aggravatedFast forward to December 2010, when I get my bill in the mail and the rate has gone up. I call, they advise me that since I've come to the end of my price lock guarantee time, my prices have changed. I ask them if this means I'm no longer under contract, they say yes. I continue on with my services until April, when I'm considering dropping my service. I call them, speak with a lady who tells me there's no contract, no fees, all I need to do to cancel is return my equipment. Yay!
A couple weeks later I load up my cable box and modem and drive over to the drop off location. I wait in a long line to turn in my equipment, confirm for the third time there's no charge, and that I actually have a $7.43 credit which will be mailed to me, and I go home happy. The next month my "bill" shows up, and it shows my credit, so I think it's only a matter of time before I get that whopping seven dollars and change, right?
Nope! Next month my bill comes, and it's a charge of $242.57, which is a $250 Early Termination Fee minus the credit I had. Um, no! So I call, and I'm very polite but firm (worked at a call center once, I understand the suck!) and manage to get in touch with a supervisor who will escalate my issue to the contracts department. Never mind that their own website says "we do not currently offer contracts" and I never signed a thing, off to the contracts department my issue goes...and stays. I never hear back. I repeat this process several times over, no one ever sees any notes in my account and no one ever calls. At one point, I do get the following email as a response:
"Dear
spyndisguise ,Thank you for contacting Time Warner Cable-Kansas City.
We appreciate your patience in this matter and allowing Time Warner Cable-Kansas City the opportunity to address your concern.
I show that you committed to the price lock on 9/03/09 when you were at Acct Nbr [removed] Which transfer with you to you new address Acct Nbr [removed]. Your contract date 12/03 and there was a 30 day window after that date in which you could cancel service, contract or downgrade service. Canceling your contract during that window means you lose you promotion rates. This was explain when you 1st sign up by your sales agent and also on the third party verification which is the record of you commenting to this package. If needed I would be glad to email you a copy of this recording (TPV) of this offer being agree' d too.
Thank you for contacting Time Warner Cable-Kansas City."
So not only is that the most poorly written email I've ever received, it totally ignores my actual issue. At this point, I become very busy with, oh, LIFE, and don't spend every day following up as I possibly should have but last month came and went with no bill. Hooray!, I think, they must have gotten it fixed. Ohhh no, yesterday a collections notice shows up in my mailbox! I can't call as they're closed at this point, but I do get online and live chat with someone who thankfully actually reads what I'm saying and pays attention to my actual issue, the fact that I was told by them three times there would be no fee. She (of course) can't make any changes, but does re-escalate it, promising me I will be top priority and that she's put in thorough notes.
4 hours later, I get this email:
"Dear
spyndisguise ,Thank you for contacting Time Warner Cable-Kansas City.
I am contacting you in regards to the ETF concerns that you have conveyed to us. Basically at this time I have reviewed the account, and also contacted one of our contract Administrators that handle these Early Termination Fee questions. At the time that the services were disconnected, I'm showing that you had spoken with a supervisor and he had submitted a request to have the dates confirmed. After the confirmation one of our Account Agreement Administrators had verified that the time was supposed to be reduced. The full ETF was not waived, but was reduced to the $75.00 instead of the full $250.00. This credit and change had never taken place. I have submitted a request to have this amount adjusted on the account. This will leave you with a remaining balance but greatly reduced. The remaining amount is $67.57.
If you have any further questions or concerns about these changes please feel free to give our local office a call and we would be more than happy to assist you with any further concerns. You may also reply back to this email.
I apologize for the inconvenience in the matter. Thank you for contacting Time Warner Cable-Kansas City."
So, basically, if I'd given in and paid the $242.57 just to avoid a debt going to collections, I would have overpaid by $175.00 and never known they had agreed to lower the amount! This entire fee is a total scam. And funnily enough, I got a 2nd email from another person following up this morning. 3 months with nothing, then one person actually does her job and I get TWO responses!!
My question now is do I continue to argue the remainder of the fee, which I still dispute, or do I just let it slide and pay that amount? I'm not sure how much of a difference any additional calls would make at this point.