Disgusted with Time Warner Cable

I am fit to be tied...grrrrrrrrrr!!!  Last night I opened my monthly e-bill from Time Warner Cable only to discover that my account was going to be debited for $163.45....WTH?  My monthly bill is $75.97, did they forget to debit my account last month?  I know for a fact they were paid.

I had forgotten my online password but I was so mad that it automatically came to me. The so called special I signed up for last year ends this month.  Basic cable and internet went up to $163.45 including tax.  Are they nuts? That is more than double what I have been paying...$87.48 more to be exact.

My main gripe is why did they not inform me before of this drastic increase in prices?  It was midnight but they have a 24 hour line so I called. The girl I got, I could barely understand her English and when I did understand what she was saying their darn telephone line was so poor I could hardly hear!

She was trying to make me bundle my services and offered me 200 extra channels including HBO and internet for $141.99.  I don't think so...told her she had to come up with something better than that or I would be canceling my service.  She asked if she could call me back today at 5:00 p.m. with other offers and I agreed.  You guess it...she never called.

I have not received the physical bill yet so I went online to show my mother. That is when I noticed that I had an appointment for a technician to come on October 11th...the date my contract ends.  What the heck is going on?  Did the idiot...I mean the service representative...with her poor grasp of the English language think I wanted to cancel?  I thought we were clear on that point, that is why she was supposed to call me today!

At this point I am so mad I could care less.  My mother only watches Lawrence Welk re-runs and I only watch the Weather Channel and the news.  I watch my Brazilian soap operas for free since they are beamed to the border from Mexico City and anyway my soap ended last week.

If I want to check my e-mail, I can always go to the library.  It is not a matter of money, it is the fact that they basically have a monopoly in this area and they can and do as they please.  How can they more than double my bill without any prior notice?

So if you do not see me online after Saturday, you know what happened.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

SLAMMED....again!!!

Every two or three years we inevitably get slammed by some unethical telecom company.  This time it was by New Century Telecom out of Alpharetta, Georgia. Called Verizon our monopoly telephone company in Del Rio and was told they only bill on their behalf.

I explained to her that we never contracted with this company or any other to be our long distance carrier because we don't use long distance.  Further explained that the last time we were slammed they had placed a notation to that effect on our file.  Was told they never had that option!!!  The hell they didn't....grrrrr!!!!  I even have a note to that effect in my Houston telephone where I used to get slammed as well.

Called those crooks at New Century Telecom and was told by a lady with a terrible Asian accent that she did not show mother's telephone as being a part of their network and that I would have to fax or mail them a copy of the telephone bill in order to issue a credit. That made hot under the collar, does she really think I have time to be mailing stuff and writing letters?  I gave her an ear full.

Remembered seeing a Time Warner Cable commercial where they had a bundle package special and gave them a call. As usual TWC only has these offers for NEW customer and the hell with the ones that have been with them as my parents have for 45 years.

The customer service lady was nice and civil and said that for $10.00 more than we are paying which is $75.97 a month we could add a telephone line with free long distance in the USA as well as free calls to Mexico.  Told her I would get back with her after I spoke to my mother about it.

Learned one thing though...do not turn off your home phone because it has to be active in order to be able to port it.

Have been on the telephone all day confirming appointments and reservations...but on my wonderful MagicJack Plus phone that I can use to call all over the continental US and Canada for a very small yearly fee and with great sound quality.  Who the heck needs Verizon or TWC!!

In case you are wondering...NO, mother's worthless plumber has not shown up yet. The ground is fairly saturated and is now ponding.  Been looking at YouTube videos and I think I can shut off the water at the meter before we leave for San Angelo.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

I'm Back

Have been trying to upload photos for a couple of hours now but the only program that I know how to manipulate is not found either on the net book or the newer computer.  Since the Time Warner installer never came out with the trouble shooting guy, I am not able to connect to the Internet on my older laptop. Guess I will have to wait until they read my e-mail and contact me. Now that I no longer have taxes or the Chili Cook-off to contend with I can devote my full attention to harassing them.

I am beat and need to catch up on my sleep.  Good night, may you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Disappointed

I barely have had Road Runner service for one day and I am already disappointed.  I think the Internet Gods have decided that I have not suffered enough with bad service and are making it difficult for me. The Time Warner Cable post on Tuesday night took me hours to complete because of "dormant issues" with Cricket, so I said no more!!

Decided to order the service online to see if I could bypass the "death certificate" issue which I did.  The Road Runner guy showed up around 11:00 a.m. and spent the majority of the time trying to no avail even with the help on his technical support department and changing out the modem he installed to make my old laptop hook up to the service.

After two hours he finally asked me if I had another computer. Told him I did but that I used my old computer for everything as it has all my bookmarks, pictures and documents.  He told me to call TWC and schedule a follow up appointment and he would come with a computer expert to trouble shoot the issue as early as Monday.

I had an appointment on Thursday that was re-scheduled for Friday so was glad he left just in the nick of time for me to get there.  Got home late and decided to call this morning to schedule a follow-up visit but was told that the technician had not made such a notation on my file...WTH?  I had his cell phone so I called him but he did not answer and he does not have voicemail set-up...definitively we are starting off on the wrong foot!

