US Cable Support > Time Warner Cable TV/Voice > [TWC] Time Warner = herd of morons!

[TWC] Time Warner = herd of morons!

So do you demand sale prices at grocery stores from 2 weeks ago? Do you try to pay off your electric bill by saying "Well, take $20, at least your getting something"?

Sale prices are sale prices.

Yes, I have negotiated sale prices when things are not on sale. Haven't you?

As an example, only a fool walks into a car dealership, asks the salesman what a car costs and then pays that price.

The cable goes right by my house. The drop is already there. All they need to do is screw on an F connector and collect $9.95 a month.

Your comparing apples and oranges. Goods vs Services.

Do you know if the $10 was an introductory price?

BTW, nice Ninja edit to from "Your the fool" to "Only a fool"

It's because I don't know you, so calling you a fool was wrong. I apologize.

The ten dollars was a 12 month price.

Services cost EVEN LESS to provide then goods! Like I said, the cable still goes by my house, whether or not I buy the service.

That ten dollars is almost 100% profit. to TW.

TW is losing almost two customers for every one they gain in Socal. I know this for a fact because a VP friend of mine hangs out with a TW executive.

If I was in their shoes (and shape) I'd be looking for every penny of income I could get-NOT walking away from free money!

reply to qworster
why didnt u call 2 weeks ago? promo offers are offered for limited time to get people to call within the promotional period. why do u think you are special and can call when the promo is over?

Because two weeks ago I wasn't moving to this apt. I only signed the lease last week.

I suppose it TW wants to decline my offer of giving them
$119.40 for 5 minutes of work, that's their business. I think they're being incredibly dumb, that's all

The cable already runs past most peoples houses, does that mean we should all be able to name our own price....because after all any money is better than no money?

In a way, yes. Why not? Isn't that what a' la carte is all about? Why should I be forced to pay for 50 sports channels with my basic when I never watch them?

I can choose among many different DSL plans and many different telco and satellite plans, yet cable stubbornly refuses to offer different plans-and slowly sinks into oblivion as a result.

You all do know that they are having their clocks cleaned by the likes of FIOS, Uverse, DirecTV and Dish, don't you?

I don't know about any of you, but yes, I'll take any $$ I can get! Any money IS better the no money. Any customer IS better then having one less customer-especially since they're losing customers by almost 2:1!

FiOS, U-Verse, DirecTV and Dish offer a' la carte pricing for their video services and you can even name your own price? This info is good to know.

Thanks

They offer different channel packages. For 19.95 I can get 100 channels or for ten dollars more, 150 channels. etc. etc.
If I don't need HDTV, I don't have to pay for it.
And yes, I've successfully negotiated with DirecTv for (free) things that normally would have cost me extra.
As a good example, I called DirecTv today, told them I was moving and now they're going to install a dish at my new place for free...AND give me 3 month of HBO, Cinemax and Starz.

When I moved when I had cable, I had to return all my old equipment to them (or pay them 20 dollars to pick it up), wait for an installer to give me NEW equipment 9and pay him on the spot for it!).
.
Cable offers digital basic -period! One service-one price.

Take it or leave it.

Or do you really believe the TW hype that they are giving you HDTV out of the goodness of their hearts?

Broadcast, Basic Cable, and with Digital you chose what tiers you get. So I'm not sure where you are going with that.

It seems you're just mad because you can't get in on an expired deal, those are the breaks. It's not Time Warner Cable's fault that you moved in after the deal was up.

That deal was around for awhile and was there to get people that didn't want to buy converter boxes for the DTV transition, well the transition is over and so the deal needs to end sometime right?

Why does the deal need to end?

If they are still getting interested customers, you walk from business?!

I don't know about you, but I LIKE found money-especially when I have to do nothing but send out a bill to get it!

By the way, TW doesn't offer analog basic plus cable here any more. You have two choices-analog broadcast or digital basic.

You win.
Keep fighting the good fight, by trying to get free stuff from every company you deal with.

reply to qworster
I have a saying: If you don't ask, then you already know the answer (no).

So why not ask? I find that most people are reasonable when it comes to negotiation.

