Down with Shreveport Comcast

Since about two weeks before daylight saving time my digitial cable box had been on the blink--literally.

My box would constantly shut itself off and on and would flash various error messages. When I gave the box a slight tap, the box would somehow reprogram itself and act normal again. But since that routine wasn't normal I called Comcast's customer service center.

I spoke to a man who told me that I need a new box. I asked to schedule a time when a technician exchange my box. He told me that it would take over a month to do and suggested I take the box to their office on Quilen Road to exchange it myself.

Whatever, I thought. I figured that if I was paying THEM, then they should be able to accommodate me and sooner than a month's time. I tried but I could never get to the Quilen Road office.

Then March 11 rolled around, and BAM! No service at all. For like several days. Comcast attributed the outages to Daylight Saving Time and a bunch of other hoopla. But my box has been on the blink since. I rarely watch television but when I received my last bill I got angry because I was basically paying for a service I wasn't receiving.

I called Comcast again and spoke to a Nashville woman who told me that she knew what was wrong with my box and could fix it over the telephone. But since I was at work and wasn't near my box to do troubleshooting, she said to call back when I got off.

I did.

I was on hold for 2 1/2 hours.

I guess I wasn't the only one having problems. Finally I hung up...without speaking to a service representative. This was on Saturday.

I couldn't understand why I was having such a difficult time because I had Comcast service in Nashville and I never went through these problems. I still don't get it.

Amazingly I was able to actually watch television yesterday. Sunday night too. But I knew it was only a matter of time before my box would be blinking again so I called today.

I spoke to another Nashville woman who was very helpful to me. She credited my account for all of the time I was without service and since I told her I needed Internet service, she said my installation would be free and I could wait to be billed for the new service. I even got a special rate for Internet. She even persuaded me to keep digital cable though I originally wanted to downgrade the service. I was happy with her attitude and service. All I had to do was get to Quilen Road.

I went today.

You know what they did? Told me I needed to pay a million bucks for the new service and pay for installation. She said the Nashville rep didn't note my account of all the things she promised.

I told the woman behind the glass pane, who was too busy to even look me in the eye, that I'd be back tonight to return my box.

I am so done with Comcast.