Time Warner Charges Flood Victims $300 for Each Damaged Cable Box

FoxNews ^ | Wed., July 31, 2002

[Jemian]

SAN ANTONIO

[Don Joe]

"Just one more reason to remain a loyal DirecTV subscriber."

So if the wind knocks down my DSS dish the company will replace it for free?

[Don Joe]

So if I rent a lawnmower from you and while I have it the creek rises and it's washed out to sea, you'll be happy if I shrug my shoulders and say "hey that's the breaks" instead of replacing it?

[Don Joe]

"A good solution for AOL would have been for those subscribers with insurance to pay the contract price($300). It is in the contract, it is paid by insurance so it doesn't become an additional cost to an already devastated homeowner.

"For those without insurance a reduced cost of say $75 (actual cost) will be added to future bills and can be paid over time."

If they did that, I'd like to be the lawyer representing the insurance companies.

[cake_crumb]

Also, if you haven't already seen a zillion ads in the backs of various magazines or clicked, check out the price of a generic, 5 year warranted cable box using Google. $300 dollars is a LITTLE over the going price.

My advice to those flood victims who didn't have the 'foresight' to insure their cable boxes...DirecTV ($145 for the whole setup at Wal Mart when I bought mine) or a $60 to $80 dollar generic box fron an hardware dealer you trust. Screw Time Warner. If the SEC FINDS anything in the course of their investigation, you'll be twice as angry for having shelled out the $300.

There's nothing like adding insult to injury to make a consumer REALLY mad...just remember, in a free market system, there ARE alternatives.

[DJ88]

BTW, I'm a MS. not a MR. My parents taught me the importance of helping out your fellow man when they need it. When 9/11 happened, I gave blood. I am on the Red Cross Disaster Team in the event that something catastrophic happened here in Florida such as a hurricane or some other type of natural or manmade disaster. I give my time to people I do and don't know, not because I want to look good, but because that's what being an American is about.

So keep on posting your self-righteous posts, and I hope you enjoy your life. As far as I can see, they only thing you enjoy is insulting people and kicking them when they're down. We already have enough people like that in this country, I choose NOT to be one of them.

And if you are ever in a world of hurt, get hit by a flood, your house burns down or something catastrophic happens where you live or work, just remember that the people that come out to help you do it out of the goodness of their hearts.

And that's what this is all about...it's about people who had devastating flooding, and all AOL/Time Warner cares about is getting their money back. As if they don't have enough problems, now they make a major goof in their PR department. Over something that they could easily eat and it wouldn't even make a dent in their profits.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm done with this thread, I'm done posting to your insulting replies. Go feed off someone else's misery.

[Guillermo]

Why should I ask her? She owes me nothing, I have no vested interest.

Just more emotionalism.

[Centurion2000]

SAN ANTONIO — Flood victims whose cable converters were destroyed during this month's heavy rains are being charged $300 for the damaged boxes by the company, officials said Tuesday

Just tell Time-Warner what the insurance companies tell people. ACT OF GOD.

That will REALLY piss the anti-christian Ted Turner off :)

[DJ88]

I don't own a cable box, since we have fiber optic cable in our area. So I really have never had to deal with the cable company over boxes.

AOL/Time Warner may just have bit the hand that feeds them this time. Every other month, our cable bill goes up, with no change in our selections, except maybe for the Food Channel or something stupid. I only watch TV when I have to.

There are plenty of ways that companies have of bilking their customers, and this just goes to show you that they are no different from the rest. Greed will get you nowhere. They could have chosen the right path, even if it was not the norm; however, they chose wrongly and unwisely. Oh well for them...eventually, what goes around comes around.

[discostu]

and all AOL/Time Warner cares about is getting their money back.

Well you got something right anyway. You finally aknowledged that TWC has a legitimated claim to the money. While I think this is a sucky PR move I'm really not sure what else a company that's losing money hand over fist and being investigated by the SEC is supposed to do. While writing off the money might be best from a moral standpoint we also have to consider what happens if they go under, or at least do major layoffs; and how much does this money actually effect the bottom line. As they say, the business of business is business, if they were in this to feel good about themselves they'd have started a charity not a business.

