Be sure to read our Ultimate Consumerist Guide to Fighting Back, a go-to handbook for the dissatisfied consumer. Once you've decided to go the executive customer service right, be sure you read this first so you know what to say when you call the corporate avatar of your choice.

The Consumerist Executive Customer Service Index

ACS
Adelphia
Air Tran
Alamo
Alaska Airlines
Allegiant
Aloha
Amazon
America West
American Airlines
American Express
Amtrak
Apple
ATA
AT&T
AT&T Wireless
Bank of America
Barnes and Noble
Bell Canada
Best Buy
Blizzard
Blockbuster
Blogger
Bloomingdales
Blue Cross/Blue Shield
British Airways
Borders
Busey Bank
Buy.com
Cablevision
Charter Communications
Chase
Circuit City
Citibank
Comcast
Continental
cox
Delta
Direc-TV
Discover Card
Dish
Disney
Ebay
Enterprise
Equifax
Experian
Fedex
Frontier Airlines
Fry's
Gamefly
Geek Squad
Georgia Power
Helio
Home Depot
Humana
HSBC
IKEA
ING Direct
Insight
Keybank
Lenovo
Loew's
Macy's
Microsoft (and Xbox)
Midwest Airlines
Motorola
National City
Nicors
Northwest Airlines
Norton
Office Depot
Office Max
Orbitz
Paypal
Pitney Bowes
Qwest
RCN
Regions Bank
Register.com
Ryan Air
Samsung
Seagate
Sears
Sirius
Skybus
Sony Ericcson
Spirit Airlines
Sprint
Sports Authority
Staples
Symantec
T-mobile
Target
Time Warner Cable
TransUnion
Uhaul
United Airlines
United Health Care
UNUM Life Insurance
UPS
US Airways
US Cellular
Verizon landline/DSL/Fios
Verizon Wireless
Vonage
Wachovia
Walmart
Washington Mutual
Wells Fargo

In the event you can't find the info you are looking for here, you can scan our backlog of contact info, or use Google to uncover the addresses yourself. In the event you find something we don't have, feel free to share at tips@consumerist.com.

Researched by Alex Jarvis
Last updated: 11/07/2008

We thought one of the perks of being famous was getting good/free service, but DirecTV and Time Warner don't care who you are—you must be punished. That's why this morning on "The View" (or "I Don't Hang OUt With My Mom And Her Friends For Just This Reason"), Whoopi Goldberg complained that she can't get anyone from DirecTV to come repair her broken service. Sherri Shephard chimed in and said she can't get Time Warner to show up to install her TV, cable, or phone.

We're locating the video now, but in the meantime here's a recap from a member of the DBSTalk.com forums:

Whoopi said she's been waiting 3 weeks for them to come out, and they kept telling her that they went out there to some red building and she had to tell them each time she doesn't even live in a red building. So who knows if anyone will ever get to her home since all the repair people seem to think she lives in a red building...

Then Sherri said she's been waiting 2 weeks to get her Phone, Internet, and TV connected by Time Warner, that they didn't show up the day they scheduled her for; and then when she called they told her it had been rescheduled but they didn't know by who. So Sherri has no home phone, internet, or TV...

"As I type this: Whoopi is going off on Directv" [DBSTalk.com] (Thanks to Don!)

Rather than waste another 45 minutes languishing in line, Matt used our contact information to launch everybody's favorite armament, the Executive Email Carpet Bomb:

Dear Mr. Jeff Simmermon and Ms. Terry Cronin,

The good people at the Consumerist recommended I email you with my problem, which has dissolved into a Kafka-esque farce.

The thumbnail sketch of my situation is this... In mid-June, my roommate Alexis moved to Seattle and out of the apartment we shared. I stayed in said apartment and wanted to continue TW's service. Before she moved out, we'd gone into a TW Cable office, filled out the transfer forms, had them copy our IDs and thought everything would just be transferred—after all, we were only changing the name on the account, not any of the services—and they assured us it would be.

Toward the end of June or thereabouts, I received a letter saying that somehow they had not received a copy of my driver's license, though I'd seen the woman who took our applications make one. Odd, I thought, but I dutifully made a copy of my license, filled out the form, and sent it in. I call to confirm that this is all I need to do. I'm assured it is.

In late July, I realized that the account was still in my roommate's name when she got a new bill, so I went in to my local office (in Santa Monica) for the second time. I was told to go to the Culver City office as that's 'where the paperwork is...'. Uh, okay....so I drive over, wait in line for about 45 minutes, fill out all the paperwork again, they make TWO copies of my license. I confirm—enough times that they started to get annoyed—that this was all that needed to be done and the names would be changed automatically within two weeks.

Guess what I found out today? That's right, the change has not been made.

I call TW Cable from work. I'm told to go into an office. I explain I've done that already. I ask for a supervisor. I wait for 40 minutes due to high call volume until my office closes and I have to go home and try again. Then I decide to give emailing you two a try.

Please, all I want to do is change the name on the bills. No service changes to my phone, cable or internet. No address change, either. Literally everything should be the same except the name on the bill.

Please, is there anything you can do? I've been happy with my service overall—which I've had since TW took over our account from Comcast—but this experience has wasted so much of my time (two Saturdays, several hours on weeknights, plus an hour at work today) that I'm exploring other options.

