but, wouldn’t you know it? It’s not available to me! And sure, the folks that live on either side of me can get it, but I must have b.o. or something because AT&T won’t step one iota into my place to install it. Ha!
What am I, chopped liver?
I can’t even switch to the only other cable company in town because to do so would mean HAVING TO MOVE!! Which I don’t want to do.
But I digress.
I’ve come to realize that like all cable companies, you are a spineless,
greedy,
sinister and
evil monopoly that wants to suck every last penny from your customers and in return you give us–
–Nothing!
No service!
Which is why, I’m mad at you!
My hostility toward you started last year when I called to cancel Showtime, in what was a desperate attempt to save money. Frankly, $175 a month for cable seemed kind of high, like you’d have to be high to be willing to pay that much.
So what did you do to help me? You unbundled all my other services—including my email—which I had no idea were bundled in the first place and then you started charging me $400 per month, instead of $175.
Let me reiterate that. $400 a month!! Are you kidding me?
I mean, you call that saving money? I call that being out of touch with your customers. I ended up having to fight you tooth and nail to get out of that little snafu. I’m so mad!
Apropos of nothing, whatever happened to the old adage, the customer is always right?
Now this latest debacle.
I tweet you every day to ask, “Is the email issue fixed?” and you groan about your issues. Well, I think I should send you Henry, my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I bet he can fix your “issues,” once and for all, faster than all your technicians. I mean, ten days and no service. Are you having to rebuild the entire internet??
And don’t get me started on net neutrality. When I heard John Oliver, my favorite British comic, explain net neutrality, I just about lost it. Sure, I got a good laugh about the whole thing, but then I was livid. So angry that I had to submit a comment of my own to the FCC. In fact, thanks to John Oliver, the FCC is getting inundated with comments from Americans who are infuriated by how all the cable companies are trying to create a two-tier system so that you can charge us more for faster speed rate.
How dare you try to “un-level” the playing field! Don’t you even think about tinkering with my Netflix and Hulu! For crying out loud, can you stop looking for ways to gauge the consumer?
I’ve had it with you. One of these days…ONE OF THESE DAYS…I swear I will cancel my service! In fact the only thing stopping me from doing so is my love for TV and for the internet. But other than that…I’m so peeved, I could…I could SCREAM my bloody head off!
Sorry about that last outburst. I need a moment to compose myself.
There. I think I feel a little better, now that I’ve gotten this off my chest.
So Time Warner, in conclusion, let’s be rational, shall we? What do you say you give me my email service back and we’ll call it even? I’ll keep paying you as much as you want, I swear. Just give me back my email and let me keep my net neutrality, and I promise I will never complain again.
We’re good, right?
Sincerely,
Monica
Update: Since writing this letter, in a moment of unequivocal frustration bordering on sheer madness, the cable company has resolved the issue. Good for them. Only took them 11 days. Imagine that.
So readers, how about you? Any frustrations with the cable companies? Do tell!
And if you’re not familiar with net neutrality, watch John Oliver explain it in the clip below. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and I guarantee, you’ll be infuriated, too. So, enjoy!
Monica's Tangled Web 
Terribly, I’m laughing so hard that I am crying! – Which is very fitting because every.single.word you’ve written I’ve related to at SOME point in my relationship with ISP’s.
Crying tears again watching John Oliver explain Net Neutrality.
P.s: I love Sting…
Miss Lou, it’s a love-hate relationship I have with cable. We keep a wary distance from each other. I say a quick prayer each time I get ready to turn on the TV or go online, with the sincere hope that my service will work when I power on. Five out of 8 times my prayers are answered! Where the cable company is concerned, I couldn’t ask for better odds!
Blessed you are during those 5 times, and for the other 3 – blessed are you still for the marvelous workout your character gets when you practice tonnes of patience.. lol
I put my entire cable (cable, internet, landline) under my business for $28 more a month I get business service. The entire neighborhood can be out, they have to fix my house first and within 24 hours. I am a business customer. Rude, but effective. I take full advantage of it.
I would recommend though you get yourself an e-mail account with gmail or some other ‘free’ provider Monica. Do not allow them to hold you hostage again.
Wow, Val, I had no idea that’s how being a business customer works. It’s not rude, it’s savvy! Re email, I already have a gmail account. But a lot of folks know my cable email address, including my bank, credit cards, and others I do business with. I have found the thought of making the transition to only gmail, overwhelming, but I guess I’m going to have to do it, given how I’m chomping at the bit to rid myself of Time Warner.
Do it, change them all over. They honestly will never notice.
I do hope because of the inconvenience, that you receive a discount, Monica!
Assholes))!! xxxxx
Why of course, I worked them over and forced their hand. A most generous discount. Just check out my response to Totsy and see for yourself how lucky I am!! Whee!
I hope you demanded discounts for the inconvenience. I don’t know that you’d be real happy with AT&T either, if you could get them. They go up and justify it all kindsa ways. I hate them and will prove it my discontinuing my service in August. I already ditched their cell service.
