Dumbek's Random Stuff

I guess Comcast considers 6/6/06 to be some kind of holiday. Now that I think about it - that sort of makes sense.

My internet service has been out since sometime Sunday night. As of Tuesday morning it still wasn't working, so I decided to call Comcast.

8:00am: I call Comcast. We do a little troubleshooting and they decide to send someone out. How about sometime between 10:00am-1:00pm? Perfect.


1:15pm:
Dumbek: Where's the cable tech?
Comcast: He's running late. He'll be there in about 15 minutes.
D: Are you sure? I can't wait all day. If it's going to take much longer, I'll have to go to work.
C: No - He's on his way.

2:00pm:
D: Where's the cable tech?
C: Let me call him. (On hold for 2-3 minutes.) He turned his phone off. We'll keep trying and have him call you ASAP.
D: I'm really late for work.
C: It should just be a few minutes.

3:00pm:
D: Where's the cable tech?
C: Let me check with the dispatcher. (On hold over 5 minutes.) It seems there's an outage in your area. There has been one since Thursday. There's a good chance nobody is coming out today at all.
D: That's ridiculous! Nobody mentioned this and you're the 4th person I've spoken to today!
C: You should call your local office.
D: Just get me a manager.
C: I can't do that. You need to call the local office.
D: What happened to "15 minutes?"
C: I don't know.

3:10pm: I call my local Comcast office.

D: Where's the cable tech? What's this about an outage?
C: There's no outage. Let me call the tech. (On hold over 5 minutes.) He's running late. He's going to be another 45 minutes.
D: What happened to the 15 minutes at 1:30?
C: I don't know.
D: Why didn't he call me after 2:00?
C: I don't know.
D: Manager, please.
(on hold over 5 minutes)

C: I'm a manager.
D: Where's my tech?
C: I don't know. I'm really sorry about all this. Let me call him. I'll get to the bottom of this. Hang on.

At this point I'm on hold for about 25 minutes. I get cut off.

3:45pm:
D: I just got cut off. Where's my tech?
C: He's going to be another 45 minutes.
D: That's what I was told at 3:00. Does that mean he's almost here?
C: No, That means he'll be there in 45 minutes.
D: Manager, please. (On hold another 5 minutes.)

D: Where's my tech?
C (different manager): Let me call him.
D: NO! Do not put me on hold again.
C: We're very sorry sir, blah blah blah, We're trying to improve, blah blah blah, We're sorry for the inconvenience, blah blah blah. He's going to be another 45 minutes. I promise to call you back every 20 minutes or so until he gets there, to reassure you that we're trying as hard as we can to please you.
D: I'll be waiting.


4:50pm:
C: Sorry for the delay. I had another call that took a long time to resolve.
D: I'm not surprised. At least you called. That's a first for today. Where's my tech?
C: He's going to be another 30 minutes.
D: (click)

Around this time, I discover that my internet connection is back. After being down for about 40 hours, it just magically reappeared.

5:15pm: The tech finally arrives. He says we have "too much signal". He reduced it and says it should work better now. I can't really tell, because it looks the same as it did 5 minutes before he got here.

Comcast sucks. Has anybody tried FIOS?