Tag Archives: Comcast

More Than One Way…

9 Dec

For a solid week, The Squire has been trying to get my files transferred from my old computer to this one.  Windows 10 doesn’t have a “transfer” plan that works, and the new computer was set up to run MSN, rather than Comcast, although my email address remained the same.

Having been raised straddling the Lutheran  and Episcopal churches, and being German to my toenails, I do not take kindly to change, especially when it does not seem to be for any good reason.

There is no mechanism on Windows 10 to set up an address book; all of your email comes from Outlook Express, which, for some reason, this machine won’t see. I just carried my old computer into the dining room and used it instead. Anyway, after much mumbling and cursing on his part, The Squire finally figured out how to get this machine to open in Comcast mode. All of my email addresses are there, my favorites are where I left them, and there  is peace in the valley again.

I still hate Microsoft.

 

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Comcast, Part II

30 Apr

We had a fairly large locust tree, about five feet from the road, which died a few years ago. This was not a do-it-yourself project, so we hired a local company to come out and cut it down for us. Not a big deal, about two hours, and not as expensive as it might have been, as we have a friend who heats with wood, and will come over to collect the wood and help clean up the debris.

However.

We also have a River Birch which has died, and it is leaning into the electric wires, as well the wires from Comcast. You may remember that our last go-round with Comcast took almost a month to untangle, and we still aren’t happy with the service. (A classic case of getting what you pay for.) We’ve had Comcast for over thirty years, and when it was installed they did not have the technology for the Quick Disconnect box which is now standard, and we need to have somebody come out to handle this in person.

So – The Squire called Comcast and explained what we needed. I heard him say, quite firmly, “No we do not want to terminate the service.” Transfer to another department, and of course, get cut off. Call back and start over. Once again, the woman who answered grabbed the word “disconnect” and tried to talk him out of cancelling the service and then tried to sell him a bunch of upgrades! After some rather sharp conversation, he did finally get Comcast to understand what we need, and they will send somebody out “soon” to install the Quick Disconnect box, so when the tree people come back, we can drop and replace the line ourselves.

One thing which had bugged us ever since The Squire changed our Comcast service was that things seemed so much slower than before it was “improved”. While the second young lady was checking, she found we only had half the speed we were supposed to have, so she said she was going to fix it.

We shall see.

Once that is done, the tree company will coordinate with Baltimore Gas & Electric to take care of that part of things.

One of the workers dropped his “smart phone” while he was here, and The Squire called the tree company to tell them we have it. The silly thing has rung twice, but neither of us can figure out how to answer it! Ain’t it grand?

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Two Very Frustrated People

6 Mar

In spite of what it says, this was written Thursday evening, the 5th. If I don’t post it before 7 PM, it shows up as the next day.

>>>>>>>

After a lot of wobbling back and forth about the oncoming storm – should we stay or should we go – we left Winchester, Virginia about 6: 45 last night, with warm-ish weather and a steady rain. Not too hard, but steady. We made excellent time, getting back home a little after 9:30, and that included a trip to the grocery store for milk and eggs, plus topping off the gas tank.

Eddie was extremely glad to see us! He insisted upon sitting in each of our laps while we checked our email, and then tried to sleep with us, which is simply not allowed. I did not know a cat could make so many different sounds! He sat outside the door and cried from 10:00 until about 2:30. When I came back upstairs, he was on the bed, and stayed there all night. He followed The Squire down in the morning and actually sat on his lap while he ate breakfast.

When we woke up this morning at 7:30, it had just begun to snow. I called the vet to see about picking up the dog, and got a recording. OK, maybe they don’t open that early, so I just left the house at 9 and drove on up.

Nobody there, and the lot had not been plowed. I went on up to Bel Air and picked up 40 pounds of birdseed and a dozen blocks of suet and headed back down the road. The vet’s office was still not open.

To say I am distressed is an understatement. It is bad enough that Blazer is not being cared for (although I’m reasonably sure they must have automatic food and water dispensers, the dog can’t get outside to take care of business) but there must be other animals there who have had surgery or need some sort of attention, and they have also been abandoned. I sent an email to a friend who worked there before she moved to Chicago, to ask if she had any personal phone numbers to I could contact somebody at home, but haven’t heard back.

In the meantime, The Squire was doing battle with Comcast.  Over a week ago, he asked them to change us to  their “Triple Play” program, which includes TV, Internet and phone service for less than we are currently paying for just TV and Internet, and would eliminate the $40 we pay to Vonage for our phone line, which includes unlimited overseas calling. I don’t understand it, but apparently it would save us a considerable amount of money per month. Of course, we may end up paying that back out to cover The Squire’s nervous breakdown.

Instead of more TV channels, he has lost some of his favorites, and Comcast still has not managed to change over the phone line. Today the young lady to whom he spoke insisted it would be impossible to do this and allow us to keep the same number. Mind you, we were able to change from Ma Bell to Vonage without any problems, but Comcast is not able ( unwilling, more likely) to do this. We’ve had the same number since 1972, and it is an easy one to remember, with a nice rhythm to it.  He was on the line with them when I left to go get the dog, and was still on the line when I returned. He had been transferred five times, disconnected twice, and was about to completely explode when I got home.

Some young lady with a heavy accent called here in mid-afternoon, and said they would call us tomorrow to arrange to switch the phone number, but she still didn’t know if we cold keep the number. That may be the deal-breaker. We can always go with Vonage if Comcast can’t get their act together.

Aaargh!

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Incompetence, Thy Name is Comcast

17 Feb

For reasons which defy logic, it is less expensive to use Comcast for TV, Internet and phone service than it is for only TV and Internet.  We really like Vonage, because their rates for overseas calls are very low – most of Europe is free and even my bi-weekly call to Australia is only 2 cents a minute. When you talk for an hour, that adds up! Comcast offers total US calling, but their overseas rates seem to date from the 60s. Anyway, after some toing and froing, we decided to go with them anyway.

I worked for Blue Cross for ten years, and I thought I knew incompetence inside and out, but Comcast beats all.

The Squire spent an hour on the phone on Friday, getting bounced from pillar to post, and then again today doing the same thing. I cannot tell you the number of times he repeated his name, address and both our regular phone number and his cell number. Nobody seemed to know what was going on. One young lady promised to call him back within fifteen minutes; that was a little after noon, and it is now 4:30.

It finally turned out that nobody – nobody! – can figure out how to change our phone over from one service to another without changing the number, which we refuse to do. We’ve had the same number since 1972, and it’s a really easy one to remember. When I got sick in 1982 the part of my brain that does numbers disappeared. Anything I knew before I turned 40 is still in there, but after that – forget it. I’ve told the girls they can never change their phone numbers, because I won’t be able to call them.  It’s bad enough that I have to tell folks I don’t have a cell because I don’t know the number.

They’ll never believe I don’t have a land line.

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