an adventure you can color

[ironymaiden]

i don't watch much television. C can stare glassy-eyed at the tube for hours as long as the show name starts with "Law & Order". as US cable viewers know, that means that he can watch tv all day.
he asked me to kill the cable for him. we agreed that "limited cable" would be okay if it gave us a better deal on the internet.

the cable bill says "contact us online". your comcast service account is not your comcast email account, but a separate username and password. once i understood that i had to do account creation even though i already have an account, their form would not accept my cable account number. and then when it looked like i had said the proper incantations, their servers were busy and i was instructed to try again later.

so i called the service number. where they told me the wait would be five to seven minutes. i sat down in front of the computer with the phone at my ear and chatted with mimerki to pass the time. 45 minutes later, the hold message changes from "your call is very important to us" to "please call during business hours". i called at 7:30, the offices closed at 8, fifteen minutes later the away message pops. i'm pissed.

i wait a few days. the phone system has changed. now they offer to hold my place in line and call me back. i'm dubious, but it works. the person on the phone is totally cool, does what i want, doesn't push hard on sales or hassle me. i get the limited package, because otherwise they add the same amount of money to your internet for not having bundled service. the dude tells me that the work will happen Friday, and it is all outside so no one needs to be home. score.

last night C tells me he got an automated call from comcast saying that someone has to be home from 2-6 Friday.

hate.

i wake up with a migraine this morning. i take drugs, but feel like ass. i give up and take a sick day, because by the time i feel better the cable guy will pull up outside, crimp some wires, and stuff a receipt in my door without talking to me.

(in other news, the pokeball gag gets me every time.)

Comments

[buhrger]

they offer to hold my place in line and call me back
i've heard of this concept in phone-based service before, but not yet experienced it myself. the idea that i might be able to choose the music i listen to while waiting to talk to a drone customer service representative rilly appeals.

[ironymaiden]

it was genuinely nice. i did some other stuff around the house, and then they called me. i felt like it redeemed the whole experience until i got the "be home" message...

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

I. Hate. Comcast.

Sorry about the migraine.

Okay, so I looked at the L&O schedule? You're not kidding about the around-the-clock coverage. And TNT would just shut down without L&O.

[boldfeather.livejournal.com]

I watch L&O. A lot of it. Glassy-eyed and all.
And Without A Trace.
The Call-back option is nice, because I can watch my L&O instead of sitting on hold. Unless my cable is out. Then I'm just grumpy.

[refractednotion.livejournal.com]

Well, either they'll do everything without coming inside, or they'll decide they do need to come inside and assume you're not home, then leave without finishing the job. That'd be hate^2.

[steve98052.livejournal.com]

The hole place and call back is pretty clever – much better than my experiences with Verizon. (I think you've seen part 1 (http://steve98052.livejournal.com/95209.html) and part 2 (http://steve98052.livejournal.com/100296.html) – and they were so good years ago when we got our phone service.)

The be home between 2 and 6 is annoying, but as long as they actually show up I guess it's tolerable.

[pixxelpuss.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear about your headache and lack of customer service.

My brain may be broken. I thought that someone had made a ball-gag with a pokeball pattern.

I recommend

[bhagwanx.livejournal.com]

Scotch.

Or some of this here merlot.

Or this pasta.

But definitely, the scotch.