Off the Mark

I have had no internets at home since about 7 PM last night (Thu) and the soonest a technician can come is Tuesday. FIVE days is completely unacceptable!

Last night we had a lovely Spring storm in which it was raining so hard that I could not hear the movie I was trying to watch. So I stopped the movie and went over to do some of the emailing that I really ought to have been doing.

About 2 minutes after I sat down there was a very loud POP! from outside. My first thought was that it was the power transformer but I still had lights. All of my equipment is on UPSs so the computers and the stereo would remain on. [All of you "locals" please tell me your equipment is protected!] A second or two later up popped the “Local connection disconnected” dialog box on the PC. Damn!

So I went off to do something else and when the (first) storm passed I went and finished the movie. Since I had seen no cable trucks show up I entertained myself in other ways with the hope it’d be back on by morning.

Got up this morning and no connection. Rebooted the modem to no avail. Same story when I got home this afternoon; so I called Comcast. “Dexter” tried to troubleshoot but to no avail. He eventually said he’d have to schedule a technician to come out.

His first offer was Tuesday from noon to 2 PM. OK. Tuesday? Not the slightest bit acceptable! And that time frame really sucks …

… because I was hoping to see a man about a job. The director of a library to which I’m considering applying just happens to be coming to visit Tuesday. All of his scheduled appointment times are filled so my only hope was to see him at his open session. Guess when? Yep, noon - 1 PM.

Dexter offered to find another time and came back a minute later. “How about the 1st from 8 AM - 2 PM?” Well now, Dexter, the 1st also happens to be Tuesday and you have now increased the time range. Thanks!

When I complained about paying for a “service” which I am not getting he kindly let me know that I would be credited on my bill after the problem is fixed. I do appreciate that. But that still helps not one bit with the fact that I need the Internet to accomplish some of my professional responsibilities. Nor the fact the only possibility I have to get some firsthand info on a school I am not sure I want to apply to is probably out the window.

Comcast, you could be causing me to not get a job!

I already have had a “Welcome to Comcast” problem just recently. I also find it interesting that they actually responded after-the-fact when Jennifer had problems but did not do so for mine, which was a “live” issue.

There’s an awful lot of talk about so-called customer service and “experience lately” but I’m seeing neither here.

I do see an email address to the person who commented on Jennifer’s post but the way I see it I did my part. I called tech service, the guy tried and he needed to schedule a technician. That I can live with. The fact that I have to wait until Tuesday is what I cannot live with.

I could email this person and it might help. But I am not going to. I am going to wait and see if they contact me. If they don’t then once my cable is back up I will put some of my current projects on hold and as quickly as possible move off of Comcast. It will suck majorly as I have scores of various accounts that use that email address but I will make it happen.

Now the interesting bit is just how are they going to contact me. I don’t have any internet from home so sending an email or commenting on this post is nigh on useless. [I am currently at GSLIS where I had to drive to, pay for parking, and generally not be at home. Will Comcast reimburse me for any of this inconvenience, much less the massive inconvenience of having no Internet for 5 days?]

Just to make Comcast’s job of contacting me a bit easier, my name is Mark R. Lindner and I live on Green St. in Champaign, IL and my area code is 217.

As I said above, if they do not contact me and find some way to resolve this either sooner or recompense me to a tune better than the simple cost of 5 days worth of service I will be leaving Comcast.