If there’s one thing you can depend on with Time Warner Cable, it’s that if you call for technical support, someone is going to ask you to reboot your modem–even when the problem is that TWC changed your phone number without warning.

Trance writes:

I moved apartments a few months ago. I called Time Warner and I had my account transferred to the new apartment. I have home phone service through Time Warner (in addition to cable, dvr, and internet). I only use my home phone for emergencies, but I give it out to banks, credit card companies, family members etc. in case I can’t be reached on my cell.

6 weeks after I moved into my apartment, I get a couple of missed calls on my cell phone from my mother. I call her back and she said that tried to call my home phone but the number is out of service. Odd.

I call Time Warner. After being on hold for 20 min, I reach a real customer service rep. He asks for my phone number to confirm that I am the account holder. I give it to him and he says that number is not connected with the account. Odd. Luckily, I also have my cell number attached to the account and, after giving him that number, he confirmed that I am the account holder and asked what the problem was. I told him my number was coming up as not in service. He explains that this is because I have the number wrong. My home number is a completely different number. I corrected him and said no way is that my number. He then asked whether I asked Time Warner to change the number. I said no. He then asked whether I just had the number wrong to begin with. I explained that I’ve had this number for 3 years and I know what the number is. He then asked me to reboot my modem to solve the problem. Sigh.

I said politely that I doubt rebooting my modem would magically change my number back to the right number and asked to be transferred to his supervisor. I was then put on hold for 40 minutes.

I finally reach the supervisor and explain the issue. She looked at my account and told me that when I moved, I moved into a new rate zone. I should point out, I literally moved around the corner from my current apartment. But, apparently, the building itself at one point had a deal with Time Warner (it doesn’t now, nor did it have the special rates when I transferred my account). She said that phone numbers cannot be transferred in between rate zones. The customer service rep I spoke to when I transferred my account should have told me I would need to have a new phone number assigned. Clearly, she did not. Not only was I not told I would need a new number, no one bothered to even give me the new number. It is not on any of the paperwork I received from Time Warner. The supervisor didn’t offer me any solutions. She clearly did not care about my problem.

I then told the supervisor that I wanted to cancel my phone service. This mistake was inexcusable. She then transferred me to the cancellation department. I waited on hold for another 20 minutes.

A very nice customer service rep then answered the phone. I told her I wanted to cancel my phone service. She asked why and I told her Time Warner changed my phone number without telling me. There was a long pause. “Oh, that’s really bad” she said “I am so sorry. I will go ahead and cancel your phone service.” She then offered me a new, lower, rate for my cable and Internet service and give me some new channels I will probably never use. I accepted the rate, but stated that it is not like it is going to get me my number back. She said that Time Warner has a really high turnover with customer service reps. Many reps are college students who “just don’t care.” She said this type of miscommunication happens all the time. She asked if I wanted any other free channels, but I declined. I really just wanted my phone number back.

My building is getting Verizon FIOS soon and when it does, I will cancel my service with Time Warner all together. Had I known I couldn’t keep my phone number with Time Warner when I moved, I would have switched phone service providers prior to the move. This way, I would have been able to keep my number. I’ve called other phone companies and they all tell me that since the number was removed from my Time Warner account, there is no way they can get it back for me. So, now I have the fun process of letting all my credit card companies, banks, doctors etc. know that they have to call my cell number.

I hate Time Warner.

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