Time Warner Cable Ordered to Pay Texas Woman Nearly $230,000 for 'Egregious' Robocalling Araceli King will receive $1,500 for each of the 153 robocalls she received from the company over the course of a year.

By Geoff Weiss

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Time Warner Cable is giving Comcast -- which once changed a customer's billing moniker to "Asshole Brown' and berated another user for simply wanting to disconnect -- a run for its money in the belligerent customer service department.

A federal judge just ordered that Time Warner must pay Texas resident Araceli King $229,500 for harassing her with 153 robocalls over the course of a year, ABC News reports.

In her original suit, King only sought statutory damages of $81,500. But given that the calls persisted even after King complained that Time Warner was calling the wrong number, and even after she filed suit, the judge called the company's behavior "particularly egregious." He found Time Warner in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which states that companies can't robocall personal cell phones without consent, and awarded King the maximum fine of precisely $1,500 per call.

Related: Music to Marketers' Ears: Americans Don't Totally Hate Waiting On Hold

"It's man versus machine," said King's lawyer, Sergei Lemberg, who added that consumers should know that they have federal protections against such automated harassment. "You can't even stop the machine."

Time Warner had been trying to reach an unrelated customer with a delinquent bill named Luis Perez, who had formerly been assigned King's cell phone number, according to court documents.

"We are reviewing the ruling and our options to determine how we are going to proceed," the unrelenting cable giant told ABC.

Related: Charter Communications to Buy Time Warner Cable for $56 Billion

Geoff Weiss

Former Staff Writer

Geoff Weiss is a former staff writer at Entrepreneur.com.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Side Hustle

This 34-Year-Old Was 'Wildly Un-Passionate' About His Day Job, So He Started a 9-Figure Side Hustle: 'Be an Animal'

Will Nitze asked his boss if he could work half his hours for half the pay in order to build his own business.

Business News

Here's How Much a Typical Google Employee Makes in a Year

Compensation for the median Google employee was up 5% in 2024 compared to 2023, according to a new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Science & Technology

Get This Reloadable eSIM With $50 in Credit and Free Voice Number for $25

International travel is such a breeze when you can browse, do business and make calls without worrying about expensive roaming charges or changing SIMs.

Business News

'Gradually Stop Using Contractors': Duolingo Is Replacing Contract Workers With AI

Duolingo is taking an "AI-first" approach, meaning it will assign AI tasks previously completed by human workers.

Growing a Business

95% of Businesses Fail at This One Thing — Fix It Before It Costs You Customers

Most businesses believe that they deliver a great customer experience, but this is based on outdated, old-fashioned ideas. Here's what businesses can do to shift their customer experience to the modern customer.