A woman has been left seething after receiving a letter from her cable television provider dubbing her a very nasty word.
Esperanza Martinez, of Orange County, California, spoke to an employee at Time Warner Cable regarding a problem with her set top box. The exchange was routine and she didn't get upset or angry, she says.
But a few days later the woman received a letter from the company reading: "Dear C**t Martinez, we know you recently decided to cancel your services."
Martinez hadn't even asked to terminate her service
Annoyed at the appalling slip-up, Martinez sent a picture of the letter to Ars Technica, saying: "I have no idea why a TWC employee would do this and risk losing their job.
"It shows what type of companies TWC and Comcast are by the people they hire to represent them."
Time Warner Cable has since apologised and offered Martinez a year of free cable and internet.
TWC is subject of speculation about a possible merger with Comcast
"We are truly sorry for the disgraceful treatment of Ms. Martinez and have reached out to her to apologize directly," a spokesperson said.
"Our investigation showed that this was done by an employee at a third-party vendor. We have terminated our agreement with this vendor and are changing our processes to prevent this from happening again."
Time Warner Cable is currently in talks to merge with Comcast, another cable TV giant plagued by customer service mishaps.
Comcast customers have been subjected to insulting name changes such as "asshole," "whore," "dummy," and "super bitch" in recent years.