SEEING RED
I’m sitting here at Starbucks. I’ll give you three guesses why. Got it on the first guess, didn’t you? Comcast. Are you ready for this one? I got home around 7:10 tonight and noticed my high-speed modem light was blinking. Sure enough, I couldn’t connect so I immediately called. My first attempt had me waiting in silence. Not even the familiar muzak I was accustomed to (yeah, I know I ended a sentence with a preposition). I gave it five minutes, hung up, and called back.
The second call got me to my familiar menu and my familiar holding pattern. But it was only for a minute as a phone rep picked up. I told her what was wrong. Three solid buttons and a blinking “online” button. I told her I already did all the normal tricks like unplug, reboot, reset, etc. She said the magic words, “Please hold.” She told me she’d check my neighborhood for outages.
After being on hold for 20 minutes, I got disconnected. Holy crap was I mad! After ridding myself a few F-bombs, I called back. I explained to my new rep that I would try to contain my anger and I proceeded to tell her the story. I gave her my modem ‘Mac ID number’ for seemingly the hundredth time this week. She told me that piece of equipment was not linked to my account. I was dumbfounded. I told her the girl before her recognized the equipment. I told her I’d just gone through equipment set up not less than a week ago. I told her all this bullshit must be in the notes in my account. She stuck to her story and said the modem wasn’t linked to my account. Therefore, they couldn’t fix it without a service call. And, oh by the way, the first appointment was two days from now on Saturday.
Can you even imagine how pissed off I was? I told her I wanted to speak to someone who could help me. She told me her supervisor couldn’t do anything different and that I’d have to call the local office tomorrow morning. There you have it folks. “Comcastic,” just like the TV commercial says. I wasted another 50 minutes talking to those idiots plus I'll be out of service for two days.
Seriously, I’ve had it with Comcast. Can anyone give me some alternatives???
P.S. I got back from Starbucks and would you believe it? The modem light came on. Friggin Comcast...
P.P.S. Came home tonite (Friday) and it's out again. I'm typing on a faint wireless signal. My kingdom for a gun.
P.P.P.S. Saturday, Comcast guy came and didn't even come inside. He said he already knew the problem and he couldn't fix it. Apparently, the problem is related to Hurricane Wilma. I may not get it fixed until Wednesday the earliest. What upsets me so much, beyond their incompetence, is the fact that I've lost my main means of entertainment. I can't post, I can't speak to my net friends. It's very frustrating. Regarding GG's comment, this IS a big deal to me. Right now, I'm in the car chasing down faint wireless signals and am lucky to find one so I can update this post. Given the choice between net and TV, I'd take net anyday. Hope to post soon.
The second call got me to my familiar menu and my familiar holding pattern. But it was only for a minute as a phone rep picked up. I told her what was wrong. Three solid buttons and a blinking “online” button. I told her I already did all the normal tricks like unplug, reboot, reset, etc. She said the magic words, “Please hold.” She told me she’d check my neighborhood for outages.
After being on hold for 20 minutes, I got disconnected. Holy crap was I mad! After ridding myself a few F-bombs, I called back. I explained to my new rep that I would try to contain my anger and I proceeded to tell her the story. I gave her my modem ‘Mac ID number’ for seemingly the hundredth time this week. She told me that piece of equipment was not linked to my account. I was dumbfounded. I told her the girl before her recognized the equipment. I told her I’d just gone through equipment set up not less than a week ago. I told her all this bullshit must be in the notes in my account. She stuck to her story and said the modem wasn’t linked to my account. Therefore, they couldn’t fix it without a service call. And, oh by the way, the first appointment was two days from now on Saturday.
Can you even imagine how pissed off I was? I told her I wanted to speak to someone who could help me. She told me her supervisor couldn’t do anything different and that I’d have to call the local office tomorrow morning. There you have it folks. “Comcastic,” just like the TV commercial says. I wasted another 50 minutes talking to those idiots plus I'll be out of service for two days.
Seriously, I’ve had it with Comcast. Can anyone give me some alternatives???
P.S. I got back from Starbucks and would you believe it? The modem light came on. Friggin Comcast...
P.P.S. Came home tonite (Friday) and it's out again. I'm typing on a faint wireless signal. My kingdom for a gun.
