Has anyone ever booked appt with Time Warner to fix cable...

Over and over and over again to the point where I had free cable for months (call and insist on one month free service).

Demand the name of the technician who supposedly showed up and the time. Tell them you want to speak with the dispatcher/local foreman.

They are NOTORIOUS for this bullshit.

Sorry, I misread that. Yes, they do the scenario you described as well. Call bullshit.

I think it was cablevision (but aren't these cable companies all the same) that told me the guy showed but got no answer. There was just no way I could have missed him as I could see and hear through the open window from all two rooms of our apartment. When pressed, the operator told me they have to describe where they went and "my" tech said it was a such and such color door and house. All totally wrong and didn't match any home hear us. The operator told me sometimes they guys just have too many appointments and lie about going to them all.

Whenever they have flaked, I have demanded to get the name of the technician, and then said I wanted to speak with them. I told them I want that technician to get on the phone with me and lie to me directly about what time they were there, what bell they rang, what color my house is, etc. It was a battle, but I got credit every time. It's still bullshit because you waste 4 hours waiting for them and then more time arguing with them on the phone....but every time they do it, I make them pay - I'd like to think that bullshit like that has some consequences, even though it is obviously still going on.

Subject: Done With Time Warner

I have finally given up on Time Warner. They are the most incompetent cable company I've ever dealt with. I'll post my entire story later (when I have more energy and the anger is burning enough to write it all out), but essentially I've had 3 different technicians come to my ground-level Park Slope apartment over the past 2 1/2 weeks. The first two each showed up and said that they couldn't do the job by themselves - essentially re-run cable from the box outside on a pole into my apt. The 3rd guy showed up, also unaware of the job ahead of him. He was pissed off that it he was working on a Saturday early evening. As was I, we had a 2-5pm appointment, and he finally showed at 6:30pm...just as guests were arriving that we were entertaining for the evening. He did a shit-job of an installation. He drilled all sorts of holes in my walls, ran cable down the hallway floor (seriously?!), tore the screen on my screen door bringing his equipment in, left bundles of cable behind, and left without verifying the cable and internet was working (it was not, only partially working cable and no internet). I was so pissed at that point that I felt it better that he leave. I found out that these subcontractors get paid $50/job (what?!)...no wonder they often have horrible attitudes and don't want to do anything beyond setting up the easy stuff. To get cable / internet this past move, my wife and I have wasted roughly 15 hours of our time waiting on useless technicians and talking to everyone and their mothers on service calls. I am done. I'm moving to Direct TV and a DSL service for internet. Any advice from anyone who has Direct TV or uses a DSL service for internet would be very welcome. I know there are other threads on these topics, but I saw this one and felt it appropriate to share my nightmare of a story...which sounds to not be that unique. If Time Warner went away tomorrow forever, this would be a better place...or at least if a viable competitor rolled into town. As I mentioned above, this is only part of my story...I've put up with their shit for the past 7 years on a few different moves to new apts. No more.

Carry on.

^it's called the "customer advocacy group". You have to have an open case number to get one assigned, but insist on it. I got a really good one last time - she actually returned calls and pro-actively checked on progress.

Ah, how timely. Had my own run-in with TWC last week. Intermittent Internet service for the past week, phoned, "earliest possible appointment" was five days later between 2-5PM. Took the appointment. On the assigned day, waited. No tech by 4PM - I call TWC to make sure I'm on the list, which the recorded message assures me I am. Called at 5PM exactly - am assured by an actual human that technician is on the way, running late, should be here by 5:30. Call back at 6:15 - mysteriously, the prerecorded message says my appointment time has been extended to 7PM but the rep says the dispatcher tried to call, couldn't get through, so they cancelled the appointment.

I went ballistic - told her that was an out-and-out lie, what number did they call, what time did they call. Rep starts backpedaling, "um, I'm not sure what happened" and transfers me to the scheduling department. Guess what? "Earliest possible appointment" is another five days away. I told the guy, "No. Just no. You people are liars and this is unacceptable." Miraculously, an appointment slot appeared sooner.

Now that my Internet is fixed, I'm battling with them for a month's free service.

As soon as Verizon FIOS lines are laid on my street, I'm dropping TWC like a bad habit.

Their abysmal customer service is the reason I switched to DirecTV ten years ago. Never looked back.

^ what did you do for internet? Because I did Verizon DSL, and even thought I was pretty close to the CO, it was slow as shit

So, I'm curious as to whether TWC + Direct TV = less money than TWC for internet + cable (for the same channels/services).

yeah, it's looking like it'll be ~$20 cheaper per month for me.