Spectrum.com
reviews and complaints

Beware of extra fees hidden on your work order before you sign!

I ordered double play with $29.99 install. During install they gave me the wireless modem, but did not mention that it is some sort of upgrade I will have to pay for.
First bill arrived, and was charged an extra $49.99 wireless modem install fee. Called customer service.
Told them that I was not communicated about this $49.99 "install" fee for a wireless modem, and the technician also did not inform me, so I want it off the bill.
After some arguing and 5 minutes of waiting, she pulled up the work order and pointed out that the technician wrote "wireless upgrade @ 49.99" on the work order _that_I_signed_. I looked for this for 1 minute and could not find it.
Then she told me where it was: it was written on top of a section of random letters. It was not - as a sane person would expect - included in the "charge" column.
I told her that I do think that this is a very deceptive and borderline fraudulent practice, but she did not budge. Then I asked here about the 30-day money back guarantee. I was transferred to a retention rep, and he also could not remove this $50 charge. However, he could reduce my monthly bill by $40 for the next 12 months. I figured that that saves me over $480 so I stayed on.
But I may cancel later as I still have 13 more days to cancel...

I terminated services with Time Warner Cable Kansas City at the end of August. Once I called to cancel the service I took the disconnected cable boxes and cable modem back to a local store and received a receipt for the equipment. The employees at the store were very friendly and professional. The problem arrose when a technician showed up at my residence to "supposedly" disconnect the service. The pole where the service line comes from isnt even on my property yet the man opened my fence letting my 2 dogs loose. He never came to the door to ask permission and once releasing the dogs he merely returned to his vehicle and left. He never attempted to contact myself or anyone at my residence; he very unprofessionally sneaked away. He returned a day later and again attempted to gain access to my yard. This time my mother-in-law who babysits my 2 year old stopped him. He first tried to lie about the issue from the previous day and once he knew he was caught stated the dogs were not his problem and again left. My mother-in-law told him the pole where the services come from were in a neighbor's yard.

I realize these type of employees are all contractors but I would think TWCKC would check up on these people a little harder. No positive customer service points awarded here. I am letting everyone I know that uses or is looking into TWCKC to look in a different direction.

I was having problems with the cable box basiclly from day one...It would shut off and reboot without any notice very often And reboot just about every night... I dealt with it for quite a few months thinking that it was new and had to update and reboot to update any or all programs...So I call Time Warner and talk to a Rep. and she said sorry I will credit your account and have a tech come out and look and see what the problem was! "He said that this type of box was junk and that they were having lots of problems with them" ...So he changed it out for a new work well for a few weeks and started doing the same thing(rebooting shuting off and not coming back on so I would wake up with a blue screen on a 51 inch projection which is the reason my convergence chip went out and costed $368.00 to fix...well now its been 9 month have not heard anything from TIME WARNER or CMI which is a collection agency... Now there saying its too late to reimburse me or credit my account $125.00 ...They still have problems with there boxes(just listen when you wait on hold"If your have trouble with your box...etc) I will never get TIME WARNER again they have terible customers service and a long hold time and they lie and decieve you...I was once a person that only liked TIME WARNER because you didnt need a box for every TV, But now there digital service is unreliable and there customer service is nothing less then a joke...They will make you TV watching experience more less a electronic nightmare(kind of like a virus in a computer) and in the end the will mess up your credit and for those with nice bigscreen TV's they will probably screw that up too with there box going on/off, blue screens if u fall asleep with your TV on like I do...Make sure if you have a sleep timer on your TV use it...It also made my uncles DLP TV blow the bulb in less then a year(good thing the tv was still under warranty otherwise it would have costed $300+ to replace) He is now with AT&T now and way happier...MORAL OF THE STORY- If you like your TV and Credit to stay good or in good working order Stay away from TIME WARNER DIGITAL CABLE!

Difficulty Cancelling service.
TW refused to cancel service, due to my not knowing a PIN number (which I am sure was never provided) or the exact date and amount of my last payment (which is auto drafted).

They will not allow cancellation online (where I can log in with my username and a password (which is NOT the same as this PIN number they want).

I know my name, account number, address.

I believe this policy is about extracting more money from the consumer. The harder they make it to cancel, the more days a person ends up paying for service.

