Tips on dealing with Time Warner
Trying to be constructive here. No ranting. We've had repeated outages of TimeWarner broadband in our N Slope area for about four weeks. (Cable TV is fine.) Getting a response has been frustrating. Here are some tips I've learned:
1.TW will not recognize an "outage" until a whole bunch of people have called to complain. (One CSR said the magic number is 10.) So if your service goes down (one or two lights on the modem blink monotonously), and you're pretty sure it's not just you (your neighbors are down, too; a number of open wifi networks are concurrently disconnected), you must call.
If fewer than 10 people call, they may tell each of them to come in and replace the modem, or they may schedule individual appointments over the next few weeks. (Warning: If they identify the problem before your appointment, they will cancel and probably neglect to tell you.) If enough people call to convince them there is an outage, they may respond faster, and they may find the real problem.
2. Calling customer service (718-358-0900) is a real hassle, but you can make it easier. Again, if you're sure it's an outage and not just you, you can avoid the useless automated troubleshooting system (20 minutes easy) by refusing to respond to one of the recorded questions, or by saying something that's not one of the listed choices. ("I don't understand what you're saying." "None of the above." "I want to talk to a human being.") This may take some experimentation. After the first CSR tells you to bring in your modem or schedule an appointment, insist on speaking to a supervisor.
If you've got the option, it's obviously a lot easier to shirk your responsibilities here by jumping on a neighbor's open Verizon/wifi network (or by taking your laptop to a coffee shop). But if you leave it to somebody else to call, you will eventually end up writing long missives to bulletin boards.
3. Call back the next day. Maybe that will count as two complaints.
4. Tell your neighbors to call, too.
5. Getting a credit for lost service? Good luck with that, but making the phone calls is a necessary first step.
1.TW will not recognize an "outage" until a whole bunch of people have called to complain. (One CSR said the magic number is 10.) So if your service goes down (one or two lights on the modem blink monotonously), and you're pretty sure it's not just you (your neighbors are down, too; a number of open wifi networks are concurrently disconnected), you must call.
If fewer than 10 people call, they may tell each of them to come in and replace the modem, or they may schedule individual appointments over the next few weeks. (Warning: If they identify the problem before your appointment, they will cancel and probably neglect to tell you.) If enough people call to convince them there is an outage, they may respond faster, and they may find the real problem.
2. Calling customer service (718-358-0900) is a real hassle, but you can make it easier. Again, if you're sure it's an outage and not just you, you can avoid the useless automated troubleshooting system (20 minutes easy) by refusing to respond to one of the recorded questions, or by saying something that's not one of the listed choices. ("I don't understand what you're saying." "None of the above." "I want to talk to a human being.") This may take some experimentation. After the first CSR tells you to bring in your modem or schedule an appointment, insist on speaking to a supervisor.
If you've got the option, it's obviously a lot easier to shirk your responsibilities here by jumping on a neighbor's open Verizon/wifi network (or by taking your laptop to a coffee shop). But if you leave it to somebody else to call, you will eventually end up writing long missives to bulletin boards.
3. Call back the next day. Maybe that will count as two complaints.
4. Tell your neighbors to call, too.
5. Getting a credit for lost service? Good luck with that, but making the phone calls is a necessary first step.
Comments
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I had a similar problem and after many hassles, I had the outage cleared. Try calling back!
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The best way to deal with TW is by using the city's Dept of Info and Technology [DOITT] who regulates the company and is the city department that control the franchise. If you go to their section in the nyc.gov website, there is a place to deal with complaints.
I did and I got credits for lost service, and a few letters from real people at TW NYC. -
It terms of what to say so voice recognition kicks you to a human, I've found that "agent" or "operator" works for most...
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Is Time Warner a problem for everyone? in South Slope?
I have Verizon DSL, which hasn't been working the past couple of weeks and I was thinking of switching to Time Warner. But if TW is just gonna give me more problems, forget it. -
Oh, don't even get me started.
I have a log that is literally 6+ pages long.
Every single time you talk with somebody open up your (electronic) notebook and start by getting their name and agent ID.
If you have an appointment and they don't show up, start calling an hour before the end of the window (say 12-4...call at 3) and tell them they aren't there. Ask them to call dispatch and find out where they are. Again, take notes.
They've tried pulling bullshit saying they came and I wasn't home several times. I called demanding the technician and dispatchers name and exact time they claim to have come.
Call back when your bill comes and insist on a month's credit for EACH missed appointment.
At one point I had FOUR month of free cable. So pathetic.
Next route is threatening to call (and actually writing to) the DOITT.
I have also called directly to the President's office and had his assitant's phone number and name. She was good about ensuring stuff got taken care of.
I would write more, but my blood pressure goes up just thinking about them! -
I only had a relatively small problem, but you should have gone to DOITT sooner. I did very early in the process and I got all I wanted and more out of TWC.
