Unsuccessful with Comcast

[Adam H. Kerman]

This morning, I tried to do something about my mother's Comcast bill.
She pays Comcast thousands a year as she subscribes to a lot of tv
channels. There are always discounts to renegotiate.

I could get just a minor reduction in her bill, $13 a month. I was going
to take it when they asked me to confirm that she'd be put into a 24
month contract with $220 cancellation penalty (although that drops each
month of the contract). I said she'd never been in a contact before to
get discounts, when I was informed that she was currently in a contract
that was ending April 12, when all her discounts would expire. If she
unsubscribed, she'd owe a cancellation penalty of $10 a month, so $20.

I'd kept my temper up to that point, but I was livid. I told him that he
failed to inform me that what I was negotiating for was a new contract
period and I told him that the current contract was unconscionable as
she'd had several rate increases DURING the contract. Comcast may keep
the package price fixed, but they take things out of the package and add
surcharges or drop channels.

I stated my position that the contract isn't legitimate if one party
cannot exit the contract without penalty but the other party is free to
raise rates with impugnity.

He didn't care when I informed him that I'd file a complaint with the
state attorney general consumer protection bureau.

I asked for a complete refund of 24 months of surcharges for Broadcast
Fee and Regional Sports Fee. She isn't going to get it but we may
receive a callback from a higher up in customer service who might be
willing to make a better offer.

I'd still like her to get an outside antenna but she's always been
reluctant. I think a previous homeowner had one, but it was gone by the
time she moved in. There were two small-dish satellite dishes up there
from a previous homeowner, finally discared by the roofer.

[Ed Stasiak]

Adam H. Kerman
I'd still like her to get an outside antenna but she's always been
reluctant. I think a previous homeowner had one, but it was gone
by the time she moved in. There were two small-dish satellite
dishes up there from a previous homeowner, finally discared by
the roofer.

An in-door rabbit ears antenna works fine for me and I get a clearer
picture (due to digital broadcast) then I ever got with cable tv but if
you feel the need for a full-size old school style tv antenna, mount
it up in the attic.

No need to drill holes into the roof or walls from the outside, you can
easily drop the antenna wire down between the interior wall studs into
the living room or where ever and being up in the attic, it’s protected
from the weather.

Loading Image...

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Ed Stasiak

Adam H. Kerman
I'd still like her to get an outside antenna but she's always been
reluctant. I think a previous homeowner had one, but it was gone
by the time she moved in. There were two small-dish satellite
dishes up there from a previous homeowner, finally discared by
the roofer.

An in-door rabbit ears antenna works fine for me and I get a clearer
picture (due to digital broadcast) then I ever got with cable tv but if
you feel the need for a full-size old school style tv antenna, mount
it up in the attic. . . .

It would be quite simple to mount it on the roof. There are already
holes in the outside wall where coax and out-of-service telephone wire
enter, plus all those other holes used to connect the removed small-dish
satellite receivers. New coax would simply follow a downspout and cross
a portion of the roof. The antenna is easily (well, by someone not me
who has falling-off-the-roof workmans' comp insurance) mounted to the
chimney.

I've tried running 300 ohm antenna wire inside to see where an indoor
antenna might be mounted but reception sucks. As she's got line-of-sight
to Hancock (where some of the broadcast antennas are) and probably Sears
(where the rest of the broadcast antennas are), outdoor antenna is the
way to go. But she'd have to agree to it.

[j***@hotmail.com]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Ed Stasiak

Adam H. Kerman
I'd still like her to get an outside antenna but she's always been
reluctant. I think a previous homeowner had one, but it was gone
by the time she moved in. There were two small-dish satellite
dishes up there from a previous homeowner, finally discared by
the roofer.

An in-door rabbit ears antenna works fine for me and I get a clearer
picture (due to digital broadcast) then I ever got with cable tv but if
you feel the need for a full-size old school style tv antenna, mount
it up in the attic. . . .

It would be quite simple to mount it on the roof. There are already
holes in the outside wall where coax and out-of-service telephone wire
enter, plus all those other holes used to connect the removed small-dish
satellite receivers. New coax would simply follow a downspout and cross
a portion of the roof. The antenna is easily (well, by someone not me
who has falling-off-the-roof workmans' comp insurance) mounted to the
chimney.
I've tried running 300 ohm antenna wire inside to see where an indoor
antenna might be mounted but reception sucks. As she's got line-of-sight
to Hancock (where some of the broadcast antennas are) and probably Sears
(where the rest of the broadcast antennas are), outdoor antenna is the
way to go. But she'd have to agree to it.

My decades of savings now totals gazillions of dollars. I put a signal amp on my antenna. No wonder comcast changed their name brand to xfinity.

Amy Poehler's groveling in comcast ads is really sad :(

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
This morning, I tried to do something about my mother's Comcast bill.
She pays Comcast thousands a year as she subscribes to a lot of tv
channels. There are always discounts to renegotiate.
I could get just a minor reduction in her bill, $13 a month. I was going
to take it when they asked me to confirm that she'd be put into a 24
month contract with $220 cancellation penalty (although that drops each
month of the contract). I said she'd never been in a contact before to
get discounts, when I was informed that she was currently in a contract
that was ending April 12, when all her discounts would expire. If she
unsubscribed, she'd owe a cancellation penalty of $10 a month, so $20.
I'd kept my temper up to that point, but I was livid. I told him that he
failed to inform me that what I was negotiating for was a new contract
period and I told him that the current contract was unconscionable as
she'd had several rate increases DURING the contract. Comcast may keep
the package price fixed, but they take things out of the package and add
surcharges or drop channels.
I stated my position that the contract isn't legitimate if one party
cannot exit the contract without penalty but the other party is free to
raise rates with impugnity.
He didn't care when I informed him that I'd file a complaint with the
state attorney general consumer protection bureau.
I asked for a complete refund of 24 months of surcharges for Broadcast
Fee and Regional Sports Fee. She isn't going to get it but we may
receive a callback from a higher up in customer service who might be
willing to make a better offer.
I'd still like her to get an outside antenna but she's always been
reluctant. I think a previous homeowner had one, but it was gone by the
time she moved in. There were two small-dish satellite dishes up there
from a previous homeowner, finally discared by the roofer.

Good luck on that.

The COX is constantly advertising that they don't have contracts at all and
constantly trying to get me to agree to a contract.

[shawn]

On Tue, 5 Mar 2019 20:28:29 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"

Post by Adam H. Kerman
This morning, I tried to do something about my mother's Comcast bill.
She pays Comcast thousands a year as she subscribes to a lot of tv
channels. There are always discounts to renegotiate.
I could get just a minor reduction in her bill, $13 a month. I was going
to take it when they asked me to confirm that she'd be put into a 24
month contract with $220 cancellation penalty (although that drops each
month of the contract). I said she'd never been in a contact before to
get discounts, when I was informed that she was currently in a contract
that was ending April 12, when all her discounts would expire. If she
unsubscribed, she'd owe a cancellation penalty of $10 a month, so $20.
I'd kept my temper up to that point, but I was livid. I told him that he
failed to inform me that what I was negotiating for was a new contract
period and I told him that the current contract was unconscionable as
she'd had several rate increases DURING the contract. Comcast may keep
the package price fixed, but they take things out of the package and add
surcharges or drop channels.

They all want to get you into a contract. You can negotiate a better
price even without a contract but it will be a bit more. Last time I
talked with Comcast I negotiated a deal of about $179 for everything
(fees/taxes/services) for Digital Starter/Internet Plus/Phone service
with no contract. I could have saved $10/month if I went to a 2 year
contract. Though I had to go to the retention dept and tell them I was
ready to walk to get the deal.


Glad I didn't go for the contract as a few month later ATT offered
Uverse Fiber here so I got more channels/faster speed and phone for
$128. It was actually $125 but they bumped up the broadcast fee and
regional sports fees. They always put those fees as outside of the
contracted price but at least AT&T actually includes the fees in the
quoted price unlike Comcast.

One thing I should also add is that they started offering me even
better pricing if I would switch back just a month after I left that
was the same as AT&T but didn't include the hardware pricing so it was
actually more than AT&T but cheaper than they offered before.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I stated my position that the contract isn't legitimate if one party
cannot exit the contract without penalty but the other party is free to
raise rates with impugnity.

I suspect you will find that the contract is only for the basic
services and all the extra fees are outside of the contract but have
to be paid to keep the service.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
He didn't care when I informed him that I'd file a complaint with the
state attorney general consumer protection bureau.

He's a customer service drone. Threats like that might impact the
company but he's not directly impacted by it.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I asked for a complete refund of 24 months of surcharges for Broadcast
Fee and Regional Sports Fee. She isn't going to get it but we may
receive a callback from a higher up in customer service who might be
willing to make a better offer.
I'd still like her to get an outside antenna but she's always been
reluctant. I think a previous homeowner had one, but it was gone by the
time she moved in. There were two small-dish satellite dishes up there
from a previous homeowner, finally discared by the roofer.

Depending on where she is located the antenna may work well.
Unfortunately for me my apartment faces south while most of the
antennas are to the west of me so I can only pick up a few of the
20-30 channels available and only ABC out of the broadcast networks.
Don't think even one of those huge indoor antennas (about 3 feet long)
would help that much as the signal would have to pass through multiple
buildings in the complex as well as trees.


TL:DR; Contract likely only includes basic services
(TV/Phone/Internet) and none of the additional fees. To get the best
price talk to the retention dept and negotiate hard. Works best if you
have an alternative to switch to.

Also helps if you know what the best price available for new customers
for the same service. Retention can give a current customer that price
but they will do their best to avoid doing so. I would always call up
after my contract was up and negotiate a better price even when I
didn't have an equivalent service available for me to switch to.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by shawn
On Tue, 5 Mar 2019 20:28:29 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"

Post by Adam H. Kerman
This morning, I tried to do something about my mother's Comcast bill.
She pays Comcast thousands a year as she subscribes to a lot of tv
channels. There are always discounts to renegotiate.
I could get just a minor reduction in her bill, $13 a month. I was going
to take it when they asked me to confirm that she'd be put into a 24
month contract with $220 cancellation penalty (although that drops each
month of the contract). I said she'd never been in a contact before to
get discounts, when I was informed that she was currently in a contract
that was ending April 12, when all her discounts would expire. If she
unsubscribed, she'd owe a cancellation penalty of $10 a month, so $20.
I'd kept my temper up to that point, but I was livid. I told him that he
failed to inform me that what I was negotiating for was a new contract
period and I told him that the current contract was unconscionable as
she'd had several rate increases DURING the contract. Comcast may keep
the package price fixed, but they take things out of the package and add
surcharges or drop channels.

They all want to get you into a contract. You can negotiate a better
price even without a contract but it will be a bit more. Last time I
talked with Comcast I negotiated a deal of about $179 for everything
(fees/taxes/services) for Digital Starter/Internet Plus/Phone service
with no contract. I could have saved $10/month if I went to a 2 year
contract. Though I had to go to the retention dept and tell them I was
ready to walk to get the deal.
Glad I didn't go for the contract as a few month later ATT offered
Uverse Fiber here so I got more channels/faster speed and phone for
$128. It was actually $125 but they bumped up the broadcast fee and
regional sports fees. They always put those fees as outside of the
contracted price but at least AT&T actually includes the fees in the
quoted price unlike Comcast.
One thing I should also add is that they started offering me even
better pricing if I would switch back just a month after I left that
was the same as AT&T but didn't include the hardware pricing so it was
actually more than AT&T but cheaper than they offered before.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I stated my position that the contract isn't legitimate if one party
cannot exit the contract without penalty but the other party is free to
raise rates with impugnity.

I suspect you will find that the contract is only for the basic
services and all the extra fees are outside of the contract but have
to be paid to keep the service.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
He didn't care when I informed him that I'd file a complaint with the
state attorney general consumer protection bureau.

He's a customer service drone. Threats like that might impact the
company but he's not directly impacted by it.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I asked for a complete refund of 24 months of surcharges for Broadcast
Fee and Regional Sports Fee. She isn't going to get it but we may
receive a callback from a higher up in customer service who might be
willing to make a better offer.
I'd still like her to get an outside antenna but she's always been
reluctant. I think a previous homeowner had one, but it was gone by the
time she moved in. There were two small-dish satellite dishes up there
from a previous homeowner, finally discared by the roofer.

