Cable....Finally! (Update on the situation with Time Warner)

A lot has happened since my last post about my unfortunate dealings with Time Warner. I'll try and keep the udpdate as concise as possible.

On Saturday, I went into the Time Warner office here in Mount Vernon. I came armed with the copy of my original order dated December 26th for installation on January 3rd, a copy of my letter to the Better Business Bureau and my father (as support). 

When we arrive, we are greeted by one of the salesmen who immediately begins to go into his pitch...flirting with me and all in front of my father (who at this point started to laugh because he knew what was about to happen next). Already not in a good mood because I had to come into the office, I cut him short and get straight to the reason for my visit. I tell the salesman about the phone conversation with the manager and her crappy comment, the nonsense they told me about paying the previous resident's bill and for their box and about the letter I sent to the BBB. He proceeds to tell me that is is common practice by all ultilies to charge the resident of the apartment (new or old) for any outstanding fees (wtf?).

When I challenge thiis customary practice of time warner with another real world example...I used the example of the salesman moving into a new apartmer or home and wanting to get service from ConEd (the electric company in NYC and Westchester) and not being able to do so because the previous person didn't pay their last bill. He told me that wouldn't be fair and when I flipped it and asked him why this situation with time warner is fair, he just looked at me dumbfounded. Needless to say, he still didn't get it.

After threatening to write to Senator Chuch Schumer (NY Senator who is always fighting on behalf of the common person against big business), he then said he would look into the situation and see what he could do. Ok...

He pulled up the account which is linked through the apartment. After verifying that I indeed was not the previous resident, he decided to put the previous account for the apartment in collections (something that should have already been done). He then took out a form to set up a new installation for Monday (unlike every other cable service I know, Time Warner doesn't do installations on the weekends). He knocked off the installation and the deposit for the equipment. Fine. That'd work. He gave me a copy of the receipt for the appointment on Monday and everything was supposed to be fine.

Fast forward to today, Monday. My appointment was supposed to be between 8AM and Noon. Fine. I patiently waited for the arrival of the cable guy. My father called me at 10:30 to find out if the cable guy had arrived. When 11:15 hit and still no word from the cable guy, I called back the salesman who had given me his card. Of course he didn't answer. So I left him a curt message. At that same exact moment, the BBB called to speak to me about the complaint. After getting the direct number for the TW liasion who works with BBB at solving customer issues, Mr. salesman called back.

He pretended at first not to know who I was or what I was talking about, I reminded him that I was the woman who was going to call the Senator all of a sudden..."oh sh*t, I forgot to put the order in." Was he serious? Folks, I can't make crap like this up! I flipped out. He told me he was going to call me right back (it was now 11:30).

He never called me back. At noon, I called him. He then proceeds to tell me that he never gave me an appointment for today and tried to lie his way out. When I told him I had the receipt with his signature on it confirming today's appointment, he then thinks that telling me that I can get an appointment for first thing tomorrow would suffice. WRONG! I had already taken off two days (last Thursday and today) from work to handle this situation. With no vacation and personal days accrued as of yet, I am taking the hit directly with lack of pay. Waiting for tomorrow, just wasn't going to cut it. He had to have my service up and running before close of business today. Of course he gives me, "oh miss, I don't think I can do that...." yadda yadda yadda. I don't care, I am not dealing with this another day. I then proceed to tell him that I am going to call Help Me Howard (for those of you who reside in the NYC tri-state area, you may be familiar with the Consumer Affairs Reporter on the CW11). Mr. Salesman quickly changed his tune. "Are you going to be home in the next hour?" "Yes." "I'll have someone there, don't move." "If you say so."

Not confident that anything was going to actually happen, I began getting ready to run some errands. I got caught up answering emails when all of suddent..."ding dong"-- the doorbell rings. Lo and behold...Mr. Cable Guy. Wow. I was shocked to say the least. And in no time flat, he had me hooked with free HBO and Cinemax as well as a DVR box. It took 15 minutes. All this drama for 15 minutes.

Anyway, needless to say, I just called from Time Warner asking to confirm an appointment for today (mind you it already happened) but when prompted for what time of the appointment, none had been set. At this point, I'm waiting to see my bill. They better not mess this up.....

Why did I have to go there to get service? Grrrrr.

Part one of this saga can be found at: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977219535&nav=Namespace.