Graham Smith Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Last Friday, I used Comcast Live Chat. I wanted to know when the free black boxes for analog sets (which are steadily losing channels) would be available. I had gotten a notice earlier in the year that they would be available in July and nothing since then. The lady said they were available now and she could send me two. I told her not to because I'd just end up having to go to the post office to pick them up as there's no one home when the mail comes. She said I could pick them up at the local office - fine says I. Monday was a zoo and so was Tuesday. When I get home on Tuesday, there is a package notice from UPS. Oh hell, the UPS pickup point is a 30 min drive. But the same driver delivers to my office two blocks away on a regular basis and he knows my name, surely if I leave him a note he'll bring the package to my office on Wednesday. Turns out my driver is not the brightest bulb on the tree 'cause he leaves me a note that he needs a signature. Fortunately, I spot his truck next block over so I hoof it over and catch him. Get the box home and sure enough, there are the two Digital Transport Adapters that I told them not to send. But there is also a shiny new digital converter box. WTF? I have a hi-def box in my den, I just wanted one DTA for my old analog TV in the spare room. I call Comcast and endure the voice mail and repeat my information to two people and get passed to someone who finally tells me I don't appear to need the digital box, so I can return it to the office so I won't get charged for it - thanks a lot. Well, I'm tired and don't want to screw with setting this up right now, so I'll do it when I come home for lunch the next day. It's now Thursday noon. So, I hook up the DTA and nothing. Turns out you have to call them so they can put the box on your account and activate it - why didn't they do that before they sent them out? Who knows. So, I call again, go thru the punching of the buttons in response to the recorded voice and get a guy who can "help me". Turns out, he can't help because the box I have is not recorded in their inventory yet. He transfers me to someone (in India from his accent) who has no idea why I was transferred to him but he says he'll find out but it may be a couple minutes and to wait on the line. I wait for 2 minutes and am cut off. I wait a bit while I finish my lunch to see if he calls back then go back to the office. Thursday evening. I'm back from work, a two beer happy hour, and the grocery store and decide to try again. I repeat the calling process and the voice mail prompts, which I now have memorized only to be thrown when the voice asks me what room the box is in - a question I have not gotten in three prior calls. After work is not a good time to call as there was a much greater wait, but I eventually get a guy and tell him my tail of woe. He checks and says the unit is still not attached to my account so give him a couple minutes. Three minutes later, he comes back and tells me my account is locked. He thinks that the two guys at lunch may have accidentally locked my account by trying on the computer to open it with the wrong password - three wrong tries and it's locked up - this may have been what the guy in India was trying to fix. In any case this new guy suggested I wait for 24 hrs for the account to unlock itself and try again. I'm going to the Comcast office on Monday with all three boxes and let them sort it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireant Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Wow comcast IS the same everywhere. That's why I'm on my second year of Dish Network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic_jon Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 And people wonder why I have stuck with DirecTV in my area.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPatterson Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 When Comcast was a struggling new startup company offering cable for only $5.95 a month, it actually offered service. Now as a multi billion dollar corporation service calls can be sent to India and if you don't like it tough or so they think until you drop their service and go satellite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 When Comcast was updating us HERE I stood in line to receive my little adapter box, then set an appt to have a Comcast service tech come to MY home and install/activate the sucker. It cost a mere $16 for the visit and he took care of all the whatevers it took to activate and install. I didn't even care if it cost $50 to install/activate, I wasn't going to mess with it. Everything worked out fine. I don't try to do stuff like this MYSELF. I let the agency be responsible for it. Much less stress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Thomas Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 How utterly female and logical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 FiOS just dug. Give ya 2 guesses who I'm calling when they light the fiber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Well, and another thing: the Comcast techhie had apparently lived in this area for ages, worked for the company for ages, had intelligent answers for questions when asked and shared tidbits about workload and what were the technical trends and consumer demands of the month. Moreover, he arrived on time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisStock Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 FiOS just dug. Give ya 2 guesses who I'm calling when they light the fiber. After getting bills in successive months for $700+, $900+, and $430+ for a flat $99/month service, I'll let you assume that Comcast isn't the only borked cable provider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoNsTeR Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Comcast is such a pack of idiots it truly defies comprehension. I've been trying to upgrade my TV service using their website and it's an exercise in futility. It's 2009 people, how hard is it for a multi-billion dollar firm to put up an e-commerce system that actually works? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Smith Posted November 22, 2009 Author Share Posted November 22, 2009 (edited) And pretty soon Comcast is going to own one of the largest media providers in the US. Boy, isn't that going to be great! Thank goodness for Audible.com and the public library. Edited November 22, 2009 by Graham Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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