A Time Warner Cable contractor threatened to cut off cable service for a Brighton, N.Y. woman after arriving at her doorstep demanding a credit card payment. Suspicious, she called police.
While snapping photos of a blue truck with a Time Warner Cable logo on its side, the woman, identified only as “Michelle,” contacted Time Warner Cable customer service and was told the man was not a Time Warner employee and she should call the cops.
The customer had every right to be suspicious,” said Brighton Police Chief Mark Henderson.
Brighton police quickly tracked down the truck after the incident and discovered the driver was, in fact, a Time Warner Cable subcontractor. He was unable to show any work order for the address and Michelle claimed her account was current, leaving no reason to demand payment on the spot at her front door under threat of service suspension.
A Time Warner Cable spokesperson said that customers should ask for proper identification if they receive an unexpected visit from the cable company. In the meantime, Time Warner is reviewing the case, especially because contract workers are not authorized to process credit card payments.
[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WHAM Rochester Police track down Time Warner subcontractor 12-13.flv[/flv]
WHAM-TV in Rochester reports Brighton Police tracked down the suspicious Time Warner worker and discovered he was a sub-contractor not authorized to accept credit card payments. (1:37)
This is a good example of why cable companies should not use ANY subconractors for customer contact. This problem (wit subcontractors) will get worse when Comcast takes over as they use a lot more subs than Time Warner Cable does.