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Why people hate the cable company

April 25th, 2005 Posted in Uncategorized

We’ve all heard comedians rail on the cable companies for years. Sometimes you wonder if these bits are just leftover from a legacy of 80s bad business or new industry confusion.

But then you call the cable company to schedule an appointment.

I already pay an ungodly amount of money to the cable company as it is, and our service is horrid. We’re constantly getting dropped signals, and lately the quality has dropped to shit. I thought it was our TIVO, but turns out that the cable box is causing the problems. (I tested the signal with and without the cable box this weekend)

So I call Comcast this morning, and asked for a repair person to come out. Fortunately, I don’t have to wait for 2 weeks like last time. But I still have to be home tomorrow between 8a-noon. Nice window.

Then I asked about upgrading the cable box at the same time to the new DVR box. I mean, they’re going to need to bring a new cable box anyway, why not do the upgrade, right? (and for an extra $5/month, you’d think they’d love to)

But here’s the comedian fodder – they can’t do that all in the same trip. There’s two different contractors (since Comcast doesn’t seem to have its own staff), and they have to schedule two different appointments, on two different days. So they’ll bring out a new cable box, set it up test it, rearrange all my stereo equipment, make me wait on them a good part of the day, then repeat that process the next day. And why? Because their contractors aren’t cross-trained on setting up the uber-complex DVR box??

Remind me again why I’m not using DirectTV?

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  • http://melin.typepad.com Hans Eric Melin

    Carriers think “close the deal” means when you signed your contract the first time. Then they’re done. They don’t seem to realise that having your on board is the first step to start earning more money.

    Which means, they are still in the wrong business. Read about my recent and similar experiences here http://melin.typepad.com/lcpm/2005/04/signed_se

  • http://melin.typepad.com Hans Eric Melin

    Carriers think “close the deal” means when you signed your contract the first time. Then they’re done. They don’t seem to realise that having your on board is the first step to start earning more money.

    Which means, they are still in the wrong business. Read about my recent and similar experiences here http://melin.typepad.com/lcpm/2005/04/signed_sealed_d.html