My life is owned by TWC
Today I went back to the Time Warner Cable store. I thought I was being smart by going in on a Friday, just before a holiday weekend, when anyone who had the day off would be off doing last-summer-weekend fun things, not standing on line at the cable store. Ha! It was easily 10x more crowded than last Saturday, because I'd not factored in 1)it was the last day of the month, when people tend to move and need to drop off their cable boxes, and 2)it's the start of a new school year and the store is in a prime area for college students.
Luckily, my line, the "upgrade" line, was shorter, and we had chairs and numbered tickets. Mine estimated a 55 minute wait. So what else to do? I had my old cable box in a plastic bag and wasn't in the mood to cart it around and come back. So I sat. Good estimate - about 50 minutes later, my number is called, and I go up only to find out that they are all out of HD cable boxes. No, really! (Did I forget to mention that I'd called before I even left my apartment, to make sure I'd have all the necessary equipment I was supposed to have, to avoid last week's fruitless trip?) Oh, but they had HD DVR boxes, and would give me free DVR service for one month and then I could either trade it back in for the regular HD box or start paying about $6 a month more.
The problems with this are:
1) Clearly bait and switch.
2) If I get used to DVR you know I won't want to give it up.
3) I'm supposed to be moving in 2 months, at which point they will send a service man over to check every thing out, at which point he can bring the correct box. If I really want to switch back.
4) I am powerless in the face of new technology.
Now, I got home and hooked it up and don't really see much difference between regular digital cable and High Definition cable, even with the HD TV, but whatever. Of course I immediately programed shows for it to record, although being in the late summer of sad reruns, there's not much. (Seriously I would welcome the rerun summers of old - now there are hardly any reruns, just stupid filler summer reality shows.)
And then... my internet connection was down. I called TWC and lo and behold, the guy in the store never closed out my order when I was there, so my service was interrupted. Nice. Luckily the guy on the phone fixed it right away.
You know with my track record with repairmen and servicemen, moving will be a nightmare. I better make sure my candles and batteries are in a easy-to-find box.
Luckily, my line, the "upgrade" line, was shorter, and we had chairs and numbered tickets. Mine estimated a 55 minute wait. So what else to do? I had my old cable box in a plastic bag and wasn't in the mood to cart it around and come back. So I sat. Good estimate - about 50 minutes later, my number is called, and I go up only to find out that they are all out of HD cable boxes. No, really! (Did I forget to mention that I'd called before I even left my apartment, to make sure I'd have all the necessary equipment I was supposed to have, to avoid last week's fruitless trip?) Oh, but they had HD DVR boxes, and would give me free DVR service for one month and then I could either trade it back in for the regular HD box or start paying about $6 a month more.
The problems with this are:
1) Clearly bait and switch.
2) If I get used to DVR you know I won't want to give it up.
3) I'm supposed to be moving in 2 months, at which point they will send a service man over to check every thing out, at which point he can bring the correct box. If I really want to switch back.
4) I am powerless in the face of new technology.
Now, I got home and hooked it up and don't really see much difference between regular digital cable and High Definition cable, even with the HD TV, but whatever. Of course I immediately programed shows for it to record, although being in the late summer of sad reruns, there's not much. (Seriously I would welcome the rerun summers of old - now there are hardly any reruns, just stupid filler summer reality shows.)
And then... my internet connection was down. I called TWC and lo and behold, the guy in the store never closed out my order when I was there, so my service was interrupted. Nice. Luckily the guy on the phone fixed it right away.
You know with my track record with repairmen and servicemen, moving will be a nightmare. I better make sure my candles and batteries are in a easy-to-find box.
posted by medusa at 5:34 PM
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