Depending on where she is located the antenna may work well.
Unfortunately for me my apartment faces south while most of the
antennas are to the west of me so I can only pick up a few of the
20-30 channels available and only ABC out of the broadcast networks.
Don't think even one of those huge indoor antennas (about 3 feet long)
would help that much as the signal would have to pass through multiple
buildings in the complex as well as trees.
TL:DR; Contract likely only includes basic services
(TV/Phone/Internet) and none of the additional fees. To get the best
price talk to the retention dept and negotiate hard. Works best if you
have an alternative to switch to.
Also helps if you know what the best price available for new customers
for the same service. Retention can give a current customer that price
but they will do their best to avoid doing so. I would always call up
after my contract was up and negotiate a better price even when I
didn't have an equivalent service available for me to switch to.

My Cox is desperate to bundle. They won't deal on TV or Interweb unless I add
my phone. Then the savings is huge - I'd be paying less than I am now for
just TV and Interweb, plus I wouldn't be paying Century Link anything.
Problem is, Cox phone doesn't work if you need more than one phone jack, like
for a burglar alarm.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

snarl

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

snarl

Had to wait on hold for a really really long time to get a deal for my
mother that costs approximately what she's paying right now; some deal.
She's not in contract.

I couldn't get the supervisor to offer a bigger discount on the triple
play bundle, but she did offer an immediately credit of $49.95, so
that's something. She appeared to be sympathetic that the service was
changed without my permission.

I am waiting for a call back from a higher up Comcast rep since I did
file the complaint with the state attorney general consumer complaint
division. I will have a long discussion with him about how my mother was
not protected against substantial rate increases during the contract
period. That was outrageous.

This was a truly unproductive day.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

snarl

Had to wait on hold for a really really long time to get a deal for my
mother that costs approximately what she's paying right now; some deal.
She's not in contract.
I couldn't get the supervisor to offer a bigger discount on the triple
play bundle, but she did offer an immediately credit of $49.95, so
that's something. She appeared to be sympathetic that the service was
changed without my permission.
I am waiting for a call back from a higher up Comcast rep since I did
file the complaint with the state attorney general consumer complaint
division. I will have a long discussion with him about how my mother was
not protected against substantial rate increases during the contract
period. That was outrageous.
This was a truly unproductive day.

:(

I've had fights like that with my Cox. They simply made the appropriate
records vanish.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

snarl

Had to wait on hold for a really really long time to get a deal for my
mother that costs approximately what she's paying right now; some deal.
She's not in contract.
I couldn't get the supervisor to offer a bigger discount on the triple
play bundle, but she did offer an immediately credit of $49.95, so
that's something. She appeared to be sympathetic that the service was
changed without my permission.
I am waiting for a call back from a higher up Comcast rep since I did
file the complaint with the state attorney general consumer complaint
division. I will have a long discussion with him about how my mother was
not protected against substantial rate increases during the contract
period. That was outrageous.
This was a truly unproductive day.

My mother showed me her current bill. The bill acknowledged that the
payment was posted but the promised $49.95 credit was NOT there.

Surprise surprise

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

snarl

Had to wait on hold for a really really long time to get a deal for my
mother that costs approximately what she's paying right now; some deal.
She's not in contract.
I couldn't get the supervisor to offer a bigger discount on the triple
play bundle, but she did offer an immediately credit of $49.95, so
that's something. She appeared to be sympathetic that the service was
changed without my permission.
I am waiting for a call back from a higher up Comcast rep since I did
file the complaint with the state attorney general consumer complaint
division. I will have a long discussion with him about how my mother was
not protected against substantial rate increases during the contract
period. That was outrageous.
This was a truly unproductive day.

My mother showed me her current bill. The bill acknowledged that the
payment was posted but the promised $49.95 credit was NOT there.
Surprise surprise

If they're like Cox, you'll find they've lost all records of any previous
communications with you as well.

You seriously have to record your conversations with these 'people'

[w***@post.com]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

snarl

Had to wait on hold for a really really long time to get a deal for my
mother that costs approximately what she's paying right now; some deal.
She's not in contract.
I couldn't get the supervisor to offer a bigger discount on the triple
play bundle, but she did offer an immediately credit of $49.95, so
that's something. She appeared to be sympathetic that the service was
changed without my permission.
I am waiting for a call back from a higher up Comcast rep since I did
file the complaint with the state attorney general consumer complaint
division. I will have a long discussion with him about how my mother was
not protected against substantial rate increases during the contract
period. That was outrageous.
This was a truly unproductive day.

My mother showed me her current bill. The bill acknowledged that the
payment was posted but the promised $49.95 credit was NOT there.
Surprise surprise

If they're like Cox, you'll find they've lost all records of any previous
communications with you as well.
You seriously have to record your conversations with these 'people'

Or when you call them, you could first ask with whom you are speaking and their operating number. Then post their names here along with what they told you and when they told you it (and please tell them you are doing so).

[anim8rfsk]

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 11:50:01 -0700

Post by w***@post.com

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

snarl

Had to wait on hold for a really really long time to get a deal for my
mother that costs approximately what she's paying right now; some deal.
She's not in contract.
I couldn't get the supervisor to offer a bigger discount on the triple
play bundle, but she did offer an immediately credit of $49.95, so
that's something. She appeared to be sympathetic that the service was
changed without my permission.
I am waiting for a call back from a higher up Comcast rep since I did
file the complaint with the state attorney general consumer complaint
division. I will have a long discussion with him about how my mother was
not protected against substantial rate increases during the contract
period. That was outrageous.
This was a truly unproductive day.

My mother showed me her current bill. The bill acknowledged that the
payment was posted but the promised $49.95 credit was NOT there.
Surprise surprise

If they're like Cox, you'll find they've lost all records of any previous
communications with you as well.
You seriously have to record your conversations with these 'people'

Or when you call them, you could first ask with whom you are speaking and
their operating number. Then post their names here along with what they told
you and when they told you it (and please tell them you are doing so).

That doesn't work. I had the name and number of the Cox representative I
spoke to, and they simply denied there was any record of my having called
before, even though the person I talked to before that admitted that there
was.

I did get away with the "I'm posting this" threat/promise once, when I spent
an hour and a half on the phone with Sparklett's water over phony charges. I
have no idea if my telling her that I was posting the conversation on
Facebook as we spoke helped or not, but they did finally make the phony
charges go away.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

snarl

Had to wait on hold for a really really long time to get a deal for my
mother that costs approximately what she's paying right now; some deal.
She's not in contract.
I couldn't get the supervisor to offer a bigger discount on the triple
play bundle, but she did offer an immediately credit of $49.95, so
that's something. She appeared to be sympathetic that the service was
changed without my permission.
I am waiting for a call back from a higher up Comcast rep since I did
file the complaint with the state attorney general consumer complaint
division. I will have a long discussion with him about how my mother was
not protected against substantial rate increases during the contract
period. That was outrageous.
This was a truly unproductive day.

My mother showed me her current bill. The bill acknowledged that the
payment was posted but the promised $49.95 credit was NOT there.
Surprise surprise

If they're like Cox, you'll find they've lost all records of any previous
communications with you as well.

Yup

That's what happened this morning.

Post by anim8rfsk
You seriously have to record your conversations with these 'people'

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

snarl

Had to wait on hold for a really really long time to get a deal for my
mother that costs approximately what she's paying right now; some deal.
She's not in contract.
I couldn't get the supervisor to offer a bigger discount on the triple
play bundle, but she did offer an immediately credit of $49.95, so
that's something. She appeared to be sympathetic that the service was
changed without my permission.
I am waiting for a call back from a higher up Comcast rep since I did
file the complaint with the state attorney general consumer complaint
division. I will have a long discussion with him about how my mother was
not protected against substantial rate increases during the contract
period. That was outrageous.
This was a truly unproductive day.

My mother showed me her current bill. The bill acknowledged that the
payment was posted but the promised $49.95 credit was NOT there.
Surprise surprise

If they're like Cox, you'll find they've lost all records of any previous
communications with you as well.

Yup
That's what happened this morning.

Post by anim8rfsk
You seriously have to record your conversations with these 'people'

Sorry man. Trying to hold cable companies to their word is a regular
Kobiyashi Maru.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

snarl

Had to wait on hold for a really really long time to get a deal for my
mother that costs approximately what she's paying right now; some deal.
She's not in contract.
I couldn't get the supervisor to offer a bigger discount on the triple
play bundle, but she did offer an immediately credit of $49.95, so
that's something. She appeared to be sympathetic that the service was
changed without my permission.
I am waiting for a call back from a higher up Comcast rep since I did
file the complaint with the state attorney general consumer complaint
division. I will have a long discussion with him about how my mother was
not protected against substantial rate increases during the contract
period. That was outrageous.
This was a truly unproductive day.

My mother showed me her current bill. The bill acknowledged that the
payment was posted but the promised $49.95 credit was NOT there.
Surprise surprise

If they're like Cox, you'll find they've lost all records of any previous
communications with you as well.

Yup
That's what happened this morning.

Post by anim8rfsk
You seriously have to record your conversations with these 'people'

Sorry man. Trying to hold cable companies to their word is a regular
Kobiyashi Maru.

Here's where we are:

Did I already mention that I had called the consumer bureau of the state
attorney general to find out the status of the complaint from over a
week ago, to learn that they hadn't even assigned it to anyone and it
wasn't even entered into the database? I had filled out a Web form, so
that should have entered it into the database immediately, but all I got
was a reference number. No case was opened.

It takes over a month just to get into the database!

I went through the cable liason at village hall where she lives. A
representative called back yesterday but rattled off his phone number so
quickly in the message he left tha I couldn't understand it and wrote
down one incorrect digit. I had to go through the liason again today.

The liason was a riot, wanting to add "irate subscriber" to the callback
request. I pointed out to her that that's redundant, given most cable
company's level of service to the subscriber.

This time, someone from Comcast did call back and I was able to speak to
her directly.

I calculated the difference in the broadcast fee and regional sports fee
after the January 2018 and January 2019 increases over the 2017 price.
There was a difference of $55. She agreed to credit that.

Also, she agreed to re-instate the $49.95 credit the supervisor on
Tuesday had promised because my mother's account was put into another 24
month contract without consent.

I suppose it'll take a few days for these credits to be reflected in the
billing system but I hope they'll be there in time for her to deduct
them from her next payment.

No, she wouldn't budge on the prices being offered. so my mother is in a
discount for the next 12 months (but Comcast is free to raise prices
outside the bundle price). My mother wanted a fixed price for a longer
period but I reminded her again that the fees outside the bundle could
be raised by Comcast with or without being in a 24 month contract.

There's always the possibility that Comcast will offer a better deal, or
I can talk my mother into having an outdoor antenna installed and just
drop Comcast entirely, or maybe go down to an Internet-only package.

The broadcast fee is on all television service accounts, even those
accounts that are just broadcast television channels.

If a television subscriber takes any package of channels that includes a
satellite channel, then the regional sports fee is imposed.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract
my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

snarl

Had to wait on hold for a really really long time to get a deal for my
mother that costs approximately what she's paying right now; some deal.
She's not in contract.
I couldn't get the supervisor to offer a bigger discount on the triple
play bundle, but she did offer an immediately credit of $49.95, so
that's something. She appeared to be sympathetic that the service was
changed without my permission.
I am waiting for a call back from a higher up Comcast rep since I did
file the complaint with the state attorney general consumer complaint
division. I will have a long discussion with him about how my mother was
not protected against substantial rate increases during the contract
period. That was outrageous.
This was a truly unproductive day.

My mother showed me her current bill. The bill acknowledged that the
payment was posted but the promised $49.95 credit was NOT there.
Surprise surprise

If they're like Cox, you'll find they've lost all records of any previous
communications with you as well.

Yup
That's what happened this morning.

Post by anim8rfsk
You seriously have to record your conversations with these 'people'

Sorry man. Trying to hold cable companies to their word is a regular
Kobiyashi Maru.

Did I already mention that I had called the consumer bureau of the state
attorney general to find out the status of the complaint from over a
week ago, to learn that they hadn't even assigned it to anyone and it
wasn't even entered into the database? I had filled out a Web form, so
that should have entered it into the database immediately, but all I got
was a reference number. No case was opened.
It takes over a month just to get into the database!
I went through the cable liason at village hall where she lives. A
representative called back yesterday but rattled off his phone number so
down one incorrect digit. I had to go through the liason again today.
The liason was a riot, wanting to add "irate subscriber" to the callback
request. I pointed out to her that that's redundant, given most cable
company's level of service to the subscriber.
This time, someone from Comcast did call back and I was able to speak to
her directly.
I calculated the difference in the broadcast fee and regional sports fee
after the January 2018 and January 2019 increases over the 2017 price.
There was a difference of $55. She agreed to credit that.
Also, she agreed to re-instate the $49.95 credit the supervisor on
Tuesday had promised because my mother's account was put into another 24
month contract without consent.
I suppose it'll take a few days for these credits to be reflected in the
billing system but I hope they'll be there in time for her to deduct
them from her next payment.
No, she wouldn't budge on the prices being offered. so my mother is in a
discount for the next 12 months (but Comcast is free to raise prices
outside the bundle price). My mother wanted a fixed price for a longer
period but I reminded her again that the fees outside the bundle could
be raised by Comcast with or without being in a 24 month contract.
There's always the possibility that Comcast will offer a better deal, or
I can talk my mother into having an outdoor antenna installed and just
drop Comcast entirely, or maybe go down to an Internet-only package.
The broadcast fee is on all television service accounts, even those
accounts that are just broadcast television channels.
If a television subscriber takes any package of channels that includes a
satellite channel, then the regional sports fee is imposed.

