small problem, nice solution

I've often heard, "Don't forget, half the doctors out there graduated at the bottom of their class." You just have to hope your doctor isn't one of them.

Well, it's the same thing when you call a company's Customer Service number. Sometimes you get a person who barely speaks English, or has no knowledge of your problem but pretends to, or is having a very bad day and loathes you before you say a word.

But sometimes, on rare occasions, you might get lucky.  Just as I did today.

I have been having a problem with my TV.

The "start over" option for The Today Show isn't working; in fact, it hasn't worked for months.  I've called Time Warner Cable (TWC) before.  I've been told to try this and try that; I try this and I try that and nothing works.  I hate calling my cable company so a month goes by before I try again.

Next time I get someone was tells me it's my two cable boxes (never mind the fact that one is from Cisco and the other from Samsung). "We will  fix it on our end in 48 to 72 hours. If not, you'll have to get new boxes."  A week goes by and nothing has changed. 

Today I happen to be talking to my neighbor and she is having the same problem.  Clearly it's not the boxes.

So today I call again.  

"Hi, this is Laurie, how can I help?"  Even starting out Laurie sounds smart and really eager to be of service. She has that kind of voice that says, "Don't worry, we'll figure this out."

I explain my problem.  She listens patiently and then surprises me by saying, " I know exactly what you mean.  It happened to me also.  I spent a lot of time troubleshooting and researching before discovering that it's the network.  NBC has decided not to offer this option any more."  Not good news, but at least I know it has nothing to do with my cable service.  Why did the people I spoke to before Laurie not know this?

I mention to Laurie that there are two movies I want to watch, both on networks I don't subscribe to.  I ask, "Is it possible to get these for a short period of time?"  Laurie responds, "I'll just give you both movie channels for a month. You shouldn't have been given wrong information twice."  And poof, within minutes I have both EPIX and STARZ.

I take Laurie's extension for any future issues, and hang up thinking, ya know, maybe Time Warner's been given a bad rap.  

I wonder how long these warm and fuzzy feelings will last?