Hey anonymous cowards – Time Warner wants to hear from you
February 16th, 2009, 3:02 pm · 51 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
UPDATE: The term ‘anonymous cowards’ is often used to label commenters who choose to remain anonymous. I chose to use it that spirit– not to be incendiary. But alas, it backfired because this is apparently not as commonly known as I had thought. Time Warner did not use these words at all. Feel free to leave me a nasty comment about my poor choice in headlines.
In a bold move, Darryl Ryan, Time Warner Cable’s director of media relations, has asked readers to contact him directly if you have complaints about the service. Ryan offers his e-mail: darryl.ryan@twcable.com – it’s the same one I use to contact him.
I didn’t ask Darryl to do this. He just left a comment on yesterday’s post regarding the past weekend’s unfortunate 1-cent movie fiasco the company offered to subscribers (Read “Time Warner Cable apologizes for 1-cent movie mess.“)
Now, I know it’s easy to post mean-spirited comments when you don’t have to leave your real name or real e-mail address. I get plenty myself from people who I like to think are socially repressed or just can’t stand me because I … wear glasses.
BY THE WAY, I’m using ‘anonymous cowards’ in tribute to other tech sites that use the term as a default to commenters who choose to remain anonymous. Sorry to mislead anyone into thinking Darryl said this. He absolutely did not.
But if you can make valid complaints to a man who appears to be listening? Take a chance, people!
It gives me renewed hope that Time Warner really is trying to fix itself and become a cable company we can rely on. As I’ve mentioned before, despite all the issues Time Warner has had (and yes, there have been a lot in recent months), the company always responds to my questions and concerns.
They are listening. Hopefully, they will really hear what we have to say and do something about it. To get us started, I’ve added a poll with my own suggestions plus readers can offer their own tips on what Time Warner needs to do. And don’t forget to e-mail the man (feel free to cc: me at thegadgetress@ocregister.com):
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Previously on Time Warner Cable troubles:
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Gated communities and HOA’s cannot simply “disallow” dishes if you own the part of the building on which they are to be mounted.
Search for info on the “Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule”. It has been in effect since October 1996.
with all that money we pay TW, hopefully they’re smart enought to upgrade to fiber. So far my internet connection is good. For now..
.
By the way, when are you gonna post the baby pics?
I switched to Dish because the prices were MUCH cheaper than TW with a DVR. In addition our internet was painfully slow because it is shared with ALL of our neighbors. It was awful and I had them out 4 times. You couldn’t even watch a youtube video if it was anywhere around 5pm because all my neighbors were trying to get on the internet. Lame.
I’d love to see:
-Unshared internet options (and not $50 a month)
-Cheaper basic digital package with DVR (at least be competitive)
-Individual channel choices rather than packages. I don’t care about Spanish or movie channels.
Stop running the same movies on HBO and Showtime.
Do not use Time Warner or AOL. There are many options. Franchise Agreement from cities giving your cable providers and “exclusive” right to broadcast. Time to stop.
As we speak, I have been without internet service from Time Warner for almost 2 hours now. I’m having to use my much slower broadband card as a backup. Get with it Time Warner! (Fullerton/Brea area)
They never got our address right, so they installed the cable at the wrong address. Three weeks later they finally installed it at the right address. Then they kept disconnecting it. This happened three times. It took three years and cancellation to get the address right on the bill. The only other company to be that screwed up was Meryvns — and look at what happened to them. Who wants to pay for advertizements and infomercials?
I want the option to remove ALL of the foreign language channels and have my bill reduced for those removals. Why am I paying for channels that I can’t even watch?!?!?!
I left satellite for cable after receiving a promo mailer….it has been an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE. As if calls or emails will do anything. All the calls I have made to them have had NO IMPACT. Install – botched (four times out), billing -botched, payments lost, CONSTANT outages and interference with no credits unless I want to sit on hold for ridiculous amounts of time. Stunningly awful. Me thinks the comments here are much more effective that contacting Time Warner. Perhaps his time reading the Register would be better spent on managment.
Thanks TWC
for the onecent movies, overall it was great despite the malfuction on Saturday night.
I happen to like TWC. I think everyone should be required to do one year of the old Adelphia and then see how bad TWC is!!
I have no comment on the 1 cent movies but TWC switched the server for my personal web site, they said they sent me an e-mail, but I find most of their own e-mails caught in the spam filter (put there by TWC) when I check it- then horrible customer service several times, I have nothing good to say about there service and the way they transfer you from one idiot to another when you call them. I work in customer service and we had a meeting Friday about making our company’s customer service better in these lean times, two of the five people in the meeting both said at the same time “Don’t be like TWC!”- terrible.
It’s not gutsy for Mr. Ryan to give out his business email. He probably has an assistant reading them or he could have a rule set up in his mail preferences that certain key words would automatically file the email without even reading it. Time Warner is expensive, has many spanish and asian channels that I don’t need but none the less paying for. I canceled HBO and Cinemax because the movies were either old or repeats. Even with the changes I didn’t really save me much on my monthly bill.
nomasillegals Says:
February 16th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I want the option to remove ALL of the foreign language channels and have my bill reduced for those removals. Why am I paying for channels that I can’t even watch?!?!?!
