WHEATLAND, Wis. - Having a tornado demolish her home was bad enough. But when Ann Beam received a $2,000 cable bill a few weeks later, she was floored. "I just couldn't believe it," Beam said. "I was like, 'What are they thinking?'"

Time Warner Cable billed a number of Wheatland residents for equipment destroyed in the Jan. 7 twister that struck the southeast corner of the state. Beam's bill covered five cable boxes and five remote controls.

She immediately called the cable company, but a man who identified himself as a manager said there was nothing the company could do.

"They said I would have to take the bill and turn it in to my insurance company," Beam said.

But her cable equipment was nine years old, and the insurance company would pay only a depreciated value that wouldn't cover her bill, she said.

Time Warner Cable spokeswoman Celeste Flynn said many customers got charged for unreturned equipment because they canceled or transferred their service without mentioning their requests were tornado-related.

"We understand this is an unusual situation," Flynn said Wednesday. "All they will need to do is call and we will take the equipment off their account."

A message left for the cable company by The Associated Press early Thursday afternoon was not immediately returned.

Rare winter tornadoes that destroyed more than two dozen homes and damaged nearly 80 others in Kenosha County on Jan. 7. The damage was estimated at $18 million.

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Information from: Kenosha News, http://www.kenoshanews.com

I think i,d be a little floored too! But what was the guy who called himself the manager thinking? She did tell him it was because of the tornado and not because she moved or stole the equiptment! I don,t think i,d be feeling comfortable till i got a legal statement that officially cleared my account! As for the manager i think he,s not bright enough for the title!

The cable company sucks! and thats the nicest thing i would say about them.

They don't care, as long as they get their money. And quite often the quality of the cable services is crap.

Hey, I'm still not happy that they took Animal Planet & the Travel Channel away from my cable lineup.

I would have ask that manger what part of , (that big f-ing tornadoe blew my house away with with all the cable stuff in it) don't you understand.

It's crap here and everywhere else I've ever lived,lol

They are charging up to 89$ per month for the same internet I charge 29.95 for.(but thats good for me) Now my new company is doing well as noone here likes cable,lol

Cable companies are just as bad as big oil. They have a monopoly so they think they can do as they want. I had satellite and they were just as bad and the TV would go out every time it rained.

I won't use dishes because they arent splitable to other tv's like cable,cable companys do have monopolys.here they had the only high sped internet aroud and charged three times the price! they tell you 39.99 per month then on the second month it's 89.99. I now sell the same speed for only 29.99.they could have done the same but they ae extremly greedy.they are just like oil companys.

Thats sux, I'd be sooooooo kicking and screaming about that.

mean s.o.b

I go through my tv provider for ADSL since the internet was crap with the cable here. I wish we had someone who could offer us lower fees without getting lower quality.

I have hq dsl but You are too far away,sorry

Hmm, truly a sad story. I've only had positive experiences with doing business with Time Warner when I lived in Austin, TX.

But then again, I never had a freak tornado destroy my cable box.

guess u didnt live there very long then,lol

Its amazing how the lady looses her entire house and they want her to pay for a lowsy cable box , that F****** rediculous !!!!!