I lost my internet for 3 days...Can you say withdrawal pains???

There is nothing like losing something to make you aware of what it meant to you...and make you realize how addicted you are!! 

When my Comcast Internet Service suddenly died on Thursday, I thought it would come back in a couple hours or so as it usually does...but NO...it WAS DEAD!  So was our home telephone (digital by Comcast also)

That was just the beginning of a horrifying customer service story. 

Call 1 - We called in and were told he'd have to call us back. He left a message saying some one would be her on Friday - call back to get the time.

Call 2 - We called in and the guy told us the hours, I said I couldn't do those hours because I had a client those exact hours.  I could do before 11 or after 2.  They said no, it would have to be then or we would have to WAIT A WEEK!!  I went a little ballistic, after all we have their top of the line extra enhanced all combined service.  He HUNG UP ON ME!!!

Call 3 - We were told we'd have some out here on Friday.  I would have to call in the morning after 8:00 to try and get it earlier. 

Call 4 - I call at 8 and they have me on hold 45 minutes. I give up and have to cancel my client appt. 

Call 5 - 1:00 rolls around and they never showed up.  I call in and they tell me we never had an appt for Friday.  I get the supervisor.  After another hour on the phone they tell me someone will be out.  They don't show up again.

Call 6 - Someone will be there Saturday.

Saturday - The cable guy shows up and checks everything in the house.  It's all good.  He follows they dotted line which leads him to the pole outside. 

HERE's THE REAL MIND BLOWER

Comcast had been in our area on Thursday for a repair.  The guy did not see a certain tag or something on our internet line and SIMPLY DISCONNECTED US.  No call into the company first to make sure it wasn't a LEGITIMATE customer first.  He just  DISCONNECTed the line with no authorization or checking first. I was at my desk working.  He could have just knocked on the door and asked me first and I would have showed him my paid bill.

All that pain I went through for NOTHING - All the loss of business, loss of phone service and the backlog of emails I have now, etc. etc. 

Okay, enough of my rant.  I will be calling in and giving them h*ll on Monday.  And I WILL switch to Verizon as soon as they offer their new Fiber Optic Service in our area. 

One thing it did do was make me realize just how dependent I am on the internet right now.  I felt like I had been handcuffed and pinned to the floor without it.  I do everything on the internet.  Look up phone numbers, bill pay, check on my credit card balances, business etc.  I hate that I'm that dependent...but I'm really glad to be back and here with you again.  : )

Comments

[Amie Ragan]

I feel your pain Ariane! My anniversary was last week. I had been telling my husband "no computer" for days. He was on board. I made it all the way until 10:30 a.m. before I "cheated" and checked my e-mail. He busted me. It was pretty funny and embarrassing at the same time. I admit it. I'm a blogging addict. Your baby Alex will be on my blog this Friday!

[Jessica Duquette]

I don't think I could go a day without the internet! It does happen here and several times (with Verizon, I might add), we have been out for a week, one time THREE WEEKS!

At the time, I had an internet connection set up for dial up. that was not fun.

I have Verizon FIOS now and I am a bit spoiled, I am not sure what they have on Cape Cod, but I am guessing not FIOS, since the people down the street don't even have it! Even though I live in the wilds of Topanga Canyon, for some reason, we got FIOS first~

I feel your pain, honey.

hugs,

Jessica

[Ariane Benefit]

Thanks guys for your support and empathy. I have gone a whole week without Internet...when I was on vacation. But that you can prepare for. Put up autoresponders, etc. But when it's out of your control, it's a whole different story right?

@ Amie, you have me beat! I can totally go past 10:30 AM without checking. LOL

@ Jessica, You are so lucky! I hope they have FIOS on Cape Cod! : ) I'm so jealous, I grew up in Massachusetts and lived on Cape Cod for over a year before I moved to Florida to go to college. I hope you love it there!

[Trina]

PLEASE tell me you have not only cancelled your service with them, but that you have sent a (registered) letter outlining your complaint to the head office as well! Such p*ss poor customer service has to be brought to their attention, not only via letters but also via disgruntled customers willing to put in the extra effort to let their feet do the voting. Only when more people stand up for their rights as consumers will company's begin to get with the program and hold up their end of the contractual promise.

They are quick enough to discontinue service if a customer doesn't hold up to theirs...

[rofovnifo]

Hi all!

Looks good! Very useful, good stuff. Good resources here. Thanks much!


G'night

[showbeagle]

Verizon isn't a field of roses from what I've heard - any cable internet carrier can experience problems. I have Comcast and lost about 2 weeks worth of income from my home job due to constantly dropped internet connections. I complained to them and received a half-month credit when I threatened "I'm gonna drop Comcrap! " They get a nice chunk of change from us so we finally saw some action taken. Their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

[Pete and Repeat]

make sure they don't charge you a re-activation fee...the same situation happened to us and then we dealt with the bililng department the following month...ugh!

[Rick]

Keep a wireless card handy-when your internet goes down, it's pretty likely you can hook onto someone else's unsecured wireless network until yours is back up. Unfortunately, if there's a wide power outage we're all screwed.

[Rick]

And Comcast can forward your calls to your cell while your cable is out.

[Ariane Benefit]

Thank you all for visiting and for your great ideas!

@ Rick - Awesome tip! After the fact, we thought about using my husband's cell phone as a modem...we set my computer up to do that so next time we are ready!

@Pete - No activation fee - pursuing a credit!

@showbeagle - So true! Now that I'm over the initial shock that one of their people actually disconnected us, I've heard from a lot of people that Verizon is not any better! I suppose the price we pay for becoming dependent on technology is that we have to understand that just like us, it fails sometimes.

[mary]

Sadly, FIOS is not much better. Ours does not even reach all around our house, and the connection is often "poor" from the kitchen - with the box located 20 feet away at the bottom of the basement stairs.

Oh, and Verizon in Montclair....once left me with no phone service at 8 mos pregnant for 3 days, insisting the lines were fine. Until I simply followed the line from my house out to the neighbor's yard where a TREE had fallen, taking down the wire.

So much as I dislike ComCast, I can't say things really look up with Verizon....

Good lucK!

[Chelo]

That is just not right! I hate that they're the only game in town.

[hooger158]

I remember a cable guy in Brooklyn saying that sometimes the techs disconnect you on purpose. If they can't find an open node for a new install, they just yank one to complete their job for the day and let repair of the other customer be someone else's headache. This may have been incompetence, or it could have been intentional.

[Ariane Benefit]

Well, I decided not to go through the hassle of change just to get back at Comcast. Mistakes happen, and although as hooger158 pointed out, it could have been on purpose, I have decided to take the Zen road and let this go. I wasted 15 minutes on the phone with Comcast to get a measly $17 credit. So now I'm done. I have my backup internet plan in place for the future and am jsut going to try and send positive energy that Comcast with get it together and improve their service.

Thanks again to all of you for your support and sharing your comments. It's been very educational and I love that we all got to learn from this!

[Rick]

If you're going to use an open wifi network, remember to also use an encrypted connection for checking email and logging in to other sites; otherwise you're broadcasting passwords to anyone who might be listening. (I do this even on my home network.)

[Ariane Benefit, Neat & Simple Living]

Thanks for that tip Rick! Security is critical!