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Comments on news posted 2012-11-13 18:55:34: Time Warner Cable is facing two new lawsuits for their recent decision to impose a $4 cable modem rental fee on their customers. ..

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ke4pym
Premium Member
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC

2 recommendations

ke4pym

Premium Member

Got a 1 day notice

Card showed up on 10/31. Bill came due on 11/1.

Though, I did already know about it thanks to BBR.

Camelot One
MVM
join:2001-11-21
Bloomington, IN

Camelot One

MVM

I received no notice at all. I am setup for their automatic billing, and had I not seen the posts here, wouldn't have known about the new fee until I saw the increased charge on my debit card.
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray

Member

They will issue you a one-month credit for the non-notice.
flycuban
join:2005-04-25
Homestead, FL

1 recommendation

flycuban to Camelot One

Member

to Camelot One
Thats one bad side of auto-bill....They can charge you whatever, you won't see it, and is a pain in the ass to get them to refund anything once they have your money on their side... Many people don't even look at their bills to see exactly what they are being charged...
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

1 recommendation

TBBroadband

Member

Support

TWC Mid-Ohio/Midwest has notified their customers (when activating new modems or even calling to ask about support) that you will not receive the same level of support that you do with a rented modem. You are told that you are provided the same level of support as if you were using your own router and would not remove it when in need of support. They do a very brief troubleshooting session and then that is it if they can see your modem. Mid-Ohio/Mid-West also informs their customers that they reserve to charge a $50 truck roll fee (which has been in place since Columbus/Central Ohio merged with WOH to create Mid-Ohio) if the problem is found to be on your end and not theirs. Most of this is buried in the terms of service and AUPs. Also TWC and RoadRunner operate from TWO different policies for both. RR has their own and then TWC has their own. the RoadRunner policy also states they have an invisible cap and can enforce it without TWC as RR is the ISP.

j1349705
Premium Member
join:2006-04-15
Holly Springs, NC

j1349705 to ke4pym

Premium Member

to ke4pym

Re: Got a 1 day notice

I received the notice by mail about a week after the new charge appeared on my bill. Of course, I already knew about it from this site and several others.
j1349705

1 edit

j1349705 to TBBroadband

Premium Member

to TBBroadband

Re: Support

Did you hear this from Tier 3 support? If so, I would be surprised. Tier 3 support normally have the tools and the skills to actually diagnose issues rather than just reboot the modem and schedule a tech visit if that doesn't work.

If you're dealing with someone that can't or won't help you, try asking for the case to be escalated, or hang up and call back.
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72 to TBBroadband

Member

to TBBroadband
That is 100% baloney. If the modem is on the supported list (and even if it is not) you will receive the same service as the person that shells out $4/month for a device lease. The $4 is not a warranty or service contract, and there is a BIG difference--its a device lease. That is what that extra $7 they are concocting is for.

All level 1 does anyways is minimal troubleshooting, so lets not stop the presses.

In the 10 years I had TWC I ALWAYS owned my cable modem (remember when they were free with signup guys -- REALLY , and not once EVER did they not diagnose the issue. In fact the first thing they do is pull data from the CM. Every service call ended up being some hack contractor not running the cable from the tap properly and you know Buffalo winters kill anything with metal (thankfully I have fiber now).

Of course they reserve the right to charge $50 for a truck roll, and they find out your CM is the culprit, it doesn't mean they will. But the chances of that happening are SO slim. Most of the issues are signal and maybe device firmware, which if the CM is on the supported list, they can push from the comfort of their fingertip.

Now maybe your area is some commie CMA of TWC (through acquisition), but in WNY no such issues exist.

My point is buy the cable modem, save yourself from putting money under some executives bed, and sleep well at night. No boogeyman is coming.

Snakeoil
Ignore Button. The coward's feature.
Premium Member
join:2000-08-05
united state

Snakeoil

Premium Member

What can you buy with 4 bucks?

6 pack of beer?
A pack of smokes?
A meal at a fast food joint?
Maybe a gallon of gas or a little more?
A movie rental?