Good that you have the service back. You got something out of it with a post and all. I don’t know how much that’s worth to you though.
Totsy, Just last Friday, when it had been 10 days, I called demanding compensation for my trouble. They told me they’re going to give me a whopping $17 discount!! Whoopee! Happy Days are here again!
Of course the bill arrived today and there is no discount on it. Grrr. Will have to call again and complain. Double Grrrr.
Here’s a funny story for you. We have Optimum/Cablevision in our neck of the woods, and when we first signed on we had the choice of gold (everything) or silver (choose between HBO and Showtime). We went for HBO. Sometime in the last year or so I learned that for an additional $6 or 7 a month we could have both — which would mean not having to wait for Netflix to watch ‘Homeland’. Long story short, my husband refused to give those Cablevision thieves a penny more. It was by accident that we discovered a few months later that we have Showtime. The message: my husband doesn’t look at Cablevision bills as carefully as I do. He assumed our increase in monthy charge was corporate greed. The wife knows better: the old ‘silver’ package no longer gives options. It’s all or nothing. Go ahead, laugh.
Deborah, Cable companies with their elusive bundling system can be so aggravating. We need to let them know how Mad as Hell we are and that we’re not going to take it anymore. Until then, they will continue to walk all over us. It’s confounding!
Loved John Oliver, hate the cable companies. I own my own house, but it’s an old neighborhood and trying to find a place to put the dish where there weren’t trees was a little tricky. I have “no TV” days, which you don’t have with the cable, but the service is better. Wish you weren’t pariah. (monopolies were illegal in this country once upon a time – weren’t they?)
Isn’t John Oliver a hoot? Did you hear his interview on NPR’s Fresh Air? If not, you can find it on their website. It was excellent. I actually had a dish once and it didn’t work out. I wasn’t allowed to put it on the roof or anywhere higher than the wall that surrounds my patio. I practically had to keep it on the patio floor which worked out really well. Not. So I had to cancel Direct TV. They made me mad, too.
I haven’t heard it. I’ll have to check it out! Thanks!
The interview was conducted last week. He even talks about the great response he got to his segment on net neutrality. Did you know that he single-handedly got America to file so many complaints that the FCC’s website went down? Brilliant.
Fortunately, I have a local internet service with a satellite dish. But I use gmail for my e-mail service. I know your frustration though. At one time, I was enslaved to Comcast for both Internet and TV. They can keep all that bundling shit. I like to stay diversified. I have Verizon for landline, AT&T for cell, Credo for long distance phone, local company Impulse for Internet, and Dish for TV. I figure they can’t possibly fuck me over all at once.
I love your idea of not relying on just one company to provide all the services, though that’s what they want so they can bundle them. I think Bundling is the biggest scam around. If you ever ask them to itemize it, they can’t do it. I want to know the formula on how they price these bundles but apparently only the Wizard of Oz knows that. Sigh.
Last week the storms knocked out our cable and since we bundle that meant no internet, cable or landline (I know, but my mom likes to call me on my landline). They told me someone had to be home when they reconnected, so I took an afternoon off. I was in the middle of a project with my boss and told him I had to leave. I didn’t want to miss my appointment because I knew I would then go to the bottom of the list. My boss was not pleased and said they will most likely be 4 hours late anyway. Well he was wrong. They didn’t show up at all. Apparently there was a scheduling error. They did reconnect us the next day and miraculously I no longer needed to be there. So 3 days with no cable, a missed afternoon of work and they give us an $18 credit.
I’m looking forward to the online survey – last time I gave all one’s and wrote in the comments they deserved a zero, but didn’t allow me to overwrite my selections.
Everyone in my neighborhood is switching to AT&T U-verse, but honestly I am not sure if they are much better.
Glad to hear they fixed your problem, you should get at least a $20 credit for your trouble!
Savvy, Did they even apologize for not showing up? Here’s what I do to avoid that kind of situation. I confirm the day of. I call Time Warner to make sure they’re still planning to make a stop at my place. They’ve been known to show up at 6 or 7 pm, too. I’m still considering whether to dump my cable. I know a lot of people who are doing it and now relying on Hulu and Netflix for their TV fix. I’m not ready yet, though. To me, that’s akin to going Cold Turkey!
Crazy. As a Canadian and hostage to just a few big market players, I’ve often envied the US in choice and affordability. No more, thanks to your post! My internet, cable, and 4 family cell phones are all bundled and I guess I’m getting a reasonable deal! I rarely watch TV but could not live without internet.
Astra, we have choice and affordability in nearly everything else. Ironically, when I was a kid AT&T had the monopoly on the phone. Then the federal government forced Ma Bell to break up and stop that monopoly. Here we are, all these years later and the cable companies are like the Mob. They divvy up the territory and ensure they don’t overlap, yet somehow the government doesn’t see it as a monopoly, and so they don’t do anything about it! I don’t get it.
