[SledgeHammer]

In another thread, I alluded to troubles I had with Comcast recently. The following is the full story. It is the story as it appeared in my blog, so it's of a familiar tone than I would normally use.


Karin and I (sort of) moved into our new place on Thursday the 1st. We neglected to call about cable before that weekend, however. So, since it was Labor Day weekend, we waited till Tuesday. On Tuesday, we called the number for Comcast that had been supplied to us by the complex we live in. We talked to a fellow named Jim. Jim was very nice. He told us that he would give call to his colleague, Gary, and Gary would give us a call back, soon.

Sure enough, not too long after my conversation with Jim, Gary called. Gary took down my name, address, phone number, etc, and told me that Comcast was running a great deal where digital cable and high-speed internet were half price for six months, no contract. This deal actually makes it cheaper to get digital cable than just basic. I was excited. Gary told me he would call me back "tomorrow" (that is, Wednesday) to let me know when someone would be out to hook up the cable.

So Tuesday passed, and Wednesday came. Then Wednesday passed, no call from Gary. Thursday came and saw us drive to Williamsport for the day and night. Come about 6pm on Thursday, there had still been no call from Gary. So, figuring I'd get his voicemail and could leave a message asking why he hadn't called us back yet, I called Gary. Gary answered his phone. I told him who I was and why I was calling. He sounded annoyed.

"I've just gotten to scheduling, I'll call you when you're scheduled." So I thanked him and hung up.

Friday morning dawned, then passed into afternoon. Karin and I left Williamsport for Narberth. Not far out of WillyPo, my phone rang. Karin answered and I heard her explain that she was my fiancée and then have a discussion about our address. She hung up. It had been Gary. Apparently there was some sort of problem with our address in Comcast's computers. There seemed to be a duplicate of our address, or something. Gary had said that he would call back either later that day or on Saturday.

Friday evening came, went, then Saturday. Saturday afternoon, and still no call from Gary, so Karin gave him a ring. He said he was in the middle of working out the problem with our address and he would call us back later. Well, no call Saturday, or Sunday. Monday morning came with still no word.

By Monday, Gary now had a longer name: Freakin' Gary. I made sure my phone was always handy, but Freakin' Gary never called. Through Monday I waited, through Tuesday. Wednesday morning came and with it came, not a call from Freakin' Gary, but a new name for him.

It was sometime on Wednesday, while Karin and I were in Linens-n-Things, that Fuckin' Gary called. Exactly one week after he told us he would call, Fuckin' Gary told us that someone would be to our place between 3 and 5pm on Saturday to hook up our cable. I was happy, though not about having to wait another three days. It was nice to pass Thursday and Friday without the anticipation of that phone call always hanging nearby.

Saturday afternoon came, finally, and around four o'clock, someone rang the doorbell. I was upstairs, reading, so I bolted down the stairs to let the red-shirted man in. It took him a while to get everything set up, but he finally did. I had to tell him that we wanted Internet access as well as cable, as he had no record of that fact (fuckin' Fuckin' Gary). It was fine, though, he just left a "self-install" kit and left.

I opened up the kit, tossed aside the software package, got out the modem, got all the cables connected as necessary, and opened Safari.

Broadband ISPs usually include software with their setup kits, and up till Saturday, I had never had to even open the CD case when setting up my Macs, as everything they need to get connected to any Internet connection is right there and ready to go already. But instead of loading my home page, Safari loaded some page saying something like, "Welcome to Comcast high-speed internet, please run the Comcast Install software to register your account." There was a download button on the page in case you needed the software, but I didn't, as I had it on CD right there.

So I quit Safari and popped in the CD. I doubled clicked the program icon, the app opened, and promptly presented me with a dialogue box asking me to locate Internet Explorer. Thing is, I don't (well, didn't) have IE on my computer. No real reason, really. It really sucks. I mean, IE for Windows sucks, but IE for Mac is even beyond that. It hasn't been updated in a couple of years. I don't really need IE for anything, so I deleted it a while ago. I tried feeding the software another browser, but it wouldn't bite.

After several attempts to make the app work with another browser, a page popped up (in Safari, no less) that said, "We have determined that you do not have Internet Exporer installed on your computer. Go to the Microsoft Downloads page." Well, I clicked the link, and do you know what I got? The same exact "Welcome to Comcast high-speed internet" page I had gotten originally. I was really pissed.

