Wide Open West WOW Cable

My husband and I decided to get our cable installed again after disconnecting it to save some money. The cheapest one was WOW of course. I made an appointment 2 technicians showed ( if you want to call them that) installed cable service for 4 tvs. One tech tells me that I will need 3 digital boxes. I say okay,order them and pick them up myself. My husband comes across a broken coaxial cable input on one of our tvs as he was trying to unscrew the cable wire. First of all, the technician never uttered a word about a broken cable input and not being able to connect the cable wire because if it. After apparently breaking it he never brings to my attention that the cable input is dangling by a wire. The only thing he says is I needed 3 digital boxes for the tvs that were not getting all the provided channels. So, after finding this out with no help of WOW. I called and called and called. One answer was given to me that was a supervisor will get a hold of you and set up an appointment to check it out. Last time I called they said WOW was not liable because the technician did not report it. I never got so mad in my life. Those SWINDLERS!!!! more

Here's my WOW story. I initially was attracted to WOW service due to mail ads and WOW's website offering a package for $144/month for two years which included the Signature cable package, HBO, cable internet, and phone service. The Signature cable included Starz and Encore. On my second bill I started getting charged for Starz and was told it was removed from the Signature package. After calling and explaining the package I agreed to, all I was given was a discount equaling that charge for ONE year. Since that time I have seen my bill gradually increase despite the fact I signed up for a two year package agreement. This month I received my bill and it has gone up another ~$13/month so my current bill is now almost $170. Soon the $15 credit I was given for a year for Starz will drop off which will put it at about $185/month. SO MUCH FOR A TWO YEAR AGREEMENT! Now I have to start shopping around for cable again and pick what seems to be the lesser evil of cable companies. more

Extremely poor service. Spent two weeks waiting for a tech to fix my internet but they just can't make it happen. I called again and they said the tech closed my ticket. The problem is, he never came to my door? They said they would open the ticket again but I never heard anything after that. I don't understand the lack of caring. My monthly bill for Cable and 30/5 Internet is $126 but I am only getting from 1 to 15 down. I am getting 5 up though. Still, I'm getting shorted terribly. Rediculous..... more

This has got to be the worst ISP I've ever had. They throttle a 15mbps connection down to 2mbps. You will not find any source anywhere that you can download from with a speed higher than 2mbps, despite paying for 15. I lose service pretty regularly, and the service is very fragile. For the past week, I've had enormous issues with speeds. One minute, it's "full" speed (throttled), and the next minute, I'm near 56k speeds. Just avoid this awful company and go with anyone else. more

I love WOW ! Everyone is so nice, when you call cutomer service, since they are in the United States, everyone speaks english. Once squirrels chewed thru the cable line, came right out and replaced all lines with new stronger cable. more

Recently I "tried" to change my internet. Right after installation of this new company, I was offered a deal from my previous one of biggest internet company and it was cheaper. So I decided to keep my previous one and disconnect this new company. I'm on second appointment now because these guys never showed up on the first appointment and made false report to even their company. They said they already disconnected my service, took wireless cable modem and any other devices, etc. Well, guess what. First, I have one modem and that is cabled modem. It's sitting right now inside my room. Second, They never came in. They never showed up from the first place. And when I contacted their customer service, their reply was: "maybe you didn't hear them knocking the door. it's partially your fault" Um, NOPE. I was sitting right in front of my door entire scheduled time period and your answer differ against your first answer saying they took care of disconnection. I think these guys are never going to show up at all to disconnect my internet. It's been 30 mins past the scheduled disconnection time and yet nothing. If they don't show up today I'm walking to their office by myself. If you are smart enough to check this company out on google and on this site, PLEASE stay away from this company. Look for promotion within your current ISP. If you already ended up with their service, and would like to disconnect but having tons of problems, try this. Set up a new checking account, link it to automatic payment, and make sure that checking has minimum or less than the bill (and make sure overdraft doesn't happen at all). That's what I'm trying for right now. Not sure if it's going to work but if they can't get the money out of my bag they'll be forced to disconnect. right? Please stay away. I'm wasting my day-offs right now!!!! more

I can't watch half my channels because of little random boxes that appear on half the channels. The screen freezes & the sound cuts out. My internet is off more than on, yet when I call them, they say everything is working properly. Unfortunately they're the only service I can get in this area. more

The interface on WOW is just bad. Hard to schedule recordings. When attempting to watch a recording many times had to shut down system and reboot. Wife stopped watching TV could not figure it out.. Was given a defective DVR which I eventually found was marked so on the bottom Tech told me at first it was my receiver. Was promised a $25 referral bonus never rec'd & no one at WOW wanted to help. Contacts bus card had incorrect email address and more. The reception was fine. Internet was fine. more

