Hey all,

I've noticed my TWC Bill steadily creeping up from $55 to $67.90. I have always "turbo-charged" my service, which has resulted in speedtests of around 18mbps (not too shabby, at least it attempts to compete with Uverse). I just did an online chat to ask them to drop the turbo (extra $10/mo). The guy from chat said he can't do it and told me to call 877-566-4892, but they credited my account $10 (maybe I could do this once a month).

Has anyone successfully called TWC and gotten a deal from them by threatening to cancel, etc? When I called, they just offered $99/mo which involves getting TV/phone, which I have no interest in.

Unfortunately, btw, Uverse isn't available in my townhome complex (which TWC probably is aware of). So canceling and threatening to switch to AT&T would be BS.

I attached the chat transcript below in case it helps anyone else who has turbo and is thinking of canceling or demanding a credit...


**** Chat Transcript ****
User Me has entered room
Analyst ***** has entered room
Analyst>Thank you for contacting Time Warner Cable. At the end of our chat you will be given the option of taking a brief survey. My name is Peter. Please give me a moment while I access your account.
Analyst>I understand you would like to remote turbo internet charges from your account, am I correct?
Me>Could I please have Turbo-Charged removed from my account and opt for the standard Road Runner? $67.90/month is too much for internet.
Analyst>I apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.
Analyst>I will be glad to assist you with required information.
Analyst>Could you please confirm the address on the account?
Me>*****
Analyst>Thank you for providing the information.
Analyst>In order to verify the account, may I have the last four digits of the account holder's Social Security number? This is to ensure the security of your account information.
Me>****
Analyst>Thank you for verifying the account.
Analyst>Thank you for your patience.
Analyst>Would you like to disconnect turbo internet from your account?
Me>Yes, I would like just regular internet (7Mbps, I believe).
Analyst>Okay.
Analyst>I will provide you the credit for the charge of $9.95.
Analyst>But you need to call on 877 566 4892, to cancel turbo internet from your account.
Me>just call anytime? And you can't remove the turbo from here?
Analyst>Yes, they are available 24*7.
Analyst>I would love to assist you with the issue but we do not have the access to do it online.
Me>okay, i understand
Me>thank you for your assistance
Analyst>I will provide you credit for the charge of turbo internet .
Me>Thank you.
Analyst>Please give me a moment.
Analyst>Thank you for your patience.
Analyst>I have reversed the charge of $9.95 for the turbo internet services.
Me>okay, thank you. So I just need to call the number to have the service disabled?
Analyst>You're welcome.
Analyst>Yes.
Analyst>Sine they have the access to cancel turbo internet services.
Me>Okay, that's all I needed to know. Thank you.

1/11/2011 2:17:52 PM

wow. so polite. LOL

1/11/2011 2:28:26 PM

^ you catch more flies with honey... :-)

1/11/2011 2:32:46 PM

Ask for the retention dept. Don't say you want to cancel, just that your bill has become more expensive than you can afford. They'll offer a lower rate that you can negotiate. If it doesn't work the first time hang up and call again. You'll need lots of patience. Also search tech talk, there are plenty of threads on this.

1/11/2011 2:52:24 PM

i cancelled my services and THEN received the call from retention a couple days later. they offered the "turbo charged" internet package upgrade for ~$45/month for 12 months... i refused he offered it for $35/month....


by that time i already had signed up for AT&T small business DSL for $27/month so i decided to just stay with that, but if i would have known i would have just waited for that call...

1/11/2011 3:09:36 PM

^^ sorry, i searched the wrong forum for threads on this, I'll give Tech Talk a look.

^ How is AT&T Home Business? Can you offer a speedtest sometime?

Thanks for the advice!

1/11/2011 3:11:04 PM

Sabres SUCK

1/11/2011 3:22:04 PM

You will always find that a polite yet assertive attitude will yield more results in this type of situation than just ripping the customer service rep a new one. No one wants to pull up retention packages for the guy holding you personally responsible for something out of your control while simultaneously calling you an asshole and insulting your unborn children.

Also, asking for "account services" always sounds better than the retention dept. When you ask for the latter, you put off that transparent "forum user" vibe implying that your primary goal is to manipulate the system and you lose credibility as far as actually needing to be 'retained' goes. That said, being semi-honest (broke college kid, roommates cutting expenses, too expensive etc) has worked extremely well in the past. Especially if you get a 20something rep willing to take part in your social engineering banter.

/2c

1/11/2011 4:05:19 PM

Be polite yet assertive, but there is no reason to feel like you have to do some top notch negotiating to get a deal. TWC regularly with very little resistance will bump you to their new signup prices temporarily. Call, ask to speak to retention. Explain that you like the service, but are unwilling to pay the higher prices and would like to spend X and then ask what they can do for you. Usually, they will immediately bump you to the promotional pricing for 12 months and you are done. Then, when that 12 mo. period ends, you call again. I have been paying ~$35/mo. for regular roadrunner for 3 years now.

1/11/2011 4:14:24 PM

Quote :

"How is AT&T Home Business? Can you offer a speedtest sometime?"

def a step down from TWC highspeed. only 6.5mbps Up but i can stream television, play xbox live without any probs

unfortunately, you must have a registered LLC or other business in order to receive the promotional rate. I actually found it on a banner ad on TWW...

1/11/2011 7:48:42 PM

Haggling with Time-Warner *sigh*

http://thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=592644

Road runner alternatives

http://thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=607495

There are also others if you use the search feature for Tech Talk. Good luck.

1/12/2011 12:02:32 AM

SABRES SUCK

1/12/2011 7:49:09 AM

Quote :

"Be polite yet assertive, but there is no reason to feel like you have to do some top notch negotiating to get a deal. TWC regularly with very little resistance will bump you to their new signup prices temporarily. Call, ask to speak to retention. Explain that you like the service, but are unwilling to pay the higher prices and would like to spend X and then ask what they can do for you. Usually, they will immediately bump you to the promotional pricing for 12 months and you are done. Then, when that 12 mo. period ends, you call again. I have been paying ~$35/mo. for regular roadrunner for 3 years now."

I just tried this and I am now paying 35/mo. for the next 12 months!! wooot. Thank you jocristian

1/12/2011 12:14:41 PM

Upon further investigation, here is your answer http://thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=607508

1/12/2011 5:43:58 PM

I noticed my bill creeping up too. Called them today to ask about promotions and immediately got transferred to the retention dept. Now my bill is $20 cheaper each month for the next 12 months. Probably the most pleasant call I've had with TWC in years.

1/14/2011 12:09:51 PM

I had the $29.95/mo for 6 months promo for standard Roadrunner internet (7mbps I think). The promo expired and they wanted $44.95/mo. I called and asked to cancel unless they can bring it back down to the promo price...no problem, extended the promo for 12 more months. Took all but 5 minutes on the phone.

1/15/2011 3:52:11 PM

Quote :

"you catch more flies with honey... :-)"

somewhat ironically, you don't really... but yeah they tend to be super 'nice' in the online chats, sometimes not terribly helpful but always 'polite'

every time i've ever called them they run me the same line of bs about how they can't do a promo on a existing customer and such, been transferred 4 times in one go once trying to get a lower rate.... sigh....

1/16/2011 2:35:53 AM

Moving away from the triangle made me realize what a rip-off TWC is. I'm currently paying $46/month at my house for cable+internet+DVR. As for cable TV, I get every channel except PPV and HBO.

1/16/2011 11:52:19 AM