Time Warner Cable is removing ESPN & local ABC channels on Sept.2... So, this means, NO Monday Night Football, NO Sports Center, NO The View or Housewives shows for my wife and NO Saturday morning ABC cartoons for my kids... What kind of company takes away some of its biggest channels? The Time Warner website (rolloverorgettough.com) says this, "At Time Warner Cable, we’re all about connecting people and businesses with information, entertainment and each other. To connect you with all the shows you love to watch, we must pay the companies that own the broadcast TV stations and cable networks. We fight to keep those fees as low as possible, because they directly impact the cable bill you have to pay each month."

The Disney (Disney owns ESPN, ABC) website (www.ihavechoices.com) says this, "Our current agreements with Time Warner Cable to carry the ESPN Networks and (in certain markets) ABC stations will expire on September 2, 2010. The two companies are now in active negotiations to reach agreement before that date. It is in the best interests of consumers, as well as both companies, for us to successfully conclude these negotiations before the deadline to avoid interrupting service to Time Warner Cable subscribers."

I'm less inclined to side with Time Warner, the company who would fix this easily by coming to an agreement with Disney. Not to mention, Time Warner has the worst customer service. I'd switch to FIOS if they offered it here...

I am very dissatisfied with this company's customer service and business practices. I normally am a patient and laid back person, but this company has pushed my buttons! I have more than once had to call regarding additional charges to my bill and when I call about them, it takes forever for them to explain the charge, which they almost always end up dropping! It almost seems shady to me. The latest (and last straw) was when I received a $36.99 additional charge to my bill under Charter TV services. I called and after being directed through the phone maze for 30 minutes, the representative did not seem to fully understand the billing process or services which made it more frustrating to say the least. I was first told that my "deal" had ended .. and when I said why does it say "service visit", they said it was for the internet tech that came out to repair our internet modem. We pay extra money for their modem because it covers service calls. Well I was told that since I didn't pay the "wire fee", that this is why I was charged. But then when she looked at the bill, she said she really couln't tell what the fee was for and that I had to DRIVE 20 minutes to the local branch (she actually told me they don't have a phone) to resolve this! I am so discouraged and frustrated with this company -- unfortunately, it is the only provider in this area for cable/internet. Very frustrated!

I can't believe how this company screwed me over. Here is my FIRST issue with comanies in general right now:

We are in a recession and they can't seem to understand this! I can't decide between keeping my electric on and my cable on. First I told Charter that my husband had been laid off in November of 2009 and in March 2010 I got laid. We lived on 292 a week and were already majorly behind on bills but ahead enough to keep everything on.

On MAy 26th we found out my husband has exhuasted his benefits and has just missed the cut off for the extension. We we waited over a month for CONGRESS to pass another bill to give us extended unemployment benefits... I informed charter this was why we weren't able to pay out bill and that as soon as our back pay came in we would pay them since my husband in the mean time has found a new job.
We went from living on about 600 a week to living on that every 2 weeks. We are only 22 and recently married and got ourselves into a contract with charter and then less than a month later we were laid off...

Here is where my real problems start. Charter was informed of our situation on numerous occasions. They showed up to our house early on a saturday morning and repossessed our DVR and internet box. I again told that guy our situation.

I got a letter in the mail about 2 weeks ago that told me my account was past due and going to be sent to collections. I called and spoke with someone foreign who told me that as long as I was making a pymt and continued to it would hold it from collections. This was around the 10th of august. She informed me she would hold it from collections and that it had not been put on my credit report.

I called yesterday to make a payment and when I happened to ask about collections she told me it was ALREADY in collections and had been since July 30th. I got infuriated and asked why the other lady told me it wasn't and apparently when I talked to her it was already in collections. She informed me that I hadn't talked to anyone and that the last time I talked to someone was in June. I was so mad I can't even explain it I called the same number both times and this lady tells me I didn't talk to anyone? So I made it all up in my head? Really? She then tells me that its already on my credit report. I flip out at this point and ask why I got different information from someone else I spoke with. She still tells me I didn't speak to anyone.

