By Welcome to America

March 23, 2008 12:28 PM | Link to this

DVR might be a luxury, but at the rate we’re charged for cable service we have a right to expect it to work properly. Not to mention some customer service. The blog here brings up a very serious customer service issue with TW. I’ve learned not to call them for anything. My cable will have to be out for a month before I spend a couple hours waiting in queue for them to finally get to me. On top of that, the problem seems to be rahter silly in that the channel number, and the name of the show, are the same. The big change? Yes, the “name” of the channels have been altered. Some were all caps, and now have lower case letters. BBCA is now BBCAm. So, my shows set to record “BBCA 115” will not record “BBCAm 115”.This is just an example of the cable company making changes for the sake of change, without putting any thought into how this would affect their customers. With a rather long list set to record not just weekly shows but even annual events such as the Tour De France, this becomes a huge nuisance. How much am I paying for this again? Yahoo offers free email that will transfer my address book effortlessly but Time Warner can’t take my money and make a system upgrade effortless? It’s bad business, plain and simple.

By mu

March 21, 2008 10:33 PM | Link to this

The convergence on my TV was screwed up after the Time Warner Upgrade. I don’t know if this was just a coincidence or if TW caused damage to my TV..anyone else have this problem?

By Frustrated

March 20, 2008 12:34 PM | Link to this

I got the postcard that it was supposed to be on the 11th but it didn’t happen until the 18th when I got up at 5 am. It didn’t really bother me that they changed it. I’m just glad I knew it was happening. If I didn’t get up early every day I would never have known and would have missed my recordings. I double checked Tuesday night to make sure things would record but since they were not in red I realized I had to reset. No big deal. Just search your show by title and set the recording series etc. After I did that I made sure that they were in red. What is now frustrating me is my cable bill is around $164.00 per month for cable, most but not all movie channels and roadrunner. I don’t want their phone because they do not offer privacy manager. I have noticed for the last several months is my amount is never the same. They change their franchise fees almost every month. Isn’t that supposed to be regulated? They also raise and lower costs without warning. They also took off some of the movie channels without warning. I used to get like 7 HBO’s, several Cinemax, several Starz and several Showtime. I still have the main but I think the Starz channels are mostly gone. I am on hold right now to question this. If I can’t get a resolution I will look into satelite tv and some other wireless service. It’s not fair that 1 year ago my bill was $144, then went to $156 and now is $164.

By Billis

March 20, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this

DDN is being dumb. Seriously, who really cares. Report the stuff that matters. Let us comment on important issues. Not this stupid crap.

By missi

March 20, 2008 10:41 AM | Link to this

They didn’t lie…I received an email, a mailer, and a message on my home phone. It was a pain though because some shows were missed, but I’ll get over it. A lot of the time, you can watch them on the network’s website.

By painfultruth

March 20, 2008 10:00 AM | Link to this

Is this really a crisis? Please… Now, go get a life, DDN…

By kathy

March 20, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this

Well they have my email and phone number - I never received a notificatin on either. But like most here,calling them to find out what is going on is even worse. Their customer service is horrible but I live in the country and run a business from my home. The only option I have is ROADRUNNER! Unfortuatly I’m stuck for awhile. Good luck to the rest of you that have the availability to switch.

By Me

March 20, 2008 9:27 AM | Link to this

For God’s sake, people. This is one of the most trivial, pointless threads ever started. Five years ago, DVR was a luxury. I can’t believe there are so many people complaining that they missed (insert TV show here) this week. I’ve had cable my whole life, but decided I couldn’t afford it when I got my own place…and guess what…I’m still okay! I have been using my time developing my talents such as photography and posting on the Dayton Daily News website. Basically what I want to say is be patient, it will get fixed eventually, and know that there are poor souls out there (like me) who don’t even have cable! I do, however, agree with the people who are frustrated with how confusing Time Warner can be. Spending an hour on the phone waiting for somebody to fix your internet just to find out that there’s an outage in your area is pretty frustrating.

By Me

March 20, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this

For God’s sake, people. This is one of the most trivial, pointless threads ever started. Five years ago, DVR was a luxury. I can’t believe there are so many people complaining that they missed (insert TV show here) this week. I’ve had cable my whole life, but decided I couldn’t afford it when I got my own place…and guess what…I’m still okay! I have been using my time developing my talents such as photography and posting on the Dayton Daily News website. Basically what I want to say is be patient, it will get fixed eventually, and know that there are poor souls out there (like me) who don’t even have cable!

By Karen

March 20, 2008 9:04 AM | Link to this

As of last night, we still could not reprogram our recorded shows. This is very frustrating. I called TW, when I finally got through and not a busy signal, I waited over 45 minutes only to be told that the recorded message I listened to for 45 minutes about resetting personal settings will not help bring back our guide and ability to record shows or our digital cable that we pay extra for.

