Here's the letter I sent them last week:
"Dear Mr. Gutierrez,
I'd hoped never to bother you again with problems, but you can't make this stuff up.
As my discounted service year was drawing to a close (and considering the myriad of problems I've had with Time Warner during that year), I didn't think it was appropriate to reward your company with a jump of about 65% in my bill. Towards that end I arranged for alternate broadband Internet service, an alternate VOIP phone provider and DirecTV.
On February 21st a Letter of Authorization went to Time Warner from my new phone provider informing you I wanted to port my existing phone number to their service. On February 24th your company acknowledged the request.
Let's keep the timeline in perspective here. On March 1st I drove to your Airport Road facility and returned all of my equipment — 9 days after the request went to Time Warner and 7 days after your company confirmed it.
Earlier this week the phone adapter arrived from the new provider. I plugged it in and it worked perfectly. They had assigned me a temporary number to use until the porting process was completed. I was fine with this arrangement but chagrined when they informed me that the same process AT&T handles in a few days typically takes 4 or more WEEKS when Time Warner is the previous phone provider.
Tonight my brother sent me a text message on my cell informing me when he called my old phone number, a woman answered the phone. Since my wife is traveling and the phone didn't ring in my house, that seemed like a strange problem.
I picked up my home phone and dialed my old home number. Surprisingly, it went to voice mail. Eureka! Time Warner did the porting in a timely manner. I called my cell phone and sure enough the caller ID came up my old home number. This was great!
Then I called from my cell phone to my home phone and a woman answered the phone! I apologized for bothering her but asked if she had just recently been assigned that number. She informed me that today Time Warner installed her new service for her. She said she was also puzzled because the paperwork she received said the number would be (915) 219-XXXX. She went and informed her friends and family about her new phone number. She was surprised, therefore, when the installer informed her that the number was (915) 581-XXXX. I asked her to call my cell phone and sure enough her caller ID was also showing (915) 581-XXXX! I then called from my cell to my temporarily assigned number from my new provider and that did indeed cause the home phone to ring.
While using an online chat service to check in with the new provider to find out what might be going on, I called Time Warner. As per usual, you are grossly understaffed to deal with the sheer volume of problems, but tonight just to add insult to injury, after my 30 minute wait for a human being, I was then told I had to be transferred to the phone tech support group. That resulted in another 30 minute delay when I finally got a gentleman on the phone whose name, unfortunately, I didn't catch, He said he would check on it.
When he finally came back on the line, he acknowledged receiving the LOA for the number porting and said it was in process. That, of course, led to the question if it was in process, why did your company assign it to someone else???
His explanation didn't hold water. He said that apparently the cable modem I returned on the 1st was redeployed already to another customer. The phone number (915) 581-XXXX was "associated" with that cable modem and that is why this situation occurred. I know enough about computer technology to know that you can (and should) clear non-volatile memory, resetting a device to factory defaults prior to using it again.
Even so, if I were to accept that the technicians didn't do their jobs on your workbench and then the technician installing it also did not do his job, how could we correct the problem? (Note I said IF I believed what he said).
Well, he claims that it would only take a few hours for her to be "registered" on the network with her assigned phone number and the (915) 581-XXXX would disappear from her phone. That, of course, calls into question why your allegedly TRAINED installer would inform her "in error" that her new phone number was (915) 581-XXXX?
Of course, I wanted to speak to a supervisor to find out what really had gone on and how long I should expect to wait for a resolution to the problem. He put me on hold and right away I knew there was a problem because I wasn't hearing the incessant sales pitch for Time Warner services — just dead silence. Yup — he hung up on me.By then it was 9:46 PM and with your offices only open until 10:00 PM it was pointless to call back because I'd never get through prior to closing. It was also too late to call back the woman whose name I think was Virginia to inquire if her phone service had changed since a few hours had transpired already.
Does anyone there know what is really going on and when (if ever) I will see my phone number again?
Thank you for your attention to this matter. It should be the last time you'll ever hear from me, but considering we started off with a rocky relationship last year with 30 separate and distinct problems plus 4 outright lies on the initial installation (which I documented and provided to you), I think I deserve a little consideration.
Incidentally, I provided the full history of the problems I'd had to a Ms. Lorraine Lopez who asked about my billing problems and she never even gave me the courtesy of a reply. Needless to say, when I turned in my equipment, they had the balance wrong on the account, but the surprisingly reasonable person working the counter that morning allegedly zeroed it out. I do fully expect to receive more bills from Time Warner since it would be consistent with the history of incompetence I've experienced ever since I made the unfortunate decision to become a customer a year ago.
I would have copied Mr. Alan Spencer, General Manager for the El Paso office, too, since it was his intervention that finally started some action on my behalf, but I understand he is no longer with your company. Apparently he couldn't tolerate Time Warner any longer either."
I finally figured out who replaced Alan Spencer and although he didn't ever respond to me directly, he did order people behind the scenes to work on my behalf and on March 14th my number was ported over despite being told by multiple people it was IMPOSSIBLE to do so.
Reese
El Paso, Texas
U.S.A.
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