She then tells me my last letter went out on july 27th and collections on the 30th, which by the way, isn't even enough time for me to get the letter. When I told her this she told me that they called to inform me of this as well. When I asked what number she called she told me. The number was my home phone that THEY DISCONNECTED! She said that also called another number that I believe was my temporary cell phone number over a year ago. She tried to tell me that i never gave them a new number.
I asked her how in the world then I was able to verify my installation date last october when I didn't have that number then. She didn't say anything. Literally the woman just didn't talk. She informed me that there was no other number given. Ok does this make sense to anyone else? They call me on a number they KNOW is disconnected and then call an old cell phone number? And if they didn't have my normal cell phone number then how was a getting collection calls FROM CHARTER on it?! This whole thing makes me so angry. I don't understand how this is my fault when I was going to pay it because I got paid 2 days ago and now have the money to pay it but the first lady gave my false information.

I am now thinking about suing them for false information as well as they broke the law by giving my husband information about my credit report. I worked for verizon credit reporting and this is a big no no! You are not allowed to give this information to anyone but the person themselves!

I can't believe that at 22 they have ruined my credit until i'm thirty! Over something that I could not help. I could not help that my husband, an ironworker, was laid off and there STILL is not any jobs for them! He went from making 22 an hour to taking a job making 9 just so we can survive. I can't believe charter can be so heartless. I will never under any circumstances have charter again and you better believe I will tell every person I know how horrible of a company this is!

Charter communications has proven to be a nightmare from which there is no escape. After 18 years of being a charter customer, I decided to switch to another cable/phone/internet service provider in the area. On about june 25th, all services were switched. Although the new company notified charter of the phone change, I was told that I would need to notify them that the cable and internet service was switched as well. On july 1st I called, and was passed to a "retention specialist" named ryan. Of course he asked why I switched, and he offered a good rate should I decide to return to charter, with the promise of a phone call on july 4th to see if that was my decision. He also informed me that someone would be by to pick up the equipment should I decide to remain with the new provider. No call ever came. On july 8th I called to make sure they were aware of my switch to the new company. This time I spoke to another "retention specialist" who assured me that my account was noted and that there should not be any problems and if I ever deided to return to charter they could offer me a package that would meet my needs. Still, noone came to collect the equipment. On july 21st I received a bill noting that my bank had been automatically debited for the next month's service. Ahhhh, yes. Another call to charter. This time I asked to speak to a supervisor and I was told I could not, and that there was no notification in my records that indicated I left charter... However, I was asked what I was paying the new company. Also, I was aked why I continued to call charter if I did not want their service! "continued to call" subsisted of the two calls to notify them that I was no longer with their company. Onto yet another retention specialist. At this time they offered yet another deal with upgrades, a dvr, etc. I was told my account was indeed closed and I would get a refund. A few days later a tech showed up with a dvr box. Not to collect the equipment... To upgrade my existing service. He looked at me and said... You are with... And he mentioned the other company. He did not take the existing equipment with him, which was packed up and sitting by the tv. Later I received a call from charter stating that a problem in our area had been corrected and that any trouble I had been experiencing should be fixed. Another call to charter asking them why I received this call as I was no longer with them, and I was told that according to their records I was. This supervisor would ask what I wanted charter to do, and when I would try to explain the frustration and aggravation, he would talk over me, only to stop whn I stopped speaking to ask once again..."what is it you want charter to do?"... Again as I tried to explain, I was spoken over... To which I became increasingly frustrated and told him if he was not part of the solution he was part of the problem and hung up. Towards the end of the month, I had installers come to "switch me back", only to find out they couldn't as I had the phone service with the other company, and thankfully they couldn't do anything or I would lose my phone. I was also told that the new company simply switched their line over (The charter line) from the pole out back and that that was illegal. Now, the equipment that I had was returned by a member of the family and I have a hand receipt for the equipment that equipment, sans a modem according to the rep at the local office... Which I paid for some years earlier. The receipt was dated august 2nd... At least this should indicate it was over, as I was not holding my breath for someone to pick the equipment up. I called charter about the modem and I was told not to worry, they had it in their computer that I did indeed own it. Finally... It is over. Well, only in a perfect world. I then had a call from someone asking about the modem, and how it was noted that I had not been paying a "rental fee" for it for some time. I tried to explain that this was because I had purchased it. Once again I was asked why I left charter... When I mentioned that I was getting up to 5 phone calls a day from charter I was told that that was not in her control as those calls were through the computer. I hung up on her, and blocked all charter numbers. Peace at last. No... After speaking to supervisors giatanna and erica deans at their walker call center, I was assured everything would be taken care of. Not so. Another call, this time to robin, who gave me her personal number... A direct line... And she was puzzled as to how this situation grew to what it was, a refund was in order and she would call back to check up on things. Never heard from her again. After several calls from new charter numbers, I called robin repeatedly on one day... Only to get voice mail. When I blocked my number, guess who answered... That's right, robin... She had just walked in the office... At 4:10 in the afternoon and she would call me right back. That was a week ago. Today I called and spoke to april at corporate, after receiving a letter from charter stating that I owed them $183.83, and a load of equipment that I never had... Including a standard digital receiver, a hdtv digital receiver, a dvr or dvr/hd receiver, a multi-room receiver, a modem, a modem router, and a remote control. This equipment was never in my possession... April said that according to her records, I was due a refund, coincidentally in the amount of $183.83. Strange that this is the exact amount the letter stated that I owed them... Also noted, that if I did not return the equipment immediately, they reserved the right to pursue all available remedies including legal action. Once again, I was assured by april that either a "michael, robin, or erica" would get in touch with me... Today. Did I ever receive a call? No. By the way, during the time this was taking place, I had called the local tv station to see if they could help. I was told that they received an email about me, and that I had cancelled and ordered service repeatedly over time... And that I had received a refund. Today I called to tell that particular station that I have a letter and a hand receipt to indicate otherwise, and that I had been with charter for 18 years with 1 interruption of service and that was when they cancelled me... By error. Had I known then what I know now, I should have accepted that error and called it a blessing. This has been a nightmare, and I do not know how to make it stop. I hope that this would serve as a warning to anyone considering charter as their service provider. Think very carefully... Read the other complaints from other sites as well, as what is happening to me has happened to others. Tape your phone calls... Get names, times and service rep numbers. Protect yourselves... Also, do not sign up for automatic deductions from your bank account. Even though I had notified my bank, charter was still able to deduct that extra month of service... And heaven only knows what will follow. Consider yourselves well warned.

