Earthlink sent us an invitation to try their high-speed internet via cable and We subscribed. We then got a call from Time Warner Cable about installation of the cable. Time Warner is the local cable company, so it made sense that they would come out for the physical installation.
The Time Warner installer came out and said we needed a two-man crew, so we rescheduled. A week later, the same man came by himself, said he didn't understand why a two-man crew wasn't assigned, and decided to go ahead with the installation.
He ran the cable from the pole into the house, set up the modem, loaded the software and failed to connect to their cable. He said there was a problem with the cable and that someone would contact us later that night.
No one came or appeared, so finally we called the dispatcher. We were told the installer reported he was unable to run the cable. Despite our insistence that the cable had been run and that the problem was with the signal from it, Time Warner insisted that the installation hadn't been done.
We tried to talk to a supervisor to no avail and finally dismissed this whole affair as yet another failed attempt to get high-speed internet. That was until the bills started coming.
We returned several to the billing address explaining that we did NOT have cable service, had never had cable service, and weren't going to pay for something we didnt' have. We got no reply.
Time Warner's billing department began making "courtesy" calls about the past-due bill. When we explained we had no cable service, they pointed out that we had equipment. We agreed with this and requested that it be picked up.
After many months, the modem was retrieved by a Time Warner installer. Around this time, the account was turned over to a collection agency. We wrote them regarding the dispute telling them that we had never had cable service, but they replied that when they reported this to Time Warner, the company insisted this wasn't true.
Either just before the account was turned over for collection or slightly afterwards, Earthlink called for a quality control follow-up. This was the first and only time we had contact with Earthlink after our initial application. Their name wasn't on any contracts or forms we signed and all billing was through Time Warner.
We explained on this call about all the problems. The reprsentative said nothing, offered no help, and finally hung up.
The collection agency is still calling and claims our account will be turned over to the credit bureaus as a delinquent account. Nothing we do seems to make any impression on these people.
If Time Warner and Road Runner spent as a tenth as much time responding to problems as they do trying to rip off potential customers with non-existent debts, we'd have high-speed interent today intead of a dial-up modem!
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