Forgot to pay Time Warner
» Durham, NC
Time Warner unplugs me on Friday
Ordinarily the Time Warner's digital set top box greenly displays the time. Sick I'd fallen asleep in my chair in the living room. Waking up about 4:00 a.m. I saw "Call your operator" striding across the LED display. Never saw that message before but had a good idea what it meant.
Tired as I was I couldn't help but get up and turn on the TV. "Your account has been disconnected call 1-800-Money-Now." A quick visit to this computer showed a big red "X" across Road Runner's diagnostic tool minimized down in the Windows tray. Cursing myself as much as Time Warner I went back to sleep.
Later I got up and went into my bookshop. I planned to deal with my lack of cable TV and modem when my partner and our clerk arrived. I was at the store for less than an hour when I completely fagged out. A taxi ride back home soon found me back asleep.
Feeling better on Saturday I went back to the shop. It wasn't long until I faded so I arranged for Charles to pick me up at 2:00 p.m. I figured we'd go over to Time Warner's office and pay them. Shortly before Charles arrived I checked their website only to discover that they close at one on Saturdays. I went back to sleep.
I've learned my lesson: answer the phone. I'd've been alerted to my gas being disconnected if I had. We get so many telemarketers using machines that if I hear a long pause I hang up. Or an automated voice. Especially her voice. I'll never know her name. She comes on and says, "Hold the line please." But you can tell what she really wants to say is "Get to the back of the line please." The word please being extraneous punctuation, not a request. Turns out the local gas company uses one of those machines to warn customers that their bill is so damned due they'll be sleeping in a frigid house if they don't pay it. And Time Warner wouldn't have cut me off if I'd taken the time to lie to them and say that I'd go online and pay my bill. Usually I tell them that and pay two or three weeks later. My mere reassurance has always kept them from shutting me off.
Emails flash and die
Any emails sent my way while my service was off were never received. Time Warner/Road Runner simply refused them.
