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Saturday, May 10, 2008 I've spent most of my birthday waiting for the cable guy. As noted over on the American Idol blog, the new landlord's remodelling the house. In the process of putting up new siding this past Tuesday, they accidentally yanked out the cable, from which I get my TV, my Internet access, and my phone service, which comes via Vonage. (Currently I'm using my secondary computer over a neighbor's wifi. Not the best connection, but it suffices for e-mail and such.) I called Comcast, using the prepaid cell phone I got a couple of years ago specifically for the purpose of calling Comcast when something goes wrong with the cable, and explained the situation. The Comcast guy replied that there was currently an outage affecting much of Boston, that they apologized for the inconvenience, but that they'd have it fixed shortly. I explained again that there was construction on the house, that I'd seen the cable in question, and that this was unrelated to whatever outage that might be going on elsewhere. The Comcast guy said that while that might perhaps be the case, because there was an outage in the area, the computer wouldn't let him take my word for it. I'd have to call back in the morning, after they fixed everybody else's problem. So I called back in the morning. They established that I would have to be home when they came, so I could check that the TV and Internet were actually working once they got done. We set up an appointment for 11 AM to 1 PM, Saturday morning. Coincidentally, my birthday. I explained that my phone connection came by way of Vonage, and thus required the cable to work, and provided my cell phone number. There is another universe, a nicer universe, in which that explanation would have ensured that the cable guy would call my cell phone, not my usual phone number. There is another universe in which I wouldn't have called them with increasing amounts of agitation in the course of the day, after they left yet another message on the voicemail of the phone number that doesn't work to the effect that since I'm not picking up the phone, they're not going to bother coming by. On their third attempt -- after I gave my cell phone number again and entreated them to be sure that the technician knew to use the cell phone number, for the other number would not work -- they called the non-working number and left a message to the effect that the reason why the cable connection was down was that the house was getting new siding, and that they'd have to reschedule for a day when the landlord was on the premises. I called back on the cell phone, explained once again that they had called the wrong number, that I had told them not to call the wrong number, that I had been there all day, that my landlord had been there all day, and that I would be absolutely delighted to introduce their technician to my landlord if they would only give me half a chance. They apologized, put me on hold for awhile to confer, and said that they could come back between 3:00 and 5:00 if my landlord would still be there. I confirmed with my landlord that he would still be there, and reported back to them that he would still be there, and they confirmed that they would try again. This was at 3:30 PM. At 5:30 PM, not having heard anything, I went to the pay phone down the block (lest they actually call my cell phone while I was calling to check and decide I wasn't around) and called Comcast and explained the whole situation yet another time. The Comcast lady explained that since they'd already called me twice in the course of the day, the computer wouldn't let them try a third time, nonwithstanding the fact that they'd actually been calling the wrong number. But she could reschedule for tomorrow, between 3:00 and 5:00, and credit my account so that I wouldn't have to pay for today's SNAFU. *sigh* On the whole, I've had better birthdays. (But I got some lovely e-mail and a card. Thanks, guys!) Tuesday, May 06, 2008 2:23 AM: Well, that was anticlimactic. Except in the most technical sense, anyway. Comments by HaloScan. |
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