It is unbelievable that I am only able to have internet through Road Runner. This is a monopoly, they know that and take advantage of it. Two months later my services started being terrible, my internet dropped every three minutes. They came replaced the modem, nothing changed. I spent two HOURS on the phone with them running terrible and useless tests, for nothing. They came today, and told me that it is the technician was extremely rude. Treated me ( I am a geek and understand a lot about computers, networking, etc) like a child and never listened to the all the points I was trying to show to prove that the issue was not my wireless router. They want me to pay them for a router JUST like mine so that they can take care of " the problem".
They take advantage of this monopoly by providing terrible customer services because they know we have to stick to what we have.
Now, my internet miraculously only works on one computer and he is not willing to change that.

Hi,
We had ordered for Time Warner Cable about 2months back. The Equipment they provided was faulty and we had mentioned the same to them. The sent a written communication that they will send a technician for the repair which will not be charged to us. Now I see the bill and see a $40 charge for the technician Service.
I called TWC and complained about the same. They said that I could reduce the $40 amount and pay the bill. I did the same. Now my service has been terminated as they say that I have not paid $40 to TWC.

It is strange that despite their Customer Support Personnel sending a written chat confirmation that we will not be charged for the Techincian Service, we have been charged.

Please help me with this.

Thanks
Ni[censored]

