Time Warner Cable Review

Overall Rating

Yeah, right...

Worst customer service, pricing, rude, money grubbing, evil empire

Time Warner is a perfect example of how pathetic and atrocious big business gets when any company has a total monopoly over a service region.


I have had cable television in Los Angeles for over 10 years. Never before have I been harassed for fractional late payments, had my cable actually cut off for partial overcharges, and daily phone calls hounding me for money.

My bill is approximately 150.00 a month for TV and internet. This company decided, not only to levee a late fee against my account, (which I don't actually understand) but they then shut off my cable for my failure to pay it within about 8 days. That was ten days ago. I was forced to make a 30.00 credit card payment over the phone to turn service back on. It took me 48 minutes on hold to speak to someone; within minutes we were "accidentally" disconnected.

I then spent another 43 minutes on hold to get reconnected a second time. The customer disservice rep told me I had an additional balance due on Feb 1st of 150.00 dollars - give or take. I told him I would mail that in and that I didn't want to pay it yet. After paying my "late fee"(30 whopping dollars) I asked to speak to a supervisor about my dissatisfaction with this whole process.

I was told it was not possible to speak to anyone but they would call me back within 24 hours. I asked for clarity about this and they ASSURRED me I would be contacted within the next 24-48 hours by a supervisor.

I never did hear from anyone. NOTHING.

As disgusted as I was, I decided to just let it go anyway. It simply wasn't worth the another hour and a half of my life to try again.

Ten days later I went to order a pay per view movie (January 31st) and this feature was blocked due to "billing related issues."

That's odd, I thought. How could I be late again, I just paid my bill current ten days ago? The automated phone system then told me I had a balance of over 320.00!!


In a moment lapse of reason I chose to walk down the path of shear madness and absolute stupidity and called in to speak to customer disservice again.

This phone call set a new personal record for hold times to speak to any organization... 1 hour and 14 minutes!!!

Wouldn't it be nice if massive multi-billion dollar corporations like Time Warner could actually hire enough people to handle customer service calls with... well, service?!?!

After cooking and eating an entire meal while on hold, I was greeted by a harsh and impatient woman who began by telling me I now had a 38 days past due balance of 152.00! This was very strange, since only a week and a half ago I paid my bill current... and was told that my next payment of 152.00 was due on February 2nd.

***scratching head while looking bewildered***

What's more, she was totally unable to tell me when this past due amount was originally due! I checked my check stubs and I have sent in payments of over 140 dollars monthly since at least October. The mystery grows larger

I told her I wanted a copy of my "ledger" which is a breakdown of the last six months of service, payments, etc.

During this conversation, I told her about the previous "engagement" with customer service. She asked if I would like to speak to a supervisor right now.

"WOW!" I thought. Just like that?

A few minutes more hold resulted in her getting back on and saying that she couldn't transfer me, but she would be glad to have a supervisor call me back within 24 hours blah, blah, blah

Truly amazing. Why do we not have an open and competitive market when it comes to cable TV?

Needless to say, I am going to switch to direct TV. They don't deserve the 2000.00 dollars annually they get from me. If they cared at all, they would man their phones, solve problems, and come up with some real answers to customer concerns.

If you have a choice, DO NOT GET TIME WARNER CABLE!

if you have a choice, that is.