P.P.P.S. Saturday, Comcast guy came and didn't even come inside. He said he already knew the problem and he couldn't fix it. Apparently, the problem is related to Hurricane Wilma. I may not get it fixed until Wednesday the earliest. What upsets me so much, beyond their incompetence, is the fact that I've lost my main means of entertainment. I can't post, I can't speak to my net friends. It's very frustrating. Regarding GG's comment, this IS a big deal to me. Right now, I'm in the car chasing down faint wireless signals and am lucky to find one so I can update this post. Given the choice between net and TV, I'd take net anyday. Hope to post soon.
posted by Plantation at
9:29 PM
13 Comments:
My room mate and I use SBC yahoo. We've had them for a little over half a year, and they've been pretty good with us. We pay 14.99 a month for dsl. They've always been pretty helpful, and in the months we've had them, our internet has shut down no more than three times. Hope everything works out for ya...glad we only have to deal with comcast when it comes to our tv cable, and that's been ok.
By
Anonymous, at 11:14 PM, January 19, 2006
I had a similar issue with my car recently:
- had purchased 60,000 mile service plan, which includes roadside assistance
- unluckily had to make use of this, but it was hugely convenient and solved the problem
- but then, even more unluckily, had to use it 2 weeks later and when I called and gave my Vehicle ID #, the dude says "your plan has expired"
- say what?
- so I explain that this was impossible because a) I had nowhere near 60K miles, b) it hadn't been an issue when I called two weeks prior
- "well, that's what I'm seeing, we can send the roadside and if we figure it out later we won't charge you, but I just can't guarantee no charge right now"
- so here's how I solved it: I said no thanks. I hung up. I called back an hour later. The next person I dealt with had no probs whatsoever.
Who knows what goes on...
I think you should send these stories/links to consumerist.com
Verizon DSL has worked well for me. Sure, when I had occasional connectivity issues, their advice skewed along the lame "try interchanging the ends of the cable", "try powering down for 5 minutes", but then they told me to check the wall connection and sure enough when I tightened the faceplate it was fine. So sometimes the mundane works.
By
Anonymous, at 12:52 AM, January 20, 2006
Thanks for the tips and I'll be sure to check out that link.
By
Plantation, at 2:26 AM, January 20, 2006
you have no luck at all, none that's good anyways.
-Amy
By
Anonymous, at 12:13 PM, January 20, 2006
I can't tell you who you ought to use but I can tell you that I had terrible luck with Earthlink DSL and wouldn't recommend them. (I have Time Warner Road Runner now and it's the best thing ever.)
By
Denise, at 1:00 PM, January 20, 2006
BellSouth Fast Access DSL
By
Anonymous, at 5:19 PM, January 20, 2006
dude, calm down! It's not like your defibrillator was malfunctioning!
By
Anonymous, at 10:08 AM, January 21, 2006
We have to find the humor in every situation - but sometimes things like this just make you want to scream. Go ahead. I'll cover my ears.
By
Sass, at 11:18 AM, January 21, 2006
Todd, where in the Grove did you move? I had some of the same issues with Comcast when I moved here. The only other alternative I found was satellite, but I finally got comcast to come fix the cable after a month of threats. GIve me a call sometime, I don't have your cell number cause I got a new phone and it erased all the old numbers. Hope all is well. Your Plantation friend, Michelle :)
By
Anonymous, at 12:25 PM, January 22, 2006
Can i throw your own words back at you:
"
I just don’t understand how people can worry about such small shit when there are so many more important things going on in this world. "
My internet (which I get via my apartment complex) goes out from time to time. I swear 10 times, then I usually go and read a book.
Fortunately I haven't really needed it for work.
By
Gatsby, at 3:47 PM, January 22, 2006
I cannot speak on Plant's behalf, but for some of us the internet is our "crack." If we can't get it, we go crazy and start going through painful withdrawl. I know some people that are like that with their cell phones and/or TV. Five minutes without it and they go ballistic. So cut us some slack, no one is without some form of addiction.
By
Caterina, at 11:21 PM, January 22, 2006
I understand the addiction cat. I also admit that Comcast has atrocious customer service. Plant's been treated like crap.
That being said, it does him no good to get upset about it (except perhaps on the phone). Life will go on without the internet. I think.
By
Gatsby, at 2:26 PM, January 23, 2006
gatsby,
True. It does him no good to get that upset. We can crave it all we want, but life will go on without the internet. God, I can't believe I just said that ;)
By
Caterina, at 3:31 PM, January 25, 2006
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