The incompetence continues

[scarlettina]

Just received this e-mail from the neighbor who's tracking issues with Comcast:

Carolyn called from Comcast with an update, but not one we want to hear. Someone from Maintenance called her and told her that she should tell us it would be 1-2 weeks from TODAY before they'll deal with our outage problem. Carolyn said she was not happy with that and challenged them, but did not get a response. I reminded her that I'd called in about the problem on Friday, the day after the storm, and she said she was aware of this. Carolyn is not to blame for this and has been good about calling me to let us know what's happening. She has already done what she can to question the 1-2 weeks prognosis. Let's be nice to her, however frustrating this is.

A couple of people here seemed astonished that I've been so annoyed by this whole cable outage thing. The above is a demonstration of the kind of lack of information we've been getting: we just have to wait, without being given a reason or a timeframe. And now that we have a timeframe, it's loosey-goosey. I wouldn't mind any of this if we'd be given some solid, definite answers, but every conversation with Comcast has been like this: We don't know. We don't care. Suck it up. That pisses me off.

Comments

[grubbstreet.livejournal.com]

The widespread rage with Comcast is starting to bubble up - this from this morning's Seattle Times' business section, which is usually rah-rah for industry.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003496465_comcast27m0.html

The day is coming when the Net becomes a utility, like the water and the electric.

Utility status

[gaelfarce.livejournal.com]

...is drawing closer for cellphones as well. They're still considered luxury items but have surpassed the subscription rate that AT&T (or their precursor) had when they were regulated.

[deedop.livejournal.com]

How infuriating. Our Comcast internet's been fine down this way, but Direct TV's another matter. They've moved the dish twice now and it still craps out on us with the slightest bit of weather. And of course every time we ask them to fix it, we have to scream till we're blue in the face or they charge us a full dish moving rate... as if none of this is the fault of their shoddy workmanship to begin with.

Comcast

[ladyjestocost.livejournal.com]

I truly enjoyed the phone call I made to cancel my Comcast cable service. That was about 3 or 4 years ago, when we moved into the new house.

Service had been dreadful in our old place, and the bills went up every other month it seemed.

I was very happy to give my business to the satellite industry.

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

The Washington state Utilities and Transportation Commission has not received any complaints about Comcast over storm disruptions. But anecdotally, numerous customers report frustrations with the company's response.

Frankly, as long as this is the case, they'll continue to get away with it. The Commission needs to hear about how badly Comcast is doing their job. If they want to *be* Ma Bell of the 21st cenury, they need to come up to speed with servcie that earns them that position.

Write complaints. Get your pissed off neighbors to make complaints. This article only points up the Real Need for those complaints to be made formally to get any damn thing done.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

'Tain't the UTC that needs to know about this. In my case, turns out it's the City of Seattle. See the post I made this morning for more on the subject.

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

Saw it, commented, love it -- this was my knee jerk reaction from reading the article.

Kudos to you for doing the research -- as someone who only lost power and cable for 3 days, I can't really write them -- so didn't do the research this time.

But if, as robespierette says, some are considering making cable a public utility, we are going to have quite the fight on our hands in the near future. And you can bet I'll research THAT one :>.

[garyomaha.livejournal.com]

>>"The challenge is the situation is in a great deal of flux," he said.<<

Yeah. Their service will flux down and they will flux up. :)

[robespierrette.livejournal.com]

From what twilight2000 said, it sounds like a message to the State Utilities Commission is in order.

Hit them where it could actually hurt!

I don't know what the attitude down in Olympia is, but the Democratic Party around here is very down on the cable companies for the way they negotiate their contracts with the municipalities - everything from rates to how many public access and government channels are available. I've heard that some cities are looking at creating *public* cable TV utilities, which would be managed the way water/sewer/electic are managed, and frankly, that would be a serious improvement. They might even be able to offer "a la carte" channel selection, rather than the "you must take Fox News if you want Comedy Central" that people get stuck with now.