Yeah, so we tried to sign up for Comcast. Again.
Go ahead, call me an idiot. If you've been with me through this journey, you know all the bullshit we dealt with when we had them, to the point where I started referring to them as douchemonkeys and Nick accused them of being likely to pee on his rug.
Also, I should mention that I've never had an ex-boyfriend pee on my rug. In fact, nobody has peed on my rugs, as far as I know. Jordan did pee on my foot the other day, but we were outside.
Right. So, anyway.
So we've had DirecTV since we moved into our house two years ago. Sometime last year Verizon said they were putting in FiOS!, any minute now! Many, many minutes have gone by, and there's no FiOS available. Plus we wind up paying a lot having the cable with one company and the Internet with another.
Also, I hate the DirecTV interface. We liked being able to have TiVO. I understand how it works. Betty, who will be moving when the endless construction ends, understands how it works.
The understanding of technical functions, it is not a small thing.
Now, cable and Internet are not critical in the same way as access to clean drinking water and antibiotics, but you know, such is our world.
Anyway, Nick clenched his teeth and called Comcast. When their service works - if you can get it in the first place, I mean - it's very good. A week or two ago, he set up an appointment for this morning.
He took half a day off work to be home for the installation. The installation, which was scheduled - and confirmed, I might add - for between 8 and 11 am.
And then they called at almost 9 am all, "Yeah, the guy is running a bit late. More like 11:45." And then somewhere past noon Nick called, and they said, "Yeah, he stopped by, but nobody was home."
To which Nick said, "Bullshit."
He then went on to rant about things that to my mind have no connection to cable service, like child molesters and prison. But I think it made him feel better.
By better I mean completely furious and powerless, because when you really want to give someone your money for service and they can't be bothered to show up...what can you do, really?
you are brave brave people to enter back into the world of comcast.
ReplyDeleteWe have them and find them to be fine for cable and ok for phone, miserable for internet. We are constantly having to reset the modem. Maybe it's because I bought the modem used off of Ebay, but I prefer to blame it on Comcast. The technicians love to do that nobody home game. I've been home when my phone rang once and hung up. I called the number back and it was the technician. They just wanted to be able to say no one answered. Assholes.
ReplyDeleteOK. So in my search for cable/internet/phone bundles to save us some money, I' guess I'll skip Xfinity then!
ReplyDeleteWe have dish and like it. We're probably going to to go VOIP phone/Internet with ATT to try to cut expenses a bit.
I've had the call/hang up thing that the above poster talked about. TWATWAFFLES.
Have you tried RCN? We're in DC and use them. They're offerings are about the same as comcast, you can use Tivo (we do), and they're cheaper, definitely. I don't think their customer service is a huge improvement, but I've never come close to having the issues with comcast that you have.
ReplyDeleteWe have Time Warner who bought out Comcast.. Definitely NOT my choice of service but we have no choice at the moment. Our internet is constantly down, we can only have a certain number of wireless devices hooked up to it & they are expensive for what you get (or don't get as the case may be). A few years ago, we scheduled a transfer of service to a new address. They turned our Internet off a week early, when I was in the middle of a research paper for school, did not show up to the new address when they were supposed to (no one was home crap), then when they did install our cable & Internet, they said services were down but should be up within 24 hours. Two days later, nothing. They sent out a supervisor & the technician had never connected the wires to the thing.. Supervisor fixed it and ran all new wires then did not bury them like they were supposed to, so we had to bury it ourselves to keep the dog from chewing on it. Also, they broke the back gate & sent someone out to fix it with wood that didn't even match & put a toothbrush in the lock so the gate would stay shut.. Whatever. Can't wait for Verizon!
ReplyDeleteGloria - I sincerely apologize for the trouble. I will look into this for your and find out what happened. I will also assist in making sure that the service problem is corrected.
ReplyDeleteYou may contact me, provide your information and a link to this page to avoid re-typing the whole story.
I will look forward to your reply.
For those of you who still in need of assistance with your Comcast service, please feel free to contact me too.
Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
We_can_help@cable.comcast.com
OMG did this Comcast Company really post on your blog? The far reaching interwebs huh?
ReplyDeletePlease keep us and them posted on progress LG because I am sure they will be reading your blog now, for marketing purposes of course.
We dont have Cable in NZ. Hell I barely even have a TV that works.
Holy Smack, do I see what I think I see on this Log? Did COMCAST actually contact you?! No freakin' way!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe have comcast here in the lovely state of Colorado. They send out technicians on the regular who look sketchy and come to the door while I've a baby on my hip to tell me that my house is leaking signal. I kid you not, that was the story this guy told me. Said he worked for Comcast. Had a comcast shirt on and a handy little doo-dad that beeped and shrilled a lot.
Problem was ... no comcast van. No comcast clip board. Yeah. He seriously freaked me out. I did not let him in the house but rather locked it down like Fort Knox.
Technician's usually scare me. Because one they are generally apathetic to whatever situation you have going on and because mostly they're just thinking about what time they can get back to the garage to get off of work.
I've never had a good experience with them, but I've heard of worse situations much like yours.
Good luck and good hunting my friend. If all else fails ... let Big J pee on their foot. Even if it is on the rug, in the house. :)
mrsmac - Um, or foolish. I don't think Nick is willing to give another chance.
ReplyDeleteStacey - That is terrible behavior. I really do think the technicians are the problem. We had Comcast for everything in Alexandria, and cable and internet were great. It was the customer service that sucked balls. But I am certain that the Internet service varies by area.
Cheryl S - I like the idea of bundling and saving money...we shall see. I don't watch that much TV, but I found Tivo so easy to use, and what we have now is not. Nick hates the dish on the roof; I don't get so bothered about that. As far as I know we haven't had the hang-up business, but that is really crappy.
Melissa - No, we haven't looked into RCN. That sounds good. I'll talk about it with Nick. Thanks!
Jenn - I think the problem is that these companies don't need to care. They're so big, and in lots of areas they pretty much have a monopoly, and they just do shitty work. Either that or their is just not adequate supervision from the top down, and nobody knows how much the technicians are fucking around. I have no idea.
Mark - Thanks very much. I appreciate it.
Go-Betty - I think their corporate staff is actually very good and responsive. It doesn't seem to trickle down, though, to the people who actually hook up your cable.
I used to not have a TV and I was fine. Not Nick, though.
Moue - That is a very creepy story. You hear of people dressing up like service people and then getting into houses and doing terrible things - but I don't know anyone this has happened to! Alarming!
Also, as I said to Go-Betty, I think their corporate is great. But they're not the ones you deal with on the regular, you know?
I had an awful time with Comcast last fall (also got the "nobody was home" line) and I tweeted about it and got some help, you might try that. I ended up finally getting the installation on my FOURTH appointment, but the fee was waived plus I got a $60 credit.
ReplyDeleteAnd now I've switched to AT&T U-Verse. Which I highly recommend if it's available where you are.