Do they honestly think we're that stupid?Yesterday's sudden announcement by the cable monopoly known as Time Warner to not cancel--but postpone its Road Runner internet metering/pricing scheme--is not a victory by any means. If anything, this company ought to be downright ashamed at insulting the intelligence of its Piedmont Triad customer base.
Excerpts from the announcement:
Time Warner Cable Chief Executive Officer Glenn Britt said, “It is clear from the public response over the last two weeks that there is a great deal of misunderstanding about our plans to roll out additional tests on consumption based billing. As a result, we will not proceed with implementation of additional tests until further consultation with our customers and other interested parties, ensuring that community needs are being met. While we continue to believe that consumption based billing may be the best pricing plan for consumers, we want to do everything we can to inform our customers of our plans and have the benefit of their views as part of our testing process.”Time Warner spokeswoman Melissa Buscher:
Company spokeswoman Melissa Buscher said Time Warner still believes tiered pricing is the best option for customers.
“It’s clear from the response we’ve gotten from Greensboro and other areas that there’s a lot of misinformation out there,” Buscher said. “What we heard is no one knows what their usage is.”
To solve that issue, Time Warner is developing ways to help explain the fee structure and educate customers on their usage. Buscher said the company is working on a Web site that customers could go to that would monitor their Internet usage, similar to some utility company sites.
Do you think your Triad customer base is that "backwoods" and uneducated, Melissa? Are we that stupid?
For a company that just announced big losses and layoffs not long ago, one would think that perception, customer service and respect would be a priority. Sadly, that didn't happen. And as a commenter said, it was Time Warner that was just educated by its customer base--now a dwindling customer base.
It is also saying a lot when it takes a U.S. Senator from NEW YORK to open his mouth for something to get done in North Carolina. The leadership (and response) in this state to this issue was horribly pathetic, the response among our local representatives was equally paltry.
And for this company to say it will postpone its plans tells us that they plan to roll it out once again...eventually. What few customers this company has left by that time will be ready....to bolt. My household is already looking at what few options there are to shelve (using their words) Time Warner in favor of another provider.
What's needed? Competition. Plain and simple. Our customer base is not stupid, but this issue squarely points out that our local leadership needs to get wise and get techno-savvy very quickly.
Ed Cone and Sue Polinsky are talking this up. Roch chimes in also. Let's hear from you too.
E.C. :)
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2 comments:
Thanks, Erik. I hadn't seen Buscher comments. If Ms. Buscher thinks the problem is one of misinformation, she can begin with the very obvious gaping hole in the facts as TWC tried to assert them.
TWC asked us to believe that there was a need for their proposed pricing scheme because they were worried that growing internet use would tax their infrastructure. Yet, they never provided any data by which we could evaluate the veracity of that claim and, in fact, other information suggested that that claims was just malarkey. Reports to stockholders showed internet access to be highly profitable and that TWC sees streaming video over the internet as a threat. They recently increased their broadband speed and that increase is central to their marketing efforts. They did not propose limits or tiers on other data streams (TV & phone).
All of these things -- a lack of any information that justified their concern about internet access taxing their infrastructure and information and actions contrary to such a situation, where it true -- these are the real problems for TWC. They tried to justify their plans with bogus reasons. This is what Ms. Buscher needs to understand.
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