Thank you and regards,
Matt

Terry Cronin later responded:

I do apologize for all the confusion! I certainly will have this looked into right away. You should receive a call sometime today.

Read our handy guide and you too can learn how to fire the problem-solving Executive Email Carpet Bomb.

(Photo: Getty)

Nancy writes:

Time Warner is charging me for movie purchases which I have not ordered. My current bill is 1400.30. The overwhelming majority of these movies are pornographic. My bill informs me that among many others, 17 were ordered on May 8 and 14 were ordered on May 10. Time Warner says it is impossible (their word) that these movies were NOT ordered from inside my house using my remote control and my cable box. I am a 60-year old English teacher. I have never seen a porn movie in my life. I LIVE ALONE. No one else has access to my house when I am a work. My husband who works out of another state is helping me in an effort to rectify this mess.

So far, we have been through the telephone drill (on hold, rude customer service clerks), a 90-minute visit to my local cable company where I was told that "maybe your dog ordered them," a phone call to the Time Warner CEO's office in Connecticut (national, not district) where I talked with a Customer Relations rep, a call from a Customer Care rep at district level, etc. None of this has helped. I was told at every level that the only way known to man that these movies could have been ordered is from inside my house using my equipment. I am 100% certain that they haven't been ordered from my house.

It looks like I'm going to have to swear to that under oath in court because my husband and I have agreed that we will not pay for these movies (52 movies since 4/21, most of them costing $11.99 —- I didn't even know there were on demand movies that cost $11.99). Though I have been researching this problem for hours and hours and have seen comments from others being charged for movies they say they didn't order, I have not seen anyone with a problem with Time Warner of this magnitude. Can you think of any possible way this could have happened?

17 porn flicks in one day? We're young. We're ambitious. But that's too much—by far—even for us.

Nancy's situation calls for a dose of common sense, which means executive customer support. Call Jeff Simmermon, Time Warner's Digital Communications Director, at (203) 351-2221, and see if he can't help wipe off those misfired charges.

(Photo: Getty)

"We've seen a fall in customer service as we've gone into a recession," says a customer service consultant in the article. "As the cost cutting occurs . . . they start to cut the wrong things." But that implies that AOL had good customer service before the recession, doesn't it? Wait, what?

All but one of the top 10 companies are either in communications or finance, with the one weird exception of Abercrombie & Fitch (4th place, 38%).

"Most of these companies actually aren't thriving," said Michael Shames, the executive director of the Utility Consumers' Action Network, a California nonprofit that monitors business practices. People don't look at companies with poor customer-service scores and say, "Here's where I should invest," he said.

"The Customer Service Hall of Shame" [MSN Money]

It's alleged that while Jackson worked at Time Warner, she received a payment on a customer's account through a credit card and kept the victim's credit card numbers. This allegedly happened at a call center located in Blue Ash, according to a Time Warner representative.

In the following weeks, Jackson allegedly ordered items over the internet and over the phone using the numbers.

Investigators said Jackson had the items sent to her home, but it is not yet clear whether that led to her arrest.

Wait, she used the stolen info to shop and mail things to her own address? We're going to allege that Jackson was an idiot.

"Former Time Warner Cable Employee Arrested For ID Theft" [WCPO News]

The major provisions of the "Cable Consumer Bill of Rights" are:

• 1. Customer Service Transparency
• Cable companies will be required to collect and report detailed information about consumer complaints, and to follow-up with complaining consumers within 30 days to ensure their problems have been resolved
• Companies must also collect and report detailed information about service outages by borough and community district, and submit a quarterly Plan of Correction for communities that are routinely subject to service outages
• Companies must also improve meaningful consumer disclosure; including providing consumers with a full and accurate list of all service tiers, sub-tiers and channel offerings for their franchise area
• Cable operators must provide convenient service centers that are easily accessible by mass transit. We recommend one service center for every 500,000 customers served
• Ensures privacy protection for the customer which prohibits the cable providers from sharing data on customer's internet usage and television viewing habits
• 
  2. Cable Rate Transparency
• Cable companies must provide needed transparency about their cable rates so that consumers know what percentage of each bill is allocated to:
• Cost of content, capital expenditures, system maintenance, administrative expenses and profit
• Independent programmers affiliated / non-affiliated with cable or broadcasting companies
• 
  3. Independent Arbitration
• Create an independent arbitration system to help cable companies and independent programmers efficiently resolve disputes over access, rather than denying consumer access to popular programming. (This mechanism would avoid the type of blackouts that consumers have experienced such as when Yankees and Mets programming were not available to many cable subscribers for lengthy periods of time
• 
  4. Annual Cable Consumer Report Card
• Cable companies must publish and distribute an annual Cable Consumer Report Card so that consumers can easily:
• identify their cable company's performance over the previous year,
• access cost and service information,
• view improvements that have been made and service outages that have occurred, and
• view complaint ratios by community board
• The availability of a report card as well as where to obtain the information (web site, phone number) must be included in all promotional materials issued by the providers
• This annual report must also disclose the existence of exclusive contracts that cable companies make with Multiple Dwelling Units (MDUs), which prohibit residents from choosing among cable providers

Information in New York City's monopolistic marketplace leads to anger and frustration, but not action. Say a consumer finds out that their monthly cable bill is $145 plus 3 squids because their building signed an exclusive contract with Time Warner, who allocates 99% of those funds (including the squids) to shareholders, and not infrastructure improvements. What's the consumer supposed to do? Cancel their service and go with.... right, nobody.

