Review by CrimsonChaos 
UPDATED: 88 days ago
member for 6.2 years, 73 visits, last login: 8 days ago
 North Royalton,Cuyahoga,OH
 $99 per month
 "Well, they installed quickly..."
 "The Internet was slow, the DVR didn't work, and the phone wouldn't accept incoming calls..."
 "DO NOT GET WOW *PERIOD*"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings well below consensus)
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Frankly, I'd rather NO ONE get WOW, due to their false advertising practices. But I realize some regions may have fared better than I have with this company. Plus, I guess everyone falsely advertises these days.
I was going to switch to WOW (from Time Warner) because of the $99/month deal they were offering for Cable, Phone, and Internet with free DVR - NO RISK, MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. At the time I was paying Time Warner about $110/month for just Cable and Internet.
They came out and installed the equipment without a hitch. They said the phone would be activated the next day, and something about letting the Internet run a day if it seems slow at first.
Well a few days went by, and while I was able to place outgoing calls on my phone, but I was not able to receive incoming calls. Fortunately, I discovered this only because we bought a new phone and I wanted to hear how loud the ringer was. So I called myself from my cellphone, just to find it was not working.
Additionally, the Internet speeds were VERY inconsistent. It could range anywhere between LESS THAN 1 Mbps to about 5Mbps. Now, I realizes that when a company advertises "up to 6Mbps" that you might not expect it to always be 6Mbps. But many times, especially in the evenings, the speed fell drastically and even under 1 Mbps. My wife could even tell how slow the Internet was compared to Time Warner.
And lastly, the DVR would lock up quite often. I had to reboot it (and sometimes call WOW to have them reset something), which was a major inconvenience. Other than that the DVR was fine. The PIP worked nicely, and the recording features were great.
So I called Tech Support. Their message said "due to increased volume from the $99/mo promotion, wait times may be longer than normal". So in other words you launched a promotion but didn't hire enough support to accomodate? Brilliant. Of course, as they predicted, my wait was rather lengthy - over 1/2 hour! The good news is when someone answered, they spoke English and were helpful. They said they would have the phone fixed by tomorrow, and that they would send out a technician to check my Internet.
Well the phone never did work, but a Technician did come out two days later. He told me that the reason the Internet was slow was because WOW's "taps" are not as large as Time Warner's. He then proceeded to tell me that I would likely never have the speed that Time Warner gave me because of their smaller "taps". Ok, I admit I have no idea what a "tap" is, but is this really what you tell a paying customer? Like, do you have any plans on increasing the size of your "taps" (if this is really even the problem)? Do you think something might be done so you can deliver speeds that are competitive with Time Warner?? The good thing is at least he got my phone working.
So after some e-mails back and forth with WOW's tech support about the Internet speed, basically they said nothing could be done about it. So I cancelled the service, after just about 1.5 weeks of having it. Do you know they sent me a bill for $99? And do you know I've sent letters to them explaining their advertisement said NO RISK, MONEY BACK GUARANTEE? Basically they are trying to charge me $99 for 1.5 weeks of service that never worked properly. And get this, THEY WILL NOT CREDIT MY ACCOUNT.
So I called Time Warner, who was able to offer me something called "Triple Play", which was also $99/month for Cable, Internet, and Phone (though no DVR). And hey, guess what - everything worked perfectly as soon as it was installed! Seriously, when Time Warner is beating you in every facet of providing service and customer support, you have some MAJOR ISSUES. Not that I think any WOW people are reading this as they're too busy sending out false advertisements, but GET A CLUE, WOW. I will be telling every single person I know NOT to get your service, or to switch off if they already have it.
Followup comments:  
jmr
@wideopenwest.com | I disagree I have WOW and pretty much the exact opposite thing happened to me. I was getting inconsistent speeds with Time Warner and now I have higher than advertised speeds with WOW. | |
|  | CrimsonChaos
join:2002-07-28
North Royalton, OH
 ·WOW Internet and C..
·RoadRunner Cable
edit:
April 28th, @05:12AM
| Re: I disagree That's fine. If you read the 1st paragraph I said other people may have fared better.
I guess I just have a bitter taste in my mouth about the whole experience because they are trying to charge me $99 for what amounted to crappy service for 1.5 weeks.
Like I said - if you're going to make a money-back guarantee, stick to it. The customer shouldn't have to fight you to keep your word. | |
| | |
jmr
@wideopenwest.com | Re: I disagree I agree that they should honor the money back guarantee. It just surprises me that their service quality varies by so much... I am in the Cleveland area, too. Not disagreeing with you. | |
| |
Ispeedster
| I disagree as well. WOW has been a wonderful service provider with the best service of any cable/ internet/ phone provider I have experienced in the last 24 years.
Obviously, the person registering the complaint is an isolated case, which I am sure WOW would be happy to have the opportunity to make amends. WOW has ranked number one in the annual JD Powers Survey for customer satisfaction among all cable providers for the last three years. | |
| doncaruana
join:2008-05-01
Northville, MI
edit:
May 5th, @11:15PM
| Not so isolated WOW has been abysmal (metro Detroit). Their network can't handle VOIP, the DVR frequently - and inexplicably - just skips recording shows. This evening, I specifically deleted some shows so the stuff I had set for recording would have room. I come back later - it skipped 3 shows. Of the other 3, one only recorded 6 minutes of a half hour show (no clue why) and one wouldn't actually play back. So I got to watch one hour of four and a half.
Why wouldn't one playback? Because the cable signal is so bad here (it's up and down - works fine for a week, sucks for a week, etc).
Customer service? Yeah, right. Haven't done jack so far... | |
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