———————————————————————————————–I agree. I have actually complained about this.
Time Warner has the higest price for Internet access in town. Please tell me where I can find a higher price. No higher price exists!
I was telling my girlfriend just a few days ago about my visit to the old TW facility many years ago. TW has bullet proof windows for a reason and she didn’t understand why until I explained it to her… TW sucks! They have more security than the banks which should be telling them something. Duh!?
Hi — I’m the director of digital communications at Time Warner Cable. I work with Darryl Ryan from time to time, though I’m based in New York.
I’m really glad to see that the lines of communication are open here … we try to leave contact info of some sort whenever we comment, and I’m glad to see that you appreciate it.
I can be reached via e-mail at jeff.simmermon@twcable.com, and we are also up and running on Twitter. My username on there is jeffTWC, and my coworkers can be found at MsmarTWC and AlexTWC.
Thanks —
Jeff Simmermon
Director of Digital Communications
Time Warner Cable
The poll at the top of this post is not quite fair. Only one choice is possible. One of the choices is “all of the above” but I don’t believe they need to fix all of the choices.
Also,what I believe to be Time Warner Cable’s most critical issue isn’t even in the poll.
The Motorola DVR box is full of bugs, and several different Time Warner CSRs and technicians have told me can’t do anything about it. They pass the blame on to Motorola and TV Guide.
Satellite is not an option at my home. If Time Warner Cable cannot fix the bugs in the Motorola DVR, or offer a completely different make and model, they will lose me as a customer the day that AT&T U-Verse or Verizon FIOS becomes available in my neighborhood.
And just for the record, I’m not an anonymous coward.
Thank you,
Chris Carey
The tech guy that came over to my house to re install my wireless internet could not or rather would not help me reconnect properly even though I gave him the code to connecting to my wireless modem. I guess he wanted me to purchase one of their modems ?
Never mind Im moving anyway to where TW is thankfully not available and there are other options. I agree about the ala carte I resent paying for channels I never have watched and have having to have an extra box just to watch anything past channel 98? My bill for satellite basic, wireless is nearly 100 bucks and for what?
Time Warner and other cable companies like them to get with the program, and realize they have other competition out there. Most network shows can be accessed by internet, movies can be obtain online and through online rentals etc. Know wonder they are going under (I believe).
I am an anonymous coward that commented a few weeks ago about having my Time Warner cable turned off because the price almost doubled when they took over Paragon in Garden Grove.
@Swest: I had the same issue, I think it has to do with it being your own equipment and they are trained to properly configure the hundreds of different wireless devices that are out there that consumers could buy. It makes sense to me, since that would be opening a can of worms. But considering you were able to provide him the code, I would figure you know how to do it yourself, since it is something you bought and chose to use on your own. Can’t expect their guys to be computer experts, they are only trained to connect a computer direct to their modems. As far as I know TWC doesn’t sell modems, so I’m unsure what modem he wanted you to purchase.
@John S : Stop living in the past man, that was over 12 years ago. Move on and get over it!
They need to stop broadcasting spanish language commercials on regular channels. Car commercials, Mcdonald’s commercials. All of them. They belong on the spanish networks, not the English language networks. I’m getting ready to cancel them anyway because of a host of other reasons. Satellite here I come.
FYI, I emailed this guy at TWC on Feb 18th. I got a call from a guy on the 19th named Miguel from TWC who was very helpful. Today, they sent out a technician (who was late) and fixed my cable box and remote. They said the are sending free movie certificates. I am happy with the response.
Okay, now let’s get this straight. I am all for great service and also know that TWC has its bad as well as good moments but I want to clarify and respond to a few of the ignorant comments left. First off, TWC does not control the broadcast on channels such as HBO and also there are commercial with every service, whether it’s DISH or AT&T. Also, remove foreign language channels? Are you serious? Now that is just ignorant and i suggest you read up on how they work before you post. You do not get charged more for them, they are included. Also, many people say they got ‘lured’ with a great proce and 6 mo or a year later it goes up… uhm, yeah it’s called a promotion and every company has them. Don’t get all upset if you don’t research and know what you agree to. When it comes to billing, do you really think a legit company would try to ‘screw’ you over? please, learn how to read a bill and again, know what you are agreeing to. Come on people, lets be real here, yes TWC may have many bugs that need to be worked out, yes that is true but it is a process and not done by a magic wand. Taking over adelphia and comcast plants have also severly hindered the services, and that is in the process of being repaired, its not just chunk change to do. But over all for the other issues, I just its just ignorance and not doing research on the part of the complainer when it comes to posts. Learn the business and how it all works and maybe you’ll understand. Other company’s are cheaper? No one’s holding you to TWC, you are contract free.
Late reply
No you can rent a modem from them on a monthly basis. No matter since I am moving anyway. TW will never be my provider again rather go back to basic tv and internet through another company perhaps Verizon.