Time Warner Cable

Since most of us have multiple tvs in our homes, we have to get the content somewhere.  You can choose one of the dish providers, or you can go with cable.  If you choose cable, you usually only have one option.  In our case, we can have Time Warner Cable.  Since we are in a condo, we can't really have a dish.  Combine that with the fact that we want cable internet, and you can see why we are paying quite a bit of money to Time Warner each month.  How much money?  Well, we give them around a hundred bucks each month.  What do we get for that?  We had one digital cable box, the digital cable service, internet service, HBO, Starz, and basic cable in one room, not the cool digital kind.

Does Time Warner Cable really deserve that kind of money?  Probably not.  Instead of complaining about how much money we have to give them, I want to talk about what they do that indicates their complete lack of respect for customers.  Let's start with the on demand service.  Now, this may be a problem with all cable providers, but the Time Warner cable on demand service will not let you fast forward.  While this makes sense from an advertising standpoint, it also keeps you from fast forwarding through a show.  Sometimes, if you leave it paused, the on demand can time out, losing your spot.  Not being able to fast forward means you have to rewatch part of a show you already watched.  Having to watch a few commercials isn't the end of the world, but it is annoying to have to rewatch 47 minutes of a show to catch the last five minutes because the service timed out.

I probably can't hold that against them, as that is probably dictated by the networks.  What I can be annoyed with them for is not providing a DVR that works.  When we first moved down here, we rented one from them.  Unfortunately, it didn't work right, constantly skipping around.  They even sent someone out to fix it, who assured us it was fine.  Eventually, we returned it and are unable to have a DVR.  

Because we have no DVR, the on demand services are very important to us.  When we found out HBO was rolling out HBO Go, an on demand service for all of their television shows and some films, we were beyond excited.  Unfortunately, while the service was introduced last spring, Time Warner cable subscribers are just now getting the service.  Supposedly, Time Warner and HBO could not come to an agreement.  Considering the amount of money Time Warner is raking in, you would think they could allow their paying customers to have HBO Go.  Whatever the problem was, it would have been nice if Time Warner Cable had considered the goodwill that would have been felt towards them in helping their subscribers get HBO Go sooner, rather than later.

It's possible Time Warner Cable had their hands tied with the HBO Go situation, but their misleading price quotes are completely in their control.  On Friday, Mark called to find out how much it would be to rent a cable box.  I believe the price they quoted him was $8.95 per month.  It was worth it, as we were going to cancel Starz, which was $10 a month.  Mark stopped in to pick up the cable box, and we suddenly owed them $12.95.  Why?  Well, the price they quoted us did not include the software or remote control.  I would love to see how often people rent a cable box but not the remote to control it or the software to use it.  I'll bet it is pretty darn rare.  

If you have an option other than Time Warner Cable, I suggest you take it.  While it is understandable that a business would be primarily concerned with making money, most businesses now realize you must also take customer satisfaction into account.  Unfortunately, Time Warner Cable positions itself to not have too many competitors for certain services.  As such, we are stuck with them for the time being.  If I ever have a viable alternative option, I will be taking it.  If you can stay away from them, do so.

(Moved from FB - February 4, 2012)