Time Warner Cable - Company Review

Tonight I tried to watch TV on Time Warner Cable. I do not watch much TV. I have two boys and two TVS. Do the math. We're talking cartoons on one TV and sports on the other usually. One kid is off at college, so I can now click in with a window of opporunity, though I am not in the habit at this point.

I'm worn out. I click on the TV. I have to turn it off and on again with some new reprogram. I've had to call about this before. They upgrade at TIme Warner. My box is not smart enough to know this without me doing a reset. With the cost of cable, the box oughta be smarter than that. OK. I got the reset.

I press the menu. Squint. Strain. What is this? I get up out of the chair about 8 feet away to go see what Time Warner has done to the menu.

Well, they have made the menu blue with white letters. How very cool. NOT. There is a reason most media is white with black letters like right here at Viewpoints. The whole idea of text is that you can read it. Like DUH. It does not matter how pretty it may look, if you can't read it, then don't bother. I can't read this mess up there on my TV I hardly ever get to watch. Well, I can if I get about a foot away from a fairly large TV. If I have to walk up, then why do I need a remote anyway? Well, the TV does not work without the remote. So, I have to walk up and remote it from a foot away if I do not want Russian roulette TV.

This has not been a good week anyway, and the steam if blowing out my ears. I want a little TV before bed, but I do not want to stand in front of the TV and squint at the new Time Warner fancy blue menu and try to make out the white letters.

I call Time Warner. They have voice options. They do not have one for "want to raise cain." I take "tech." I have to say it twice as Time Warner does not like Southern dialects all that well anyway.

The phone tells me it will be 5 minutes or less. I knew I should have said "new service." That is like 2 seconds. If you need help, it is like forever.

I tell Jeff the tech that I have no tech problems other than I can't read white on blue in small font and can't sit in my darn Lazy Boy and tell what is on TV. I tell him that old folks (and I'm not even old) can't read that and white on blue is not cool.

Jeff tells me that he is "sorry that I [you] feel that way." That is the way wrong thing to tell me. I know that is the standard in customer service. Validate the customer. Well, that is not validation. So. I tell Jeff that "sorry you feel that way" means basically "sorry you are stupid" or "sorry you called." Now, "sorry you can't read white on blue" might mean something. "Sorry you feel that way" says 100% nothing. Think about it. You know I'm right.

I did tell Jeff that I figured he did not make the menu blue with white letters and that it was not his fault that his training program included telling customers "sorry you feel that way." Geez. He's just a working guy too, but give me a break. I don't need a screen I can't read or lame platitudes.

Time Warner has my TV, phone, and Internet. Think I'm not looking around now? You better believe I am. They get about $140 per month from me. If they can't even give me a menu I can read from my chair on the TV, then there are other options for TV and the other services. 

I like my bill bundled. I've been fine, for the most part, with Time Warner. It is bad that when it goes out, I'm out of TV, phone, and Internet. But, that's only been a couple of times over the last couple of years. I also hate these updates when my channels do not show at all. That's when I've called. Now, they get this idea to have a neato blue background and white letters that I can't read. Forget that. And, I swear the next time I hear "sorry you feel that way" I am totally going off. Be sorry your service is not meeting my standards. Be sorry that white on blue is hard to read. Do NOT feel sorry that I feel that way, because I am not sorry that I feel that I should be able to sit in my chair and see what is on TV. If that "feeling" is wrong, then I think I can find someone who can serve me better.