I moved into my apartment on June 30 and that is when my cable nightmare began.
Our cable would black out (audio and video) on an average of 20-30 times in a 30 minute show. It made it impossible to watch TV so we called Comcast Cable to request a tech come out to "fix" out problem.
On July 6th a worker came out and changed out the box and said he "fixed the problem".
The very same night the problem was happening AGAIN. This went on for over a year. I placed MANY calls to the cable company to have techs come out to "fix" the problem and they change the cable box each time and continue to never fix the problem.
I even had one tech tell me that my 1 year old HD, flat screen TV was defective. I knew that wasn't the case so I scheduled yet another tech to come out to look at my cable.
Finally on September 11, a "wiring tech" for a contracted company that Comcast/Time Warner Cable hired to come out to rewire my whole apartment with a new line. I guess they finally figured out that it must not have been the "bad DVR boxes" that were causing the problem since it has been changed out an estimated 10-15 times (I lost count) over the course of 14 months.
Before the wiring tech left my apartment he told me that he was going to put a work order in to have the new line that he just ran, be buried so that it isn't just running from the outside cable box to my apartment. So, naturally I am assuming that he did just that.
Later that night we see that we are STILL having the problem that we have been having so I called Comcast/Time Warner to have them come back out to "fix" the problem. They tell me they can't have someone out to "fix" it until Saturday (Sept. 16th).
Saturday came and the guy came out and looked at the new line and said the signal was still too high so he lowered it and it seemed to be working okay after that. I couldn't believe it since it had been over a year with the same problem that NOBODY could fix or figure out what was causing it.
He also said that the "wiring tech" never put a work order in to have the new line buried so he will do that also. (Apparently, the line was still above ground in plain view.)
Later that night we noticed that some channels were very fuzzy and EVERYTHING that we DVR'd was recording fuzzy as well. So, I called AGAIN to have ANOTHER tech out to "fix" the new problem. The customer service tech said that the soonest anyone could come out would be Thursday, Sept. 21st (today).
So I scheduled it from 5pm-8pm, since I work until 5pm and I have taken WAY too much time off of work for the many cable appointments I have had to be home for in the past year. I would never give them permission to come into my house while I am at work since Comcast is well known for their workers taking naps at customers' homes.
On Wednesday, Sept. 20th I came home to NO CABLE at all. No Signal and the DVR box wouldn't respond to anything. As you can imagine I was extremely upset. I called the cable company again (I have the number memorized now) to report having no signal coming into our box. He then tells me to unplug the box, wait 60 seconds and then plug the box back in. I told him that I know the routine and had already tried that 2 times before calling the cable company.
He then tells me that if I didn't wait 45 minutes after plugging the box back in then I had messed up the rebooting of the box. (I had never heard that one before... I think he made that up all by himself).
So then, while still on the phone with "Christopher" from Comcast/Time Warner, we try to plug the cable straight into the TV so we can at least have basic cable for the night until they come to fix it the next day. We do that and still NO cable signal.
By that, we knew that the cable box on the outside of the building must have been messed with since we didn't get a signal at all. We go outside and to my surprise the new line STILL hasn't been buried and was running from my apartment to the outside box. I look along the whole line and see that the mowers must have cut the line when they were mowing the apartments yesterday. (I took MANY pictures.)
If the line had been buried the first time or even the second time that I was told it would be, then I would at least have fuzzy cable rather than no cable at all.
By now, I have really had my feel of Comcast/Time Warner and have already looked into getting satellite but my patio faces in the wrong direction to get satellite. Comcast/Time Warner is the ONLY cable service provider for my area so I am stuck with them and they know that so they feel that they can treat me any kind of way and it is not a requirement to make sure I have satisfactory cable service.
In the past, I have threatened to just not pay my bill or only pay partial bills since I am only receiving partial cable but they tell me that they will come out and disconnect my service if I don't pay the amount due.
For the past 6 or 7 cable service appointments I have requested a supervisor come to fix my cable but not 1 supervisor has shown up. Requesting a supervisor is relentless, so if a rep offers to do that for you he/she is only saying that to pacify you. Christopher from Comcast/Time Warner told me yesterday that he would request a supervisor for today's call and I just had to laugh at him because of how they all think I am that stupid.
I have Digital Cable/DVR and internet service through Comcast/Time Warner and pay on average of $150 a month so I think that I should at least get acceptable cable service.
Comcast changed their name to Time Warner and that is ALL they have changed. Time Warner still has the same techs coming to my house to fix my cable except they are wearing different shirts now. Still the same horrible Comcast service and same outrageous Comcast prices with a different name. The only thing department that actually works at Time Warner (Comcast) is the billing department because you can bet that if you are a little late paying your bill they will call you 2-3 times a day.
When I was attempting to not pay my bill until my cable was fixed they called me a few times a day to get me to pay it over the phone. I finally got tired of them calling so I paid the bill and approx. 2 hrs. Later another Comcast rep. Called to collect on the same bill.
I actually have tried to file a report with the BBB but Comcast (not surprisingly) is not a member of the Better Business Bureau so filing a complaint on them is pointless.
This is a company who has poor business ethics. Paying customers like myself can't get satisfactory cable service and there is really nothing that I feel that I can do about it.
Mandi
Lewisville, Texas
U.S.A.
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