Time warner cable offers the triple play for 99.00 a month. Ten days after my service was turned on I recieved my first triple play bill for 180.00. Payment was due before 30 days had elapsed.1) you must always count the days in the billing cycle when dealing with an honest co. Like t. W. I called customer service and gave my name and address more than 4x to the reps as well as the automated operator. Finally after getting an actual rep on the line I asked what happened to the 99.00 bill we had agreed upon? I was told that intallation was free but there were other taxes and charges pertaining to my new account. Such as activation fees telephone and internet 25 dollars each. Is'nt actvation just another way of saying installation?, I asked.
Customer serv rep: everyone pays these charges no exceptions.
Me:I was told installation was free
Cust serv rep:no exceptions
Me:I heard a time warner commercial that says that you have a 30 day money back guarantee. Is that true?
Cust serv rep:sir please hold while I talk to a supervisor.10 minutes pass
Cust serv rep:sir are you still there?
Me:yes
Cust serv rep:please continue to hold...15 minutes pass
Cust serv rep:yes sir there is in fact a thirty day money back guarantee.
Me:I would like to take advantage of that.
Cust serv rep:your buisiness is very important to t. W. Is there anything we can do to retain your buisiness?
Me: sure you can abide by our agreement of the 99.00 triple play. Not the 180.00 one. The 99.00 one
Cust serv rep:I can't do that sir...
I dissconected time warners equipment the very next day. Put it in my car and drove to the queens center mall. Returned t. W's equipment and recieved a reciept. I was told ther was another bill on it's way to my home for 273. Oo and to disregard it. I was charged 2.75 to park at the queens center mall.
No longer a time warner victim... I mean customer!
Recieved bill from time warner 1 week later. Bill indicates a zero balance. But wait... Theres more... Hey a credit of 33.12 but no check.
At this piont I won't even contact them.
Ther is no triple play! For 99 dollars! They minipulate the amount of days in your billing cycle. You may be paying time warner more than 12 times a year!
They change terminology and catagories to get you to pay for the same thing under a different name.
They make up fees and sur-charges at will.
If you are a time warner customer I urge you to go over your bill carefully. You will be very angry once you do...
Ronny d

My 90 year old mother has a bundle package with Charter paying $140/month for a two year contract. Charter offered a $100 bundle without the premium channels. So my mother opted to cancel and go with the cheaper bundle even with the $150 penalty she would save in the long run.

On her next bill Charter not only did not give her the less expensive package but started charging her $60/month more than before.

So far, Charter, after hours on the phone with charter, and after many lies, I have gotten nowhere.

Charter is a den of corporate thieves.

Last year we went through a similar fiasco with Charter...they added services that were not requested.

Maybe if enough people complain, these theives will be stopped cold be someone.

I signed up for Internet and when the technician came in to set up my service he talked me into buying the cable service as well. He told me I can try and if I dont like it I can cancel in near future no charge. I dont watch TV a lot so I want to cancel my cable service. Now when I call in they say there is a $40 deactivation fee. When I asked the representative how come I was not informed about the fee when I signed up, she says “This is our policy and I am informing about the fee now” How does it make a difference to me now, if I was told about the fee when I was buying the service I would have never got the service in the first place. To add to her pathetic explanation she says” If we have to tell you about every details, you will be on call with us all day” How crazy is that. They think its not important to inform customers that there is a charge to downgrade the service in future. She also says they dont inform because most of their customers keep the service forever. This is by far the most ridiculous explanation I have ever heard from any customer representative.
However, If I cancel both my internet and cable there is no fee as such. But if I want to keep my internet and cancel only cable there is this $40 fee. Does it not make more sense to not charge customer and let the customer continue with at least one service? Time Warner cable is a good company, but their customer service is Pathetic. This is not the 1st time I am having issues with them. I have to call in atleast 5-6 times and talk to that many different people to get 1 issue resolved. They need to definitely work on their customer service quality.

Today is Tuesday, July 13, 2010. I was suppose to have my cable services transfer to this address. However, things did not go the way it should have gone. First, I waited almost two weeks to get my services transfered, then the day comes and no one shows up or even calls or comes by my address. My services were suppose to be transfered today between 5-8pm. I called Time Warner twice, the first time I called at 5:50pm and the second time I called close to 8pm. The second rep. (Terry) advised me that they had a completely different phone contact number. Where did they get that number? Bottom line no cable, poor customer service, poor communication skills from every employee that I spoke to from the beginning of the transfer to the end of the conversation with the supervisor. Shame on Time Warner for not delivering their promise. I will find a Professional Cable Company to do the job right.

DVR remote specifically.
"Help" button is right next to the instant replay button. For those that don't know, the "help" button takes the viewer to a completely different "help" channel.
If you are like me, rewind, instant replay and pause are often used components to my television viewing. However, you want to hit the instant replay button and accidentally hit the help button, kiss the show you were watching goodbye. Very irritating especially if the show your viewing is a half hour or more behind the live feed.

