AUTHOR: Dave Sypniewski DATE: Monday, October 31, 2005 ----- BODY: What do you do when there's only one cable company in town and the service gets interrupted due to a faulty cable converter? You wait, and wait, and wait...afterall, you're at their mercy. Such is the case with a service call to Comcast, whose service technicians like to play head games with their customers. I am quickly reminded of "Seinfeld" in which Kramer decides to get even with the installer and dodges the guy for a few days. After several calls to the Comcast 800 number, I knew something smelled fishy in Denmark. Our Motorola cable box was acting...well, silly. Almost as if it were haunted. The first call had me waiting at home for a whole day only to have the installer be a no show. They gave me a two hour window for making an appearance and for some reason, Comcast's time clocks are on Hawaii time because four hours later they called to cancel. That brings me to today. The installer phoned at 8:30 to confirm the appointment and he said he was only a "few blocks away". I waited for nearly an hour before the doorbell rang. So, what took so long? As exhibit "A" shows above, between the telephone call to explain he's on his way and his arrival, there was obviously a McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, or Starbucks along the way. Even a newspaper to waste some time and a cell phone call to a ladyfriend. Now, this is something you would expect a city employee or a police officer to do, but a monopoly like Comcast? After all the fussm when the guy came in the house and rolled up his sleeves to put in a new converter box, he made a quick exit. And you know what else? The "new" or should I say, refurbished converter doesn't work either and now we're back to the beginning! Don't believe anything the customer service folks tell you on the telephone. They're only interested in keeping service calls to a minimum. They don't want their technicians to have to come out to your house...the women on the phone will help you. They'll tell you to unplug the box and wait 30 seconds or five minutes, sometimes 24 hours before you plug it back in. They'll also tell you to unplug the telephone line and blow in the hole in back of the box to get the dust out, wait five minutes and then plug it back in. There's also a little known technique where you hold down the power button and the channel up button, unplug the box and plug it back in. These are lame brain half-baked ideas that any dummy may try...Hey, they don't work! So, tomorrow's another day and we're expecting another visit by the cable guy. Let's hope the guy gets it right this time or the converter box will be going through the front window of the Homewood office. What a racket! THAT'S the way I see things today (special contributer: Lisa Sypniewski) -------- Squealing Pig WORLDWIDE!: Caught on tape: 3 days later and still no cable guy!

Squealing Pig WORLDWIDE!

Monday, October 31, 2005

Caught on tape: 3 days later and still no cable guy!

What do you do when there's only one cable company in town and the service gets interrupted due to a faulty cable converter? You wait, and wait, and wait...afterall, you're at their mercy. Such is the case with a service call to Comcast, whose service technicians like to play head games with their customers. I am quickly reminded of "Seinfeld" in which Kramer decides to get even with the installer and dodges the guy for a few days. After several calls to the Comcast 800 number, I knew something smelled fishy in Denmark. Our Motorola cable box was acting...well, silly. Almost as if it were haunted. The first call had me waiting at home for a whole day only to have the installer be a no show. They gave me a two hour window for making an appearance and for some reason, Comcast's time clocks are on Hawaii time because four hours later they called to cancel. That brings me to today. The installer phoned at 8:30 to confirm the appointment and he said he was only a "few blocks away". I waited for nearly an hour before the doorbell rang. So, what took so long? As exhibit "A" shows above, between the telephone call to explain he's on his way and his arrival, there was obviously a McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, or Starbucks along the way. Even a newspaper to waste some time and a cell phone call to a ladyfriend. Now, this is something you would expect a city employee or a police officer to do, but a monopoly like Comcast? After all the fussm when the guy came in the house and rolled up his sleeves to put in a new converter box, he made a quick exit. And you know what else? The "new" or should I say, refurbished converter doesn't work either and now we're back to the beginning! Don't believe anything the customer service folks tell you on the telephone. They're only interested in keeping service calls to a minimum. They don't want their technicians to have to come out to your house...the women on the phone will help you. They'll tell you to unplug the box and wait 30 seconds or five minutes, sometimes 24 hours before you plug it back in. They'll also tell you to unplug the telephone line and blow in the hole in back of the box to get the dust out, wait five minutes and then plug it back in. There's also a little known technique where you hold down the power button and the channel up button, unplug the box and plug it back in. These are lame brain half-baked ideas that any dummy may try...Hey, they don't work! So, tomorrow's another day and we're expecting another visit by the cable guy. Let's hope the guy gets it right this time or the converter box will be going through the front window of the Homewood office. What a racket! THAT'S the way I see things today (special contributer: Lisa Sypniewski)

posted by Dave Sypniewski at Monday, October 31, 2005

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