My net access has been sporadic lately, so I called Comcast. The guy had me reset it and determined it dead. He said he could send someone out to bring me a new one, or I could go to the Comcast store here in town. I told him to sign me up for both, and if I didn’t make it, the guy would show.
Well, I made it, and what a wild and whacky place it is. The first thing I noticed was that they have a drive through. That just struck me as really odd for a cable company to have, but then I thought maybe people pay their bills there.
As I went in, the very first thing I noticed was the smell. It was the smell of an auto-mechanic’s shop lobby; a mix of cigarette smoke and oil. The second thing I noticed was that they have WAY more security there than at my bank. The entire room was about 25 feet long, and about 20 feet wide. It was divided the long way by the counter. On my side of the counter there were two security cameras, and on the other side of the counter there were two security cameras. 4 cameras in total to watch that little space.
The workers were separated from the customers by 1 inch thick bulletproof glass. Since just about every customer has some hardware they need to either give or get (I had both) there are big shrapnel proof boxes in the glass between us. Before I put my dead modem in there she locked the other side, presumably to keep me from shrinking, jumping through, expanding again, and bludgeoning her with a modem.
Once I had put my modem in there and closed my side of the box, she opened her end and took it out. She chucked it in a big box and went to get my new one.
She was polite, if reserved, and I had no problems getting my new modem. I asked if she could cancel my visit from Mr. Comcast, and she said “why don’t you wait to see if this helps”. Which is a good thing, because it didn’t, my connection is still dead, and I’m at work instead of home with my family.
It was a completely different kind of place from what I expected. The only thing I can think of is that they KNOW they have miserable service, and fully expect people to be driven completely insane with frustration, and actually try to hurt them.
My folks had AOL dialup for many years. When I went to stay with them for a few months, I tried getting comcast. It took about a month and a half of calling and harassing them, along with multiple no-show appointments and missed promised deadlines before the service was finally installed. What a nightmare. Unfortunately, like so many of us, comcast is the only option because there are no other cable providers and the CO is too far for DSL. Comcast has taken this to mean they can provide [worse than lousy] service.
Not mine, but insightful nonetheless: http://comcastissue.blogspot.com/
The equipment replacement is probably a delay tactic. I think their service is having trouble. I am presuming that you have already switched to OpenDNS?
I used OpenDNS for a while last year and didn’t see any advantages, so I didn’t put it back in when I got a new machine.
“…presumably to keep me from shrinking, jumping through, expanding again, and bludgeoning her with a modem.” What a funny line. Wow.
Their security seems a little… um… extreme. (I probably shouldn’t have found this story as funny as I did…)
With my Comcast experience, this somehow doesn’t surprise me. Their techs on the phone seem to be ready for a fight. I wish you had some pictures though. That would be cool.
I use OpenDNS for the filtration, but don’t note any speed or improvement over any other DNS. I use RCN now. I think they’re mostly East coast, but I’m not sure.
heh, my Mac just auto filled my comcast e-mail address for this post…
Of course they need that security. Look at how everybody hates them so much. If my company provided customer service like Comcast does, we’d need bullet proof glass for our consultants.