I get mediacom cable through my apartment complex. Recently I saw an ad talking about DVR service (basically, the equivalent of Tivo) and I decided to sign up for it. I called, and spent two hours on hold just to get a service upgrade. I knew then that I was probably making a mistake.
I told the representative that I was interested in a package that included DVR, and she read off a list of services. I settled on one that had HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, and Stars! In addition to 200 extra channels (instead of the 80 or so I get with basic).
I informed her I work during the day, and was wondering if the techs could come to set it up in the evening. She said that shouldn't be a problem, but that she would check and call me back the next evening. She never did.
Two days later I got a call on my voicemail telling me a tech was scheduled to come between 1 and 5 pm. I called them back, spent another hour on the phone, and was told that there was a note in my file to come after five, but she would contact dispatch and get an absolute answer for me, and call me back in 15 to 20 minutes. She never called back.
I decided not to take a chance, and took a half-day off work. I'm glad I did, because the techs came by at about 2:30 that afternoon, and told me that I was the last person on their list, and that they don't do after-hours. If I had missed them, it would have been up to a week before they could come out again.
When I asked them about the DVR capabilities of the boxes, they laughed, and said "DVR service isn't available in this area yet. I'm surprised they sold you a package." They then told me they were going to call the box GI numbers in, and I should have the extra channels within an hour or so.
After an hour I still only had the basic channels. I called, waited on hold for an hour, and finally got a hold of a rep who told me that they were probably going to call that in from the office when they get back to it, and requested that I wait an extra hour.
I waited the extra hour with no luck still, so I called back and waited on hold for another hour. This rep was actually kind of helpful, her name was Vivian. She walked me through several things, and told me to turn it off and wait an hour while she tried to push the data manually.
After another hour there was still no data, so I called them back again, spent another hour on hold, and then was told that it was a bad box. I told the rep I couldn't miss more work, so I needed to find out if the apartment complex could let a tech in before I could schedule a service call.
The next day I called my apartment complex, and they indicated they could do that. So I called Mediacom again, waited on hold an hour, and got an appointment for somebody to come out a full week in the future. I wasn't that thrilled about the wait, but I felt like I didn't have any choice.
The next evening (tonight) I was watching TV and fixing dinner when the cable went out completely - no signal at all, not even basic cable, on any of the outlets in the house. I called Mediacom again, spent another hour on hold, and was told they would send somebody out tomorrow to fix the problem.
I told the rep about the bad box and asked if they could replace the box while they were out here tomorrow, and the rep told me that not only could they not do that, but that he had to cancel my regular service call scheduled for monday so they could send somebody out there tomorrow.
So now I'm stuck paying $60 for absolutely no cable, and no service, and about ten hours of time spent on hold. And even if they do fix my cable tomorrow, I still have to schedule another tech call for them to come out again, and this will probably take yet another week on top of the week I was already waiting.
Tomorrow I am going to contact my apartment complex and see if there is any restriction against satellite dishes. If there isn't, I am going to drop Mediacom like a hot potato. I have had the worst service from any company ever through these guys, and I've had it up to here.
Scott
Robertsdale, Alabama
U.S.A.
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