What A Slacker!

Do I Hold Grudges? Nah! LOL

Add comment August 10th, 2010

Okay so if you are a person and want to express your displeasure with a company how do you complain? I voice my opinion to my friends and family and that circle has grown to include my online friends and family too. I also avoid using those products and services ever again, if I can help it.

Some examples of this are Comcast….hate them, their customer service, their product — everything but I still use them because cable companies are a monopoly and I have no other choice (don’t get me started on satellite TV). Thanks to my complaints here on my blog they did finanly take notice and come out to fix both the DVR issues & the cable leading to my house.

Another example is the SCI FI Channel (now SyFy) for personal reasons I can not really spell out here, they did a great disservice to me back in 2000 & I have never gone back (only a few exceptions have occurred.

Then there is The Outback Restaurant. I some of the worst service by any waitress ever there, which was then followed up by the manager who only defended the waitress. I could not eat the food and was still charged. I actually had to take my complaint to RipOffReport.com to get the corporate office to notice my complaint and/or do anything about it. All they did was send me a gift card for a restaurant that I was never going to ever again (I have not been back in one in over 5 years). I gave the gift card to friend.

Latest example is BP. With this BIG problem in the Gulf I refuse to buy their gas (thank goodness there aren’t many around so I do not have to actively avoid them but I will drive by if there is one even if the gas is cheaper). Will I ever go back to BP? No.  I haven’tgone back to using Exxon gas for anything so why would I forgive BP?

That being said…I think you now know the answer to the question…do i hold grudges? YES.

Seems like companies these days are more about PR then they are about actual customer service. Shame, because those companies will never see my business again.

Comcast Cable Sucks Here’s Why - Part 7: FEARnet

Add comment February 13th, 2010

Well I have pretty much already beat this to death, but I feel it needs repeating. FEARnet is the only horror channel on comcast and quite frankly it is the worst one out there. Come on comcast give us something better please.

Oh, you can ask for channels but they never add them so why bother?

Additional reasons that FEARnet and Comcast suck can be found here:

• FEARnet on demand video sucks

• FEARnet Sucks Part II

Comcast Cable Sucks Here’s Why - Part 6: The Crappy Customer Service

Add comment February 13th, 2010

Well if you have been reading my blog for any amount of time you know I have an ongoing issue with Comcast Cable and their crappy service. This time it is their customer service. I have already pointed out their enormous cost before so let me just tell you how shocked I was by my bill once my triple play pricing special ran out. So I grabbed a phone and gave them a call. I was put on hold then disconnected. Okay, so I call back this time I get some one who says they are going to look into it for me. Again I am put on hold and the call is disconnected! At this point my frustration has turned to anger so I decide I am going to wait a few days and call back.

A couple of days go by and I try calling again. This time I get some one who seems eager to help and isn’t hanging up on me. He supposedly tries to  change my plans to reduce my costs, but every time he does his computer crashes. He reboots twice before telling me to call back again.

Well their ploy worked. I gave up trying and I continue to pay them way too much money all because I could not get any customer service.

Their commercials talk about how wonderful they are and how if they don’t fix something on the first call they’ll give you $20. Wonder if that guarantee works when you cannot get satisfaction from their call center?

Comcast Is Taking Me For A Ride

Add comment August 21st, 2008

Comcast is so ticking me off again. They splash advertisements all over the place trying to get you to sign up for their triple play program (TV, internet and phone) by enticing you with a free gift. Last month it was a Wii, the month before that a TV this month it is a years free DVR rental.

Well I finally broke down and did it. Guess what? You have to be a new customer. Not just a new customer to the triple play (which I am), but never having had an account with Comcast ever. I don’t think their fine print that flashes across the screen says that. All it says is new customer and I fit that bill as I NEVER, EVER had a triple play account. Oh, and to top it all off the price I was quoted is only good for a year. I wasn’t told it was special pricing. I was told that was the price (by the lady in the corporate office). Now I learn it will mostly likely double after my year is up! Sometimes I hate Comcast (okay so most of the time I hate them).

Comcast Cable Sucks Here’s Why - Part 5: The Jerks That Drive Their Vans

Add comment August 6th, 2008

Aggressive drivers really should behave themselves while driving the company car. Maybe they get so caught up in their speeding and tailgating they forget they are in an easily identifiable vehicle.

 I had this Comcast van (#50 by the way) riding my but the whole way up route 12 in Reading today (around 6:15). He must have been late getting home or something. Finally, when he got off my bumper he whipped around me cutting me off a went speeding down the road.

 Isn’t there any way we can report aggressive drivers? Wish there was.

Comcast DVR at It Again

1 comment July 10th, 2008

Well, I was hoping to be able to actually watch all the shows I had on my crappy Motorola DVR from Comcast before it finally died, but it does not look like I will be able to unless I do it quick.

I got home tonight and it was doing that same lovely trick of going to a black screen after I pause or try to rewind. I had to do a hard reboot again, which thankfully worked again this time, but for how long?

 Basically, my hard drive is slowly going bad and I have to get a new box from Comcast. Shame they have not come up with the technology to transfer the saved content to a new hard drive or letting us attached an external hard drive to expand the memory. Oh, TIVO you are starting to look good even at the additional costs.