The franchise renewal represents the city's best shot at forcing cable operators to meet strict customer service goals. New York can look to Montgomery County's franchise agreement with Comcast for inspiration. Under that agreement, Comcast agreed to:

• Answer the phone within 30 seconds and transfer the customer to a live human in an additional 30 seconds.
• Fix service interruptions within 24 hours if no work is needed inside the home, and 3 days if access to the home is required.
• Provide a 10% per day credit if the technician is unable to repair the connection during a scheduled service appointment.

The franchise can't be signed without the approval of the Franchise Concession and Review Committee. The Mayor, Comptroller, and Borough Presidents should stand up for New Yorkers and write a real Cable Consumer Bill of Rights, one that will provide the level of customer service all New Yorkers deserve.

And then use that agreement to extract even stricter standards from Verizon.

Comptroller Thompson Unveils "Cable Consumer Bill Of Rights (Press Release) [NYC Comptroller]
(Photo: Dr. Hemmert)

On Tuesday, April 15, 2008 a Time Warner representative came to our home to install the digital telephone modem which would also provide our internet service.
 
My husband observed an insect walking on the modem box and asked what it was and the employee seemed dazed and confused.

After the installer left, my husband and I saw cockroach after cockroach emerge from the modem. We killed them as quickly as we could. We have never seen roaches in our house before. Our house is free-standing and many yards away from neighbor homes.
 
I called Time Warner insisting that they come to remove the modem. The woman I spoke with insisted that I had to be wrong and that it was impossible for cockroaches to be in the modem. She refused my request that Time Warner come on the following day to remove and replace the offending modem, which housed a swarm of roaches.
 
We wrapped the modem up in plastic and duct tape.
 
On Saturday, April 19, 2008 when the representative came to replace the modem, we had arranged for a witness to be with us. We took the modem to the front porch, removed the plastic bag, and a number of cockroach bodies fell out. The Time Warner worker agreed that modems sometimes came from other people's homes and were reused. He suggested that the modem may have first been used in a contaminated home or that it was possible that the first installer may have had cockroaches in his truck.
 
In the meantime, cockroaches of all sizes and ages are in our study. We try to kill them as we can. We would not have had this infestation were it not for the Time Warner modem.
 
Yours sincerely, Natalie Columbus, OH

In the Charleston SC area we are fortunate to have local a internet / phone / cable provider called Knology that has made customer service an art form.

Over the last few weeks I have been reconfiguring my home network and have contacted their customer support several times to change my settings, each time I was greeted by a competent employee who handled my request with ease. I finally settled on using an Apple AirPort Extreme and placed one final call to set it all up.

Now, because I am a lifelong Mac user I expected to hear "What is a Mac?" or "We don't support Apple products." Instead the customer service rep said it wasn't a problem and even shared some geeked out fact about the router that I didn't know. He made the changes needed to the account, I didn't even have to touch my keyboard or mouse. At the end of the call he offered to have a technician follow up with a call in an hour to make sure it was working. One hour later the technician called while I was happily surfing the web over my new wireless connection.

An amusing postscript to this story. Right after I had finished setting up the connection, an AT&T salesman comes to my door and I was able to give him an ear full of what I thought of his illegal wiretapping company. It was like icing on the cake. : )

In New York, customers tired of Time Warner, Verizon, and Cablevision can look to independent DSL providers like Bway.net. Frustrated residents of other cities can use DSLReports.com to track down their own local alternatives.

Local (Mom & Pop) ISPs [Broadband Reports]
(Photo: dailyinvention)

I moved this past month to a new apartment in the same building — when I was setting up the account transfer, the representative uncovered that I had been misbilled for nearly 2 years for service on a 3rd, non-existent, television. It wasn't clear due to the billing information, and I was instantly promised a credit for $170.20 that was calculated by the rep and his supervisor. As a loyal consumerist reader, I got all their extensions and representantive ID's — just in case. After the move, I received a bill and there was no credit. I called, and was informed my credit was denied due to a 'disclaimer' that would allow them to only go back for 3 months with a credit. They didn't care what I had been promised, nor did they care what another rep and their supervisor had noted on my account.

My countless calls every few days kept me in a runaround, as I was told this was being researched on "microfiche" (Hello 80's???).

I had enough of the runaround... I searched on your website, and found a number for Barry Rosenblum's office, he is the president of TWCNYC. After a quick conversation with the friendly woman, I was transferred to Ed Urbanowski, who pulled up my account and saw the entire history of my runaround... within 3 minutes, my call was done after Ed happily resolved all the pending issues. My credits were put through immediately by him, and he provided me with his direct number should I have any difficulties interpreting the next statement that arrives.

While I'm thrilled that Ed was able to resolve my issue so expeditiously, I hope that they look further to uncover other issues which prevented me from resolving this through the normal channels.

Kudos to Consumerist, Barry's office, and Ed... and shame on TWC Billing.

(Photo: USAgent)

Overall rating / Company / Rating for Internet / TV / Phone
250 Verizon FiOS 84, 84, 82
222 Bright House 75, 69, 78
222 Cox 74, 69, 79
221 Verizon/DirecTV 73, 74, 74
221 Qwest/DirecTV 72, 74, 75
221 AT&T/Dish Network 72, 70, 74
214 Cablevision 72, 65, 77
208 Time Warner 71, 63, 74
199 Comcast 66 ,62, 71
188 Charter 61, 59, 68

Despite occasionally setting a house on fire, Verizon FiOS is clearly tops, while Comcast and Charter are scraping the bottom.

