Companies that STINK!!!!!!

Uh, rant number 1 is Time Warner Cable! Yesterday the sound went out on our TV. Ryan did some fiddling and determined that the cable box is the problem, so I called Time Warner Cable first thing this morning. I was connected with a foreign call center where I struggled for fifteen minutes to make the guy understand me (so SORRY I speak ENGLISH!!!) then listened to him give me asinine directions like "turn the box off. now on. it work??" until he finally agrees that yes, someone will need to come out and replace my cable box. He switches me over to someone else where I am on hold another twenty minutes before being told that an appointment has been scheduled for me, and someone will be at my house "before 8pm today"!! So like a dumbass, I believe them and sit at home ALL DAY LONG when I had a million other things to do, just so I can be there for the cable guy. WHO DOES NOT SHOW UP!!!! I give him an extra ten minutes past 8pm just to be nice, then I try to call customer service... only to find out they have disconnected their phones at 8pm!!!!! Seriously! So I log onto their website and sign on to a
"live help chat" which took another 45 minutes for someone to sign on to assist me with! Here's the conversation, I copied and pasted it verbatim for you....


We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.

analyst Sohaib Shirazi has entered room

analyst Sohaib Shirazi has been temporarily disconnected. Please wait while the analyst attempts to reconnect.

We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.

analyst Sohaib Shirazi has entered room
Sohaib Shirazi(Wed Jan 28 21:47:25 CST 2009)>
Thank you for contacting Time Warner Cable Chat Support.
Ryan (Wed Jan 28 20:47:30 CST 2009)>
hello
Ryan (Wed Jan 28 20:48:19 CST 2009)>
I am trying to find out why the service I requested was not done today.
Sohaib Shirazi(Wed Jan 28 21:49:09 CST 2009)>
Please wait while the problem is escalated to another analyst

analyst Adam Rogers has entered room

analyst Sohaib Shirazi has left room
Adam Rogers(Wed Jan 28 21:49:24 CST 2009)>
Thank you for choosing Time Warner Cables' Online Chat. My name is Adam Rogers. Please give me a moment while I access your account information.
Ryan (Wed Jan 28 20:49:53 CST 2009)>
the volume on our cable is out, and I spoke with a technician early this morning. I tried all the troubleshooting techniques he suggested and he finally said he would send someone out to replace our cable box "before 8pm today" so I sat at home ALL DAY waiting. of course no one showed.
Adam Rogers(Wed Jan 28 21:51:40 CST 2009)>
I understand that you are unable to get cable services. Is this correct?
Ryan (Wed Jan 28 20:51:52 CST 2009)>
the picture is there, but no sound!
Adam Rogers(Wed Jan 28 21:52:16 CST 2009)>
I apologize for all of the inconvenience caused.
Adam Rogers(Wed Jan 28 21:52:23 CST 2009)>
We are currently experiencing an outage in your area. Our technicians are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. At this time there is no known estimated time of repair. I apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. We are confident that our engineers will have this issue resolved shortly, but if you are still experiencing this issue in 24 hours, please contact us again. We’ll be happy to provide an update to you at that time.
Ryan (Wed Jan 28 20:52:51 CST 2009)>
then why is my next door neighbor's cable with y'all still working fine?
Ryan (Wed Jan 28 20:53:21 CST 2009)>
and mine has already been out for over 24 hours already.
Adam Rogers(Wed Jan 28 21:55:43 CST 2009)>
It should return shortrly. It has affected some parts in San Antonio.
Ryan (Wed Jan 28 20:58:01 CST 2009)>
I feel like I'm being given the run-around. Why was I not told this today? And why was I not notified that the technician would not be coming to my home like I was promised?
Adam Rogers(Wed Jan 28 21:58:51 CST 2009)>
Please accept my sincere apologies for the less than satisfactory customer service you have experienced with Time Warner Cable.
Adam Rogers(Wed Jan 28 21:59:46 CST 2009)>
We will be updating this information in the fututre.
Ryan (Wed Jan 28 21:00:19 CST 2009)>
So I am supposed to sit around here all day AGAIN tmrw waiting to find out if you guys figure out how to fix the service I pay you to provide me? And if it is still not fixed, I will have to start back at square one on hold with y'all and hope you actually send someone this time? This is VERY poor customer service!!
Adam Rogers(Wed Jan 28 22:06:43 CST 2009)>We are currently working on the issue. Due to alot of chat flow, the response time might be longer than usual, I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Adam Rogers(Wed Jan 28 22:06:53 CST 2009)>Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Ryan (Wed Jan 28 21:07:45 CST 2009)>yConsidering you have not helped me with ANYTHING AT ALL!? I guess that's a company policy or something around there. I'll just have to try to find someone more helpful tmrw. Thank you for your time.
Adam Rogers(Wed Jan 28 22:16:04 CST 2009)>I shall make a note for having you and other customers updated about the same in the future as soon as we receive information about loss of services.


Uh yeah, he "shall"! How extraordinarily UN-HELPFUL!!! I'm SOOOOO angry about crappy customer service and no Sesame Street again tmrw! Oh wait until Roo finds out, I am gonna have hell to pay!!!!

ok, I was gonna share my story about how Gymboree sucks too, but that will have to wait until another day of righteous anger. Right now I'm spent, and I need to go soak in the tub with a glass of wine while I plot revenge on Time Warner (besides the obvious fact that my blog's massive readership of 3 people now know what horrible customer service they provide! so HA, take that!)...