Well, some progress anyway. Good for you.

Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

[shawn]

On Fri, 15 Mar 2019 03:53:15 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

That's like Comcast sending me multiple letters offering Internet+TV
for $23/month (not including the various fees and taxes)

[anim8rfsk]

Post by shawn
On Fri, 15 Mar 2019 03:53:15 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

That's like Comcast sending me multiple letters offering Internet+TV
for $23/month (not including the various fees and taxes)

I get the letters and emails constantly, but a real person? At the door?!

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says

"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

[shawn]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

AT&T keeps rebranding everything. At a business address, they had us on
a data-only U-verse account, which got rebranded away from U-verse in
2016. It required a different terminal adapter than when I had AT&T DSL
at home because U-verse provisioned DSL in a different way.

I just looked on their Web site. There's no mention of U-verse, just
AT&T Fiber. When my mother first moved here, she was close enough to the
central office that DSL was possible without a repeater (I forget what
the device is called), but they've been exceedingly slow to deploy those
VLADs (the alien spaceship landing platform) which terminate the fiber.
It's a copper pair for the last 1000 feet or so to the house.

The previous residents had two different small dish satellite services.
There's still a DVR from one of them in the basement.

[shawn]

On Fri, 15 Mar 2019 05:13:51 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

AT&T keeps rebranding everything. At a business address, they had us on
a data-only U-verse account, which got rebranded away from U-verse in
2016. It required a different terminal adapter than when I had AT&T DSL
at home because U-verse provisioned DSL in a different way.
I just looked on their Web site. There's no mention of U-verse, just
AT&T Fiber. When my mother first moved here, she was close enough to the
central office that DSL was possible without a repeater (I forget what
the device is called), but they've been exceedingly slow to deploy those
VLADs (the alien spaceship landing platform) which terminate the fiber.
It's a copper pair for the last 1000 feet or so to the house.

Yes, they sell it as AT&T Fiber but it's Uverse TV (whether you get it
over Fiber/DSL). We were just able to get the fiber offering back at
the end of November as they started running fiber through the
neighborhood back in the summer. They are apparently making a big push
to run fiber throughout the area. Something that Google never did as
they serve small areas around Atlanta including one a few miles from
me.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by shawn
On Fri, 15 Mar 2019 05:13:51 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a
salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

AT&T keeps rebranding everything. At a business address, they had us on
a data-only U-verse account, which got rebranded away from U-verse in
2016. It required a different terminal adapter than when I had AT&T DSL
at home because U-verse provisioned DSL in a different way.
I just looked on their Web site. There's no mention of U-verse, just
AT&T Fiber. When my mother first moved here, she was close enough to the
central office that DSL was possible without a repeater (I forget what
the device is called), but they've been exceedingly slow to deploy those
VLADs (the alien spaceship landing platform) which terminate the fiber.
It's a copper pair for the last 1000 feet or so to the house.

Yes, they sell it as AT&T Fiber but it's Uverse TV (whether you get it
over Fiber/DSL). We were just able to get the fiber offering back at
the end of November as they started running fiber through the
neighborhood back in the summer. They are apparently making a big push
to run fiber throughout the area. Something that Google never did as
they serve small areas around Atlanta including one a few miles from
me.

COX gave up on ever giving us fiber and just renamed their regular service
the same as their fiber service so they could justify their false advertising
that claimed their fiber service was available 'everywhere'

[m***@hotmail.com]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn
On Fri, 15 Mar 2019 05:13:51 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a
salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

AT&T keeps rebranding everything. At a business address, they had us on
a data-only U-verse account, which got rebranded away from U-verse in
2016. It required a different terminal adapter than when I had AT&T DSL
at home because U-verse provisioned DSL in a different way.
I just looked on their Web site. There's no mention of U-verse, just
AT&T Fiber. When my mother first moved here, she was close enough to the
central office that DSL was possible without a repeater (I forget what
the device is called), but they've been exceedingly slow to deploy those
VLADs (the alien spaceship landing platform) which terminate the fiber.
It's a copper pair for the last 1000 feet or so to the house.

Yes, they sell it as AT&T Fiber but it's Uverse TV (whether you get it
over Fiber/DSL). We were just able to get the fiber offering back at
the end of November as they started running fiber through the
neighborhood back in the summer. They are apparently making a big push
to run fiber throughout the area. Something that Google never did as
they serve small areas around Atlanta including one a few miles from
me.

COX gave up on ever giving us fiber

Yet, I bet that strangely the fiberoptic cables have already been laid in beneath the streets.

[shawn]

Post by m***@hotmail.com

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn
On Fri, 15 Mar 2019 05:13:51 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a
salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

AT&T keeps rebranding everything. At a business address, they had us on
a data-only U-verse account, which got rebranded away from U-verse in
2016. It required a different terminal adapter than when I had AT&T DSL
at home because U-verse provisioned DSL in a different way.
I just looked on their Web site. There's no mention of U-verse, just
AT&T Fiber. When my mother first moved here, she was close enough to the
central office that DSL was possible without a repeater (I forget what
the device is called), but they've been exceedingly slow to deploy those
VLADs (the alien spaceship landing platform) which terminate the fiber.
It's a copper pair for the last 1000 feet or so to the house.

Yes, they sell it as AT&T Fiber but it's Uverse TV (whether you get it
over Fiber/DSL). We were just able to get the fiber offering back at
the end of November as they started running fiber through the
neighborhood back in the summer. They are apparently making a big push
to run fiber throughout the area. Something that Google never did as
they serve small areas around Atlanta including one a few miles from
me.

COX gave up on ever giving us fiber

Yet, I bet that strangely the fiberoptic cables have already been laid in beneath the streets.

Sure, any decent sized cable system is going to use fiber for
distribution of their data. It's only when it comes to connecting to
the homes that they tend to switch to coax as it's typically been in
place forever so it's cheaper to just continue using it than it is to
make the fiber run to each home.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by m***@hotmail.com

Post by m***@hotmail.com

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn
On Fri, 15 Mar 2019 05:13:51 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"

Post by Adam H. Kerman

On Thu, 14 Mar 2019 21:26:58 -0700, anim8rfsk

Thu, 14 Mar 2019 20:53:15 -0700 Adam H.

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a
salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

AT&T keeps rebranding everything. At a business address, they had us on
a data-only U-verse account, which got rebranded away from U-verse in
2016. It required a different terminal adapter than when I had AT&T DSL
at home because U-verse provisioned DSL in a different way.
I just looked on their Web site. There's no mention of U-verse, just
AT&T Fiber. When my mother first moved here, she was close enough to the
central office that DSL was possible without a repeater (I forget what
the device is called), but they've been exceedingly slow to deploy those
VLADs (the alien spaceship landing platform) which terminate the fiber.
It's a copper pair for the last 1000 feet or so to the house.

Yes, they sell it as AT&T Fiber but it's Uverse TV (whether you get it
over Fiber/DSL). We were just able to get the fiber offering back at
the end of November as they started running fiber through the
neighborhood back in the summer. They are apparently making a big push
to run fiber throughout the area. Something that Google never did as
they serve small areas around Atlanta including one a few miles from
me.

COX gave up on ever giving us fiber

Yet, I bet that strangely the fiberoptic cables have already been laid

in beneath the streets.
Sure, any decent sized cable system is going to use fiber for
distribution of their data. It's only when it comes to connecting to
the homes that they tend to switch to coax as it's typically been in
place forever so it's cheaper to just continue using it than it is to
make the fiber run to each home.

It's not just that: Coax has tons of bandwidth. Verizon fios (fiber to
the home) never made any economic sense. That's why AT&T U-verse (which
has a hyphen in it just like The Amazing SpiderhyphenMan) was cheaper to
deploy. It was fiber-to-the-node, then a copper pair to the home with a
1000 foot limitation if I recall. A copper pair has tons of bandwidth.
Remember, in the 1960s, T-3 was just a copper pair.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the old wiring schemes, as long as
they're properly maintained, which of course phone companies were loathe
to do.

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I just looked on their Web site. There's no mention of U-verse, just
AT&T Fiber. When my mother first moved here, she was close enough to the
central office that DSL was possible without a repeater (I forget what
the device is called), but they've been exceedingly slow to deploy those
VLADs (the alien spaceship landing platform) which terminate the fiber.
It's a copper pair for the last 1000 feet or so to the house.

The Verizon website bears little resemblance to the service and
fees actually offered.

In any event, sadly, these days are definitely gone:
https://books.google.com/books?id=XlIEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA145&dq=life%20bell%20service%20representative&pg=PA145#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=ekgEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA3&dq=life%20bell%20service%20representative&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=false

[anim8rfsk]

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

he says:

It is not exactly DSL but yes, pretty much. It is slower than cable for sure
but we've discussed that.

We're not that far from the switching office but the copper has crappy
insulation so they can't get more than about 12 megabits per second down.

[shawn]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

It is not exactly DSL but yes, pretty much. It is slower than cable for sure
but we've discussed that.
We're not that far from the switching office but the copper has crappy
insulation so they can't get more than about 12 megabits per second down.

Yeah, I would never go for AT&T's (V)DSL offering unless I absolutely
had to. It was fine years ago when DSL was the best available but now
the offerings are much better. Still limited to really only a few
competitors but at least with better speeds. If I wanted/needed it I
could get gigabit speeds from both Comcast and AT&T. One of the
benefits of living in a big city while my relatives are left with much
slower offerings due to being in very small towns (around 10k.)

[anim8rfsk]

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a
salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

It is not exactly DSL but yes, pretty much. It is slower than cable for sure
but we've discussed that.
We're not that far from the switching office but the copper has crappy
insulation so they can't get more than about 12 megabits per second down.

Yeah, I would never go for AT&T's (V)DSL offering unless I absolutely
had to. It was fine years ago when DSL was the best available but now
the offerings are much better. Still limited to really only a few
competitors but at least with better speeds. If I wanted/needed it I
could get gigabit speeds from both Comcast and AT&T. One of the
benefits of living in a big city while my relatives are left with much
slower offerings due to being in very small towns (around 10k.)

I wouldn't have AT&T under any circumstances.

We had DSL at the office and it *never* worked. They always had some idiotic
excuse like "you have to run a dedicated phone line from the street" and "you
have to run a dedicated power line"

[shawn]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a
salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

It is not exactly DSL but yes, pretty much. It is slower than cable for sure
but we've discussed that.
We're not that far from the switching office but the copper has crappy
insulation so they can't get more than about 12 megabits per second down.

Yeah, I would never go for AT&T's (V)DSL offering unless I absolutely
had to. It was fine years ago when DSL was the best available but now
the offerings are much better. Still limited to really only a few
competitors but at least with better speeds. If I wanted/needed it I
could get gigabit speeds from both Comcast and AT&T. One of the
benefits of living in a big city while my relatives are left with much
slower offerings due to being in very small towns (around 10k.)

I wouldn't have AT&T under any circumstances.
We had DSL at the office and it *never* worked. They always had some idiotic
excuse like "you have to run a dedicated phone line from the street" and "you
have to run a dedicated power line"

As with most issues sounds like your local office didn't care about
giving good service. It's like my friend up in New Jersey who hates
Comcast due to their giving him poor service. While I had Comcast for
over a decade and never had any real poor service issues. The price
issues I had with them seem to be consistent over the industry so it's
not a Comcast specific problem.

The one time I did have a persistent problem it did take multiple
technician visits before they figured out it was a line issue a mile
away that was causing the problem but that's the nature of the beast
when a problem comes and goes. If the tech can't see the problem when
he's here it's hard to diagnose it.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a
salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

It is not exactly DSL but yes, pretty much. It is slower than cable for sure
but we've discussed that.
We're not that far from the switching office but the copper has crappy
insulation so they can't get more than about 12 megabits per second down.

