Many of you can recall me going on last week about Comcast and my phone and internet issues. I had theorized that the problem was due to the new cable modem and I would’ve been wrong. In a surprise move, that happens a lot.
See, after posting what I didn’t think was a negative post regarding Comcast, I got a comment from someone purporting to be from Comcast. Since we get plagued with a lot of spam (most of it in Russian!), I figured I’d do some due diligence before allowing the comment. Sure enough, a quick Google search showed that this person was either a) who she said she was, or b) had a lot of time on her hands to set up some giant spam operation to hijack my 55 Twitter followers. To make a long story short, they set up an appointment to get a rep out to check things over and see if they could locate the problem.
The tech came in the house, wearing booties so as not to dirty the carpet. He unplugged the line from the modem and ran some tests, detecting some strange readings to the signal strength. We said he wanted to check stuff out where the line comes into the house. About 5 minutes later, he came back and said, “I found it.”
What he found was that the lawn service contracted by the homeowner’s association (or unidentified rodent, but I prefer to blame the lawn service because they suck and probably giving Wanda kickbacks) had been a little overzealous in the trimming of the yard. The exposed core could account for all the issues we’ve been having, from the lack of dial tone to the modem dropouts, to the TV picture pixellating. I think I might need to invest in armor plate to put around the cable junction box. Sigh.
So, the moral of the story is that Comcast (at least here in Central PA) is not always the customer service beast that you read about online. Everyone I dealt with during this situation was helpful and very concerned that we were taken care of. I don’t think it has anything to do with this little blog… yes, it’s been viewed 6,000+ times, but I don’t have some ginormous following. I’m just a guy with some scribblings that some people read.
In other news, SPW (she of the ouchy back) has been kind of laid up all of yesterday and part of today. It was to the point that she could barely stay upright long enough to eat Chipotle. That’s serious. Got her pretty well drugged up last night and she slept and managed to take a shower without screaming in pain, so that’s a plus. Please keep her in your thoughts.
Song of the Day: Centerfield – John Fogerty
Currently Reading: The Covenant of Genesis – Andy McDermott
Memoirs of a Soon-to-Be Former Fat Guy 
Maybe it’s the cynic in me talking, but I think your blog is exactly the reason you got such great service Brian. Think about it…would you have heard back from them if you didn’t write anything about it for all your readers to see? Not saying they don’t deserve praise for fixing your issues, but it was in response to your complaining publicly about it in some form.
I have mixed feelings about Comcast. I can’t say I have had major complaints, so I guess they’re ok. They’re definitely better than Verizon in just about every way.
Hope SPW feels better soon.