The wait times for someone to talk to on the phone with WOW is outrageous! I waited more than 30 minutes for two days in a row and never did get to talk to someone. They are running a business in the ground....I'm looking to switch to something else, but I can't even get a call in to cancel my account. Stay away from these people. more

I have been unable to speak to anyone from Wow about my cable tv problems for the last 3 weeks. Wow’s website and customer service outgoing call message state that they have been having phone problems for the “last few days" while it has really been more than 3 weeks. I am completely without cable service and am not able to speak to anyone at the company to address my problems. I have also tried to contact them via the internet which has also been problematic. This company seems like 3 guys are running the company in their pajamas above their garage. I should have know I was in for problems when I first used their On Demand service and learned that they do not have On Demand for any CBS tv shows. When I asked Wow about this, the customer person asked me what CBS was. more

I've rated this company a 1-star, becuase I couldn't rate it a zero! Customer service is the worse. Try to cancel your services--good luck. You wait, and wait, and wait. They are hoping that you finally hang up. I've been trying to cancel my services with WOW since 11/22/12. They say that it you receive a busy signal, it is because they are experiencing high caller volume--no kidding--everyone wants to droptheir service with them. I have never experienced such shoddy service. And their cable boxes have caused more viewing down time then I care to speak about. Say your money--use Time Warner, AT&T or even put up an old antenae. Even that would be better than WOW! more

This company has gone from an adequate ISP to a "run away as fast as you can" kind of scenario. Over the last year, they have become fraught with internet and video quality issues. These things happen every day. What's worse is that the regional management teams right up to CEO Colleen Abdoulah like to deny that they actually have any problems. Additionally, they company recently issued just under a BILLION dollars in junk bonds in order to acquire another faltering ISP. So, don't expect them to have the resources to fix any serious infrastructure problems, which they do have. Go anywhere else. Anywhere. more

First I get a letter stating they are changing account numbers so be on the look out for my new number on my next bill. I pay everything through online bill pay at my bank and i didn't want to risk them not getting it so i called FOR TWO WEEKS and got a busy signal. All i wanted to do was pay my bill. Finally 2 days ago i paid it through automated system. And yesterday my service kept going in and out and today i could only get 1/3 of my channels and no HD channels. I called all day today and got busy signal. So i called Att Uverse and they will be out on wednesday. Leaving WOW they are the worst. Horrible service more

They make you rent a cable modem and pay a monthly "service protection" fee. Both these charges raise their monthly rates to noncompetitive levels. I cancelled my service last month but was charged for service this month, including a fee for renting a cable box i returned to them weeks ago. Now I can't get through to their customer service lines. They arent even worth the 1 star rating. Their awful commercials are actually better than the service they provide. Just stay away from this company. more

DO NOT waste your time with WOW. I have never been treated as poorly by ANY other company offering any type of service in my life. Even a BBB report did not make them change anything. The past 6 months of my life have been spent first trying to explain to them that I have moved and I was being charged a ridiculous $120 for a modem that I already owned. They never got the picture, so I finally agreed to send it back to them since I could buy one for $20 anyway. So, they sent a pre-paid package to the OLD address, TWICE! Once they finally learned to read and sent the package to the correct address, I sent the modem back. It is now weeks later and I just got off the phone with them, again. After listening to a girl who had the nerve to give me attitude through the whole conversation, I was told I would be called by someone else within two days. Next month when I have to call back again after they once again fail to perform a simple task, I will not be as patient on the phone. I am now joining every review site I can find in order to do my part in putting this TERRIBLE company out of business. more

