Tue 30 Sep 2008
Open Letter to Comcast
Posted by Liza under Personal, The Real Live Girl
Please leave my Internet access on long enough for me to post this!
(Updated, before posting, to note that no, of course that didn’t happen. This was originally written at 6:30 am on 9/30/08. By 6:50 am, the Internet was no longer working at our house.)
And then, if you read this, please help me. For the love of God, I am a new mother with an infant and a toddler. I’m trying to sell my house, and I got laid off when I was 7.5 months pregnant.
I NEED INTERNET ACCESS. And I need it for all of the 10 minute windows that I get when the baby is sleeping and willing to be asleep other than in my arms, and no one else is in need of something from me.
Seriously. I’m losing my mind here. Having access for 4 minutes at a time SO doesn’t work for me. That’s enough time to read my mail, but not answer it. Or to type 1 answer, but not send it.
It isn’t enough time to post to my blog. Or read my friends’ blogs. Or update my LinkedIn profile, search job sites, or otherwise connect with potential jobs. It is FAR from enough time to reconnect with my friends in online forums.
As a new mom, a mom of a 1 month old baby, those social connections are the difference between sanity and meltdown.
Please, Comcast. Help me stay on the side of sanity. Some days, having to troubleshoot my home network instead of connecting with friends and family or productively trying to get my and my family’s life working is quite literally more than I can cope with on top of everything else.
If you could please find a way to keep my cable Internet access from going down between now and when we sell this house, I would be incredibly grateful. Truly. (I would even, in the future, restrain myself from making snarky remarks about what it is that I’m supposedly paying you for, or mocking the “word” “Comcastic.” But I do have to tell you that right now I’m tempted to go in and edit the Wikipedia entry for “Comcastic” to mean something like expensive, unreliable, and extremely frustrating.)
September 30th, 2008 at 9:20 am
I would love to help.
Please send me the phone number on the account so I can get started.
I apologize for all your troubles. Thanks for providing the opportunity to assist!
Mark C.
Comcast Corp.
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com
September 30th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Liza ~
If what I hear on NPR is for real, then you may actually have gotten through to someone at Comca** who can help you. Give him a try.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/technology/25comcast.html
September 30th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I am SOOOOOOO with you on this. I have to call them at least once a week but usually more often. Our internet and phone were out for the past 24 hours…again!!!! And, it’s infuriating that I have to call TWO times in order to get a credit to my bill EVEN when it’s an outtage that they have record of and should know I was without service!! Once to tell them I don’t have service and then again when it’s working so they can adjust my bill- this may seem like no big deal but when you’re doing it weekly and you’re wasting time on hold so you are not billed for a service they are not providing that is THEIR fault, it’s pretty insane. I can’t wait to switch… working on that one.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:34 am
did it get fixed?
we have frequently problems with RCN — a couple of weeks ago our cable internet, cable, AND landline phone were all out. my favorite part is how after we call about it and they say they have no idea when it will be fixed, they always make sure to ask “is there anything else I can help you with?” before hanging up. HELLO, what else is there!? You are providing ZERO of the things I pay you to provide, what else could there possibly be for you to help me with — just get the friggin’ cable, internet and phone working!!
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:37 am
I have had Comcast internet at my business in Decatur for the past few years and I have finally had enough. Among other things, we use the internet connection for credit card approval and processing and the Comcast connection has been out every weekend for almost a month now - many of my customers have been leaving because they couldn’t open a tab with a credit card and they don’t carry much cash - I estimate I lost a few thousand dollars because of it in September alone. I called the “AT&T for Small Business” services the other day - they’re coming out Friday to make the switch. I know a lot of people don’t have AT&T at home anymore for various reasons, but if you’re going to be here in Decatur for awhile, you may want to look into it so you at least have reliable service until you move. Bye, Comcast.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Liza - looks like someone from Comcast Cares picked up on your plea. But FYI, they are also monitoring Twitter. So if you can get online long enough to tweet … or tweet from your phone, you can use the #comcast or #comcastcares to get their attention, too. Good luck, sounds miserable.
Natalie