By Kellie

March 20, 2008 8:49 AM | Link to this

I had to do what Socialwrkr did: reprogram my series manager. Hubby and I thought about calling TW but decided we’d only get frustrated. We didn’t get a postcard or an email (even though they have our email address), but I did get a phone call that had a recording on it stating that the maintenance would happen on the 18th (so they got the date right for us, anyway!). So, we knew it would happen, but we didn’t know what exactly would be the effect. We simply went through and reprogrammed our favorite channels (took forever) and re-did what we could on the series manager (also took forever). Any shows we missed, we went to the networks’ web sites and watched a streaming rerun. None of this was convenient, to be sure, but it wasn’t the end of the world. I wish we’d gotten better and more adamant notification. They sure did NOT have that web site up on Tuesday that was linked to in the post!

By Just Me

March 20, 2008 8:37 AM | Link to this

Wow, I was thinking about getting cable with Time Warner, but after reading all these comments, I think I’ll check into getting the Dish Network!

By Dan

March 20, 2008 8:26 AM | Link to this

I didn’t lose anything because I left Time Warner 2 years ago. I switched to the Dish Network because of Time Warner’s high prices, poor service and lack of interest in their customers. It turned out to be a great decision.

By Ken

March 20, 2008 7:38 AM | Link to this

They LIED about emailing people, They LIED about mailing folks, They LIED about calling everyone. I DO know that they didnt do any of the three to me. They have my email, they have my mailing address, but they dont have my phone number. Not that I am complaining that I lost everything because it would not do any good to complain with them. They have the worst customer service in the area. I dropped TWC phone service, because when the power goes out so does your phone service. I am back with AT&T for the regular phone service

By N Alexander

March 20, 2008 12:05 AM | Link to this

We got the card saying the 11th, and we didn’t have Noggin until about 6 pm (My son was quite miffed) and we had to reset the box after we realized that the HD channels were still missing at 9 pm. I did have to reset again yesterday, apparently after the revised upgrade. This is the same company that has sent my bill from when I moved to Piqua from Cincy to collections, instead of forwarding the charges. I only owe for something like a month down there, but they still have it set to have me use the email address I got from Cincy for up here. They also d/c my moms house because they looked at the wrong house number, and it took them 3 days to figure out the problem and they said they couldn’t have it fixed for 3 additional days. My mom loves her Direct TV now.

By Beth

March 19, 2008 11:06 PM | Link to this

I got nothing either in the mail or e-mail. Phone calls? Not a one. I turned on my TV last night & couldn’t figure out why I had no reception. Just a screen saying if I wanted to subscribe, call this 800#. I tried to contact TWC via that #, but got continuous busy. Tried online, no e-mail contact capability. Finally called another # & was on hold for 40 minutes before reaching a live person. He took my info & reset my converter box & it was fine. But it was a pain in the neck, took well over an hour to resolve, & I had no advance warning it was going to happen.They could do better.

By Bob

March 19, 2008 10:58 PM | Link to this

I had to reset my HD DVR box this morning and everything came back as normal. Yes, TW said the 11th but then they sent out emails saying it was changed to the 18th. I had to reprogram my DVR settings but it took about two minutes out of my day to do so. Missing AI really isn’t the end of the world, you know.

By Smarter than a DVR

March 19, 2008 10:35 PM | Link to this

To Joe - based on reading the comments here it seems like it’s the TW service not the users. By the way, TW sent a card that said it was happening on the 11th. Shame on them!

By Mariaaa!!!

March 19, 2008 10:33 PM | Link to this

Sounds like TW is a bad product and you don’t like programming boxes. Seems to me that you all got what you asked for. You invested in technology that you don’t really care for. Why did you do that? “American Idol”….who cares? Apparently waaay too many people.

By earl

March 19, 2008 10:10 PM | Link to this

No problems here with DVR or the service after the upgrade. However, I am sick of paying them 100+ a month for rr and cable. I want more HD service, I want the local NBC channel in HD! This NBC-HD was promised more than a year ago. The Dayton area needs another cable/internet provider in this market area to keep TW honest. Being the only show in town, they have all of us by the short hairs.

By Joe

March 19, 2008 10:01 PM | Link to this

BIG F_ING DEAL!!! Everyone knew it was going to happen and TW warned people about it via the mail and newspapers. If you’re that concerned about watching American Idol then maybe you’re too stupid to figure out the DVR.

By Marianne

March 19, 2008 8:43 PM | Link to this

Time Warner has the worst customer service. They constantly put people on hold, promise you things then change them later, and give inaccurate price quotes. They are rude, condescending, speak over you when you try to talk to them and are never accountable for their mistakes. They outright lie and this situation is just like that. They have my email and phone and address. Did I receive notification of this? No. Instead my TV was out for an entire day and I had to drive down to their office for the 3 time in 4 months to replace the hd/dvr box. I can’t explain the contempt I have for them. I think they must have a customer service test you must fail to be employed there. Truly horrible = Time Warner.