Oh wait a minute. Yes I do. If you watch the John Oliver segment below, he explains how the Cable industry is the second largest lobby and/or contributor to campaign funds for politicians, second only to the corporations that support the military. Something like that. Watch and you’ll see.
Poor Monica. I sympathize, having to hear on a regular basis similar complaints from Domer. He, too, is FURIOUS with the cable company (especially their high fees). I think you told them good — in fact, I know you did. Why else would they have resolved the problem?!?
Poor Domer, too. Why does cable have to be so expensive anyway? I feel bad, he’s just starting out on his own and already has to deal with the cable business? At least, when I was starting out, there was no such thing as cable! Wasn’t until I reached 30 that cable was installed in my town. That was the beginning of the end.
For me it is the phone company. It boarders bizarre. I try to be nice, I keep trying…
Jodi, maybe sometime you can write a post as to how to maintain calmness in the face of such frustration. Phone companies, cable companies. They all have the potential to drive us mad!
I have Comcast here in the Seattle area. They all offer deals when you first hook up but then that “bundle” of extras starts costing a whole bundle of money when that grace period ends ( without warning).
TW was our company in the Palm Desert area and my HOA decided all our homes would benefit from a set “reduced” rate if we included a 5 YEAR contract with TW as part of our homeowner’s dues. This was going to benefit the community to crack down on owners that failed to pay their HOA monthly fees. TW said they could disconnect the delinquent home from any service. Of course this wasn’t the case because if the homeowners paid for the upgraded services ie internet and expanded cable they couldn’t disconnect them.
Like your condo, my house wasn’t eligible for DSL through Verizon but my neighbor across the street was eligible and had it.
Great topic and John Oliver is hysterical! Thank you!!!!
The whole system of getting TV into homes is a mess. I hate it, I resent it but the bottom line is nobody cares. The cable companies have a stronghold on us and can pretty much do whatever they want. Sigh.
OMG–this is CRAZY! We were without internet for two weeks, and I was trying to resolve the issue with the cable company in Spanish that is not entirely adequate (to say the least), but there was no threat of prices going up to $400. So you have your email tied to TimeWarner? I would go with Gmail or something that can’t be taken from you. Or did you lose your internet, as well? Now cell phone companies are another disaster-evil. Don’t get me started on that! However, I’m glad your issue is FINALLY resolved!
Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
How is your Spanish these days? I bet its fabulous. I’d say you’re at least 60% fluent, if not more. Glad you resolved your internet issues. My problem’s fixed for now, but I’m going to look into why AT&T isn’t available for my unit. Seriously, the people who live right next door have it, so why can’t I? I smell a conspiracy. 😉
Monica.
You are not alone.
This side of the pond we have a near monopoly by BT. Sure we have a few companies with their own networks, Virgin being a good example. But compared to BT they are small. Most if not all of the networks rely on BT at some stage of the process. Now normally they are good but when they are bad they seem to be very good at it.
Don’t get me started about our cellphone companies, they are often no better. Poor coverage, high roaming fees and endless excuses. The days of service to the customer other than by paper or verbal promises have long gone. It’s all about money and profit multiplied by greed.
I have a friend over your side of the water and he had problems with his computer, the dealer wanted a shade under $500 to come out and fix it, he gave my friend a run down of what was wrong and my friend was on the verge of buying a new computer, off this same dealer. I remotely connected to his machine and in ten minutes it was all sorted. He now say’s it’s running better than it ever has.
As you know I own a web design and hosting company and I am appalled at the amount some other companies charge for slap happy crappy work. A lot of what I see I would be ashamed to put either my companies or my own name to. A local organisation recently had a web site done and paid around £2500 for the work, at last count I found over 40 errors on the site, and they have a contract that says that they have to pay £50 a month for anything to be changed on the site including updates, they must be mad!!!
With regard to your company try putting time warner complaints into a search engine if you haven’t already, you will find the results interesting.
As a final comment have you noticed when you ring a company and are greeted with a multitude of options you will always find an option to complain, but never find an option so you can praise them. I wonder why? Plus it’s always quicker to get through to sales, but customer service for complaints is always busy.
I did as you suggested and found a site that lists the top 798 complaints about Time Warner Cable, including complaints about email, just like my problem! Check this one out:
“My email stopped working. I couldn’t send or receive email. I called TWC tech support several times but was always told they were having a problem with email in my area and they were working on it. I depend on email so I had to continue to make an attempt to get this resolved. It became comical dealing with TWC tech support. I was told that a higher level tech would be calling me back which never happened. I was told this at least four times but I never received a call from anyone at TWC. My email has not worked correctly for over a month and I want something done about it.”
Anyway, thanks for the tip. I had no idea there was a whole community with which I could commiserate.
Oh yes Monica there are complaint sites for most of the big companies both national and international. Some make quite sad reading from a customer service point of view.