Time Warner Cable apologizes for 1-cent movie mess
February 15th, 2009, 1:28 pm · 59 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
**UPDATE, Monday, Feb. 16, 2009** Darryl Ryan, Time Warner’s director of media relations wants to hear from customers. See, “Hey ‘anonymous cowards’ – Time Warner wants to hear from you“
Time Warner Cable’s Valentine’s Day 1-cent-movies promotion attracted three times more viewers than the company anticipated, creating a major nightmare for customers and Time Warner this weekend. As some readers who had planned to spend Saturday night at home discovered, many of the movies were unwatchable due to pixelation or the inability to access them.
“We totally exceeded the number by 3-times the amount. It was hugely successful. But a lot of people used it at peak times, which overloaded the system,” Darryl Ryan, the company’s director of media relations, said Sunday. “For any inconvenience we caused for customers, we do apologize.”
Customers who call Time Warner’s customer service, at 1-888-TWCABLE, can get one coupon good for a 1-cent movie-on-demand. But you must call in to get this. Ryan also pointed out that once purchased, the movies last for 24 hours. Movies that couldn’t play last night should still be available and working today. Also, subscribers can order movies today and watch them up to 24 hours later through Monday.
This, of course, may not be enough for some customers to forgive yet another strike against the cable company.
Several readers left comments (fixed link, thanks 10ACGirl) about the poor viewing experience. One reader, Shamrockmom, may have summed it up best: “Just a tip, TWC–Don’t promise what you can’t deliver!”
Ryan, with Time Warner, said that the issue was due to excessive demand in Orange County. The 1-cent promotion was only offered to Southern California subscribers in the Los Angeles and Orange County viewers. Other parts of the region had few complaints.
“This wasn’t a widespread problem. It just happened to affect readers in your area. This was limited to SoCal but it didn’t affect other parts of the region. It mainly affected people in Orange County,” Ryan said.
This doesn’t bode well for video on demand, which Time Warner has been offering to customers for years. While the ability to watch a movie or TV show whenever you want is appealing, the bad experience will likely turn off some customers forever.
“Brian in HB,” a reader who left a comment, said past on-demand experiences have been disappointing. “I have had problems with their system in the past and I haven’t used it since. This weekend just pointed out they still aren’t ready for primetime with the video on demand.”
Recent Time Warner Cable stories:
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Here's a list of TV/mobile companies helping consumers one tweet at a time. 
I am so glad we switched to ATT Uverse when I did. TIme warner really is the worst cable company ever!
Every since the outage a one or two months ago my TWC telephone line has static in it. Soon I’ll drop TWC phone service. I’ll just use my cell phone or go back to Vonage. I’m also thinking about dropping the video service too. Less TV means more reading.
I’m going back to aerial reception. Channels 2-13 wtih a few UHF stations! Just like the old days.
I am such a slave….I cannot stand time warner cable, but I do nothing about it. Somebody help me.
What Time Warner needs to do is drop the phone service and concentrate on getting their Cable & Internet up to speed on the quality! Time Warner offering Phone Service is like going to a Pizza Joint and asking for a Hamburger. It just shouldn’t be… Time Warner getting out of the Phone Business will free up bandwidth and then maybe they wouldn’t have all this Tiling or Video on Demand issues… Just a thought…
Time Warner’s Motorola DVR does not work properly.
If anyone here has had any problems, with the Motorola DVR, read this page describing all of the bugs and problems http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Bugs#Bugs:
A Time Warner representative in the Los Angeles office acknowledged that these problems will not be resolved any time soon. The Time Warner Cable representative promised that I would get free dvr service for the next year, on both of my boxes. My bill was lowered by $20 per month, but I have yet to receive my next bill to confirm this.
Even though I am supposedly receiving this discount, no one from Time Warner Cable has admitted fault on their end. I find that incredibly disrespectful.
I understand everyone’s side. I too experienced some issues. After a few attempts I was eventually able to watch my movies. But you have to admit, it was nice for Time Warner to have this offer. People spend $5 for pirated movies but these movies were legit and only a penny, can’t beat that.
Time Warner’s customer service is crap….
i have canceled the TW service few months ago and they still sent bill for unused 1 month. I have called them and their customer service lady was just horrible as TW. She told us to wait few weeks…
As for verzion phone service, they should be awarded as best customer service provider.. as we moved, they even gave us money refund for unused days. and Verizon took care of other stuff, unlike TW, who keep sending us the bill, even after we disconnected the service.
Sorry for all the cable problems, but I have VERIZON FIOS service…it is excellent!! Try it if you can get it…*-) Don’t settle for less.