ConsumerFury: Exposing Incompetence, Demanding Better

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This issue has now been resolved! (August 4th, 2006)
The incompetence has been exposed. We demanded better, and we got it.
This story took about 48 hours to spark national outrage at Time Warner Cable over the astounding ignorance of their customer support employees. This resulted in untold numbers of angry emails and phone calls to Time Warner Cable across the country. The end result was a policy change, customer support education, and an apology from Time Warner Cable.

We'd like to say THANK YOU to the customer service representative for calling and apologizing as well as to Time Warner for correcting the problem. This is the way companies are supposed to deal with problems like these.

Hear the apology (Voicemail)

Posted: July 25th at 1:27PM

Consumers affected: Time Warner Cable Customers

Subject: Time Warner Cable will not install Cable Cards in Tivo Series 3

An inquiry was sent today to Time Warner Cable of Raleigh, NC. It was concerning the costs of CableCards leased from Time Warner Cable for use in the soon to be released Series 3 HD Tivo. According to this service representative Time Warner Cable of Raleigh, and presumably other cities, will not be supporting the Series 3 Tivo. The representative claims that Time Warner Cable of Raleigh will NOT install cable cards in Tivo devices nor will they allow Tivo's to access their network. If this is true, it is completely outrageous and unacceptable. Please note that customer service representatives are not known for their skill, knowledge, or awareness of what is and is not true, so this particular representative's response may not be accurate. However, it does sound as if this person knows that Time Warner Cable of Raleigh will not install cable cards in Tivo devices.

Here is a copy of the last message in the inquiry with response:

Dear G***** C*****,

TRACKING NUMBER: 88187
Inquiry: Just to confirm, you are saying that when the Series 3 Tivo's are released, you will not be providing cablecards for Tivo Series 3 owners?

Submitted: by gc****@**********.com
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Response:Time Warner Cable of Raleigh does not provide support for or allow TIVO devices on our cable network. Time Warner Cable provides DVR service and equipment for customers that would like to record programs and watch them later. Cable Cards will only be installed on Cable ready, Cable Card slot available television sets. This policy is subject to change at the discretion of Time Warner Cable of Raleigh.

What you can do: Email Time Warner Cable in your area about this. If they confirm that it is true, please let them know that you want them to change their policy to allow the new Tivo Series 3 to be used on their network. Here is a link to their "Contact Us" page. Entering your zip code will allow you to email customer service for your area: Contact Time Warner Cable

Call or email your local cable franchise or telecommunications commission. Unfortunately you'll have to find their contact information yourself. A Google search for your city's name and "cable franchise" might lead you in the right direction. Also, if your city has a .gov website, look there.

After you've shared your opinion with Time Warner Cable and questioned your local cable franchise, you can skip on over to the FCC's website and file a complaint about them. Feel free to include a link to this website for reference. Here is a link to the FCC's website.

Follow up information:

Posted: July 26th at 11:10AM
Subject: Raleigh Telecommunication Commission claims CableCard distribution not required

In an attempt to confirm or deny the legality of the TWC position stated above, the Raleigh Telecommunication Commission was contacted. The above TWC customer service inquiry/response was included in an email included below:

Message to RTC:
As you probably know, Tivo is releasing a new version of its box, the Series 3. This box supports CableCard 1.0 and 2.0 and is CableLabs certified. It is supposed to be released in the next few months.

I sent an email to Time Warner Cable of Raleigh inquiring about whether I would be able to pick up a Cable Card or if they had to send a technician to install them when I get a Series 3 Tivo when they come out. Their response was that they won't provide cable cards for or install cable cards in anything other than televisions. From what I've read, they are supposed to provide them for and install them in any CableLabs certified CableCard supporting device. Am I wrong about that?

Response from RTC:
Thank you for your inquiry. You have reached the right person. No cable company is required to provide technical support or updates for equipment that they do not provide. As Time Warner�s email response indicated, TIVO devices compete with some of the converters and/or �on-demand� type services they provide. Like all other businesses, video service providers are under no obligation to assist or support their competition.

They can choose to place addressable or updateable service cards in �cable ready� televisions. They most likely do so because it enables them to sell additional video services, and they do not compete for the sale, rental or leasing of televisions. I�m sure they feel that placing cards in televisions will help their business, and that placing them in TIVO type devices will harm their business.

The general opinion of this is that it is simply ignorance of the facts. If cable operators don't have to provide Cable Cards for devices like the Series 3 Tivo, those products are basically useless. If the RTC employee's response is incorrect, that's great for Tivo owners, but at the same time it is worrisome that the local authority in charge of keeping the cable operators in check doesn't know the rules!

Posted: July 26th at 12:30PM
Subject: Code of Federal Regulations seem to show cable operators must provide cable cards for all certified devices

Excerpt from Code of Federal Regulations Document - 47CFR76.640:

"(b) No later than July 1, 2004, cable operators shall support unidirectional digital cable products, as defined in Sec. 15.123 *SEE BELOW EXCERPT* of this chapter, through the provisioning of Point of Deployment modules (PODs) and services, as follows..."

Excerpt Referenced Above - 47CFR15.123:

"(a) The requirements of this section shall apply to unidirectional digital cable products. Unidirectional digital cable products are one-way devices that accept a Point of Deployment module (POD) and which include, but are not limited to televisions, set-top-boxes and recording devices connected to digital cable systems. Unidirectional digital cable products do not include interactive two-way digital television products."

This appears to prove the statements of TWC customer service and the RTC employee to be false as the Tivo Series 3 is, by the definition above, a unidirectional digital cable product (it is also a bidirectional digital cable product).

Please include the above document links in any correspondence you have with Time Warner customer service or your local cable franchise regarding this issue.