Besides, I don't want cable (or anything) for free...I was perfectly willing to give them THEIR asking price (and I have to believe they were making money at the 10 dollar price-otherwise why offer it?) .

If they don't want me as a customer, that's fine-I'll give those $$ to Netflix.

reply to qworster
number 1-having worked for a cable company i can tell u the rep most likely could not have given u the special promo even if they wanted to. sales dept always has different promos and when they sign up a customer, they put in a promo code. so if the $9.95 promo is expired, they can't put it into the ordering/billing system.

number 2- for $10 a month you do not generate any $ for time warner. it costs close to $100 to send a tech to your house to install cable. even if it takes 5 minutes to screw in a connector. if something goes wrong and you need a service call, thats another $100.

$100=the cost of rep taking your call, salary of rep, printing work order, dispatching a tech, gas/maintenance of van, tech's salary, tools & materials tech uses, calling dispatch on their nextel radios, etc

reply to qworster

If "rolling a truck" costs hundreds of dollars a trip, then how can companies like UPS, Fedex, Etc., 'roll trucks' all day-and still make a 50% profit from the $5.00 it costs to send a one pound box across the country? And their people are unionized. I work as an IT contractor and have my own truck, and it doesn't cost 100 dollars to send ME to someones' home for 15 minutes! If TW and others were paying their contractors upwards of 300 dollars an hour, I could see why their rates are so high-but you and I both know the average cable contractor makes something around 20 dollars an hour...INCLUDING benefits.

And let's not also forget that TW also charges an installation charge for screwing that F connector in!

Okay..so let's say that TW's overhead is super high and it costs them 50 dollars for each truck roll (and I'm including scheduling, call center and other 'back office' stuff in the 50).
That means that they'll likely make a cool $70.00 profit from that ten dollar a month BB customer over the year. AND having the cable in the home also means that they are an active customer-one who will be more likely to respond to an offer (for upgraded service, Internet, etc) then a non customer. Finally, let's remember how cable system VALUES are calculated-not by homes passed, but by numbers of active subscribers-and IIRC, every sub is worth $3000+ in value.

I'm not anti cable-I've just worked in the industry for quite a while and also worked on a few cable regulatory boards. I know the difference between the truth and the BS that cablecos like to spew...

PS: The satellite offer was (and still is) $14.95 a month-for 100+ channels (Dish TV). Free installation too.

"If "rolling a truck" costs hundreds of dollars a trip,"

Who said hundreds of dollars a trip other than you?"

Okay..so let's say that TW's overhead is super high and it costs them 50 dollars for each truck roll (and I'm including scheduling, call center and other 'back office' stuff in the 50).
That means that they'll likely make a cool $70.00 profit over the year."

Indeed they might, dependent on if the customer needs a service call during that year or need advice on programming remotes. You are of course forgetting the monthly programming costs to the network providers that of course want their cash. Due to the loss of income from advertising its well documented that they want their share.

"having the cable in the home also means that they are an active customer-one who will be more likely to respond to an offer (for upgraded service, Internet, etc)"

This is true, of course you are ignoring my point that the initial offer was geared to customers who have one analog TV and have lost their over the air signal. As i asked, was there any alternative from Direct TV or Dish?

"Finally, let's remember how cable system VALUES are calculated-not by homes passed, but by numbers of active subscribers-and IIRC, every sub is worth 3000+ in value."

Completely irrelevant unless the company is looking to sell out. Have you heard rumors that TWC is looking to sell the LA market?

Hob
--
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

You implied that one 15 minute truck roll to remove a trap can wipe out 120 dollars. All I did was extrapolate.

Broadcast basic only has the basic over the air networks, some public access channels, god channels and a few shopping channels. Programming costs are low. I'd be surprised if they pay over a dollar a month.

In terms of value, no, I don't know if TWC is planning to sell..but I DO know that they separated from TW recently, (and they always seem to be swapping subs with one company or another)... They had to have SOME way of determining their value in the split so the(ir) stock could be fairly valued. I'll bet you 100 dollars that number of subscribers factored greatly in that valuation.