STUPID placement of help button!

I moved and when I moved they took almost two weeks to cut off service at my old address.I told them to cut it off soon as they could it was rental.

Had a bill come that was the wrong amount paid what the lady told me then took it down to zero.Two days later another bill comes for 194.00 after I paid my remaining bill from former address.They still said i was a month behind that the money I paid went to the new addresses bill omg what idoits! I called and spoke to five people in all and all of them had different stories and none of them helped me.I asked them how did my bill go from 00.00 to 194.00 in one month and I have not even been at the new address even a month.They twisted everything I told them to suit thier needs. My head was spinning after hours of this.
This company had gone from bad to worse and where I live at&t does not have fast DSL.I am going to the local office with Bank statement in hand proving I have paid every month and see what they will do if nothing then were without phone, Internet and TV. One person will tell you one thing and then someone else a different story.They do not care one bit about their customers. One told me they always billed a month in advance well before I moved here they did not! I have my old bills to prove it, this is insane.Thier over billing me bad!

I received a letter from Time Warner Cable stating I discontinued my digital DVR and/or Road Runner services but have not returned the cable equipment. Well this is not quite the case as I have been a Time Warner Cable customer for more than 14 years.

I called customer service and spoke with LeAnne who did research my account and said the information indicates that I did not return a "wireless card". After discussing this a bit more LeAnne and I decided to get the supervisor involved.

Supervisor Juan reviewed my account and said that I returned a wireless modem on 2/2006 and exchanged it for a non-wireless modem. Juan said that when I returned the wireless modem but not the "Ambit" brand wireless card that was part of the wireless modem.

I do remember returning the wireless modem but have no idea what an “Ambit” brand wireless card really is or if it was even part of the wireless modem on 2/2006. Juan said that he will place a request for the warehouse to search for this part. Juan also said that Time Warner just sent out a mass mailing to anyone with "missing" items.

Juan did state that it will take at least 30 days for the warehouse to search for this item. I am not sure why the warehouse needs to search for an item that the inventory software counts as missing but what do I know.

Now my concern is that I was informed in the letter that as of 4/19/2010 my account will be billed for this service until I return the item. Needless to say I have no idea what to do about this as I do not have the item that Time Warner states is missing.

Also much to my shame I do not have any of my Time Warner receipts from 2/2006 - who does? Can anyone guess what is going to happen next? Any ideas how much I will be charged for an “Ambit” brand wireless card that goes with the wireless modem that I returned 4 years ago?

I am bent over and ready Time Warner, send the bill so I can get over the pain.

Had Charter high speed internet with [protected]@T phone service for two or three years and very happy with it. Switched over to the Charter bundle offer a few months ago. The internet service is truly pathetic. VERY slow to connect; access to E-mail is unreliable; frequently booted off when finally connected. Spoke with customer service and they were resistant to sending someone out. Am now in the process of checking the options for canceling the "bundling" and returning to ATT for phone service. The financial savings is not worth the aggravation.

I cancelled my internet with Time Warner and returned my motem to their store around of 3/20/2010. The attendant said I would receive a check in the mail for the credit balance in and did not have to do anything further. However, it is now 6/28/10 (about 14weeks) and I have not received the check for the money owed to me. I called Time Warner and the customer service rep told me that it takes 4 to 6 weeks to receive reimbursements owed. I asked her if my check "fell though the cracks, " and she said yes. Instead of issuing the check immediately she said she could only submit a request for my check to be issued, and that "I should receive the check in about 4 to 6 weeks." Great... at this rate maybe I will receive it by March 2011.

If we are charged fees for paying late shouldn't it be allowed for the customer to charge interest on money owed to us if it was not paid back on time?

I changed from Time Warner Cable to satellite service. Why is Time Warner so slow in getting a refund out. I have talked with some very nice and helpful people but over 2 months later and still no refund. Plus I called to cancel service and had to return the cable box to the local (Ohio) office. Service was not cancelled until I walked the box in and handed it to the people. They were supposed to come and take the wires off the house - that hasn't happened either.