Comcastic!
You know what makes me, like, totally love my cable company? When I leave work 2 1/2 hours early so I can be home when they send a tech over to check on our malfunctioning high-speed Internet -- supposedly between 3:00 and 5:00 PM -- and they never show up, because they couldn't reach me by phone, because, as it turns out, someone made a typo and transcribed my area code as "830" instead of "860." Yup, I'm absolutely freakin' thrilled with Comcast right now. [/sarcasm]
UPDATE, 11:50 PM: A guy at Comcast's executive offices just e-mailed me: "It was too late to call, but I wanted to apologize for the Comcast experience that you have had. I have asked that my contacts in your area reach out to make sure you are fully taken care of for your troubles. It is unacceptable that we created that experience for you, and I will make sure to share the feedback."
Sometimes it's nice to have a blog with a decent-sized audience! Heh. I never expected by whiny kvetching to actually get results. I am blogger, hear me roar! :)
Get RCN.
I was sick and tired or CRAPcast and switched...even though they are headquartered here in Philly...I got a sweet deal too.
Posted by: Marty West | Apr 3, 2008 8:47:10 PM
I wish, Marty. The cable companies have local monopolistic fiefdoms here. If I had any cable options other than Comcast, I would have switched long ago. As it is, my only other choice would be to go the satellite route, which I don't particularly want to deal with.
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Apr 3, 2008 9:03:30 PM
Does Knology not offer service in your spot in town Brendan? I don't know how that works in Knox County. Didn't know whether they have overlapping areas or not...
Yeah, I hated it too when I lived in K-ville.
Posted by: Jay Johnson | Apr 3, 2008 9:15:50 PM
They may have some overlapping areas, I'm not sure, but if so, we aren't in one of them. No Knology here. :(
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Apr 3, 2008 9:17:33 PM
The details are not worth trying to capture in writing on this blog, but suffice it to say, I'm pretty sure the installation numbfucks from Charter Cable are going to end up costing me a couple grand in my condo's selling price. DirecTV is looking mighty good to me, once we move.
Posted by: Andrew | Apr 4, 2008 1:41:38 AM
I'd give the Comcast guy the benefit of the doubt. Their customer service may be a better now after they got the hammer treatment... :)
http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/taking_a_hammer_to_comcast/2772/
Posted by: jc | Apr 4, 2008 2:34:30 AM
Translation: We apologize for the fault with the cable. Those responsible have been sacked. Please don't write more nasty things about us.
Posted by: JD | Apr 4, 2008 2:43:57 AM
"I am blogger, here me roar!" - especially sweet when in a post that includes a complaint about a typing error by someone at Comcast ... (grin) ...
Posted by: Alasdair | Apr 4, 2008 4:10:24 AM
It's nice that the bloke from the executive offices emailed, but what about other customers who have the same problems with Comcast's predictably and routinely poor customer service? I'm not impressed. Maybe if we get results.
Posted by: Becky | Apr 4, 2008 7:30:33 AM
Alasdair, how culturally insensitive of you! Clearly I was just using the spelling of "hear" that is most common among the, uh, one-quarter-Irish, one-eighth-Welsh, one-eighth-German, European Mutts of Tennessee.
Posted by: Brendan Loy | Apr 4, 2008 8:01:13 AM
I've never been a fan of any cable company. My condo building was nice enough to make a deal with a commercial broad band service provider--20 bucks a month for a connection that is, as they say, way faster than cable. And I scrapped the whole cable company thing in favor of this nifty invention called an antenna which means I get HDTV for free... (Seriously, can someone explain to me where the cable company gets off charging extra for local HD channels? When they are free over the air at higher quality? for those scoring at home, HD over cable is stomped on (industry term), HD over the air is also, but not nearly as much.)
Posted by: dcl | Apr 4, 2008 9:31:32 AM
Comcast is by far the worst company I have ever dealt with in terms of customer service. Their service people are nasty and rude and don't seem to know what they are doing. I have HD and half of the channels simply don't work half of the time. The DVR keeps crapping out and I have to reboot it every couple of days in order to access the On-Demand menu.
Truly one sucky company.
Posted by: Angrier and Angrier | Apr 4, 2008 10:02:12 AM
You might want to give DirecTv a try. The suck in their own special way, but not as much as ComCrap.
Posted by: Jomo | Apr 4, 2008 11:28:07 AM
Brendan, O Mutt of TN, remember that I am Scots, and, as such, I am incapable of being "culturally-insensitive" ... we are WAY too blunt to be culturally-insensitive ... (grin) ... ask Loy the Elder - he'll likely know ...
Posted by: Alasdair | Apr 4, 2008 5:48:11 PM
You are pretty much screwed when having to deal with any of the big providers.
I have FiOS now, and love it, but dread the day I may ever have to deal with Verizon to resolve an issue with the line. Luckily fiber doesn't have issues with line noise like DSL, so for the most part, it either works or it doesn't.
Posted by: Jim | Apr 4, 2008 11:10:18 PM