Yes, the fee sucks, but is it worth suing over, as the lawyers are the ones who win and TW will just raise rates to cover the damages and court fees. As well as to keep collecting the 4 dollars [only this time it will be hidden in the regular subscription price, instead of a separate charge]

JigglyWiggly
join:2009-07-12
Pleasanton, CA

JigglyWiggly

Member

??
With that mentality companies will just keep shitting on you.
Rekrul
join:2007-04-21
Milford, CT

Rekrul to Snakeoil

Member

to Snakeoil
said by Snakeoil:

6 pack of beer?
A pack of smokes?
A meal at a fast food joint?
Maybe a gallon of gas or a little more?
A movie rental?

What can you buy with $48? Because that's how much you're paying a year to rent the modem from TWC.

Besides, the fee is $4 a month, now. When have you ever known a cable company not to raise rates? A couple years from now, it might be $5, then $6. Before you know it, people are being charged $10 a month for the modem.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958

Premium Member

said by Rekrul:

said by Snakeoil:

6 pack of beer?
A pack of smokes?
A meal at a fast food joint?
Maybe a gallon of gas or a little more?
A movie rental?

What can you buy with $48? Because that's how much you're paying a year to rent the modem from TWC.

Besides, the fee is $4 a month, now. When have you ever known a cable company not to raise rates? A couple years from now, it might be $5, then $6. Before you know it, people are being charged $10 a month for the modem.

$4 is actually one of the lower modem rental fees that I know of.
Most of them are some stupid number like $7 or $9!! Total freaking ripoff and I hope they get their a**es sued off, even if I'm not a one of their customers!

kontos
xyzzy
join:2001-10-04
West Henrietta, NY

kontos to j1349705

Member

to j1349705

Re: Got a 1 day notice

Me Too!

AVD
Respice, Adspice, Prospice
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ

1 edit

AVD to Rekrul

Premium Member

to Rekrul

Re: What can you buy with 4 bucks?

said by Rekrul:

What can you buy with $48?

How much does a modem cost retail?

unknvoip
RIP goose
Premium Member
join:2006-07-25
Rochester, NY

unknvoip

Premium Member

Modem Fee added, balancing amount reduced from service fee

Got my bill for November. I'n on the $54.99 Standard plan. My $3.95 modem fee is listed, but my Standard tier is billed at $51.04 this month. Anyone else see this on their bill?
unknvoip

unknvoip to AVD

Premium Member

to AVD

Re: What can you buy with 4 bucks?

$80-$130 depending on the model.

compuguybna
join:2009-06-17
Nashville, TN

compuguybna to flycuban

Member

to flycuban

Re: Got a 1 day notice

LESSON LEARNED > > > Never pay any bills with auto-bill.
said by flycuban:

Thats one bad side of auto-bill....They can charge you whatever, you won't see it, and is a pain in the ass to get them to refund anything once they have your money on their side... Many people don't even look at their bills to see exactly what they are being charged...


Camelot One
MVM
join:2001-11-21
Bloomington, IN

Camelot One

MVM

said by compuguybna:

LESSON LEARNED > > > Never pay any bills with auto-bill.

said by flycuban:

Thats one bad side of auto-bill....They can charge you whatever, you won't see it, and is a pain in the ass to get them to refund anything once they have your money on their side... Many people don't even look at their bills to see exactly what they are being charged...

Here in Austin, if you are an internet only TW customer, auto-pay is mandatory.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband

Member

The Midwest is as well now if you don't want to pay for them to ship your modem/install fees. Which account from anywhere from $19.99 and on up to the first bill.
TBBroadband

TBBroadband to j1349705

Member

to j1349705

Re: Support

You do not talk to Tier 3 support unless you put a ticket in to actually speak with them. Also they can have all the tools they want, but in the end they could have done that with routers as well. But they refused.
TBBroadband

TBBroadband to elefante72

Member

to elefante72
That is not true for MidWest. The supported list only gives them the permission to update your bin file as needed an the firmware, techs will tell you this that work in the Midwest region.

Chances are in that 10 years you may have had Adelphia as well, that allowed their customers to purchase their own modems or pay a fee. TWC never charged their customers a fee until recently, which by the way is still $2.50 in the Midwest.