Yeah, I would never go for AT&T's (V)DSL offering unless I absolutely
had to. It was fine years ago when DSL was the best available but now
the offerings are much better. Still limited to really only a few
competitors but at least with better speeds. If I wanted/needed it I
could get gigabit speeds from both Comcast and AT&T. One of the
benefits of living in a big city while my relatives are left with much
slower offerings due to being in very small towns (around 10k.)

I wouldn't have AT&T under any circumstances.
We had DSL at the office and it *never* worked. They always had some idiotic
excuse like "you have to run a dedicated phone line from the street" and "you
have to run a dedicated power line"

As with most issues sounds like your local office didn't care about
giving good service.

or *any* service

Post by shawn
It's like my friend up in New Jersey who hates
Comcast due to their giving him poor service. While I had Comcast for
over a decade and never had any real poor service issues. The price
issues I had with them seem to be consistent over the industry so it's
not a Comcast specific problem.
The one time I did have a persistent problem it did take multiple
technician visits before they figured out it was a line issue a mile
away that was causing the problem but that's the nature of the beast
when a problem comes and goes. If the tech can't see the problem when
he's here it's hard to diagnose it.

For months my cox email would all vanish unaccountably. The tech people on
the phone would say it was gone forever. I'd tell them it had reappeared
several times. They'd sigh and said they were submitting a trouble ticket,
but not give me a number, because they were simply lying to make me go away.

*Finally* I got somebody who knew what was going on. They have east and west
servers, identified right in the URL you're at, something like
mail.west.cox.net and mail.east.cox.net. One had my mail on it, the other
didn't, and you get directed randomly to whichever when you log on. Once I
knew I needed west, I was able to redirect it manually. Works every time.
There are other workarounds like 'never log in to cox.net directly, always
start on cox.com which will redirect you to cox.net but usually to the right
server'

They told me it was a temporary problem. That was at least 5 years ago now.

[shawn]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

. . .

It's like my friend up in New Jersey who hates
Comcast due to their giving him poor service. While I had Comcast for
over a decade and never had any real poor service issues. The price
issues I had with them seem to be consistent over the industry so it's
not a Comcast specific problem.
The one time I did have a persistent problem it did take multiple
technician visits before they figured out it was a line issue a mile
away that was causing the problem but that's the nature of the beast
when a problem comes and goes. If the tech can't see the problem when
he's here it's hard to diagnose it.

For months my cox email would all vanish unaccountably. The tech people on
the phone would say it was gone forever. I'd tell them it had reappeared
several times. They'd sigh and said they were submitting a trouble ticket,
but not give me a number, because they were simply lying to make me go away.
*Finally* I got somebody who knew what was going on. They have east and west
servers, identified right in the URL you're at, something like
mail.west.cox.net and mail.east.cox.net. One had my mail on it, the other
didn't, and you get directed randomly to whichever when you log on. Once I
knew I needed west, I was able to redirect it manually. Works every time.
There are other workarounds like 'never log in to cox.net directly, always
start on cox.com which will redirect you to cox.net but usually to the right
server'
They told me it was a temporary problem. That was at least 5 years ago now.

That's a sign of poor management. There's no way that should have been
allowed to go on for any length of time. Hell, it should never have
been set up that way. Either have people choose which server they will
connect to or, as in most cases, they mirror the two systems so they
each have the same messages. So you might end up out of sync for a few
minutes/hours the same as with Twitter/Youtube but eventually both
servers would have the same data so it wouldn't matter which one you
connect to.

I wonder if that is all being managed out of Atlanta. I know that the
video management is done here as they had a job offer some years back
for a manager for their digital settop deployment that I considered
for a moment.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

. . .

It's like my friend up in New Jersey who hates
Comcast due to their giving him poor service. While I had Comcast for
over a decade and never had any real poor service issues. The price
issues I had with them seem to be consistent over the industry so it's
not a Comcast specific problem.
The one time I did have a persistent problem it did take multiple
technician visits before they figured out it was a line issue a mile
away that was causing the problem but that's the nature of the beast
when a problem comes and goes. If the tech can't see the problem when
he's here it's hard to diagnose it.

For months my cox email would all vanish unaccountably. The tech people on
the phone would say it was gone forever. I'd tell them it had reappeared
several times. They'd sigh and said they were submitting a trouble ticket,
but not give me a number, because they were simply lying to make me go away.
*Finally* I got somebody who knew what was going on. They have east and west
servers, identified right in the URL you're at, something like
mail.west.cox.net and mail.east.cox.net. One had my mail on it, the other
didn't, and you get directed randomly to whichever when you log on. Once I
knew I needed west, I was able to redirect it manually. Works every time.
There are other workarounds like 'never log in to cox.net directly, always
start on cox.com which will redirect you to cox.net but usually to the right
server'
They told me it was a temporary problem. That was at least 5 years ago now.

That's a sign of poor management. There's no way that should have been
allowed to go on for any length of time. Hell, it should never have
been set up that way. Either have people choose which server they will
connect to or, as in most cases, they mirror the two systems so they
each have the same messages. So you might end up out of sync for a few
minutes/hours the same as with Twitter/Youtube but eventually both
servers would have the same data so it wouldn't matter which one you
connect to.

It's worse than I made it out (I was simplifying); it only affects my MAIN
email account. The others mirror just fine.

Post by shawn
I wonder if that is all being managed out of Atlanta. I know that the
video management is done here as they had a job offer some years back
for a manager for their digital settop deployment that I considered
for a moment.

I don't think somebody that knew what they were doing would want to work for
Cox. I'm sure the others would turn on you.

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a
salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

It is not exactly DSL but yes, pretty much. It is slower than cable for sure
but we've discussed that.
We're not that far from the switching office but the copper has crappy
insulation so they can't get more than about 12 megabits per second down.

Yeah, I would never go for AT&T's (V)DSL offering unless I absolutely
had to. It was fine years ago when DSL was the best available but now
the offerings are much better. Still limited to really only a few
competitors but at least with better speeds. If I wanted/needed it I
could get gigabit speeds from both Comcast and AT&T. One of the
benefits of living in a big city while my relatives are left with much
slower offerings due to being in very small towns (around 10k.)

I wouldn't have AT&T under any circumstances.
We had DSL at the office and it *never* worked. They always had some idiotic
excuse like "you have to run a dedicated phone line from the street" and "you
have to run a dedicated power line"

As with most issues sounds like your local office didn't care about
giving good service. It's like my friend up in New Jersey who hates
Comcast due to their giving him poor service. While I had Comcast for
over a decade and never had any real poor service issues. The price
issues I had with them seem to be consistent over the industry so it's
not a Comcast specific problem.
The one time I did have a persistent problem it did take multiple
technician visits before they figured out it was a line issue a mile
away that was causing the problem but that's the nature of the beast
when a problem comes and goes. If the tech can't see the problem when
he's here it's hard to diagnose it.

A friend has Comcast, including his landline phone. The phone
failed. First it was a pain just getting a hold of Comcast and
have them someone out. Second, the person they sent out was
clueless. Not only did he not fix the phone, my friend got
charged a $40 fee for his worthless visit. Finally, they sent
someone out who could fix the line (it was their problem.)

Personally, Comcast said I had 'bad wiring' when they were
the ones who installed it.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by anim8rfsk

. . .

I wouldn't have AT&T under any circumstances.
We had DSL at the office and it *never* worked. They always had some idiotic
excuse like "you have to run a dedicated phone line from the street" and "you
have to run a dedicated power line"

Uh, what? I can see the phone line, but a power line? I thought you were
by yourself in the office, so how much data could you consume?

When we had data-only U-verse at the office, it was a multi-tenant
building. We were on the 12th floor. They lit the phone line as far as
the wiring closet on the floor, then we couldn't find where the phone
line entered the office because the outlets I knew about were all for
wiring within the office. The installation technician finally looked
behind some furniture and figured it out.

It was a dedicated phone line but only because we didn't have POTS but
otherwise, it was an ordinary hookup. As far as power, well, we just
plugged the terminal adapter into a nearby wall outlet. Phone wire
itself is low voltage so I assume AT&T was just drawing power from
battery at the central office.

At home, I didn't have a dedicated phone line for AT&T data and voice;
it was shared. Because the crappy adapters they gave me weren't
adequately filter the DSL signal to prevent interference with the
cordless phone, they came back and moved DSL to the second pair within
the inside wiring and filtered the voice signal before it entered the
building, keeping it on the first pair within the inside wire.

For those who don't know, phone wire typically has two, three, or four
pairs within it. (The phone installation at my apartment was so old, it
had screw terminals!) It's twisted to prevent antenuation. Modern CAT5 or
CAT5e or CAT6 is all four pair but most plugs and jacks for phone wire
can typically have no more than three pairs hooked up. However, I once
had an office in which the previous tenant must have had a lot of phone,
because the phone jacks were all served by two CAT5 runs each and were
all 8-position jacks.

Did cable even offer alternatives?

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

. . .

I wouldn't have AT&T under any circumstances.
We had DSL at the office and it *never* worked. They always had some idiotic
excuse like "you have to run a dedicated phone line from the street" and "you
have to run a dedicated power line"

Uh, what? I can see the phone line, but a power line? I thought you were
by yourself in the office, so how much data could you consume?

The service simply didn't work, and they lied about why rather than do
anything to make it so.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
When we had data-only U-verse at the office, it was a multi-tenant
building. We were on the 12th floor. They lit the phone line as far as
the wiring closet on the floor, then we couldn't find where the phone
line entered the office because the outlets I knew about were all for
wiring within the office. The installation technician finally looked
behind some furniture and figured it out.
It was a dedicated phone line but only because we didn't have POTS but
otherwise, it was an ordinary hookup. As far as power, well, we just
plugged the terminal adapter into a nearby wall outlet. Phone wire
itself is low voltage so I assume AT&T was just drawing power from
battery at the central office.
At home, I didn't have a dedicated phone line for AT&T data and voice;
it was shared. Because the crappy adapters they gave me weren't
adequately filter the DSL signal to prevent interference with the
cordless phone, they came back and moved DSL to the second pair within
the inside wiring and filtered the voice signal before it entered the
building, keeping it on the first pair within the inside wire.

See, you actually had someone COME OUT. US West mailed me the damn box and it
was all self install. And self maintain.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
For those who don't know, phone wire typically has two, three, or four
pairs within it. (The phone installation at my apartment was so old, it
had screw terminals!) It's twisted to prevent antenuation. Modern CAT5 or
CAT5e or CAT6 is all four pair but most plugs and jacks for phone wire
can typically have no more than three pairs hooked up. However, I once
had an office in which the previous tenant must have had a lot of phone,
because the phone jacks were all served by two CAT5 runs each and were
all 8-position jacks.
Did cable even offer alternatives?

No, this was, as usual, all pay off to the city council. It would be years
before Cox was allowed to service businesses by paying off the city council
more heavily.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

. . .

I wouldn't have AT&T under any circumstances.
We had DSL at the office and it *never* worked. They always had some
idiotic excuse like "you have to run a dedicated phone line from the
street" and "you have to run a dedicated power line"

Uh, what? I can see the phone line, but a power line? I thought you were
by yourself in the office, so how much data could you consume?

The service simply didn't work, and they lied about why rather than do
anything to make it so.

With cable it's always "sunspots".

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman
. . .
At home, I didn't have a dedicated phone line for AT&T data and voice;
it was shared. Because the crappy adapters they gave me weren't
adequately filter the DSL signal to prevent interference with the
cordless phone, they came back and moved DSL to the second pair within
the inside wiring and filtered the voice signal before it entered the
building, keeping it on the first pair within the inside wire.

See, you actually had someone COME OUT. US West mailed me the damn box and it
was all self install. And self maintain.

The initial installer should have done that. It would have added minutes
to add the extra jack and wire it correctly. All he did was put the
second pair in the inside wire on the first pair in the jack.

But the regular installers don't carry the whole house filter. It's all
really stupid. One filter is cheaper than those per-jack filters, you'd
think, not to mention that the individual filters aren't designed for a
wall phone, duh, as they hang directly from the plate around the jack.

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman
. . .

[i***@gmail.com]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a
salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

It is not exactly DSL but yes, pretty much. It is slower than cable for sure
but we've discussed that.
We're not that far from the switching office but the copper has crappy
insulation so they can't get more than about 12 megabits per second down.

Yeah, I would never go for AT&T's (V)DSL offering unless I absolutely
had to. It was fine years ago when DSL was the best available but now
the offerings are much better. Still limited to really only a few
competitors but at least with better speeds. If I wanted/needed it I
could get gigabit speeds from both Comcast and AT&T. One of the
benefits of living in a big city while my relatives are left with much
slower offerings due to being in very small towns (around 10k.)

I wouldn't have AT&T under any circumstances.