Actually, in terms of service, TWC has been consistently better than Verizon.
Remember they're all utilities, and TWC knows it has competition breathing down its neck. Whisper the name "Verizon" "FiOS" or "DirecTV" in their ears and they'll be all over your case. -
I wish I knew about DOITT when I lived in PS. One day our internet and cable went out, we checked the backyard and guess what we found? Time Warner came out to install someone else's cable in our building, decided to put in a new box, plugged theirs into the new one and shut ours (the old one) off! Even though it was their fault we still had to wait a week for them to come out and fix it. Not good considering I was in school at the time and needed internet access. They suck.
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In addition to calling the DOITT you should also:
- send a letter to the CEO of Time Warner, you should find the name and address on the "investor" page of the website
- call the NY State Utilities Commission and file a complaint -
Are you still getting the same problem? I asked because my beau cable has been down for over 24 hours now and it's fustrating. They told him last night 192 clients were without service.
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WhatWouldJermaineDurpiDo wrote: Is Time Warner a problem for everyone? in South Slope?
Yes, South Slope, North Slope, East Slope, West Slope. Time Warner's repair people are here fixing stuff once every 2-3 months. -
Are you still getting the same problem? I asked because my beau cable has been down for over 24 hours now and it's fustrating. They told him last night 192 clients were without service.
Yep. They seem to have a bigger problem than they realize. Broadband goes out every few days. They fix it, and it goes out again. Last week the problem spread to the cable tv. That got their attention. Three TW trucks pulled up to the block about 6:00 that night. Neighbors were shouting out windows that their service was out, too. (Guys in the trucks seemed surprised to hear that.) A few hours later, all was well . . . for almost a week. Wednesday TV & broadband went out again. More trucks, more night work--in the rain--and they got the cable TV up, but internet is still out.
Waiting to see if DOITT does the trick. (Thanks for the advice!) It did bring a quick response from a polite and far more knowledgeable CSR. She sounds efficient and plugged in. Jury's out on how effective she will prove. -
In regards to RoadRunner....
During peak times(6pm -11pm) for the last few weeks RR has been absolutely awful. Terrible ping times and terrible bandwidth. Unusable. If anyone frequents any of the broadband or networking message boards they are filled with brooklyn RR complaints.
The only way to get TW to actually do anything is to log a complaint with DOITT.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/html/consumer/consumer_cable_service_form.shtml
Unless you are fairly computer savy and are willing to speak technobabble to a TW level 3 technician, DOITT is the only way anyone can get anything solved. The normal TW customer service will only give you the runaround and give you the "peak time" talk about how they can't do anything because its shared bandwidth with the neighborhood.
Also, call verizon as much as you can and request FIOS service. Until FIOS is here we are all basically at the mercy of TW. -
Wow. I am so glad to finally hear I am not the only one with RR CRAWLING every night. I can't get any work done! It's driving me nuts.
When I called TW they acted as if they had never heard this problem and that I was the only one with the problem. I have a repair guy coming out tomorrow morning - a lot of good that will do considering the problem is only at night.
scottb2k - what are some of the broadband forums you're referring to? I'd be interested to read up on other people's problems... -
PS Sarah wrote: Wow. I am so glad to finally hear I am not the only one with RR CRAWLING every night. I can't get any work done! It's driving me nuts.
Sarah,
When I called TW they acted as if they had never heard this problem and that I was the only one with the problem. I have a repair guy coming out tomorrow morning - a lot of good that will do considering the problem is only at night.
scottb2k - what are some of the broadband forums you're referring to? I'd be interested to read up on other people's problems...
This is the best one out there:
http://www.dslreports.com/
They basically cover all types of connecticity everywhere. There are some cool tools to tweak your system, to improve your connection somewhat and to check your ping times and bandwidth.
They have a pretty cool tool called smokeping, which will ping your system for every 15 minutes for several days to get a full graph of your ping times. If you ever speak to a level 3 tech at TW this is the type of stuff they like to know.
Here's a link to the Roadrunner forums filtered on "brooklyn"....as you can see tons of people with the same issues as us.
http://www.dslreports.com/nsearch?q=brooklyn&o=d&cat=remark&bids=,28&tt=tt23390206
Here's another cool site to check you speed:
http://speedtest.net/
Good luck, based on my last smokeping the best time to be on RR is 2am-7am...lol its seems to be very fast then. -
Subject: one more tip
Keep a sign in log for the TW techs who come to fix things. They will not only pretend to have shown up but you weren't there, they will also pretend to not have been there if they didn't actually fix the problem. A few years ago our Roadrunner was intermittent for a few months, three techs came out, the third one finally re-ran all the cables from the box to the apartment and fixed it. Guess what? Time Warner had no record of the first two "complaints" and attempts and ended up giving me a very subpar service credit.
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