Time Warner Cable

For this post I actually did some research, compared to just spouting my personal opinion.

I realize that disliking Time Warner Cable is nothing new. Most people dislike them, why? Because as a company they kinda suck. They are expensive and raising their prices all the time. They engage in questionable and sometimes downright illegal practices. And anyone who has ever talked to them on the phone knows that their customer service leaves something to be desired. The thing that makes me the most upset about this situation is that there is basically no recourse. Normally if there was a company I disliked and was not satisfied with their business I would no longer support them and would not continue to be their customer. However, with a monopoly like TWC that choice is not so simple.

Of course you do have options but most are either dramatic or very difficult. You can can cancel your subscription to cable and internet outright, but for most people this is not an option. There are a few satellite options (these require you to live in a place where you can attach a dish somewhere, I do not live in such place), AT&T and Verizon offer some type of similar service through fancy technology that I don't understand but again you need to live within their service area (which can be limited) and these options are generally not cheap.

Monopolies are especially frustrating to me because most of them are set up by companies that espouse very capitalistic views (if they have the ability to form such conglomerates and make money they feel they should be allowed to do so and it seems, so far, no one is trying to stop them). The irony is that they take away, from their customers, the same rights that a capitalistic view seems to be all about - as a customer I do not have the option to make choices based on my financial well being, I am not able (without the hassle described above) to simply take my business elsewhere and let the less than adequate company suffer the financial costs of doing poor business. I will say now that I do not understand all the antisocialistic talk that has been going on in relation to the health care bill and some of the bail out moves as I don't think a government run plan would signal the end of the world as we know it - I am by no means a fan of the capitalism this country loves so much. But it seems insane to me that as a country we have so supported capitalism as our driving force but we seem to not be angered when large monopolies take away the choice so basic to a capitalist society. Essentially we have allowed companies like Time Warner to become a socialistic force in our lives.

I guess we've decided it's ok to be controlled and told what to do as long as it's not our government (which we elect by the way, when is the last time TWC invited you to a board meeting) doing the telling.

I should say that I don't view the government as innocent in all this - I'm sure many a politician gets money from TWC and companies like them to allow them to continue their questionable practices. But I think that if enough people got upset and spoke out there could be some change made.