14 Secrets of Time Warner Cable Employees
By Jake Rossen
With more than 16 million customers in 29 states, Time Warner Cable is one of the nationâs largest internet and cable TV providers. Theyâre also one of the most maligned, with frequent appearances on consumer polls tracking the worst customer relations experiences. Itâs possible that reputation could change after the recently announced merger with Charter Communications, but it's too soon to say. However, we do know that many of the companyâs employees really arenât trying to get on your nerves. Take a look at what a few current and past Time Warner Cable representatives have to say about marathon calls, little-known services, and the one fib they wish youâd stop telling them.
1. THEYâD APPRECIATE IT IF YOUâD STOP LYING TO THEM.
iStock
Evanâlike all of the employees we spoke to, he preferred not to use his last nameâspent 18 months as a call center representative for Time Warner in Ohio. His number-one customer beef? Your attempts to fool him. âI ran into my share of customers who said they did the troubleshooting steps, but obviously didnât,â he says. Callers with wireless modem troubles are usually tasked with unplugging the device for 30 seconds to reboot it as a first-line solution. It often worksâbut people often lie about trying it. âWith the tools we use, we can see if itâs been unplugged or how long itâs been down,â Evan says.
2. THEYâRE NOT THE GEEK SQUAD.
Time-Warner Cable
Lloyd, who works for Time Warner in Texas, says customers can sometimes mistake him for an electronics concierge. âItâs common for people to ask for help with sound systems, game consoles, routers, and computers,â he says. âItâs always a little uncomfortable, and I've helped more than I haven't, but it's really not our job. Sometimes while I'm explaining how a sound bar works, I am thinking to myself, 'This is what I am doing instead of having lunch.â It makes me want to cry, and that is not hyperbole.â
3. THEY CAN HANG UP ON YOU IF YOUâRE A POTTY MOUTH.
Despite assumptions that a call center operator always has to hang in there to resolve a problem, Evan says thatâs not quite true. âIf you feel uncomfortable because theyâre being verbally abusive, you can hang up. You just have to tell the manager, âHey, this is what happened.ââ While Evan rarely invoked that right, he did handle plenty of angry customers. âYou try to calm people as much as you can.â
4. THEYâRE AFRAID OF BREAKING YOUR STUFF.
Technicians who need access to the backs of televisions, outlets, or coaxial lines can sometimes find themselves challenged by piles of dirty clothes, massive pieces of furniture, or decorative accents. In the case of the latter, employees could find themselves in debt. âEvery time a cable guy moves your belongings, he thinks to himself, âIs this when I lose my job?ââ Lloyd says. âIf something breaks, he's financially responsible. I can't simply refuse to move the furniture though, because I literally have to do it to do my job.â
5. TECHNICIANS HAVE A FEUD WITH CALL CENTERS.
According to Teddâan installer who began working for Time Warner when his local cable company was absorbed by them four years agoâcall center reps can create inaccurate expectations for customers. âCustomer service reps often try and tell a customer what their problem is and what the tech will have to do when they get there, which is bad,â he says. âIf a customer has a TV issue or internet issue and the CSR tells the customer that itâs just 'the box' and it needs to be replaced, then the customer thinks it should be a simple visit.â These mismanaged expectations can create extra irritation.
6. THEY DONâT WANT YOU TO CALL BACK.
According to Evan, call center operators are measured on a variety of metrics: customer service polls, their availability to take inbound calls, and whether theyâve successfully resolved a customerâs issue in a single call. âItâs what they called âfirst resolution,ââ he says. âIf you fix a problem or send a tech out and the ticket is closed, [management] will look to see if the customer calls back within a week. They wanted as close to 100 percent [of no callbacks] as possible.â
7. THEY WISH YOUâD THROTTLE YOUR EXPECTATIONS.
Time-Warner Cable
According to Tedd, advertised internet speeds are only as good as the equipment theyâre being fed through. âSo many customers have unrealistic ideas of what their internet should do versus the equipment they have,â he says. âSo many people call in for slow speeds, especially now that we have our Maxx speeds, and when they are told they have 300Mbps internet, they expect to see at least 300 on a speed test coming off of an 8-year-old Linksys router.â Most speed issues, he says, arenât modem-related, but a product of an old, slow router or computer.
8. YES, THEY GET FREE CABLE. JUST NOT FREE EQUIPMENT.
Itâs a couch potatoâs paradise: all the cable channels you can imagine, plus free internet and phone service. âAs employees, we got HBO, all the foreign channels, everything,â Evan says. âBut we had to pay to lease the cable box and modem.â
9. WHEN THEYâRE LATE, IT MIGHT BE A CUSTOMERâS FAULT.
Getty
Tedd says appointments can get backed up for a variety of reasons, but one recurring issue is customers using him as a sounding board. âWhat is really irritating is when people want to just rant about how bad a particular customer service rep was, or how long they have had the problem, or how much they hate Time Warner Cable. I completely understand these issues but there is nothing I can do about it. And honestly, I donât even mind hearing some complaints, but I cannot tell you how many times I have been late to my next appointment because a customer would not stop complaining about the company.â
10. CALLS CAN LAST A LONG, LONG TIME.
Depending on the issues that came up, Evan took anywhere between 10 and 40 calls per day. Thereâs no time limit placed on them, which means some calls can take an hour or more to resolve. In one instance, he spent six hours on one customerâs billing hassles. âIt was spread over two days,â he says. âAnd it was a lot of silence, with me doing stuff on the back end.â
11. THEY CAN HELP YOU BLOCK ROBO-CALLS.
Time-Warner Cable
Even though the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appears powerless to stop companies from auto-dialing residential numbers using âspoofâ (fake) numbers, itâs a little-known fact that Time Warner can intervene on your behalf. If you have their digital phone service, you can request they activate Nomorobo, a free program that scans incoming calls to see if the number has been subject to complaint. If itâs on the ânaughtyâ list, it wonât get past one ring on your phone.
12. THEY CAN WIN PRIZES.
Evanâs call center would sometimes get visits from premium channel representatives as a way of boosting employee morale. âThere would be teams, and the team who got the highest customer-satisfaction rating in a two-week period would win a Game of Thrones DVD.â Operators could also get a little something if, in addition to resolving your technical issues, they managed to tack on additional service to your account. âThat could make us one dollar.â
13. STOP ASKING FOR FREE CABLE. ITâS NOT GONNA HAPPEN.
iStock
Forget about trying to slip your tech a $50 in exchange for unlimited HBO. âIt's very hard to give customers free cable because most channels are encrypted and require a cable card,â Tedd says. âPeople do mention it sometimes but I really couldnât give away free channels even if I wanted to.â
14. THEY REALLY DO WANT TO HELP.
Despite the endless flow of complaints filed online, all of the employees we spoke to resisted the idea that anyone is actively trying to make your blood pressure rise. âWhen you're on the internet and in comment sections it looks like everyone hates the cable company and everyone has problems with their service,â Tedd says. âBut most of the homes I go to havenât had issues in years. And most customers seem to generally be pleased with us. The technicians are almost always going to be on your side because we actually do want to fix your issues and leave you happy because that benefits us, too.â