I have been using AT&T for years and have all of my services with them.
Cell, Landline, Data and the high-end U-Verse package. Reliable, responsive,
fair fixed rates and great service. I'd wouldn't have anyone but AT&T
under any circumstances.

To each his own.

Irish Mike

[anim8rfsk]

Sat, 13 Apr 2019 11:42:56 -0700

Post by i***@gmail.com

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a
salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

It is not exactly DSL but yes, pretty much. It is slower than cable for sure
but we've discussed that.
We're not that far from the switching office but the copper has crappy
insulation so they can't get more than about 12 megabits per second down.

Yeah, I would never go for AT&T's (V)DSL offering unless I absolutely
had to. It was fine years ago when DSL was the best available but now
the offerings are much better. Still limited to really only a few
competitors but at least with better speeds. If I wanted/needed it I
could get gigabit speeds from both Comcast and AT&T. One of the
benefits of living in a big city while my relatives are left with much
slower offerings due to being in very small towns (around 10k.)

I wouldn't have AT&T under any circumstances.

I have been using AT&T for years and have all of my services with them.
Cell, Landline, Data and the high-end U-Verse package. Reliable, responsive,
fair fixed rates and great service. I'd wouldn't have anyone but AT&T
under any circumstances.
To each his own.
Irish Mike

They're liars and thieves. I've never dealt with anyone from AT&T that
doesn't belong in prison, or dead. They routinely put phony charges on our
bills for multi hour long calls to South America on weeknights or similar
calls from my office land line in the middle of the night on weekends, and
lie and insist they can tell that said calls originated from within the
premises. They also participate is slamming schemes where they switch your
service and then charge you to put it right.

[i***@gmail.com]

Post by anim8rfsk
Sat, 13 Apr 2019 11:42:56 -0700

Post by i***@gmail.com

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a
salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

It is not exactly DSL but yes, pretty much. It is slower than cable for
sure
but we've discussed that.
We're not that far from the switching office but the copper has crappy
insulation so they can't get more than about 12 megabits per second down.

Yeah, I would never go for AT&T's (V)DSL offering unless I absolutely
had to. It was fine years ago when DSL was the best available but now
the offerings are much better. Still limited to really only a few
competitors but at least with better speeds. If I wanted/needed it I
could get gigabit speeds from both Comcast and AT&T. One of the
benefits of living in a big city while my relatives are left with much
slower offerings due to being in very small towns (around 10k.)

I wouldn't have AT&T under any circumstances.

I have been using AT&T for years and have all of my services with them.
Cell, Landline, Data and the high-end U-Verse package. Reliable, responsive,
fair fixed rates and great service. I'd wouldn't have anyone but AT&T
under any circumstances.
To each his own.
Irish Mike

They're liars and thieves. I've never dealt with anyone from AT&T that
doesn't belong in prison,

Wow! Sure you don't have AT&T confused with Hillary & Slick Willie Clinton?

Irish Mike

[anim8rfsk]

Sat, 13 Apr 2019 15:58:37 -0700

Post by anim8rfsk
Sat, 13 Apr 2019 11:42:56 -0700

Post by i***@gmail.com

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk
. . .
Some friends of mine who dumped COX a little while ago just had a
salesman
show up at their door trying to get them to sign up again!

How are they watching tv? What are they using for Internet access?

He says
"Nothing exotic. Our TV is DirecTV and Internet is ATT Uverse."

Sounds like they may have DSL for Uverse. The speeds are more limited
but okay for streaming video.

It is not exactly DSL but yes, pretty much. It is slower than cable for
sure
but we've discussed that.
We're not that far from the switching office but the copper has crappy
insulation so they can't get more than about 12 megabits per second
down.

Yeah, I would never go for AT&T's (V)DSL offering unless I absolutely
had to. It was fine years ago when DSL was the best available but now
the offerings are much better. Still limited to really only a few
competitors but at least with better speeds. If I wanted/needed it I
could get gigabit speeds from both Comcast and AT&T. One of the
benefits of living in a big city while my relatives are left with much
slower offerings due to being in very small towns (around 10k.)

I wouldn't have AT&T under any circumstances.

I have been using AT&T for years and have all of my services with them.
Cell, Landline, Data and the high-end U-Verse package. Reliable, responsive,
fair fixed rates and great service. I'd wouldn't have anyone but AT&T
under any circumstances.
To each his own.
Irish Mike

They're liars and thieves. I've never dealt with anyone from AT&T that
doesn't belong in prison,

Wow! Sure you don't have AT&T confused with Hillary & Slick Willie Clinton?
Irish Mike

I wouldn't speak that poorly of the Clintons.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by i***@gmail.com
Wow! Sure you don't have AT&T confused with Hillary & Slick Willie Clinton?

Not-Irish, I started this thread to discuss a specific series of events
with respect to helping my mother with her Comcast subscription. It has
nothing whatsoever to do with politics.

Your asinine, unintelligent political commentary is unwelcome. Was it
really necessary for you to turn yet another discussion you participated
in to crap?

Post by i***@gmail.com
Irish Mike

You're not Irish. Your ancestors were.

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Not-Irish, I started this thread to discuss a specific series of events
with respect to helping my mother with her Comcast subscription. It has
nothing whatsoever to do with politics.

Although the election was nearly three years ago, Trump folks
are still obsessed with the Clintons. Fox News literally screams
every night that everything is their fault, like the entire
Mueller investigation.

Rhino and BRT obsess over "social justice" yet the Trump
obsessions are worse.

I guess they need a scapegoat.

Dinners this weekend will be fun. Undoubtedly someone will
make a political wisecrack.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Not-Irish, I started this thread to discuss a specific series of events
with respect to helping my mother with her Comcast subscription. It has
nothing whatsoever to do with politics.

Although the election was nearly three years ago, Trump folks
are still obsessed with the Clintons. . . .

Again: Knock it the fuck off. You too, hancock.

[b***@gmail.com]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Not-Irish, I started this thread to discuss a specific series of events
with respect to helping my mother with her Comcast subscription. It has
nothing whatsoever to do with politics.

Although the election was nearly three years ago, Trump folks
are still obsessed with the Clintons. Fox News literally screams
every night that everything is their fault, like the entire
Mueller investigation.
Rhino and BRT obsess over "social justice" yet the Trump
obsessions are worse.
I guess they need a scapegoat.

Just let conservatives talk their way into a hole. Its worked every time.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current
contract my mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at
the new higher price effective today.

snarl

Had to wait on hold for a really really long time to get a deal for my
mother that costs approximately what she's paying right now; some deal.
She's not in contract.
I couldn't get the supervisor to offer a bigger discount on the triple
play bundle, but she did offer an immediately credit of $49.95, so
that's something. She appeared to be sympathetic that the service was
changed without my permission.
I am waiting for a call back from a higher up Comcast rep since I did
file the complaint with the state attorney general consumer complaint
division. I will have a long discussion with him about how my mother was
not protected against substantial rate increases during the contract
period. That was outrageous.
This was a truly unproductive day.

My mother showed me her current bill. The bill acknowledged that the
payment was posted but the promised $49.95 credit was NOT there.
Surprise surprise

If they're like Cox, you'll find they've lost all records of any previous
communications with you as well.

Yup
That's what happened this morning.

Post by anim8rfsk
You seriously have to record your conversations with these 'people'

Sorry man. Trying to hold cable companies to their word is a regular
Kobiyashi Maru.

Did I already mention that I had called the consumer bureau of the state
attorney general to find out the status of the complaint from over a
week ago, to learn that they hadn't even assigned it to anyone and it
wasn't even entered into the database? I had filled out a Web form, so
that should have entered it into the database immediately, but all I got
was a reference number. No case was opened.
It takes over a month just to get into the database!
I went through the cable liason at village hall where she lives. A
representative called back yesterday but rattled off his phone number so
down one incorrect digit. I had to go through the liason again today.
The liason was a riot, wanting to add "irate subscriber" to the callback
request. I pointed out to her that that's redundant, given most cable
company's level of service to the subscriber.
This time, someone from Comcast did call back and I was able to speak to
her directly.
I calculated the difference in the broadcast fee and regional sports fee
after the January 2018 and January 2019 increases over the 2017 price.
There was a difference of $55. She agreed to credit that.
Also, she agreed to re-instate the $49.95 credit the supervisor on
Tuesday had promised because my mother's account was put into another 24
month contract without consent.
I suppose it'll take a few days for these credits to be reflected in the
billing system but I hope they'll be there in time for her to deduct
them from her next payment. . . .

I checked the automated billing system this morning. The two credits
were applied as promised.

Going forward, it doesn't do anything to get her bill down, alas. At
least she's not in a contract.

[b***@gmail.com]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
This morning, I tried to do something about my mother's Comcast bill.
She pays Comcast thousands a year as she subscribes to a lot of tv
channels. There are always discounts to renegotiate.

So instead of re-inventing the wheel, check with those who’ve already successfully fussed with Comcast Montgomery ... er, I mean just Comcast in court.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Wow. Just got an email telling me they made changes to the account,
raising prices significantly versus just letting the current contract my
mother is in end on April 12. It was all prorated at the new higher
price effective today.

snarl

Had to wait on hold for a really really long time to get a deal for my
mother that costs approximately what she's paying right now; some deal.
She's not in contract.
I couldn't get the supervisor to offer a bigger discount on the triple
play bundle, but she did offer an immediately credit of $49.95, so
that's something. She appeared to be sympathetic that the service was
changed without my permission.
I am waiting for a call back from a higher up Comcast rep since I did
file the complaint with the state attorney general consumer complaint
division. I will have a long discussion with him about how my mother was
not protected against substantial rate increases during the contract
period. That was outrageous.
This was a truly unproductive day.

My mother showed me her current bill. The bill acknowledged that the
payment was posted but the promised $49.95 credit was NOT there.
Surprise surprise

I followed up with the state attorney general. Even though I had filled
out the form on line, the complaint hasn't even been entered into their
database nor has it been assigned to an advocate! It takes over 4 weeks!

I can understand that the advocate won't get back to her immediately,
but it takes four weeks just to enter the complaint into the database
despite the use of the Web form? That's stupid.

I left a message with the village liason to Comcast. They usually return
calls sooner.

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
This morning, I tried to do something about my mother's Comcast bill.
She pays Comcast thousands a year as she subscribes to a lot of tv
channels. There are always discounts to renegotiate.

Comcast sucks.

Unfortunately, I don't think the competition is any better.
To me, it seems Verizon and Comcast are in a race to see who
can provide the worst service. Trying to get a hold of
assistance is murder.

(TV shows sometimes make a joke of someone on the phone trying
to break through voice recognition).

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
This morning, I tried to do something about my mother's Comcast bill.
She pays Comcast thousands a year as she subscribes to a lot of tv
channels. There are always discounts to renegotiate.
I could get just a minor reduction in her bill, $13 a month. I was going
to take it when they asked me to confirm that she'd be put into a 24
month contract with $220 cancellation penalty (although that drops each
month of the contract). I said she'd never been in a contact before to
get discounts, when I was informed that she was currently in a contract
that was ending April 12, when all her discounts would expire. If she
unsubscribed, she'd owe a cancellation penalty of $10 a month, so $20.
I'd kept my temper up to that point, but I was livid. I told him that he
failed to inform me that what I was negotiating for was a new contract
period and I told him that the current contract was unconscionable as
she'd had several rate increases DURING the contract. Comcast may keep
the package price fixed, but they take things out of the package and add
surcharges or drop channels.
I stated my position that the contract isn't legitimate if one party
cannot exit the contract without penalty but the other party is free to
raise rates with impugnity.
He didn't care when I informed him that I'd file a complaint with the
state attorney general consumer protection bureau.
I asked for a complete refund of 24 months of surcharges for Broadcast
Fee and Regional Sports Fee. She isn't going to get it but we may
receive a callback from a higher up in customer service who might be
willing to make a better offer.

I think I mentioned elsewhere that Comcast had applied two credits to my
mother's account. She showed me her most recent bill; the credits were
there. However, they'd also noted $220 in disputed charges which my
mother didn't owe till the dispute was resolved.

When I filed the complaint with the state Attorney General's office, I
just aggregated the broadcast and regional sports fees going back two
years. I wasn't expecting that they'd be credited back to my mother's
account but I wanted something.

Her outstanding charges for this month were tiny, so it was amusing.
It won't last.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
. . .

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
When I filed the complaint with the state Attorney General's office, I
just aggregated the broadcast and regional sports fees going back two
years. I wasn't expecting that they'd be credited back to my mother's
account but I wanted something.

Good luck. I hope your mother can get a full credit. You
deserve it.