I was forced to unplug from the modem, plug in my cell-phone, and go download IE that way. So, once I finally had IE downloaded and wasting space on my hard drive, I ran the program again. It merely opened up a locally stored page in IE. Fucker. It didn't need IE to do that. It would easily work in any browser, people are just retarded and insist on crippling things like this because they can't see past their own sphincters. To top it off, the title at the top of the page reads "So easy it almost installs itself!" Anyway, the first couple of pages are standard, "read this agreement" sort of things. Then I get to a page that says "To register, enter your account number in the box. Your account number can be found on your monthly billing statement." Guess what, fuckwit, I don't have any monthly billing statements, I just got this hooked up today! There was a link below it, though, "If you don't have your account number, click here." So I clicked, It gave me the option to enter my name, address, and telephone number. OK, this stuff I know. So I entered them and hit submit. It spun for a few seconds, then: "Your account cannot be verified, please try again." Back at the account number entry page. I tried this a couple of times, but with no luck.

Finally I get frustrated enough to call 1-800-COMCAST.
"For English, press one; para el españo...1.
For trouble with your service, press 1; for billing inquiries, pres...1;
For cable television, press 1; for high-speed internet, press 2; fo...2.
For questions about McAfee security products, press 1; for all other calls, press 2...2.
Please wait while your call is transferred. All customer service representatives are busy at this time, please hold and your call will be answered in the order it was received."

So after a couple minutes, I get a human. He asks for my phone number, then my name, then my account number. "That's the problem," I say, "I don't know my account number." He's helpful, except that he doesn't end up helping at all. He can't find any record anywhere that I have Comcast. He even asks for the MAC address of my modem, but can't find anything. He then asks if the technician who was hear earlier left a receipt. I tell him no, he didn't. He says that he should have left a receipt. I say he's probably right, but he didn't. He says, well, when you find the receipt, call back, then we should be able to help you. Bitch, weren't you listening? But I didn't go there. I just hung up.

It was about then that Karin woke from a long nap. I was felling pretty frustrated, so we went out for dinner. Dinner was good. At least mine was. Karin didn't like her lobster ravioli, so they took it off our bill. Our waitress was named Erin and she was very nice. She got a big tip. I strongly recommend the Macaroni Grill.

Well, the next day being Sunday, there wasn't much we could do. Monday morning, that is, yesterday, came, and I took Karin to her first day of work. I came home, read some, watched some TV, then, a little after 9, called Comcast again. The woman I got this time was very friendly. She couldn't find my account using my phone number, but she was able to find my name in the computer. Using the MAC# from my modem, she was able to get me verified and online. I don't know her name, but I thank her. So here I am now, finally, exactly two weeks after calling to have cable hooked up, writing this story.

EDIT: I put some chinks in the wall for you guys.

[MCQ]

Um... yeah. You wrote something.

Somehow, I think your blog post may be more readable.

Although, they do suck.

[atomicbartbeans]

*cough* walloftext *cough*

Hey, it was a recent Urban Word of the Day.

[alcimedes]

Dude.

Comcast totally busted his enter key. BASTARDS!

[Luca]

If you don't know where to put paragraph breaks, at least just press the return key twice in a row every five or six sentences! Please!

Or summarize.

[alcimedes]

I will say though that I want to give him a gold star for the first correct usage of the word MAC in a sentence this month.

[atomicbartbeans]

But he said "MAC#". If one was to be pedantic, the correct term would be "MAC address".

Edit: Actually, looks like he got it right the first time.

[SledgeHammer]

It was the textual equivalent of a rant with no real breaths to speak of. I was still mad when I originally typed it. I completely agree about the importance of paragraph breaks and have edited some in now.

[oldmacfan]

Just a little hint I will give you. Comcast is an entertainment company, not a service company. Once you get that idea straight in your head you will be able to deal with Comcast on the phone. My favorite line for them is "you better fix it now cause I am not being entertained". I was always nice to their people till the first time they used that line on me and that was it. If I have to call in it is combat from the start and I take no prisoners.

When some service workers with a trencher cut the main line for the condo association I live in I called Comcast to let them know who the company was and what had happened. We are not talking about the little stuff running through the walls, we are talking about the 1" stuff that is near impossible to bend by hand.

They insisted that they could not have anyone out till the next day and that if the problem was my computer that they would have to charge me. Then they said that it might be my modem; I needed to cycle it three times for this women, as I'm telling her the TV is out too and that cycling the modem isn't going to fix the line, and then I find out that some how 2 years after replacing my modem they didn't know that I had an RCA modem that they gave me and they needed my MAC Address so they could see if they could some how ping my modem.

They kept asking if my cable TV was working cause they had no record of an outage. I went round and round with them and then told the gal that a comcast truck was here and she told me they where not there to deal with my problem and that a technician was going to have to come out tomorrow, 45 minutes of this crap.

So I walk outside and around one of the buildings in our complex and asked the guy what he was looking for--He was looking for the line that was busted that I had called in he even had my name and address on the sheet for a contact since I was one of three people home in any of the condos around there.