Internet, TV, phone [Consumer Reports]

From their press release:

"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Meyer. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers."

"A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry," said Tsujihara. "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future."

Format wars suck. That's all we really have to say about it.

Warner Bros. Entertainment to Release its High-Definition DVD Titles Exclusively in the Blu-Ray Disc Format Beginning Later This Year [Time Warner]
(Photo:someToast)

From Sports Illustrated:

"We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans," commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement after the league announced it was reversing course. "What we have seen for the past year is a very strong consumer demand for NFL Network. We appreciate CBS and NBC delivering the NFL Network telecast on Saturday night to the broad audience that deserves to see this potentially historic game. Our commitment to the NFL Network is stronger than ever."

NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky said officials would have no further comment Wednesday.

This will be the first three-network simulcast in NFL history and the first simulcast of an NFL game since the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967, when CBS and NBC televised the meeting of the champions of the newly merged National Football League and American Football League.

"We're happy to accommodate the NFL's request for a joint national simulcast of this potentially historic game to make it available to the widest possible audience," said Dick Ebersol, NBC Universal's chairman for sports and Olympics.

Giants-Pats available nationwide [SI] (Thanks, Justin!)
(AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

The NFL's binding arbitration deal would have retroactively charged TWC for the game after the arbitration process was finished.

Time Warner Cable's CEO Greg Britt wrote to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell:

"As I'm sure you are aware, over the years we've been able to successfully reach agreements with hundreds of programming networks without the use of arbitration," he wrote. "We continue to believe that the best way to achieve results is to privately seek a resolution and not attempt to negotiate through the press or elected officials."

Meanwhile, a number of states, including Wisconsin, are trying to force the cable companies into arbitration against their will. From USAToday:

A vice president of the Green Bay Packers told the state Senate committee in Wisconsin that the channel's exclusion from some major cable networks could spell the beginning of the end of the sport's popularity.

"Sports die off when they are not broadly accessible to the fans," Jason Wied said. "This is the start of that problem."

Wied, along with the president of the NFL Network, spoke in support of a bipartisan bill that could require an arbitrator to resolve disputes between the network and cable companies.
...
The director of the Wisconsin Cable Communications Association, which represents Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Comcast Cable, MediaCom and 25 other smaller providers, said the state should not interfere with negotiations in a free market and doing so may be unconstitutional.

We love the NFL (obviously), but the fact remains that most people don't want their cable rates raised year round to accommodate a small number of sports fans who enjoy watching out-of-market football— and the cable companies know it.

NFL offers arbitration to cable for NFL Network [USAToday]
(Photo:Paul Keleher)

I don't see this mentioned very often but if you need help with a local cable company or telecom company you should see if your county/city has a franchise authority. My county has a very active authority and in the two times I have used them I have gotten resolution quickly for issues I had previously spent months on. In talking to my local authority they try to avoid being involved in petty billing disputes or when people haven't yet tried to resolve the issue directly but they want to be involved if you fail to get a response after a good faith effort to resolve the issue.

Situation 1:
A technician left a cable across the road and failed to tack it down. So the cable coiled up in the middle of the road and sidewalk, over the next 3 months numerous children riding bikes or just running down the sidewalk would trip and fall. Every week I would call and report this cable but nothing was ever done, well 4 days before Halloween I got desperate and tried the franchise authority (Imagine kids in costumes walking down the street close to dusk and a black cable along the ground). One hour after my email someone from the authority called me back to say that a Cable company rep would be calling me that day. They did and a tech was sent one hour later and the cable was removed!

Situation 2:
I started having problems with my cable service and repeated calls over a month would result in a tech visit who would say that the problem is upstream. During one of the tech visits I was told that some large repairs were needed at the head-end and until they were done the whole back half of my neighborhood would continue having this problem. So I sent another note to my franchise authority. Three hours later the local office manager called and said that someone would look into it first thing in the morning. The next day I was told they had confirmed the problem and it would be fixed in 3 days. Sure enough, 3 days later my cable TV was perfect!

In both cases the people who responded were helpful, followed up and kept me appraised of the status of my issue. I think it helped that in both cases I was offered service credits and discounts, which I declined to avoid any pretense that my issue was about money. I have found that this helps the escalation reps understand that the call is about the issue at hand and not someone looking for a hand-out. I was also very polite, told them how much I appreciated their help and never bashed them or their company, I would just explain my issue and my hope for a resolution. My cable provider is Charter but this should work with any provider assuming you have a strong franchise authority.

In Los Angeles, franchises are overseen by the Chief Administrative Office, who setup a hotline for consumer gripes at: (213) 922-8350.

For all other localities, try calling your local executive—Mayor, Town Supervisor, Chief Cow Herder—and ask about the local franchise authority.

Cable & Open Video System Complaint Form [DoITT]

This suit follows a cease and desist letter sent by Comcast warning the NFL to stop trying to coerce the company into placing the channel on a different package. A previous lawsuit decided that Comcast had the right to offer the channel on whatever package it wanted, including a premium "sports tier."

