Monday, April 21, 2008

Time. Warner. SUCKS.

I have not been a happy Time Warner cable customer. Last year, when the folks next door moved out, they disconnected MY cable service, having mixed up the reading of the apartment stickers, apparently. And took a freaking WEEK to come rectify their mistake. Have you ever tried to be at home for a week with a preschooler who can't watch Dora the Explorer?

So for their latest, my bedroom cable box just goes out the other night. I'm used to this ridiculous "rebooting," having endured it periodically for a few years now. Time Warner insists it's not a problem, so I guess I'm just paying astronomical cable rates for an inconvenience. (Not that my payments showing up late would be an allowable minor inconvenience to them, mind you.) Except this time, when my cable comes back online, MY DVR QUEUE IS WIPED OUT. I have shows that I watched back in February and early March showing up - stuff that I deleted after watching - but a month's worth of shows - including MY DOCTOR WHO MARATHON FROM SCI-FI CHANNEL LAST WEEK, and Torchwood, and the latest episodes of both The Office and Survivor, are GONE. Freaking gone. Oh, and the stuff that came back from the dead? It tells me that the show doesn't exist when I try to access it.

When can the cable company come? Mike has to take a day off on Wednesday so these tools can show up and probably tell me that they can't recover my shows. Never mind that I was screaming like a harpy in the background that they work on my money, and they should show up when it's convenient for me. (Mike swears that we're lucky they show up at all with me screaming that so that they can hear.)

I just heard that Verizon is hoping to launch their own FiOS cable/phone/internet system in New York by next year. Put my arse first in line for that signup.

So please, no Office spoilers, okay? I have to watch it online tonight. And the only reason I haven't grown to Godzilla-like proportions and taken out the Time Warner building in Queens in my rage is because Battlestar repeated itself later that evening.

5 comments:

Linda said...

We just had a similar situation, last week actually. After a long running problem with a weak signal (and constant rebooting) we had a guy come out-said there were too many splitters before, fixed that and gave us a new box. Guy was nice and did the whole thing in about a half hour, has been working great since. Unfortunately now, we had to reprogram in all our fave shows, missed the Fri night sci fi lineup, but they are programmed in now.

Lauren said...

I'm pretty much ready to just start watching everything on the computer all the time. It bugs me that we have to pay to get channels that are 50% commercials.
You should send them your story at The Consumerist. I bet they already have a whole section devoted to Time Warner.

Stacey said...

Don't even get me started. Last time I was on the phone with them, they refused to let me speak with a supervisor. I called and had to complain to yet another rep about that guy!

Oh, and the HD totally stinks, it flashes all the time and the box is buggy...

Roe said...

Ugh. Loathe them.

Linda said...

Alright maybe we had slightly better luck only because Ian was a previous employee?