After seven years of subscribing to Time Warner Cable’s broadband internet service, Consumerist reader Matt saw that TWC was offering upgrades to its wideband service for the tempting price of $99 per month… well, sort of.

After placing the upgrade order through the TWC website, Matt says he received two emails, one confirming the order and a second saying he would be receiving the new modem within 3-5 business days.

Being a much more patient man than anyone I know, Matt says he waited a few weeks before trying to find out why he still hadn’t received the new modem.

So he into his account only to find there was no record of any order being placed. So he tried again and once again received the two confirming e-mails.

When another week and a half went by without a new modem, he called TWC:

I was told that they can’t look up anything by order number, but she showed an order was cancelled. She could not tell me why, or by whom the order was cancelled. I asked to speak to a supervisor in sales/upgrades and she refused to transfer me.

I asked her what would happen if I ordered a third time online and was told that it would probably also be cancelled, but no reason why. She stated she could get my service upgrade pushed through, but only at a monthly rate of $109.00. She said the $99.00 rate was only available online.

At this point I’m dumbstruck. I can order online for the $99 per month rate and have the order cancelled, or I can successfully order on the phone at a rate of $109 per month.

She said my only option to get the 99 per month rate would be to bundle the package and switch my telephone service to them.

We welcome anyone from Time Warner Cable to step up and explain what in great googly-oogly is going on here. Of course, if cable companies were actually allowed to compete with each other instead of maintaining these ridiculous regional monopolies, Matt would just be able to switch.

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