From Broadcasting & Cable:

In the suit, which was filed Thursday, according to a copy supplied to B&C, Comcast said the NFL had breached its agreements "through what has been described as a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign to drive Comcast's customers to its competitors and, thereby, to wrongfully coerce Comcast into abandoning its bargained-for tiering right."

In May 2007, the New York State Supreme Court upheld Comcast's right to carry the channel on a sports tier after a dispute between the two parties over whether Comcast's right to tier the network had been triggered. The operator had initially carried the network on a more highly viewed tier per its contract.

"We haven't seen the lawsuit so we can't address specifics," NFL spokesman Seth Palansky said, "but they seem nervous. An educated consumer is a good customer."

Meanwhile, Senator John Kerry of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts thinks the upcoming Patriots-Giants game is a matter of national interest and has sent a letter to the NFL, Comcast, and Time Warner offering to help them negotiate a truce that will allow more viewers to see Tom Brady's enormous forehead go undefeated. The Patriots-Giants game is the final regular season game for the Pats, and it seems more than likely that Brady and the boys will join the '72 Miami Dolphins as the second team to finish a season without a loss, and the first to go 16-0.

Sen. Kerry has a history of personally interceding when his sports viewing is in jeopardy; he pulled a similar stunt earlier this year, when he encouraged the FCC to get involved in DirecTV's deal to become the exclusive provider of MLB's Extra Innings package. So far the Senator has shown little interest in the heinous NFL Sunday Ticket Monopoly, so his sudden obsession with a single Patriots game is sort of... lame.

Also, to be perfectly frank, we find the current Dolphins' potential "perfect season" much more interesting (and hilarious), and Tom Brady's hair makes him look like a Lego.

Comcast Sues NFL Alleging Breach of Contract [B&C]
Kerry Wants to Huddle with NFL, Cable Operators [B&C]
(AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Klausner is estimating damages and future royalties from AT&T and Apple at $360 million. From the press release:

Klausner Technologies was founded by Judah Klausner, the inventor of the PDA and electronic organizer. Apple's original groundbreaking PDA, the Newton, was, in fact, covered under an OEM patent license granted by Judah Klausner over twenty years ago under his landmark US Patent 4,117,542.

The iPhone violates Klausner's intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone's inbox display. Apple has called iPhone's Visual Voicemail "one of the greatest advances in the history of mankind ... without question."

Apple Inc. Sued for Patent Infringement on iPhone by Klausner Technologies, Inc. (Press Release) [Yahoo!]

The commission is preparing to take steps to make it less expensive for rivals of the largest cable conglomerates to buy their programs — so that, for instance, a satellite company would find it less expensive to purchase programs by the Turner Broadcasting System, a unit of Time Warner.

One of the proposals under consideration by the commission would force the programming of the largest cable networks to be offered to the rivals of the big cable companies on an individual, rather than packaged, basis. That proposal, known as "wholesale à la carte," is vigorously opposed by the large cable companies.

The agency is also preparing to adopt a rule this month that would make it easier for independent programmers, which are often small operations, to lease access to cable channels.

And Mr. Martin has been circulating a plan that would use the finding on cable television dominance to set a cap on the size of the nation's largest cable companies so that no company could control more than 30 percent of the market.

The Chairman is assuming the broad new regulatory powers under what is known as the 70/70 rule. Once the FCC finds that cable is available to 70% of American households, and that 70% of those households subscribe, the FCC is empowered by the Cable Communications Act of 1984 to promote "diversity of information sources." Expect the cable industry to poach Verizon's dragon-riding lawyers to argue that the requirements of the 70/70 rule have not yet been met.

F.C.C. Planning Rules to Open Cable Market [NYT]
(Photo: Jiri Kopsa)

TWC, Comcast and other cable companies have refused to carry the channel on basic cable because they say it costs too much and they don't want to raise rates for all of their subscribers to pay for a channel that only a few people want.

Comcast briefly carried the channel on its basic cable package, but sued to have it moved to a more "a la carte" sports tier and won. Neither they, nor Time Warner cable, seem too concerned about a backlash.

"We don't think any of our customers will disconnect just because Jerry Jones tells them to do so." said Time Warner spokesperson Maureen Huff.

Until Sunday Ticket isn't DirecTV only, the NFL, including Jerry Jones, should really just shut the hell up.

NFL Network Seeking More Regular-Season Games [Portfolio]
(Photo:Traveling Fools Of America)

But you can only get it on DirecTV. So it sucks. And it makes the NFL into a bunch of hypocrites when they whine that Comcast and Time Warner are relegating its "NFL Network" to a sports tier. And they whine an awful lot.

From ESPN:

The doublespeak here is rich. The NFL restricts its magnificent Sunday Ticket product, which enables viewers to choose for themselves which game to watch, to the lucky few who get the satellite service DirecTV. Millions of homes cannot receive DirecTV for technical reasons or can pull in the signal only after expensive special installations. Frank Hawkins, the NFL's chief negotiator for television contracts, told me that when he lived in Virginia, his home could not receive DirecTV until he had a tall metal pole installed in his backyard. Yet although the NFL won't let anyone in the U.S. except DirecTV subscribers watch Sunday Ticket, the league is furious that Time-Warner and Cablevision won't buy the NFL Network and Comcast will buy the NFL Network for its premium sports tier only. The NFL wants NFLN on every basic cable system, which was the path to success for ESPN and CNN. A war of words has broken out, in which the NFL is denouncing the cable carriers in consumer-rights language while asking that Congress intervene to force the NFL Network onto basic cable. The cable carriers are firing back, accusing the NFL of all manner of perfidy. Meanwhile, 35 million households already get the NFL Network, while only 1.6 million get Sunday Ticket — and the consumer's barriers to Sunday Ticket are much higher than the barriers to the NFL Network.