Time Warner Cables promotions do not last long so I jumped at the chance to ditch Cricket but it would only occur to me to do it before my trip to South Brewster County knowing fully well that if things are going to go wrong they usually do right before my trip.

On the other hand I am quite proud of myself, I have not started panicking yet.  Got two calls today from my friends who themselves say they are calm and collect but fear that by Monday or Tuesday that may not be the case. This is known as the "Pre chili cook-off jitters".

I sure am looking forward to my trip and leaving the default world behind even if it is only for a couple of days.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Time Warner Cable

As most of you know I enjoy watching foreign soap operas.  If I am going to make a six to nine month commitment watching them I expect to be able to see them free of any kind of interference.  While in Houston all the basic channels are free…in Del Rio you have to have basic cable to be able to watch anything…at $63.72 monthly I expect a lot more.

Friday I sat down to watch my soap and while I could see the image I was getting voice interference from a Mexican wrestling match. I immediately called to complain but they were closed. I was fit to be tied, uttered a little more than a few choice words and had to put up with it for 43 minutes.

The cable guy came by this morning and explained that it sometimes happens when the wires have been exposed to the elements or chewed on by squirrels and birds.  Being close to the border it allows those channel signals to be picked up by the exposed braids (that is what he called them).  He installed new wires, an outside cable box and a new connection to the television.

We got to talking and I asked him how come all the specials are geared toward new customers but they do not offer any good promotions for their existing ones. That is when he told me about a new special that includes cable and Internet for a lot less than what my mother is currently paying with a one-year commitment.

Went to the main office to contract the new plan but since the service is under my late father’s name they could not let me have it without presenting his death certificate so it could be transferred to my mother’s name or mine.  Has anyone ever had to do this?  Seems ridiculous to me.  Whose account do they think they have been drafting for the past twelve years?  My mother’s of course!  It has not seemed to bother them that it wasn’t my dad who was making the payments.

I dislike Time Warner Cable and this just pissed me off even more.  Who do I like the least Cricket Communications or TWC?  It’s a toss up!

Wanted to welcome Greg to the blog roll.  Thank you for reading me.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Home Again

Finally after postponing my trip for the umpteenth time due to the weather, left early this morning.  Got to see a sunrise something I don’t always get to do.  Even the agents at the Border Patrol Check Point were in a good mood and did not bombard me with questions.

My only regret is that I did not get to meet Ara and Spirit who were going to be coming through Del Rio…maybe next time.  I did however visit a mom and pop eating establishment in Sabinal, Texas called Nora’s Tacos which he featured on his blog http://theoasisofmysoul.com/?p=16289.  I told Nora he had sent me.  Lucky for me they were celebrating their 6th anniversary of being in business today and I got my choice of pozole, cabrito or cake.  I chose pozole and just heated it up a while ago, it was as delicious as their tacos.

Dang, there were tons of DPS troopers on I-10 from San Antonio to Houston.  Was surprised considering it is not the weekend.  Had no other choice than to follow the speed limit.

Glad I filled up after my visit with Billy Bob because Monday gas went up ten cents from $3.09 to $3.19 and I don’t know why.  It was $3.06 in San Antonio and $2.98 a gallon here in town.

Remember my rant about Time Warner Cable?  When I got home I scanned my TV converter box and I have 80 free channels here in Houston and they don’t cost me a dime!!

It is freezing cold in the house, need to go buy me an electric heater for my bedroom.  Only had four hours of sleep last night so I think I going to turn in early.

Good night and may you have Terlingua dreams.

Cable Rip Off

If you live in Val Verde or surrounding counties if you do not have cable you basically have a blank TV.  All of our local channels that are FREE in other cities like ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, etc… come from San Antonio, Texas a city 144 miles away including local news as there are no television stations out here.

Just opened up Time Warner Cable e-mail saying our statement is ready to be viewed and I will be darned if they did not raise the price again.  All we have is basic cable and it is now $63.72 a month, it would really be $64.73 but if you sign up for e-statements they knock a dollar off, they are so generous.

I will take that back, if you have a TV in Del Rio even the old analog type you can get Mexico’s two main networks Televisa and TV Azteca that are transmitted via satellite from Mexico City. Of course that does not do you any good unless you speak Spanish.  Ciudad Acuna (border city with Del Rio) as poor as they are have a television channel and reporters but again you have to speak Spanish to be of any benefit. So I guess we have no choice but to keep paying their ridiculous prices or turn the cable off.  Ok, I will get off my soapbox now.

I certainly had Terlingua dreams last night, so much so that I did not get up till noon.  It was a cool, drizzly and cloudy day so conducive to sleeping in.  I have been running around in circles this whole week so today was a “do nothing day”.

It drizzled this afternoon but nothing like the rain they forecasted.  However it is raining on the way to Houston and that is interfering with my plans.  I do not drive in the rain unless I absolutely have to and if I have waited two months, I guess one more day wont kill me.

Have a good night  and may you all have Terlingua dreams.