Comcast sucks.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com

Post by Adam H. Kerman
When I filed the complaint with the state Attorney General's office, I
just aggregated the broadcast and regional sports fees going back two
years. I wasn't expecting that they'd be credited back to my mother's
account but I wanted something.

Good luck. I hope your mother can get a full credit. You
deserve it.
Comcast sucks.

Thanks.

I suppose you pass Comcast World Headquarters daily.

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Her outstanding charges for this month were tiny, so it was amusing.
It won't last.

P.S. Here's a question: about 70 years ago, the courts ruled
that entertainment creators and exhibitors had to be separate
companies, otherwise it was an anti-trust violation. Thus,
the big studios had to divest the movie theatres they owned
(that gave their films preference).

So, why was Comcast, which is basically an exhibitor and
wildly profitable, allowed to buy up both NBC and Universal,
which are creators? Isn't that anti-trust given the above?

All I can say is that in the early days of cable TV, we
were very well served by a local small carrier. They
worked with communities on where to place their cables,
amplifiers, and junction boxes to be unobtrusive. They
had low rates. Later Comcast bought them out, and Comcast
could care less about service, rates, or anything else.
They leave lines running across sidewalks and don't give
a damn.

[EGK]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
This morning, I tried to do something about my mother's Comcast bill.
She pays Comcast thousands a year as she subscribes to a lot of tv
channels. There are always discounts to renegotiate.
I could get just a minor reduction in her bill, $13 a month. I was going
to take it when they asked me to confirm that she'd be put into a 24
month contract with $220 cancellation penalty (although that drops each
month of the contract). I said she'd never been in a contact before to
get discounts, when I was informed that she was currently in a contract
that was ending April 12, when all her discounts would expire. If she
unsubscribed, she'd owe a cancellation penalty of $10 a month, so $20.
I'd kept my temper up to that point, but I was livid. I told him that he
failed to inform me that what I was negotiating for was a new contract
period and I told him that the current contract was unconscionable as
she'd had several rate increases DURING the contract. Comcast may keep
the package price fixed, but they take things out of the package and add
surcharges or drop channels.
I stated my position that the contract isn't legitimate if one party
cannot exit the contract without penalty but the other party is free to
raise rates with impugnity.
He didn't care when I informed him that I'd file a complaint with the
state attorney general consumer protection bureau.
I asked for a complete refund of 24 months of surcharges for Broadcast
Fee and Regional Sports Fee. She isn't going to get it but we may
receive a callback from a higher up in customer service who might be
willing to make a better offer.

I think I mentioned elsewhere that Comcast had applied two credits to my
mother's account. She showed me her most recent bill; the credits were
there. However, they'd also noted $220 in disputed charges which my
mother didn't owe till the dispute was resolved.
When I filed the complaint with the state Attorney General's office, I
just aggregated the broadcast and regional sports fees going back two
years. I wasn't expecting that they'd be credited back to my mother's
account but I wanted something.
Her outstanding charges for this month were tiny, so it was amusing.
It won't last.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
. . .

Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.

I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by EGK
Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.

She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by EGK
Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by EGK
Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

[shawn]

On Fri, 12 Apr 2019 22:17:21 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by EGK
Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

Before I switched over to AT&T I got one of the upgraded X1 boxes with
the voice command remote control. I never once even tried the voice
commands. I had zero interest in such a thing as I saw it as taking me
more time to do what I wanted with the voice control than it would
with actually using the remote. For the remote to clearly pick up my
voice it would have to be close enough for me to physically reach so
what's the point?

As to the issue of electronic devices listening to you I'll point out
that each of you likely has a phone on you and in most cases it's a
smart phone. A smart phone that is listening to you every minute of
the day so that it can do as you wish.

Just don't ask it to stop listening. ;)

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by shawn
On Fri, 12 Apr 2019 22:17:21 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by EGK
Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

Before I switched over to AT&T I got one of the upgraded X1 boxes with
the voice command remote control. I never once even tried the voice
commands. I had zero interest in such a thing as I saw it as taking me
more time to do what I wanted with the voice control than it would
with actually using the remote. For the remote to clearly pick up my
voice it would have to be close enough for me to physically reach so
what's the point?
As to the issue of electronic devices listening to you I'll point out
that each of you likely has a phone on you and in most cases it's a
smart phone. A smart phone that is listening to you every minute of
the day so that it can do as you wish.

I don't have a smart phone. I have a phone that makes and receives
*gasp* phone calls. It also does text messages but I don't send those
and receiving one is a good indicator the person sending it has never
met or spoken with me.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by shawn
On Fri, 12 Apr 2019 22:17:21 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the
only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

Before I switched over to AT&T I got one of the upgraded X1 boxes with
the voice command remote control. I never once even tried the voice
commands. I had zero interest in such a thing as I saw it as taking me
more time to do what I wanted with the voice control than it would
with actually using the remote. For the remote to clearly pick up my
voice it would have to be close enough for me to physically reach so
what's the point?
As to the issue of electronic devices listening to you I'll point out
that each of you likely has a phone on you and in most cases it's a
smart phone. A smart phone that is listening to you every minute of
the day so that it can do as you wish.

I don't have a smart phone. I have a phone that makes and receives
*gasp* phone calls. It also does text messages but I don't send those
and receiving one is a good indicator the person sending it has never
met or spoken with me.

People are getting nasty now demanding your cell number so they can text ...

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Dimensional Traveler
I don't have a smart phone. I have a phone that makes and receives
*gasp* phone calls. It also does text messages but I don't send those
and receiving one is a good indicator the person sending it has never
met or spoken with me.

I use a traditional landline that makes and receives calls.
That's it. Some of my sets are rotary dial.

I do have a cellphone, but use it only in urgent situations.
Admittedly, it has its uses, but not often.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

And of course my new DVR remote is voice activated. And lights up if your
hand gets near it.

[shawn]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

And of course my new DVR remote is voice activated. And lights up if your
hand gets near it.

Sounds like you have just the same remote that I had.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the
only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

And of course my new DVR remote is voice activated. And lights up if your
hand gets near it.

Sounds like you have just the same remote that I had.

We'll see tomorrow ...

[suzeeq]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

And of course my new DVR remote is voice activated. And lights up if your
hand gets near it.

So you can find it in the dark.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by suzeeq

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the
only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

And of course my new DVR remote is voice activated. And lights up if your
hand gets near it.

So you can find it in the dark.

If I try and fall asleep with it in my hand will it keep me awake?

[suzeeq]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by suzeeq

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

And of course my new DVR remote is voice activated. And lights up if your
hand gets near it.

So you can find it in the dark.

If I try and fall asleep with it in my hand will it keep me awake?

The light might, yes.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by suzeeq

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by suzeeq

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the
only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on
DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

And of course my new DVR remote is voice activated. And lights up if your
hand gets near it.

So you can find it in the dark.

If I try and fall asleep with it in my hand will it keep me awake?

The light might, yes.

Probably bad for the battery life too.

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by suzeeq

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by suzeeq

Post by anim8rfsk
And of course my new DVR remote is voice activated. And lights up if your
hand gets near it.

So you can find it in the dark.

If I try and fall asleep with it in my hand will it keep me awake?

The light might, yes.

Telephones used to come with optional night lights. (bottom right).
https://books.google.com/books?id=XeEyAAAAIBAJ&lpg=PA42&dq=telephone%20dial%20light&pg=PA42#v=onepage&q=telephone%20dial%20light&f=false

also General Telephone offerings (bottom right)
https://books.google.com/books?id=EOIkAAAAIBAJ&lpg=PA4&dq=starlite%20telephone&pg=PA4#v=onepage&q=starlite%20telephone&f=false

Western Electric offerings
https://books.google.com/books?id=N1QEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA11&dq=telephone%20dial%20light&pg=PA11#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

And of course my new DVR remote is voice activated. And lights up if your
hand gets near it.

Your remote is a Cylon?

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the
only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

And of course my new DVR remote is voice activated. And lights up if your
hand gets near it.

Your remote is a Cylon?

I built it from a KITT.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Does she really need to so many channels? I cut the cable TV cord
last year but it's easier for me with a roku tv. Roku sticks are cheap
though.
I know it's not easy to change but might be worth looking at streaming
options. Youtubetv was the best overall option for me since it's the only
streaming service that offers local channels here.

There are plenty of alternatives, clearly. There are certain movies she
enjoys on TCM and several of the movie channels that we could get on DVD
or Blu-Ray, but she prefers not to. I haven't convinced her to use a
laptop to control streaming. I'm sure Roku and similar would be
unappealing.
She prefers not to change; this is why she's never wanted an X1 box.

I don't blame her, bad things happen when your electronic devices can
hear what you say!

I certainly agree with you there. People are nuts for allowing anything
of the kind near them.

And of course my new DVR remote is voice activated. And lights up if your
hand gets near it.

Your remote is a Cylon?

I built it from a KITT.

So its mobile enough that you'll never find it.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Adam H. Kerman
This morning, I tried to do something about my mother's Comcast bill.
She pays Comcast thousands a year as she subscribes to a lot of tv
channels. There are always discounts to renegotiate.
I could get just a minor reduction in her bill, $13 a month. I was going
to take it when they asked me to confirm that she'd be put into a 24
month contract with $220 cancellation penalty (although that drops each
month of the contract). I said she'd never been in a contact before to
get discounts, when I was informed that she was currently in a contract
that was ending April 12, when all her discounts would expire. If she
unsubscribed, she'd owe a cancellation penalty of $10 a month, so $20.
I'd kept my temper up to that point, but I was livid. I told him that he
failed to inform me that what I was negotiating for was a new contract
period and I told him that the current contract was unconscionable as
she'd had several rate increases DURING the contract. Comcast may keep
the package price fixed, but they take things out of the package and add
surcharges or drop channels.
I stated my position that the contract isn't legitimate if one party
cannot exit the contract without penalty but the other party is free to
raise rates with impugnity.
He didn't care when I informed him that I'd file a complaint with the
state attorney general consumer protection bureau.
I asked for a complete refund of 24 months of surcharges for Broadcast
Fee and Regional Sports Fee. She isn't going to get it but we may
receive a callback from a higher up in customer service who might be
willing to make a better offer.

I think I mentioned elsewhere that Comcast had applied two credits to my
mother's account. She showed me her most recent bill; the credits were
there. However, they'd also noted $220 in disputed charges which my
mother didn't owe till the dispute was resolved.
When I filed the complaint with the state Attorney General's office, I
just aggregated the broadcast and regional sports fees going back two
years. I wasn't expecting that they'd be credited back to my mother's
account but I wanted something.
Her outstanding charges for this month were tiny, so it was amusing.
It won't last.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
. . .

Still, cool. You're a good son.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman
. . .
Her outstanding charges for this month were tiny, so it was amusing.
It won't last.

. . .

Still, cool. You're a good son.

Yeah, well, if I were a better son, I'd get her to agree to some
combination of cheaper alternatives than Comcast, but she doesn't want
to change.

Even if she agreed, it wouldn't mean dumping Comcast which she'd have to
keep for Internet access and telephone, which means I still have to call
them about her bill.

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Even if she agreed, it wouldn't mean dumping Comcast which she'd have to
keep for Internet access and telephone, which means I still have to call
them about her bill.

A friend has Comcast for his landline telephone. He couldn't
receive calls. So,

1) He spends 45 minutes on the phone trying to reach an agent.

2) They send someone out (he has to be home for that), but the
person is totally clueless and has no idea what to do.

3) They charge him $40 for a service call.

4) He spends another 45 minutes on the phone getting the charge
removed and requesting help.

5) Finally they send two people out who know what they're
doing and fix the problem, which was in their router.


For myself, Verizon seems to be in a race with Comcast to the
bottom. When I had a landline problem of not getting calls...

1) They kept asking me to unplug everything.

2) They told me their tests said everything was all right.

3) They then told me they replaced something at the central
office that fixed the problem.

4) They then sent a mail out. He again repeated the request
to unplug everything. He actually knew what he was doing.
He tested my line from the junction box and found, lo and
behold, it was indeed not working, and, the problem was
on their end.

5) They fixed the problem at their end. Indeed, I get dial
tone faster now than before.

So, I'd still say Verizon is superior to Comcast, though not
by much.

However, Verizon is working hard to kill off traditional
landline service. They don't want to support it.

[Adam H. Kerman]

I attempted to help my mother with two days of outages of various
services.

She didn't have On Demand for most of yesterday and today. Yesterday,
they told me that the database was being rebuilt and it would be
available again in an hour. Yeah, right.

This morning, I called again for an update. During a call with
increasing levels of help desk droids who were incapable of just
answering the question about whether the work they were performing
yesterday was ever finished, I was transferred to a help desk droid who
was allegedly Tier II who made me jump through countless hoops. Then,
my mother lost both Internet and phone. Internet came back shortly, but
no phone. I couldn't get anyone to check on the status of the phone.