It's time to open up NFL Sunday Ticket to everyone [ESPN]

Christos called Time Warner to complain. Time Warner understood that Christos didn't want holes in his wall and floor, or borrowed cable. To apologize, they offered a $30 credit and "a few movie coupons." Christos writes:

I initially contacted Time Warner to acquire all three services they offer; Cable T.V., Internet and Telephone.

On August 18th 2007 I called Time Warner for new services. When the technician arrived to my apartment he told us that we need to be referred to a "post wire". So we agreed and he made a phone call to set this up. Our next visit was about a week later from another technician and he also told us we need a "post wire". I initially thought this was the purpose of his visit. So this technician made ANOTHER call to refer us to another "post wire". The third visit, needless to say another week later... "post wire" again! It took three visits for us to finally get someone to come over and install a "post wire" construction.

The third technician arrived at 12pm on September 28th (wearing a Time Warner shirt) and couldn't find the main line coming to my apartment so suggested it might be hiding between closet walls which he went on and made two huge holes in my wall with a hammer, creating damages to my apartment. He didn't find the cable, so he drilled through the floor of my apartment and through the neighbor's ceiling right beneath me. His solution? To split the line of the neighbor and share the cable; Without understanding what happened when I plugged my TV to the cable I had picture(without the box even being present) all tiled and pixilated...and moments later my channels were changing on their own! I have come to realize that Time Warner directly or not violated someone else cable line and provided me with it...I am not sure if this is "pirating" or not but I believe it is.

I have followed through for a damage claim; that is to get my walls repaired after the installers made huge holes in my walls, splitting the line and offering me my neighbor's cable line. That is unethical and against company policies.(your own technicians gave me "pirated" cable tv- that is illegal to my understanding.)

The damage claim is going to take care of the damages occurred to my apartment made by their own technicians so I don't perceive this as "credit to me".
I was offered credit of $30 and movie coupons by a supervisor named Chris with Operator ID # C87. I find this very offensive as i take it i and my time is valued at only $30 and a few coupons .

From time to time companies need to realize that US customers make paydays happen and keep the foundation alive.

I have resulted emailing Time Warner numerous of times because i find $30 inadequate to compensate my troubles and frustration of over a month trying to get services and neighbors knocking on my door accusing me of "stealing" their cable and their picture is coming up all tiled and pixilated...

The last email I received suggested I contact customer service over the phone, and so I did to get offended and spoken to very condescending and unprofessional. I read all the success stories you guys accomplish, so i am asking for any help, i am in the Los Angeles region.

(Photo: *USB*)

Hello,

My name is Clayton. I recently bought a new condo and was excited to finally subscribe to TW cable and internet after I spoke to your customer service representative last Monday, 9/24.

Before I ordered cable and internet I asked the representative if they would be able to install my service this coming weekend. I was told that the usual wait was only 3 days, so it will be no problem. Keeping this in mind I ordered a package.

When everything was finished and it came time to schedule the installation, I was told that she was mistaken, and the earliest date they could install would be the following Monday, October 1st. Needless to say, this didn't make me very happy, and the representative offered to submit a request to be given an installation slot this weekend should there be a cancellation or new spaces opened up. I was told I would receive a phone call the following day to find out if this is possible.

When I didn't get the call, I called back this morning. The representative I spoke to, who refused to give me their name, informed me that I had been scheduled an installation date of November 3rd, a full month later! She told me that this is the usual wait for installation, I could not be given an earlier date, and there was nothing she could do. She refused to let me speak to anyone else regarding the matter, and even invited me to cancel my installation and order service from an alternative provider should the installation date not suit my needs.

Needless to say, I am surprised and disappointed by the way I feel I was tricked into ordering service. I have not cancelled my installation yet, but I did contact Dish Network, who assured me they could install service this weekend.

I would like to give TW cable the chance to earn my business. I am asking that I be scheduled for an installation date for this weekend, or in the event that is impossible, the following weekend, October 6th or 7th.

Thank you for your time,

Clayton

There are red flags to be found in each telecom provider's privacy policy. A close reading of Time Warner's policy reveals:

Along with knowing juicy details of your calling and viewing habits — those 900 numbers, say, or that subscription to the Playboy Channel — the company keeps track of "Internet addresses you contact and the duration of your visits to such addresses."

Time Warner not only compiles "information about how often and how long" you're online, but also "purchases that you have made" via the company's Road Runner portal, which provides access to thousands of goods.

On top of that, the company may monitor "information you publish" via the Road Runner portal, which should send a chill through anyone who accesses his or her e-mail through Time Warner's servers.

That's not to say Time Warner or any other service provider is reading people's e-mail or invading users' privacy in any other way. The point is, they're explicitly saying they could.

The unchecked accumulation of consumer data represents a monumental threat to consumers. Data is collected to be used. Precision marketing is a relatively innocuous manifestation of data mining when compared to the nightmare scenarios envisioned by civil libertarians.

Most troubling is that these revelations hid in broad daylight. The contracts signed by consumers are not secret, and yet nobody noticed that something was amiss until a reporter from the L.A. Times sat down and read the contract.