On another note- how would you know the practices of the MW area if you're from NY? You would not be under the same requirements as far as support unless its in the default AUP/TOS that TWC and RR use across the board.
Skippy25
join:2000-09-13
Hazelwood, MO

Skippy25

Member

Not entirely true.

They ALWAYS charged a fee for the modem. It just use to be a part of the price and thus was hidden in there.

This is the EXACT same thing as a below the line fee. Take things that were originally included in your X price, create a new line item for them, make up a number in profits you want to increase, add that as the charge Y all while keeping the original price the same so now you have X price + Y surcharge.

Twsux
@rr.com

Twsux

Anon

Tw modem scam

I was told I would need to purchase my own modem to avoid Time Warner's stupid $4 monthly bs modem fee. I did just that. $50 bucks and several days of poor tech support and no Internet service later, I find out about this scam. Good job Time Warner - take advantage of your customers while charging your astronomical prices for poor service, poor equipment and lies! I want my $50 bucks! I think I hear FIOS calling....

Brainwaste
@rr.com

Brainwaste

Anon

Modem fee is just a TOTAL RIPOFF!! Fight the system!

Compcond
@rr.com

Compcond

Anon

$3.95/mo modem rental fee

Pissed: yes.

On the other hand I bought a Motorola 6141 for $125 from Amazon, received it yesterday and it was up last night. MUCH better performance than the rented Cisco.

Don't know if I'm on a different VLAN with the DOCSIS 3 modem or what but the Cisco gave me 25Mb, then 12, then 18, then 6, then 22. Motorola is 20Mb. Always 20Mb.
mrbi8b0
join:2012-11-15
Raleigh, NC

2 edits

mrbi8b0

Member

not unexpected

This should come as no surprise. TWC, like all MSOs are in business to make money; with rising costs of operations and the huge overhead that was taken-on by upgrading most (if not all) areas to DOCSIS-3 (both at the Head End and at the user end) that cost needs to be offset... by charging a modem lease fee. TWC has been discarding DOCSIS-1 and DOCSIS-2 modems at an astounding rate and is only purchasing new DOCSIS-3 modems.

TWC customers pay STB lease fees and now there is a modem lease fee; unlike STBs, modems can be purchased to have the lease fee waived.

Regarding any service issues, for Customer-Owned modems, TWC will ensure that the downstream/upstream RF signal going to the modem is good and usable, beyond that is a customer-owned issue, just like customer-owned routers (the lease fee pays for support of troubleshooting/replacing the leased modem as Home Networking fees pay for support of wireless networking).

Regarding what modems are supported, TWC's corporate website has a list of supported modems and will likely support that their customers can purchase the same modems that they lease-out.

Regarding TWC's Digital Home Phone VoIP service, there is no fee for the use of a TWC-provided eMTA, however, TWC does not support customer-owned eMTAs for the use of VoIP service (all VoIP customers will be provided with eMTA free of charge).

TWC is a business, not public service, not a charity; TWC is in business to make money. Cable, Internet and Phone are premium luxury services and therefore to any business providing them, a premium fee is due, just like your cell phone.

dalion
@rr.com

dalion to Camelot One

Anon

to Camelot One

Re: Got a 1 day notice

not true, i am in austin and use only internet with twc

Camelot One
MVM
join:2001-11-21
Bloomington, IN

Camelot One

MVM

said by dalion :

not true, i am in austin and use only internet with twc

And you are able to manually pay your bill each month?

Voodooman
@rr.com

Voodooman

Anon

What can we do?

I don't think that the problem is so much about the $4 raise but more about how sneaky and unjust the rental fee is. Are we going to allow such conduct and how far are we willing to fight back?. I found out that new customers can get the same Standard service for only $29.99 for a whole year. Therefore, you could have them disconnect the service for 90 days and then reconnect it with the promotion price and keep doing that every year instead of paying $60 reg. rate. As for me, I decided to live with my unlimited t-mobile 4G network on my Galaxy S3 and with that my friends I hit 2 birds with one stone... teach the company a leason to respect customers and honor prices and save $60/month. Good luck to you all.

don456fff
@rr.com

don456fff

Anon

phone and chat jammed

What a joke. I have phone through TWC and their FAQ states I will need another modem from them to continue my phone service. Chat and voice support is jammed with long waits.
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