Later in the day, my mother's account became linked to an
"outage". This made no sense; there shouldn't have been an outage
declared just for On Demand. The outage declaration shuts off access to
the help desk, so to force Interactive Voice Response system to route my
call to a human being, I had to go through new sales. The sales droid
informed me that I wasn't authorized on the account (even though she was
now the seventh person I'd spoken with); it was some guy named Scott.
She was particularly unhelpful. However, she transferred me to a help
desk person who was actually... helpful.

The system blocked all troubleshooting thanks to the declaration of the
outage, so she wasn't able to do anything about the phone being down.

She put two days of service credits on my mother's account, so that's
something.

Finally, On Demand was rstored, but phone was not. In the evening, I
called in again. Someone in their Indian call center was actually
helpful and saw that phone was down because it wasn't provisioned on her
account. Clearly the most unhelpful help desk droid I'd spoken to first
thing in the morning screwed that up.

That was truly a record-setting day for Comcast unhelpfulness.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I attempted to help my mother with two days of outages of various
services.
She didn't have On Demand for most of yesterday and today. Yesterday,
they told me that the database was being rebuilt and it would be
available again in an hour. Yeah, right.
This morning, I called again for an update. During a call with
increasing levels of help desk droids who were incapable of just
answering the question about whether the work they were performing
yesterday was ever finished, I was transferred to a help desk droid who
was allegedly Tier II who made me jump through countless hoops. Then,
my mother lost both Internet and phone. Internet came back shortly, but
no phone. I couldn't get anyone to check on the status of the phone.
Later in the day, my mother's account became linked to an
"outage". This made no sense; there shouldn't have been an outage
declared just for On Demand. The outage declaration shuts off access to
the help desk, so to force Interactive Voice Response system to route my
call to a human being, I had to go through new sales. The sales droid
informed me that I wasn't authorized on the account (even though she was
now the seventh person I'd spoken with); it was some guy named Scott.
She was particularly unhelpful. However, she transferred me to a help
desk person who was actually... helpful.
The system blocked all troubleshooting thanks to the declaration of the
outage, so she wasn't able to do anything about the phone being down.
She put two days of service credits on my mother's account, so that's
something.
Finally, On Demand was rstored, but phone was not. In the evening, I
called in again. Someone in their Indian call center was actually
helpful and saw that phone was down because it wasn't provisioned on her
account. Clearly the most unhelpful help desk droid I'd spoken to first
thing in the morning screwed that up.
That was truly a record-setting day for Comcast unhelpfulness.

Gah. I hope this isn't too upsetting for her.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I attempted to help my mother with two days of outages of various
services.
She didn't have On Demand for most of yesterday and today. Yesterday,
they told me that the database was being rebuilt and it would be
available again in an hour. Yeah, right.
This morning, I called again for an update. During a call with
increasing levels of help desk droids who were incapable of just
answering the question about whether the work they were performing
yesterday was ever finished, I was transferred to a help desk droid who
was allegedly Tier II who made me jump through countless hoops. Then,
my mother lost both Internet and phone. Internet came back shortly, but
no phone. I couldn't get anyone to check on the status of the phone.
Later in the day, my mother's account became linked to an
"outage". This made no sense; there shouldn't have been an outage
declared just for On Demand. The outage declaration shuts off access to
the help desk, so to force Interactive Voice Response system to route my
call to a human being, I had to go through new sales. The sales droid
informed me that I wasn't authorized on the account (even though she was
now the seventh person I'd spoken with); it was some guy named Scott.
She was particularly unhelpful. However, she transferred me to a help
desk person who was actually... helpful.
The system blocked all troubleshooting thanks to the declaration of the
outage, so she wasn't able to do anything about the phone being down.
She put two days of service credits on my mother's account, so that's
something.
Finally, On Demand was rstored, but phone was not. In the evening, I
called in again. Someone in their Indian call center was actually
helpful and saw that phone was down because it wasn't provisioned on her
account. Clearly the most unhelpful help desk droid I'd spoken to first
thing in the morning screwed that up.
That was truly a record-setting day for Comcast unhelpfulness.

Gah. I hope this isn't too upsetting for her.

You should comfort her by loaning her your new DVR.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I attempted to help my mother with two days of outages of various
services.
She didn't have On Demand for most of yesterday and today. Yesterday,
they told me that the database was being rebuilt and it would be
available again in an hour. Yeah, right.
This morning, I called again for an update. During a call with
increasing levels of help desk droids who were incapable of just
answering the question about whether the work they were performing
yesterday was ever finished, I was transferred to a help desk droid who
was allegedly Tier II who made me jump through countless hoops. Then,
my mother lost both Internet and phone. Internet came back shortly, but
no phone. I couldn't get anyone to check on the status of the phone.
Later in the day, my mother's account became linked to an
"outage". This made no sense; there shouldn't have been an outage
declared just for On Demand. The outage declaration shuts off access to
the help desk, so to force Interactive Voice Response system to route my
call to a human being, I had to go through new sales. The sales droid
informed me that I wasn't authorized on the account (even though she was
now the seventh person I'd spoken with); it was some guy named Scott.
She was particularly unhelpful. However, she transferred me to a help
desk person who was actually... helpful.
The system blocked all troubleshooting thanks to the declaration of the
outage, so she wasn't able to do anything about the phone being down.
She put two days of service credits on my mother's account, so that's
something.
Finally, On Demand was rstored, but phone was not. In the evening, I
called in again. Someone in their Indian call center was actually
helpful and saw that phone was down because it wasn't provisioned on her
account. Clearly the most unhelpful help desk droid I'd spoken to first
thing in the morning screwed that up.
That was truly a record-setting day for Comcast unhelpfulness.

Gah. I hope this isn't too upsetting for her.

You should comfort her by loaning her your new DVR.

There were a lot of complaints on line about older people not being able to
uses this new DVR, especially with the stupid screen saver function - they
keep thinking their TVs are broken!

[shawn]

Post by anim8rfsk
There were a lot of complaints on line about older people not being able to
uses this new DVR, especially with the stupid screen saver function - they
keep thinking their TVs are broken!

That's one thing I don't like about my new DVR. Most of the time (but
not all for some reason) when I turn it on it defaults to the screen
saver function. So I have got in the habit of turning it on by
pressing the power button and then pressing the OK button (which turns
off the screen saver.) Annoying but it works.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by shawn

Post by anim8rfsk
There were a lot of complaints on line about older people not being able to
uses this new DVR, especially with the stupid screen saver function - they
keep thinking their TVs are broken!

That's one thing I don't like about my new DVR. Most of the time (but
not all for some reason) when I turn it on it defaults to the screen
saver function. So I have got in the habit of turning it on by
pressing the power button and then pressing the OK button (which turns
off the screen saver.) Annoying but it works.

Yikes, yeah, that would be annoying.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I attempted to help my mother with two days of outages of various
services.
She didn't have On Demand for most of yesterday and today. Yesterday,
they told me that the database was being rebuilt and it would be
available again in an hour. Yeah, right.
This morning, I called again for an update. During a call with
increasing levels of help desk droids who were incapable of just
answering the question about whether the work they were performing
yesterday was ever finished, I was transferred to a help desk droid who
was allegedly Tier II who made me jump through countless hoops. Then,
my mother lost both Internet and phone. Internet came back shortly, but
no phone. I couldn't get anyone to check on the status of the phone.
Later in the day, my mother's account became linked to an
"outage". This made no sense; there shouldn't have been an outage
declared just for On Demand. The outage declaration shuts off access to
the help desk, so to force Interactive Voice Response system to route my
call to a human being, I had to go through new sales. The sales droid
informed me that I wasn't authorized on the account (even though she was
now the seventh person I'd spoken with); it was some guy named Scott.
She was particularly unhelpful. However, she transferred me to a help
desk person who was actually... helpful.
The system blocked all troubleshooting thanks to the declaration of the
outage, so she wasn't able to do anything about the phone being down.
She put two days of service credits on my mother's account, so that's
something.
Finally, On Demand was rstored, but phone was not. In the evening, I
called in again. Someone in their Indian call center was actually
helpful and saw that phone was down because it wasn't provisioned on her
account. Clearly the most unhelpful help desk droid I'd spoken to first
thing in the morning screwed that up.
That was truly a record-setting day for Comcast unhelpfulness.

Gah. I hope this isn't too upsetting for her.

She maintains her calm nicely during these calls as she's not on the
phone with those idiots.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I attempted to help my mother with two days of outages of various
services.
She didn't have On Demand for most of yesterday and today. Yesterday,
they told me that the database was being rebuilt and it would be
available again in an hour. Yeah, right.
This morning, I called again for an update. During a call with
increasing levels of help desk droids who were incapable of just
answering the question about whether the work they were performing
yesterday was ever finished, I was transferred to a help desk droid who
was allegedly Tier II who made me jump through countless hoops. Then,
my mother lost both Internet and phone. Internet came back shortly, but
no phone. I couldn't get anyone to check on the status of the phone.
Later in the day, my mother's account became linked to an
"outage". This made no sense; there shouldn't have been an outage
declared just for On Demand. The outage declaration shuts off access to
the help desk, so to force Interactive Voice Response system to route my
call to a human being, I had to go through new sales. The sales droid
informed me that I wasn't authorized on the account (even though she was
now the seventh person I'd spoken with); it was some guy named Scott.
She was particularly unhelpful. However, she transferred me to a help
desk person who was actually... helpful.
The system blocked all troubleshooting thanks to the declaration of the
outage, so she wasn't able to do anything about the phone being down.
She put two days of service credits on my mother's account, so that's
something.
Finally, On Demand was rstored, but phone was not. In the evening, I
called in again. Someone in their Indian call center was actually
helpful and saw that phone was down because it wasn't provisioned on her
account. Clearly the most unhelpful help desk droid I'd spoken to first
thing in the morning screwed that up.
That was truly a record-setting day for Comcast unhelpfulness.

Gah. I hope this isn't too upsetting for her.

She maintains her calm nicely during these calls as she's not on the
phone with those idiots.

:)

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I attempted to help my mother with two days of outages of various
services.
She didn't have On Demand for most of yesterday and today. Yesterday,
they told me that the database was being rebuilt and it would be
available again in an hour. Yeah, right.
This morning, I called again for an update. During a call with
increasing levels of help desk droids who were incapable of just
answering the question about whether the work they were performing
yesterday was ever finished, I was transferred to a help desk droid who
was allegedly Tier II who made me jump through countless hoops. Then,
my mother lost both Internet and phone. Internet came back shortly, but
no phone. I couldn't get anyone to check on the status of the phone.
Later in the day, my mother's account became linked to an
"outage". This made no sense; there shouldn't have been an outage
declared just for On Demand. The outage declaration shuts off access to
the help desk, so to force Interactive Voice Response system to route my
call to a human being, I had to go through new sales. The sales droid
informed me that I wasn't authorized on the account (even though she was
now the seventh person I'd spoken with); it was some guy named Scott.
She was particularly unhelpful. However, she transferred me to a help
desk person who was actually... helpful.
The system blocked all troubleshooting thanks to the declaration of the
outage, so she wasn't able to do anything about the phone being down.
She put two days of service credits on my mother's account, so that's
something.
Finally, On Demand was rstored, but phone was not. In the evening, I
called in again. Someone in their Indian call center was actually
helpful and saw that phone was down because it wasn't provisioned on her
account. Clearly the most unhelpful help desk droid I'd spoken to first
thing in the morning screwed that up.
That was truly a record-setting day for Comcast unhelpfulness.

Gah. I hope this isn't too upsetting for her.

She maintains her calm nicely during these calls as she's not on the
phone with those idiots.

Hey, my contact today from The Cox was "now that you have a new DVR, we're
giving you a free year of Starz (but if you accept there will be significant
penalties for early withdrawal)"

HAHAHAHAHA IAN

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I attempted to help my mother with two days of outages of various
services.
She didn't have On Demand for most of yesterday and today. Yesterday,
they told me that the database was being rebuilt and it would be
available again in an hour. Yeah, right.
This morning, I called again for an update. During a call with
increasing levels of help desk droids who were incapable of just
answering the question about whether the work they were performing
yesterday was ever finished, I was transferred to a help desk droid who
was allegedly Tier II who made me jump through countless hoops. Then,
my mother lost both Internet and phone. Internet came back shortly, but
no phone. I couldn't get anyone to check on the status of the phone.
Later in the day, my mother's account became linked to an
"outage". This made no sense; there shouldn't have been an outage
declared just for On Demand. The outage declaration shuts off access to
the help desk, so to force Interactive Voice Response system to route my
call to a human being, I had to go through new sales. The sales droid
informed me that I wasn't authorized on the account (even though she was
now the seventh person I'd spoken with); it was some guy named Scott.
She was particularly unhelpful. However, she transferred me to a help
desk person who was actually... helpful.
The system blocked all troubleshooting thanks to the declaration of the
outage, so she wasn't able to do anything about the phone being down.
She put two days of service credits on my mother's account, so that's
something.
Finally, On Demand was rstored, but phone was not. In the evening, I
called in again. Someone in their Indian call center was actually
helpful and saw that phone was down because it wasn't provisioned on her
account. Clearly the most unhelpful help desk droid I'd spoken to first
thing in the morning screwed that up.
That was truly a record-setting day for Comcast unhelpfulness.

