I just moved back to the USA from Germany, after 5 years of military service I was excited to be able to get back to the "real world" of home convenience and what I thought would be superior service, at least that's what I thought when I left the states 6 years ago. Shortly after purchasing my first home after arrive in NC I was impressed with the bundle deal TWC had for phone/internet / cable. When I called I let the cs rep know that I wanted basic cable, high speed internet, and digital phone service. After listen to the rep fumble through the scripted mumble jumble I explained to her that I would like to get an international calling plan so my wife can stay in contact with family in Germany and Poland. I specifically ask for this because she needs to keep in contact with her family and if I didn't she would not be happy which means I would not be happy. The cs rep explains to me that it would no problem. For 19.99 you can get 1000 minutes to call land lines, mobile phones cost extra. Sounds great, just what I need. So hook up and service are accomplished. Over the next 2 months calls are made and the family is happy. After reviewing the 2 bills that followed the initial service bill I noticed that I was being charged $90 and $72, respectively for digital phone service. What's going on here? I was told it should be 19.99.
So begins the cs rep journey in to the 9 rings of dumb! I always try to take the honey vs. Vinegar approach, but these people pushed my limits. The first call after waiting 15 minutes to talk to someone, oh yea and the extremely annoy automated system to get to the holding cell, I had to explain to the cs rep that I originally asked for the international plan and didn't receive it. She then proceeded to tell me I did not have it and she could set it up for me. Ok that's great but what about the 2 months I didn't have it? Her response was that she could not help me with that because she could not see on the computer that I asked for it. After politely explaining to her that that was not expectable she told be all she can do is put in a trouble ticket so a supervisor can pull the tape and review it to see if I did ask for it. First of all have we reach a time were so many people have defrauded this company like this to assume that I, THE CUSTOMER, would be wrong? This is bad business. I know that the company recently reported that they are losing millions right now, but come on this is a mistake on their local customer service department, due to lack of training and caring.
It did not occur to me that I should ask when I would be notified of the results. So I waitand wait. Almost 6 weeks later I call back and I work my way through the automated system to get to the holding cell. 20 minutes later a human answers the phone. He is a kind sounding gentleman named Randy. After explaining the history of my previous calls he begins to stumble and checks the computer system, I am in the holding cell for 5 minutes he comes back on and tells me that he sees that a supervisor has pulled the tapes on 23 Jan and 30 Jan. I called about that in December! I ask to speak to a supervisor, he hesitates and says one is in a meeting and the other is on a call with another customer. I insist to speak to him. Holding cell time: 10 minutes. Supervisor Gary then gets on the line I go through the history with him he pulls it up and tells that the tapes from my original call were reviewed 2 times. But he does not know the results of the review because it was someone else. I ask so what does that mean to me? He informs me that I did not ask for the service originally and if it was asked for I would have seen some credit on my account bill. I ask why I would not be called to be informed. His response is that policy tells them to not to call, just show any or no change on the bill. My next question is, is it possible to hear the tapes for myself? His answer is no because NC law does not allow it. How about a transcript? No sir. I tell him that I understand how a poor process works and the signs of a poor process are here. And I will not accept a second handed answer that the tapes were checked. I would need hard proof.
Note: every answer given to me also included the same response: I did not review the tape I don't have access to what was on the tape.
At this point I realize this guy will not bend over backwards to help me with my problem. I explain to him that I am not satisfied and I will have to change service to another company (s). He tries to explain to me that it standard policy that start up service calls are explained in detail. Meaning that if asked for international calling plan that they should have explained to me all the details of that plan. After asking me what countries I was calling, I told him Germany and Poland, he quickly explained to me that Poland is not on the plan. My wife, who's listening on the other line, hands me the welcome letter for the international calling plan. I tell him that it is. He then tells me that not all cities are included in those countries. The letter does not mention this fact. He then tells me that all cs rep must and do explain this in detail insinuating that I was wrong. I tell him I'm switching to another provider and he apologizes to me.
I then call back to ask what the prices would be for digital phone services with the international calling plan. The friendly cs rep tells me the plans covers Germany and Poland, but land lines only. I ask if there any other restrictions or details, she says no. I explain that will have to call back.
Finally I decide the same night to switch to a satellite provider. After an amazing customer service experience I am good to go.By the way, it was outsourced cs most likely from India. But Lance and Steven were extremely helpful! I then call TWC back to cancel my cable service. 4 busy signals later I get through. Ellen answers my call and I explain I would like to change my service. She pulls up my account and then tells me there is an error showing on my account. She puts me in the holding cell. 5 minutes later she gets on and tells me she is trying to find out why she can't get in. Holding cell. 5 minutes. She comes back on and tells me someone else must be in my account. I tell her about the call earlier and she puts me on hold. Holding cell 3 minutes. She comes back and asks me who I spoke to, I tell her Gary. Holding cell 2 minutes. She comes back on after tracking down who Gary is and tells me that he is on his lunch break and he must have left my account open. I ask her to be sure to get word to Gary to get it closed so when I call back in the morning I can cancel my cable service. She apologizes in sleepy voice.
I will be changing all my services over to other providers this week. Mainly due to the poor service from Time Warner cable and their obviously poor processes in managing their Customer service. They made me wait, they were not helpful, they insisted I was wrong and they could not prove. Stay away from TWC they are losing money due to poor business processes, and will try to recoup it by charging customers more without them knowing it.
Pt
golsboro, North Carolina
U.S.A.
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