Your loss of privacy is a package deal [L.A. Times]
(Photo: ann-dabney)

Police said the banging at the door lasted at least 15 minutes, and the man at the door was Hernandez.

"He started to yell at her, and was belligerent, demanding why was it that she didn't open the door sooner," Gutierrez said.

The warrant said Hernandez was there to fix a problem outside, but the woman said he forced his way in, saying he needed to look at equipment upstairs.

Police said the woman later went to see if Hernandez was done and sat down on the edge of her bed as he worked at a desk. The warrant said Hernandez turned around, started to strangle her, and put a cable tool to her neck as he tried to remove her pants. The woman said Hernandez also hit her with a cell phone.

Investigators said the woman broke free and ran downstairs, but Hernandez caught up with her, threw her on a couch, and tried to force himself on her.

Police said the woman pushed him away and he left. The woman said Hernandez threatened to return. The woman then called police at about 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

The police, with the help of Time Warner, tracked down and arrested Hernandez for attempted sexual assault. He has been fired, and faces up to ten years behind bars.

Repairman charged with attempted sexual assault [KENS 5]
(Photo: the_kid_cl)

When he complained about it to customer service, they told him "Time Warner/Warner Bros had contracted a security company to film movie theater audiences around the country during the opening weekend of its movies in an effort to prevent piracy." Ew! We think this is scary. If we saw some potential psycho filming us during a movie we'd be weirded out and we'd leave. Especially if it was during a (sort-of) remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Do not go to sleep. Warner Bros. will film you.

We emailed Time Warner for comment, but haven't heard back. Here's Sam's letter:

Dear Consumerist,
Last night (Aug. 19) myself and a friend decided to venture to the local movie theater (AMC Lowes Georgetown 14) to catch the 7:35pm showing of The Invasion. The movie started on time with a moderately full theater and immediately I notice an older gentleman who looked to be about 60 standing in the corner of the theater. Sporting a black suit and a black briefcase, he began to film the audience during the movie. Every 5-10 minutes he would sweep the audience with his video camera, then turn it off and just watch us, then turn the camera back on and sweep again. Now being in Washington DC people are very security conscious and at first I thought he might have been Secret Service but he only stayed in the theater filming for about 45 minutes.

After the movie I went to the Customer Service desk to inquire if they knew about this incident. The manager behind the desk informed me that Time Warner/Warner Bros had contracted a security company to film movie theater audiences around the country during the opening weekend of its movies in an effort to prevent piracy. While I believe steps should be taken to curb piracy, this was one of the most unnerving experiences of my life, and I was not only person that felt this way. I overheard at least 4 other people complain to customer service about this incident, with 2 of them stating that if this ever happened again they would stop using this particular chain of theaters. I was quite surprised at the reaction of the customer service employee, he did not seem to to care one bit that people were opening telling him they would stop using this theater and he brushed off the criticism by shrugging his shoulders and just stared blankly back at those of us who were complaining and passed the blame to Time Warner/Warner Bros.

The question is, what does Time Warner/Warner Bros do with these video tapes? How long are they stored? Is there a massive database of these tapes somewhere? While I do know that laws allow for photography of people without their permission in public places but does this apply to a a movie theater since it is a private business? And if it is not allowed, I was not informed by AMC Lowes that I would be filmed during the movie so what are the legal ramifications of that action?

This email is also being sent to Craig Ramsey who is the Chief Financial Officer for AMC Entertainment and is listed as their Media Contact on their SEC filings and Craig Hoffman of Warner Bros who is listed as their Anti-Piracy press contact.

-Sam

UPDATE: Sam writes to tell us that the CSR he spoke to originally was mistaken and the scary Warner Bros. thug wasn't filming, but was, in fact, using night vision goggles. Sam writes:

This afternoon I received an email from the Director of Guest Services for AMC Theaters, I spoke with her on the phone and she was extremely apologetic about the incident. She also wanted to clear up some misinformation provided by the AMC Customer Service Representative. The man in the suit was not in fact filming the audience, he was using a night vision scope. She assured me that AMC would never allow filming of the audience. Apparently the Georgetown 14 theater has been recently hit by pirates and this was part of the effort put on by the studio to combat such piracy. I explained to her that if this type of audience surveillance was going to happen theater goers need to be notified and she wholeheartedly agreed.

She said that she would be discussing the incident further with the manager of the theater and the CSR that I spoke with after the movie and then speak with the studio about the incident to see what can be done in the future. I was also provided with free movie passes and was told that I would be receiving an official letter of apology from AMC.

It's a Video-On-Demand service called "Start Over" because all you can do is "start over."

It'll work with your DVR, with the following conditions from TWC: "You will not be able to use the Fast-Forward keys on a program you started over, and you will not be able to start a recording of a show that you have started over and conversely, you may not "Start Over" a program, you have previously set up as a DVR Recording."
From DSL reports:

As the name indicates, the service only lets you start programs over — while content is still stored remotely. The service won't let you fast-forward through ads and only works for "selected" shows and channels, according to Time Warner.

The company is also launching a new service in South Carolina this October called "Look Back," which allows subscribers to watch previously broadcast episodes of popular TV series. This service, too, makes sure that you can't fast-forward through ads in order to placate broadcasters, and only lets you view programs from that day.