[Don Joe]

Very impressive Appeal to Emotion, Mr. Turner!

[ScreamingFist]

"Why should I ask her?"

Yea, that's what I thought. Backbone of a squid.

[Guillermo]

LOL, you pat yourself on the back, then call another self-righteous. That was golden.

I'm not interested in kicking anyone. I'm just saying that people should uphold their obligations.

The amount of emotionality on this thread is enough to make even a lefty puke.

JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS TO YOU, THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOUR OBLIGATIONS ARE ABSOLVED.

LAST NOVEMBER, I WAS HIT WITH $11k IN MEDICAL BILLS, AND I HAD NO HEALTH INSURANCE. I AM PAYING THEM BACK, AND I DIDN'T WHINE OR MAKE EXCUSES.

[Guillermo]

No, you give me a good reason why I should ask her, Mr "Screaming Fist".

You tell me why it's my business to act as a collection agent on behalf of her creditors.

[JimFreedom]

I hear ya. I was spending $70 with RCN for a 'superb'fuzzy cable picture with few of the channels I really wanted. Number one son works at Circuit City running AUDIO - VIDEO department shames me into HD setup with Direct TV for a few dollars more. WOW. You couldn't pry that remote from my dead cold hands! Digital rules!

[EternalLife]

(btw, Ted Turner doesn't own or run AOL-TW and hasn't for 6 years)

Ted Turner never owned the majotiry of AOL-TW stock and has never run it.

[Guillermo]

You are corrct, let me clarify. Ted Turner was bought out by TW in 1996, and was named Vice Chairman. He no longer ran his former assets.

[illstillbe]

May I just sneak in here for a moment?!

I am coming at this from a happy little capitalist point of view.

Indeed, TW ... the financially strapped and morallly misguided behemoth of a company ... has every single right to expect compensation for the lost/ruined boxes. It's simply ignoring fact to argue otherwise. They did make a cognitive decision to go by the letter of the leasing agreement ... though another alternative might have proven more financially sound, in the long run.

I am a landscape designer. One of my clients was an elderly couple ... whose beds I designed and installed. I give a 2 year guarantee ...barring natural disaster or intentional neglect .... Well into the second year, I received a call from the wife. It seems her husband had suffered a stroke and she had spent several weeks at the hospital, by his side. All of the plantings had died ... for lack of water and other care. She admitted she completely forgot to ask anyone to watch her gardens and, "Oh ... they are all dead, now. Can you come out?! Maybe we can afford a little something to look at ... I am so sad!"

I came out ... they live in an area where the houses are spaced fairly far apart ... and her gardens looked ... dismal .. as did her husband, sitting on the porch.

I honored the guarantee. Did I have to?! Absolutely not ... but I said I am a happy little capitalist ... and a rather cunning one as well ... so, to the tune of $4,700 ... they got their gardens back ... and my guys watered weekly ... no charge.

WHAT!?? Yep. I did. And then I waited ... happy in my decision no matter what followed. What followed was that she told all her friends at church ... and that $4,700 soon got rolled into a smooth $25,000.

TW could have eaten the loss ... then made Hallmark-like commercials ... bringing tears to the eyes ... explaining their commitment to their customers ...

They decided, instead, to be legally sound ... business stupid.

A little civility here, would not go without notice ...

[JimFreedom]

You got it! BASIC salesmanship. What a bunch of Clymers! A few boxes (at $300) vs endless good will commercials. No wonder they are in trouble!

[Area51]

More power to you for doing what you did. Pat yourself of the back, you deserve it. However, I don't think many would be feeling the same way if her and her 100 neighbors demanded you do it for everyone in the area, that had ever employed your services in a time of a drought. Or if you had to turn down a months worth of paying customers to do
it.

[Guillermo]

Good for you. If I were you, I'da done the same thing.

I deal with contracts all the time, and I don't always follow the letter of the contract, even though I could.

But, with that being said, I would never force my "softness" on a contract on anothers business.

And I'm sick of others demanding that emotionalism should rule over contracts.