Gosh, aren't American telecom companies great?
I've been dealing with Time-Warner for the past week and a half.
Early last week I decided I needed faster internet, because basic cable service is unacceptably awful. (This is a problem by itself, but tangential to the point for this.)
So I order an upgrade, and they try and sell me a bundle, because of course they do. Eventually they talk me into a special and I agree to get some TV service too, because I'm a sucker.
They tell me if I have a technician come out, there's an installation fee, because heaven forbid someone hands me a box and takes my old modem. But they can send it to me, and that will be totally free, and then I mail back the old one. Okay, fine, sure. It will be there by the end of the week.
Monday rolls around, still no package. I call in, and I'm told that my order was listed as Complete and Delivered on Saturday. No, they don't have a tracking number for the order, but they assure me it was delivered. Naturally they started billing me for it on Saturday, as well.
After a lot longer spent arguing on the phone than should really be necessary, they agree to "investigate", and they promise to send a new shipment.
Cut to today. I get a package from TWC. Oh, good, it's here finally.
The package only contains the cable box. No modem.
Back on the phone I go, to discover that they have no idea where my modem is and offer to ship it again. No, not this time, I want a technician to come out. They finally agree to waive the fee and send the tech out this Saturday morning, which means I have to cut my weekend short with my parents to deal with this, but fine I guess. At least it will be done.
Meanwhile I start setting up the cable box, and it's not working. Hours later it's still trying to "initialize". So, back on the phone I go.
My third call starts off great because I am told that I have an appointment scheduled for Tuesday. Not Saturday. Wouldn't that have been a wonderful surprise, to drive home early and sit there all day for a technician who never comes? Now I have two issues to work out while I'm on the phone.
After trying to troubleshoot, the technician informs me that my cable jack is apparently not initialized. This will, shock, require a technician to come out and initialize it.
Naturally that's an entirely different job than coming out and giving me the modem. I eventually learn that my technician order got bumped to Tuesday because there's not enough of a time slot to do the order requested.
I guess I should praise TWC's system for how detailed it is - apparently it has windows small enough to show an opening, but too small to complete the "order" of walking up and handing someone a box. I'm sure the technicians are thrilled to have their time broken down to the minute.
Now I'm looking at two weeks from when I ordered before I can even begin to use the services that they've been charging me for.
So I tell them I'd like to cancel my order and get that thirty-day money-back guarantee I was promised when I ordered the package originally, because this is beyond even the most basic realm of acceptable.
Naturally the department that can cancel orders is closed.
I can only imagine what fresh joys tomorrow's phone call will bring.