Time Warner Redefines the DVR [DSL Reports]

I'm a Time Warner customer in Charlotte, NC and recently got my August bill. Looking over it as usual, there is a new fee "ADHSN Fee" of 23 cents. I know FCC and taxes, but ADHSN I didn't comprehend. After calling customer service the agent was perplexed and finally realized that they were charging me for the Home Shopping Network ad/coupon they included in my bill. Apparently, they claim this charge has always been there, it's just bundled somewhere else. I think they are full of crap. Plus he claimed he couldn't remove it. So now I have to pay to be advertised to. 23 cents to 100,000 cable customers is $23,000 to put little useless ad in my cable bill. Shouldn't the home shopping network foot the bill?

We called Time Warner to ask if charging for coupons was standard practice. Though they have yet to get back to us with an official comment, one Time Warner representative offhandedly remarked: "Oh God, I hope it's not standard practice."

I moved from one apartment in the city of Poughkeepsie to another last weekend. I had called Time Warner before the move to verify that there was an existing cable connection in the apartment I was moving to and to verify that it was active. The customer service representative informed me that indeed, there was an active line and that the easiest way to transfer my account was to bring a copy of my signed lease to my local office and inform them of the change.

Needless to say, I headed over to my local office who immediately told me there was no such policy in place. They directed me to contact customer service.

I moved into my new apartment and hooked up my cable modem and digital cable receiver. Voila! Connectivity and clear picture. I called customer service on Monday of this week to transfer the account and let them know that yes, there was an active line that was running direct to the apartment and yes, it was active. At this point, the customer service representative informed me that there was no way I could possibly be receiving Internet or television service as there is no wiring in my building whatsoever. There are three apartments in my building — all with cable television — so I found this somewhat hard to believe. The customer service representative informed me that a technician would have to come to the house and verify that the line running to my apartment was indeed my own and that I was not piggy backing on any other connections. A service call was scheduled for today, Friday August 3, between 12:00 and 4:00 PM.

At 4:45 PM I called Time Warner to ask about my service call and they informed me that the technician was "on his way." The 19 year old technician arrived at 5:00 PM and walked up and down the block looking for the house. I went outside to flag him down and he came upstairs to look at my existing wiring. At this point he looked up and said "Wait. Your connection already works. I'm supposed to be doing an install." I explained to him that he was merely there to check the line and verify that it was the one I was being billed for. He looked disgusted, and then proceeded to try to head downstairs. Instead, he opened my closet door and walked him, before angrily demanding to know how to "leave this place." I followed him outside to show him where the cable enters the house from the pole. He looked at the wiring and said, "well, you're all set, but how hard do you think it is to get up on that telephone pole behind the house next door?" I informed him that I had no idea, considering I don't frequently climb telephone poles. I will never forget what he said next:

"See, the problem is that I'm a contractor, and if I just come here and verify your connection, I'm not going to get paid. I have to replace something so I can bill Time Warner for it." He began unscrewing my downstairs tenants cable connection while saying "Like these - I can't leave these connectors here, they are old, and if I just replace them and run an extra line from the pole to the house I can get paid."

I have worked in datacommunications for over ten years, and I understand the plight of the contractor who doesn't get paid. That being said, I wasn't about to allow the technician to dismantle my neighbors' connections - a job he was not at all authorized to complete - so that he could get paid. I informed him that if he had a billing problem with Time Warner he should take it up with his dispatch supervisor - not with my neighbors' cable. He became angry and tried to leave without signing off on my paperwork, indicating that my connection was indeed live and authorized. I got him to sign the paperwork, then immediately called Time Warner to confirm the information I had been given as I didn't trust the technician at this point to complete the authorization process in the office.

Upon calling customer service I was informed that not only are there no cable lines present at my location (despite the fact that the technician who had just left saw all three of them), but also that I had refused to allow the technician into my home whatsoever to do service. Then, the agent transferred me to a supervisor, Rudy, who informed me that it is "normal procedure for a technician to update the wiring on my existing connection and that a new line may have needed to be run to the house." I explained again that what the technician was trying to do was unnecessary work that had nothing to do with my cable line and that the technician had flat out told me he was doing the work merely so he could bill TWC for it. At this point, the supervisor called the dispatch supervisor, who explained that the technician in fact did no work while he was here.

Rudy suggested that if I stay home all day again tomorrow someone mightarrive if I'm lucky. Otherwise, they will have to schedule an appointment some time in ten days. However, they will deauthorize my cable modem and digital cable box in the interim because they cannot confirm they are connected to a line!

Needless to say, I will be stunned if this problem is taken care of tomorrow, and I'm already in the process of looking at DSL, but my central office is far away and my speeds will be sufficiently less than those of my existing (and clearly working since I'm sending you this e-mail via my home connection) cable modem. Any suggestions or contact #'s that might help me get my problem escalated?

(Photo: Snickerpuss)

My wife and I have been subscribers of Time Warner Cable (digital cable + internet service) for over 3 years. We haven't had problems as big as most, but we've still had our issues here and there. Yesterday's happenings, however, take the cake.

Around 5pm my wife returned home from being out for much of the day only to find that our cable had been entirely shut off. She and I have just sold our place and are buying a new one, but we hadn't yet called TWC to have our service shut off. Needless to say, she was confused.

So she called TWC and received a wonderfully helpful CSR (sarcasm, here). She explained to him that our service had bee