Well given the recent news about Comcast cancellation issues I had a lot of trepidation about downgrading some of my Time Warner Cable services. It's funny that in totality I was okay with the process when in reality it took almost 1.5 hours of phone time to get it done (but there was more). I had budgeted 3 hours of phone time because that's how bad internet providers are. You expect the worst and are pleasantly surprised when things aren't as bad as you expect.
My other plan based on how these companies play this game is to simply say that I no longer used the services. If you use them there is a price so they will keep hammering on that. I just kept telling them we didn't watch TV and didn't use hte phone. Here's the play-by-play,
11:06 - Called TWC
11:45 - Ronaldo picked up and I told him what I wanted. Transferred to Cancellation Services. On hold
11:53 - Cancellation Services picks up and puts me back on hold to get account info
12:01 - Back on with a reduced cost offer. I told them I didn't use the services anymore. Back on hold
12:07 - Back on with complaints of technical issues on their end
12:15 - Back on with complaints of computer issues on their end
12:24 - Back on with a second reduced cost offer.
12:31 - Back on to say they need a "Supervisor Override" [override?]
12:33 - Back on to say things were "finishing up"
12:36 - Call completed
Total Time: 1.5 hours
But I wasn't done yet. Now I just need to return the Cable TV boxes at a local center. They won't allow you to mail it in. We'll see how long this takes.
Okay mission accomplished.
I arrived at the Time Warner Cable return center hopeful. Outside was a number ticket machine. That is never a good sign. As I peered in the waiting room my face sank. It was PACKED. I pulled my ticket number. 49. What number are they on? 18. 31 people ahead of me.
Turns out this was a mistake. I actually pulled F49. And they were on E18. Oh boy. 131 people ahead of me! Yowser.
I then did something I've done before which I think is a pretty good life tip. I looked around for discarded number tickets that disgruntled customers had tossed either in the garbage or floor. F28. Not bad. F21. Better. F01. Good enough. At this point a number of people around me start scrounging around for tickets too. I went to run a couple of errands and came back to find them on E88.
1.5 hours later I hand in my 2 cable TV boxes. Success.
Total Time: 3.0 hours.
Having now saved around $2,000 per year I can simply buy tons of TV (for the kids) and movies on iTunes and access them whenever I want. Much easier.
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