Last month I finally decided to re-join the modern age and get cable. I’ve been waiting for FiOS from Frontier ever since I moved in, and my apartment building was finally wired up for it. I was flabbergasted when they told me the install charge for TV+internet over FiOS was $500, but if I just wanted internet, there was no install fee. It turns out, according to the internet, Frontier is losing money left and right on channels and desperately wants to get out of the cable TV business.
I flipped over to comcast.com. I didn’t have a high opinion of them because of the data caps, but just wanted cable. I was able to put in my order within a few minutes without having to call. When I got my DVR/cable box and hooked it up, it didn’t work. I spent a while troubleshooting and got nowhere. I dreaded having to call and wait around for a tech to be dispatched or something (and I was traveling a lot), so I put it off. I put it off for a couple of weeks.
When I finally called and navigated through the IVR tree, it was a surprisingly quick “oh let me send a reset signal” and that’s all it took to make it come to life. Less than three minutes on the phone. After a couple of hours I still wasn’t getting all of my channels. I needed to call again, but was still dreading hassle and put it off.
When I called again at 1 AM this morning, I got a female apparently in Seattle, who was very friendly and sincere. She reset my cable box and walked me through verifying channel subscriptions. Then she credited me a whole month of service because it had never worked since install. Less than ten minutes too, no too bad!
You win this time Comcast, but I’m keeping my eye on you.