Gah. I hope this isn't too upsetting for her.

She maintains her calm nicely during these calls as she's not on the
phone with those idiots.

Hey, my contact today from The Cox was "now that you have a new DVR, we're
giving you a free year of Starz (but if you accept there will be significant
penalties for early withdrawal)"
HAHAHAHAHA IAN

Comcast once added Showtime to my package and bills without telling me.
When I called to complain and have it removed one of the idjits
suggested it might have been a gift. My response was a less polite
version of "Then why am _I_ paying for it!"

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I attempted to help my mother with two days of outages of various
services.
She didn't have On Demand for most of yesterday and today. Yesterday,
they told me that the database was being rebuilt and it would be
available again in an hour. Yeah, right.
This morning, I called again for an update. During a call with
increasing levels of help desk droids who were incapable of just
answering the question about whether the work they were performing
yesterday was ever finished, I was transferred to a help desk droid who
was allegedly Tier II who made me jump through countless hoops. Then,
my mother lost both Internet and phone. Internet came back shortly, but
no phone. I couldn't get anyone to check on the status of the phone.
Later in the day, my mother's account became linked to an
"outage". This made no sense; there shouldn't have been an outage
declared just for On Demand. The outage declaration shuts off access to
the help desk, so to force Interactive Voice Response system to route my
call to a human being, I had to go through new sales. The sales droid
informed me that I wasn't authorized on the account (even though she was
now the seventh person I'd spoken with); it was some guy named Scott.
She was particularly unhelpful. However, she transferred me to a help
desk person who was actually... helpful.
The system blocked all troubleshooting thanks to the declaration of the
outage, so she wasn't able to do anything about the phone being down.
She put two days of service credits on my mother's account, so that's
something.
Finally, On Demand was rstored, but phone was not. In the evening, I
called in again. Someone in their Indian call center was actually
helpful and saw that phone was down because it wasn't provisioned on her
account. Clearly the most unhelpful help desk droid I'd spoken to first
thing in the morning screwed that up.
That was truly a record-setting day for Comcast unhelpfulness.

Gah. I hope this isn't too upsetting for her.

She maintains her calm nicely during these calls as she's not on the
phone with those idiots.

Hey, my contact today from The Cox was "now that you have a new DVR, we're
giving you a free year of Starz (but if you accept there will be significant
penalties for early withdrawal)"
HAHAHAHAHA IAN

Comcast once added Showtime to my package and bills without telling me.
When I called to complain and have it removed one of the idjits
suggested it might have been a gift. My response was a less polite
version of "Then why am _I_ paying for it!"

lol

And ... a gift from WHOM? HOWM?

[shawn]

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by anim8rfsk

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I attempted to help my mother with two days of outages of various
services.
She didn't have On Demand for most of yesterday and today. Yesterday,
they told me that the database was being rebuilt and it would be
available again in an hour. Yeah, right.
This morning, I called again for an update. During a call with
increasing levels of help desk droids who were incapable of just
answering the question about whether the work they were performing
yesterday was ever finished, I was transferred to a help desk droid who
was allegedly Tier II who made me jump through countless hoops. Then,
my mother lost both Internet and phone. Internet came back shortly, but
no phone. I couldn't get anyone to check on the status of the phone.
Later in the day, my mother's account became linked to an
"outage". This made no sense; there shouldn't have been an outage
declared just for On Demand. The outage declaration shuts off access to
the help desk, so to force Interactive Voice Response system to route my
call to a human being, I had to go through new sales. The sales droid
informed me that I wasn't authorized on the account (even though she was
now the seventh person I'd spoken with); it was some guy named Scott.
She was particularly unhelpful. However, she transferred me to a help
desk person who was actually... helpful.
The system blocked all troubleshooting thanks to the declaration of the
outage, so she wasn't able to do anything about the phone being down.
She put two days of service credits on my mother's account, so that's
something.
Finally, On Demand was rstored, but phone was not. In the evening, I
called in again. Someone in their Indian call center was actually
helpful and saw that phone was down because it wasn't provisioned on her
account. Clearly the most unhelpful help desk droid I'd spoken to first
thing in the morning screwed that up.
That was truly a record-setting day for Comcast unhelpfulness.

Gah. I hope this isn't too upsetting for her.

She maintains her calm nicely during these calls as she's not on the
phone with those idiots.

Hey, my contact today from The Cox was "now that you have a new DVR, we're
giving you a free year of Starz (but if you accept there will be significant
penalties for early withdrawal)"
HAHAHAHAHA IAN

Comcast once added Showtime to my package and bills without telling me.
When I called to complain and have it removed one of the idjits
suggested it might have been a gift. My response was a less polite
version of "Then why am _I_ paying for it!"

lol
And ... a gift from WHOM? HOWM?

From Comcast. To benefit their wallet.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Today's idiocy: An automated call came in from Comcast asking if one has
time to talk to someone. Now what? It merely routed to the main menu,
instead of putting on an actual agent. I have no idea what followup is
required. Assholes.

[b***@gmail.com]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Today's idiocy: An automated call came in from Comcast asking if one has
time to talk to someone. Now what? It merely routed to the main menu,
instead of putting on an actual agent. I have no idea what followup is
required. Assholes.

Yet, if you don't mind Adam, they make a lot of money from their schemes.

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
She didn't have On Demand for most of yesterday and today. Yesterday,
they told me that the database was being rebuilt and it would be
available again in an hour. Yeah, right.

So was mine, on the east coast.

As mentioned, I have landline telephone service from Verizon
which is mission critical for me. Vz is killing off more
and more landline services, and NOT replacing with FIOS
a they promise and claim. Comcast is out often and no
substitute.

I wonder how many people will die because their power will be
out, cellphone not working, and no way to call for help.


[snip]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
She put two days of service credits on my mother's account, so that's
something.

Be sure to check the bill to make sure they actually show up,
as well as not charge for the fixes.

Post by Adam H. Kerman
Finally, On Demand was rstored, but phone was not. In the evening, I
called in again. Someone in their Indian call center was actually
helpful and saw that phone was down because it wasn't provisioned on her
account. Clearly the most unhelpful help desk droid I'd spoken to first
thing in the morning screwed that up.
That was truly a record-setting day for Comcast unhelpfulness.

see my April 13, 2019 2:27 post.

[m***@gmail.com]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
This morning, I tried to do something about my mother's Comcast bill.
She pays Comcast thousands a year as she subscribes to a lot of tv
channels. There are always discounts to renegotiate.
I could get just a minor reduction in her bill, $13 a month. I was going
to take it when they asked me to confirm that she'd be put into a 24
month contract with $220 cancellation penalty (although that drops each
month of the contract). I said she'd never been in a contact before to
get discounts, when I was informed that she was currently in a contract
that was ending April 12, when all her discounts would expire. If she
unsubscribed, she'd owe a cancellation penalty of $10 a month, so $20.
I'd kept my temper up to that point, but I was livid. I told him that he
failed to inform me that what I was negotiating for was a new contract
period and I told him that the current contract was unconscionable as
she'd had several rate increases DURING the contract. Comcast may keep
the package price fixed, but they take things out of the package and add
surcharges or drop channels.
I stated my position that the contract isn't legitimate if one party
cannot exit the contract without penalty but the other party is free to
raise rates with impugnity.
He didn't care when I informed him that I'd file a complaint with the
state attorney general consumer protection bureau.
I asked for a complete refund of 24 months of surcharges for Broadcast
Fee and Regional Sports Fee. She isn't going to get it but we may
receive a callback from a higher up in customer service who might be
willing to make a better offer.
I'd still like her to get an outside antenna but she's always been
reluctant. I think a previous homeowner had one, but it was gone by the
time she moved in. There were two small-dish satellite dishes up there
from a previous homeowner, finally discared by the roofer.

[Adam H. Kerman]

I just have to point out my exceedingly low expectations of customer
service.

The faucet in the kitchen sink at my mother's house has been giving her
grief; when the cold water is on, it leaks horribly. It's one of those
faucets with a lifetime warrantee but all proprietary parts. I figured
the cartridge and some other parts needed replacing, which I've had to
do several times in the past.

I had a lot of meetings this week and didn't have time to deal with
customer service. Finally, on Friday, I didn't have any meetings in the
morning, so I called customer service first thing.

I was in the call queue for less that two minutes. When one calls
Comcast, there's no way to route one's call through the call options and
suboptions menus in less than two minutes, just to get into the call
queue! The customer service representative was helpful and able to give
useful advice. Given how bad the leak was and how much needed replacing,
she offered an option of a new, comparable faucet with a service charge,
and they even sent it overnight.

In other words, I actually would have had time to call them earlier in
the week before any of the meetings I had.

I really anticipate that everybody's customer service is like calling
Comcast or the phone company. My brain cannot wrap itself around the
possibility that some manufacturers actually attempt to please their
customers.

[anim8rfsk]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
I just have to point out my exceedingly low expectations of customer
service.
The faucet in the kitchen sink at my mother's house has been giving her
grief; when the cold water is on, it leaks horribly. It's one of those
faucets with a lifetime warrantee but all proprietary parts. I figured
the cartridge and some other parts needed replacing, which I've had to
do several times in the past.
I had a lot of meetings this week and didn't have time to deal with
customer service. Finally, on Friday, I didn't have any meetings in the
morning, so I called customer service first thing.
I was in the call queue for less that two minutes. When one calls
Comcast, there's no way to route one's call through the call options and
suboptions menus in less than two minutes, just to get into the call
queue! The customer service representative was helpful and able to give
useful advice. Given how bad the leak was and how much needed replacing,
she offered an option of a new, comparable faucet with a service charge,
and they even sent it overnight.
In other words, I actually would have had time to call them earlier in
the week before any of the meetings I had.
I really anticipate that everybody's customer service is like calling
Comcast or the phone company. My brain cannot wrap itself around the
possibility that some manufacturers actually attempt to please their
customers.

That is in fact a stunner. Glad you got it done though. And Happy Mother's
Day!

[Adam H. Kerman]

In the latest non-development, Comcast took the unpaid amount in my
mother's account out of dispute and has been trying to collect. She
never got a reply in writing from Comcast.

I left a message with the consumer advocate at the Attorney General.

My mother did get a letter from Attorney General. Attached to it was
Comcast's reply with regard to someone else... in another state. Oddly,
for these purposes, my state is treated like Comcast headquarters, not
Pennsylvania. I have no idea why.

The consumer advocate did call back. I'm not really expecting a lawsuit,
but boy, this would make a good class action suit and the Attorney
General would win re-election forever. I just want him to write a
strongly-written letter about what a contract means and why Comcast
shouldn't breach by raising fees during the contract term.

The Attorney General did receive a letter from Comcast simply stating
the subsequent promotion my mother's account is in with no contract and
failing to address the fees that Comcast raised during the period my
mother's account was in contract.

I'm not going to win but I'd really like to have Comcast's lies in
writing.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
In the latest non-development, Comcast took the unpaid amount in my
mother's account out of dispute and has been trying to collect. She
never got a reply in writing from Comcast.
I left a message with the consumer advocate at the Attorney General.
My mother did get a letter from Attorney General. Attached to it was
Comcast's reply with regard to someone else... in another state. Oddly,
for these purposes, my state is treated like Comcast headquarters, not
Pennsylvania. I have no idea why.
The consumer advocate did call back. I'm not really expecting a lawsuit,
but boy, this would make a good class action suit and the Attorney
General would win re-election forever. I just want him to write a
strongly-written letter about what a contract means and why Comcast
shouldn't breach by raising fees during the contract term.
The Attorney General did receive a letter from Comcast simply stating
the subsequent promotion my mother's account is in with no contract and
failing to address the fees that Comcast raised during the period my
mother's account was in contract.
I'm not going to win but I'd really like to have Comcast's lies in
writing.

Sounds like you have a new life long hobby.