I work for the state of Ohio and run my own business. Just in case you think state employess have gravy jobs... WRONG! That is why I have my own business. Anywho WOW sales people check regularly with the building department and get exclusive contracts for various subdivisions and apartment complexs, such as where I live. I have had nothing but nightmarish problems with Wow cable and internet. Techs hav accidentally disconnected my service at the building junction box, there has been signal problems, billing issues like you would not believe, and piss poor customer service! I run a internet based business and the latest problem have been faulty equipment on their end. Not long ago, they raised their rates. And after paying my bill, I lost service. That translates in thousands lost in business revenue! I was offered a mere $7.00 credit and they wanted me to wait for over a week. After a few more calls and lots of therapy, they offered me a $10.00 credit and to have a tech out the next day. I wait from 8am to 12pm with a no show from the tech. After another call and more therapy, one showed up. The tech gave me a digital cable box which I should had gotten a year ago. Next we did a conference call with dispatch and come to find out that the lost of service was due to their system and equipment. If you think WOW is so great, read this! I have a Motorola SB5101 cable modem which they said was faulty. So they hooked up a Ciso 2100 modem which is a rebranded WebSTAR™ Model DPC 2100™ and EPC2100™ Don't believe me! Google "Cisco 2100 cable modem" and see what comes up. You can buy a decent priced and comparable modem for $100. However WOW is going to charge you $4.95 a month and rip you off! My only option is to move and that is currently NOT an option. However, when my lease is up, I'm moving somewhere where I can have Insight, I have filed complaints with the BBB, Angies List, the Ohio Attorney General, and even the Federal Trade Commission. How is that for such a great business! Stay away from WOW !!!! more

We had WOW cable for two months. We had terrible cable service. The voice cut out throughout the signal and despite boosting our signal, several service calls, and a visit by the supervisor-- the issue was never resolved. We decided to cancel when the only solution they could provide was to restart the box -- about every day. The best part of their service is the fact that even with marked lines they managed to cut into our irrigation system. We did not notice until we had huge brown spots in the yard. When we called to ask them what their responsibility is to us after hitting our lines not once but TWICE they told us that it was not their responsibility. We found their service less than par and got better service and pricing from their competition. FRUSTRATION! We are still trying to figure out how they were rated number one. more

Good: They were a good company up until I left them. Then the problems started.. Bad: Their contract and billing department. They charged me $900 for unreturned equipment. They never notified me that they would be doing this charge, I just happened to go into my account and see it. Once I returned the equipment, I had the worst time trying to get my money back and the customer service of the people was awful. They were very rude and kept giving me different answers. I was told first that the check would be sent overnight, then 4-6 wks, then 2-3 wks. I'm still waiting for my check.. Improvements: I would like for them to treat their customers better. I was loyal to them for 3 years and the only reason I left was because they didn't service my area. They took $900 from me and were the worst about getting it back to me.. Other: If you have WOW and you get rid of them, I would highly recommend having them come pick up or equipment or returning the equipment as soon as possible so you can avoid this horrible situation.. more

I got WOW recently for my internet, and my cable tv. The internet access was 40 bucks a month, and they said it would guarantee 760k download speeds. I had it installed, and to my surprise I was only downloading at 76k.. So upon closer inspection I found out that is a rating for kilo_BITS per second, not kilobytes. So it is only marginally faster than dial up at 56k. I was very disappointed, and cancelled my service. I am tired of getting scammed... By the time the service would be upgraded to a good speed, it's 100 bucks a month (with basic cable) I have had enough of that kind of greed. Just thought someone would appreciate the de-mystification of their weasel wording on the cable internet speed. do we see a trend? 100 bucks a week in gas, 100 bucks a month for cable, 100 bucks a month for electricity, 100 bucks for natural gas, 80-100 bucks a month for home phone if you don't shop around, 100 bucks a month for two cel phones... the list goes on and on.... (that's already 900 bucks a month, and you haven't even made your rent or mortgage payment yet... ARGHHHHH! more

I signed up for wow service 7 mths ago in the chicago area. As one of the cheaper providers avaliable i thought i would take a chance. It started out with them bringing 2 analog boxes for the initial installation, problem with that was that i ordered 3 DIGITAL boxes, they also brought a cable modem that was inoperable. When i called to complain they told me that it would be 10 days before they could get someone out to replace the boxes. I told them that this was unacceptable and that if it couldnt be rectified sooner that i wanted to cancel, all of a sudden there was a next day opening. In the FIRST month i had service i place 8 phone calls to get them to rectifiy everything from the VOD service (i had the premium package), to replace my second non working modem. I in all placed a total of 31 phone calls to get them to fix the VOD service, which had problems with everything from error notices to signal disruption to signal degredation. On one of those service calls the tech actually said he could fix one of those problems but i had to pay him $50 cash!!! B/c it was something outside company guidelines he had to fix. The customer service is atrocious. I would call to try to get my VOD service working, and the response was always to unplug and reboot the box WHICH NEVER WORKS!!!! All in all, i had comcast come and install the same service yesterday after reaching my limit with the backwoods company. Im paying $20 more a month for the same service, but guess what my VOD worked FIRST TRY!!!! I said wow many times over the course of my patronship of this company, but it was usually followed by, WHAT CRAPPY SERVICE!!!! more