I did get some promising news from TWC today. I've been talking to a rep in SA since November 5th about getting HD boxes. Yesterday, I called again and she answered. She even sent me an email later asking for more info about our complex. I though we were on a roll until she asked me again, "What is you first name again?" However I am encouraged. We may not be too far away from a deal. According to her, she will put in all the units and link them to our master account. When we have signed off on the deal. Owners may go to any TWC service center in their city to pick up their cable box. The serial number will be linked to that owner and should the box walk off, that owner would be held responsible.
One of the holdups was that we have never had a contract with TWC. I don't even remember the provider with whom we had the last contract. Charter bought out that provider and then TWC bought them out and the contract was just passed on without any changes or increased cost. I was concerned that when they looked into this and found we are paying only $12 per month per condo, they may want to up our fees. She said that indeed this is an extremely good price and with the $8 for the upgrade we would be at only $20 with a five year contract. I asked if the price could be increased during the five years and she replied all their contracts now have a 5% increase built in after the second year. My confidence in TWC has been misplaced before, but this time I do feel better. This reminds me of Charlie Brown trying to kick the football and Lucy always pulls it away at the last moment after swearing to never do that again.
I had an experience at Walmart today. My battery would barely start my car so after dinner at Panjo's, (Thanks Paul and Christine), I went to Walmart at two minutes before closing. I had called earlier to be sure they had a battery Group 79 in stock.
As I arrived, they were closing the doors. Service person Joe said he would take care of it quickly. He opened my hood to check the battery and looked puzzled. I said there is no battery under there. He said he had never done one like this and asked where it was. I told him it was under the back seat. So he opened the back door and I had my bowling ball and bag somewhat wedged between the back seat and back of the front seat. He was in a hurry and and when brute force didn't work he got a bigger hammer and jerked the handles off the bag. When he fell backward he broke the lens on the courtesy light on the door. Oh well. I left him to take out the battery and went in to talk to Rachel who I had had the phone conversation with earlier. She said that will be $148 plus tax and fees. I told her she had quoted me only $104 on the phone. She said she had looked over at the battery rack instead of walking over six steps to look more closely at the Group 79 batteries. She wanted to go home too and could not have been more abrasive. I told her this battery receipt showed it was only three years old and it was warranted for five years. She said yes, but the battery I now had was adjusted from a battery three years before that so I did not have a full warranty on this battery. I asked when did that change. She said it was recent change. I told her that meant that Walmart had changed my warranty since I purchased the battery. She said that was true. I told her to just forget the deal since I had checked with O"Reilly's and I would just go there. She was not too happy. Since my old battery was not entirely gone, I could still drive away. She went out to tell Joe to put my old battery back in. He looked puzzled, but not too upset.
I drove around to the front and went in to ask for the manager, Tammy. She was on vacation. The assistant manager was unloading a truck. The girl asked if she could help, I told her it was likely a guy thing about automotive, but I would give her the short version. She immediately took me over to another staff person and told her, "It's about Rachel again" and they both smiled. Jessica called someone on the phone and related my story word for word. She turned to me and said to come back tomorrow after 10:30 when she comes to work and they will sell me a battery for the quoted $104. Should I push my luck and ask about my broken lens and bowling bag handle? (to be continued)
One of the holdups was that we have never had a contract with TWC. I don't even remember the provider with whom we had the last contract. Charter bought out that provider and then TWC bought them out and the contract was just passed on without any changes or increased cost. I was concerned that when they looked into this and found we are paying only $12 per month per condo, they may want to up our fees. She said that indeed this is an extremely good price and with the $8 for the upgrade we would be at only $20 with a five year contract. I asked if the price could be increased during the five years and she replied all their contracts now have a 5% increase built in after the second year. My confidence in TWC has been misplaced before, but this time I do feel better. This reminds me of Charlie Brown trying to kick the football and Lucy always pulls it away at the last moment after swearing to never do that again.
I had an experience at Walmart today. My battery would barely start my car so after dinner at Panjo's, (Thanks Paul and Christine), I went to Walmart at two minutes before closing. I had called earlier to be sure they had a battery Group 79 in stock.
As I arrived, they were closing the doors. Service person Joe said he would take care of it quickly. He opened my hood to check the battery and looked puzzled. I said there is no battery under there. He said he had never done one like this and asked where it was. I told him it was under the back seat. So he opened the back door and I had my bowling ball and bag somewhat wedged between the back seat and back of the front seat. He was in a hurry and and when brute force didn't work he got a bigger hammer and jerked the handles off the bag. When he fell backward he broke the lens on the courtesy light on the door. Oh well. I left him to take out the battery and went in to talk to Rachel who I had had the phone conversation with earlier. She said that will be $148 plus tax and fees. I told her she had quoted me only $104 on the phone. She said she had looked over at the battery rack instead of walking over six steps to look more closely at the Group 79 batteries. She wanted to go home too and could not have been more abrasive. I told her this battery receipt showed it was only three years old and it was warranted for five years. She said yes, but the battery I now had was adjusted from a battery three years before that so I did not have a full warranty on this battery. I asked when did that change. She said it was recent change. I told her that meant that Walmart had changed my warranty since I purchased the battery. She said that was true. I told her to just forget the deal since I had checked with O"Reilly's and I would just go there. She was not too happy. Since my old battery was not entirely gone, I could still drive away. She went out to tell Joe to put my old battery back in. He looked puzzled, but not too upset.
I drove around to the front and went in to ask for the manager, Tammy. She was on vacation. The assistant manager was unloading a truck. The girl asked if she could help, I told her it was likely a guy thing about automotive, but I would give her the short version. She immediately took me over to another staff person and told her, "It's about Rachel again" and they both smiled. Jessica called someone on the phone and related my story word for word. She turned to me and said to come back tomorrow after 10:30 when she comes to work and they will sell me a battery for the quoted $104. Should I push my luck and ask about my broken lens and bowling bag handle? (to be continued)
posted by Kontiki at 11:25 PM
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