The technician never did stop on by my house the next day. Hmmm I wonder why.

[turtle]

"breath, we've just got to breath..."

[Ebby]

It may just be me, but when I have a hard time with comcast, I try EVERYTHING I can think of to fix it. Apparently, when I do call, their computers record all 50 MAC addresses I typed into my router to fix DHCP problems. (It wouldn't renew correctly) And the static IP's I gave myself, and so on... They seem eager to solve my problems after that.

[SKMDC]

I had Warner Cable and ComCast bought them out, and I have to say it was a step up, I used to get in these really cathartic screaming matches with the Warner people. If you live in Chicago you have to learn to yell on the phone, and when you use the word "shit", really pop that T at the end of the word so they know you are a hulking Chicago male not to be screwed with. (shituh-watch a Belushi movie, he sets the standard)

When we moved out here to Oak Park (not a suburb in the conventional sense) we got DirecTV, and other than a construction guy who charged me for a work permit that he never bought, I haven't had one good phone screaming event. I think my blood pressure has gone up, I don't sleep as well, my digestion isn't what it used to be....

[eventhorizon]

Deal with local people. The national disservice centers suck. We actually had supervisors who called us names and flat out lied to us. I had a long ordeal with them but it was resolved when I finally stopped calling 1800COMCAST and spoke directly with the local technicians. We got comped a few months service and have cable internet for 19.99 until March or April. The local tech guys hate the national disservice centers as much as we do.

[Ryan]

Comcast drives me nuts with their idiotic billing system. Apparently, we have a huge LOTR fan in this house we didn't know about, because we got charged for pay-per-view for Fellowship of the Ring ten frickin' times. They refused to take the charge off, saying they had a record of us ordering the movie over and over again.

We paid, because the asswipes there wouldn't remove the charge, but all I can say is Sonic.net DSL + DirecTV is a much easier (and cheaper!) combination.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by CubeDude Comcast drives me nuts with their idiotic billing system. Apparently, we have a huge LOTR fan in this house we didn't know about, because we got charged for pay-per-view for Fellowship of the Ring ten frickin' times. They refused to take the charge off, saying they had a record of us ordering the movie over and over again. We paid, because the asswipes there wouldn't remove the charge, but all I can say is Sonic.net DSL + DirecTV is a much easier (and cheaper!) combination.

See, I would've just sent them a check for the bill minus the amount of the PPV charges. OTOH, I'm currently unemployed and have lots of time to deal with crap like that.

[Mr Beardsley]

It was about then that Karin woke from a long nap. I was felling pretty frustrated, so we went out for dinner. Dinner was good. At least mine was. Karin didn't like her lobster ravioli, so they took it off our bill. Our waitress was named Erin and she was very nice. She got a big tip. I strongly recommend the Macaroni Grill.

Sorry for the OT, but I was disappointed by the lobster raviolis as well.

[atomicbartbeans]

Since I got cable internet service from Time Warner in July, service reliability has been pretty good.

One thing I get pissed about, though, is that 1. during peak hours, my connection gets incredibly latent (300-400 ms), and 2. it seems like if I don't use the computer for a while, they disconnect me from iChat. It is getting more and more commonplace, that I'll wake up in the morning to a "the connection was unexpectedly lost" dialog.

[Eugene]

Actually I ran into this same problem. Comcast requires that your cable modem/bridge be provisioned manually. This amounts to telling them the MAC address of the thing so they can tie it to your account. If you don't have the modem correctly provisioned, you will get taken to a generic Comcast welcome page with the broken installer mentioned above.

You don't need to do any software installation to get Comcast working. Just call them and tell them you need a new modem provisioned the next time this happens -- the next time you swap out your cable modem with another.

[morningstarrising]

couldn't resist.

speaking of Comcast, they and Google are going after AOL. Comcast and Google? Scary...

[Ebby]

Funny. There is a /. story on how Google and AOL are getting in bed...

[WBG4]

Originally Posted by Ebby Funny. There is a /. story on how Google and AOL are getting in bed...

If i was google i'd do the same thing. Why? To keep M$ from getting them. It's the same reason adobe overpaid for Macromedia. It kept M$ from getting them

[DMBand0026]

I doubt that MS is aggressively pursuing AOL, if at all. AOL is a bloated, money losing, crappy ISP. I'm a bit confused as to why Google / Comcast is interested. It can only mean that Google will get bigger and Comcast will get crappier.

[Paul]

Content.

[Amadeus]

Verizon has a article in the Boston. They are planning to compete with Comcast for video using fiber optic cable.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/10/13/verizon_will_offer_fiber_optic_tv_in_bid_to_become _media_provider/