By Marianne

March 19, 2008 8:39 PM | Link to this

Time Warner has the worst customer service. They constantly put people on hold, promise you things then change them later, and give inaccurate price quotes. They are rude, condescending, speak over you when you try to talk to them and are never accountable for their mistakes. They outright lie and this situation is just like that. They have my email and phone and address. Did I receive notification of this? No. Instead my TV was out for an entire day and I had to drive down to their office for the 3 time in 4 months to replace the hd/dvr box. I can’t explain the contempt I have for them. I think they must have a customer service test you must fail to be employed there. Truly horrible = Time Warner.

By Marianne

March 19, 2008 8:37 PM | Link to this

Time Warner has the worst customer service. They constantly put people on hold, promise you things then change them later, and give inaccurate price quotes. They are rude, condescending, speak over you when you try to talk to them and are never accountable for their mistakes. They outright lie and this situation is just like that. They have my email and phone and address. Did I receive notification of this? No. Instead my TV was out for an entire day and I had to drive down to their office for the 3 time in 4 months to replace the hd/dvr box. I can’t explain the contempt I have for them. I think they must have a customer service test you must fail to be employed there. Truly horrible = Time Warner.

By Pat

March 19, 2008 6:57 PM | Link to this

I wish I had the problem of a DVR not working…I can’t even get the cable to work now. My converter box, which usually displays the time, it actually just running random numbers, like: h.546 and countinues to count up until 9 and then cycles back and repeats. I called TW yesterday and they said the update was still going on and there was nothing they could do. So, I still have the same issue…and now TWC number has been busy all day. TWC is a joke…I’m looking at Directv right now. Eff off TWC, you’ve screwed me one to many times!! >:-[

By Pat

March 19, 2008 6:57 PM | Link to this

I wish I had the problem of a DVR not working…I can’t even get the cable to work now. My converter box, which usually displays the time, it actually just running random numbers, like: h.546 and countinues to count up until 9 and then cycles back and repeats. I called TW yesterday and they said the update was still going on and there was nothing they could do. So, I still have the same issue…and now TWC number has been busy all day. TWC is a joke…I’m looking at Directv right now. Eff off TWC, you’ve screwed me one to many times!! >:-[

By Gregg

March 19, 2008 6:35 PM | Link to this

Time Warner is the sorriest excuse for a company that ever existed. I was without phone service for three weeks last Summer due to their screw ups. There’s always a long line of upset people at their business office. I finally just had everything disconnected - Cable, phone. I’m through with them. The Government should step in and regulate companies like them.

By JH

March 19, 2008 5:39 PM | Link to this

I received a card stating that TW was going to do they’re changes on 3/11/08, however they didn’t do it until 3/18/08, and then our TV was out the entire day. I called and was told it would be back on by 6 or 7, needless to say, I finally got it today at 11. I am now switching to the dish. I have had enough of TW and they’re lies and their incapable staff. A 4 yr old could explain things better.

By JH

March 19, 2008 5:39 PM | Link to this

I received a card stating that TW was going to do they’re changes on 3/11/08, however they didn’t do it until 3/18/08, and then our TV was out the entire day. I called and was told it would be back on by 6 or 7, needless to say, I finally got it today at 11. I am now switching to the dish. I have had enough of TW and they’re lies and their incapable staff. A 4 yr old could explain things better.

By Derwood

March 19, 2008 4:19 PM | Link to this

I’m with Harlan.. My Dish dual tuner DVR works flawlessly. Even in rain and snow. Despite TW’s horror stories.

By Publius

March 19, 2008 12:11 AM | Link to this

Um, null — this IS a blog about stupid REALITY TV SHOWS, so why are you reading it if you want fancy discourse on the issues?

By Socialwrkr

March 19, 2008 12:10 AM | Link to this

The series manager area of my DVR still showed all my recordings, but when I went to the guide, those shows were not highlighted and did not record today. So I guess I have to reprogram them, which is a pain, as since some aren’t scheduled for a while, they don’t show up. So I have to remember to put them back in again before they come back on. Yes, there are bigger issues in the world, but that doesn’t mean this annoyance is less of an annoyance. In fact, I’m kind of ticked about it!

By Socialwrkr

March 19, 2008 12:10 AM | Link to this

The series manager area of my DVR still showed all my recordings, but when I went to the guide, those shows were not highlighted and did not record today. So I guess I have to reprogram them, which is a pain, as since some aren’t scheduled for a while, they don’t show up. So I have to remember to put them back in again before they come back on. Yes, there are bigger issues in the world, but that doesn’t mean this annoyance is less of an annoyance. In fact, I’m kind of ticked about it!

By Harlan

March 18, 2008 11:29 PM | Link to this

My DVR is working fine. However, it’s a Dish Network DVR. :) And yes, I still get signal in all this rain, despite what Time Warner wants everyone to believe…

By jacksmom

March 18, 2008 11:17 PM | Link to this

My recordings are still there, but my on-demand (showtime and hbo, answers etc.)will not work (the play button and the right/left button). cannot scroll r/l through to select movies (the genre titles)or play them

By null

March 18, 2008 11:09 PM | Link to this

with all the issues facing us these days you are this worried about a dvr that wont record? take it back you may be needing the x-tra money time warner charges you for the box and service so that you can buy gas or eat.hard to believe.