A Slice of Life

Ok, this one is going to be lenghty, but then again, isn't it always when dealing with Time Warner? Here goes

Yesterday, I came home, turned on my TV and there was a message where the time usually is in  the cable box that says something like please call time warner for payment. So I am totally wondeing what is up because I did pay my bill and with all of the credits they have given me over the past year because of the crummy service, I should be ahead.

So I try to sign on to my computer so that I can go to my bank's website for payment verification while I am on the phone telling the billing people that not only do I NOT owe them any money, but that I never got any notice I was past due, AND eventhough I have been requesting for some time now that they start sending me paper bills, I have not seen a bill either on paper or via the internet in quite some time now.

I called the billing area and tired to use the automated service to see what they say I owe, but it dumped me right into that black hole of their holding area for 20 minutes before somebody answered. I started out my conversation by telling the who I thought was a billing person that I am quite irritated so please excuse my attitude, but something is wrong, and if I could get onto my internet, I can verify every payment made for the entire year.

I also explained that I was on a promotional rate of $99.00 per month for my three services and that my total bill was to be about $107 per month, but since I don't ever see my bills, I send the 107 and here and there 120 just to be safe.

He told me that he could not help me with any promotions, but it looked like I was being charged 117.00 and some change per month and that I have been short on my payments so there was the 5.00 late fee every month. Then I find out that while I was holding for billing, when I fell out of the black hole and finally got someone on the line, I was transferred to a customer service rep. He told me that he could change my billing over to paper and send me copies of the past year's bills. Then he re connected my service so that I could get on and go over my payments. Then he told me that he was going to have to transfer me to the "promotions" area and while I was mid sentence, he had already transferred me.

So now, I am on hold again. 15 minutes or so later, a woman answers the phone and I think I am talking to someone in the area that he referred to as "promotions" but I have in the past been told it is called "Customer Retention" So I go on about this promotion and how I am being billed $10.00 more a month than I was quoted, and that it was causing late fees, and I was disconnected with no notice and I called to talk to someone in billing, got customer service and was now in some "promotions" area because I was just blindly transferred.

So this woman tells me that she is in billing, and that there is no "promotions" area, so I used the correct term and called it "customer retention" and she told me that didn't exist either. I was like, I know I talked to someone in July, I have the phone number on my list, and I was put into this package because it was what AT&T was offering at the time, and after taxes, my bill would be no more than 107.00. I was also told that all of my services would remain the same.

The billing person then told me that NOPE, that department didn't exist,and that she could not go to my past bills for some reason and that she would have to transfer me to customer service. I told her NO WAY! I pressed the billing option in the beginning of my phone call, and ended up waiting 20 minutes to be transferred to customer service, who transferred me to a department he referred to as "promotions" which ended up to be billing and now the billing person is telling me she can't help me with my bill??????

I told her that it was time for a manager to get involved now. She told me she could get a team lead, but that they wouldn't be able to help me either. Umm, I said manager, not team lead. Huge difference. So then she insisted that the department I wanted didn't exist and that the furthest she would go would be a team lead so finally I said transfer me to sales.

I knew they would answer quickly because their job is to make you happy and sell you something. So letting you sit on hold forever is not an option for them. I finally got the sales rep  on the phone and apologized both for my attitude and that I already knew I was in the wrong department but that I needed someone to help me and that if anybody knew about a promotional department or retention department, they would.

The woman (Lisa) was very nice to me. She listened to everything I said, told me not to let the people tell me no when I asked for a manager, and that they should have been able to help me.

So I explained everything and she within a minute of me finishing, told me that she saw the problem. Apparently the package I was put into did NOT include all of the channels I already had so there was an extra 5.00 a month going on the bills I never saw and that was causing me to be carrying over a balance. Another thing was that in quoting my montly charges taxes and all, she forgot to add in my call waiting which was supposed to be free for three months, but then billed. So now we are up to the extra 10.00 per month.

Because I had been sending an extra 14.00 here and there, I wasn't always carrying over a balance so I didn't always get the 5.00 late fee. She then told me that yes there was a department called "customer retention" and they are the people who can offer you specials if you are trying to leave. I told her that all I wanted was for the money I had been charged as a result of the woman's mistake to be credited back to my account and then I would happy.

She did try to get a manager in the customer retention area or whatever it is called and apparently he was not available so she got her manager on the phone and the three of us did finally resolve it. I was credited back the money that I didn't know I was supposed to be paying due to the mistake of the rep who quoted me and my not recieving bills or late notices. Then she reversed the late fee, and gave an extra 20.00 credit for my trouble.

When it was time to hang up, she did ask me if I was satisfied and didn't want to leave the call until I was. I did thank her for the time spent with me. She could have been selling products and I am not sure if they work on commission or not, but she didn't push me off like the others.

So now my bill is all straighted out, I even got an extra $20.00 and it only took an hour and a half on the phone and a request to talk to someone in the wrong department.

So here is the kicker. My cable and internet were disconnected yesterday which would have been January 4th. Today I get my mail and there is an envelope from Time warner. It is a FINAL DISCONNECTION NOTICE. It was done on January 1st and it specified that if I did not make payment, my service would be disconnected on January 11th at 10:59 a.m.

Ok, so here is my problem. This was my only notice or bill. The amount they tried to make me pay was $179.00 on this notice and they disconnected me on the 4th of January when their letter told me January 11th. Now I think I want credit for being disconnected yesterday. But do I really want to wait on hold an hour for a 3 or 4 dollar credit?