When Michael quit Time Warner Cable, it was easy. Too easy. He didn’t face retention staff begging him to stay. They canceled the account, and let the couple go. Temporarily. After only a few days, Time Warner began to call them to win them back, With some coaxing and special discounts, Michael and Mrs. Michael came back. Then they learned that the deal that enticed them back was not, strictly speaking, real.

My wife and I recently decided in an attempt to save money to cancel our Time Warner Cable bill. I spoke with customer retention and to my surprise they didn’t put up much of a fight. Now, a few days pass by and my wife begins to receive calls from 1-800 numbers (repeatedly). It turns out these calls were originating from and “Outbound Retention” department of Time Warner. After several voice mails we decided to return the call.

The gentleman we spoke to explained that since he was with a different department he could offer us special discounts and benefits, he offered a no charge DVR, the NHL Center Ice package (at a one time $50 fee, normally $140) and a total monthly bill of $60 (roughly half of what we were orginally paying). We accepted the deal and the following month our bill came in and it was the pre-discount price.

Now were going on three months since the Outbound retention deal and the bills each month thereafter were not what were promised. We have attempted over and over to nail this issue down with TW Customer Service in vain. Each individual we speak to needs a full explanation of the back story, puts us on hold and several times have outright hung up the phone.

We know from speaking to these individuals that their computer system allows them to add notes to our account to maintain continuity for future calls. Now they either do not do this or their CS reps are incapable of navigating the system because many of them are unable to find any record of the offer we agreed to. Needless to say were more than frustrated and will most likely cancel again if this issue is not resolved.

They haven’t left yet, so Michael could try the time-honored trick of tracking down a regional Time Warner Cable executive and pointing out how much better off both parties are when the household continues to send Time Warner $60 a month for cable, instead of sending them $0 for nothing.

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