Nutty Squirrels Stealing My Internet

Add comment June 10th, 2008

Remember I said Comcast came out and looked everything over and that my outside lines were chewed by squirrels. Well those nice guys sent me the pictures they took while hanging out on top of the pole with those nutty squirrels.

Take a look at what those rodents did to the lines. No wonder I lost my internet and tv!

Comcast Came Thru Sort Of

Add comment June 8th, 2008

Comcast came out to review the problems I am having with the DVR. Those problems being many like the screen going black when I try to play anything on the DVR or after I pause or try to rewind live TV, no sound after recording if the DVR was turned off at the time of the recording, and the remote not talking to the DVR (if you hit pause a couple of times and nothing happens then all of the sudden everything happens all at once).

They told me the black screen (which can be cleared up with a hard reboot of the system at this point) means the hard drive is going bad and I should get it replaced ASAP. The remote control issues should probably be fixed with an upcoming upload to the DVR boxes from Comcast in the next few weeks.

Unsurprisingly the same day they were scheduled to come out I lost all cable services TV and internet. When they arrived the also checked the outside lines and found squirrels had chewed through the cables.

So I got pretty good service from them and my outdoor cables were fixed the next day.

Comcast Still Sucks - DVR Has Black Screen AGAIN

Add comment June 4th, 2008

My sucky Comcast DVR is at it again. Just like before it has a completely black screen. I have a date with the folks at Comcast to come out and look at things. (This all came about because I posted how awful Comcast is. Someone in the corporate office must have a Google alert for the terms Comcast Sucks and/or Crappy DVR.

Well they are scheduled to come here between 5 and 7 pm. I’ll let you all know what they say about the DVR with the black screen of death (this is happening every time I try to watch something that has been taped or if I try to rewind or pause live TV).

Honestly, I am glad it is doing it again so I have something to show them. Otherwise it would have been no different that my telling the over the phone.

What I hate the most about this is that they have no customer service at all. The people I spoke to were nice enough, but they cannot offer rebates, refunds or free services to make a customer fell better about staying with a service that is as sucky as Comcast is.

I am looking into getting a TIVO if I stay with Comcast, if I leave I will look at DirectTV with TIVO DVR service.

Want to know why Comcast sucks so much?

• Comcast Cable Sucks Here’s Why - Part 1: The Channels
• Comcast Cable Sucks Here’s Why - Part 2: The DVR
• Comcast Cable Sucks Here’s Why - Part 3: The Corporate Offices
• Comcast Cable Sucks Here’s Why - Part 4: The Costs
• FEARnet on demand video sucks
• FEARnet Sucks Part II

Star Trek References on Numbers

Add comment May 6th, 2008

Catching up on my DVR recorded TV shows this weekend and I spotted some more Star Trek references on a CBS show. Any chance CBS/Paramount moved the new Trek movie date from Xmas 2008 to May 2009 so they could exploit their TV series for additional exposure and try to make Trek more hip? Geek is as good as gold these days you know.

 The April 11th episode of NUMB3RS had the following Trekkie conversation.

Megan Reeves : Look at you guys. This is kind of like when Captain Kirk used to beam down and would leave Bones and Chekov in charge.

Dr. Larry Fleinhardt: No actually the chain of command went Commander Spock to Lt. Cmdr. Scott to Lt. Sulu then once during season two it actually went to Assistant Chief Engineer DeSalle.

Or is it simply all us math and/or science geeks must also be sci-fi geeks and vise versa?

Comcast Cable Sucks Here’s Why - Part 2: The DVR

3 comments April 28th, 2008

I have gone through three Comcast Cable DVRs since I have first had them and last night mine started acting up again! Last night’s problem had something to do with the hard drive or the software. I could watch TV, but god forbid I should try to pause or rewind. When I did that all I got was a black screen. From the black screen of nothingness I couldn’t get back to my show either. I had to go to another channel and back again to get anything.

But that wasn’t the only issue, I could not view any of the programs I had recorded to the DVR. They acted the same way. Hit play and all I got was a black screen nothing else, no picture. I was a bit distraught as I have the complete season of Heroes on there to watch and the last four episodes of the Terminator. Both shows I could probably get on DVD sometime soon, but why when I had them already?

Thank the fates that a complete shut down (unplugging and waiting 5-10 minutes) then rebooting seemed to do the trick. Although the box did not seem to want to come back from its complete shut down. It turned on, blinked and went right back off. Third time was a charm and I got a connection. First I tried to pause and it seemed okay, then I went to my recorded programs picked one that was recording while this whole problem was going on and I had picture and sound (at least for the first couple of minutes, I still need to fully test to be sure).

I have had quite a few issues with this box like the sound mysteriously disappearing for no reason. The picture freezes quite often. We get the lovely square digital pixels in the middle of the screen like there is a bad connection somewhere. With the first box we had the guy come out several times he finally put in some type of signal booster, although I don’t think it has truly helped us. That box completely died a long time ago.

Shows don’t always record. Setting a series up is easy enough as long as you want to tape every single show every time it is repeated. I have to manually set recordings for a every week because I can’t tell the DVR to record a show every Thursday at 10 pm only. I have to set it up to record all (because the guide doesn’t tell the system that the only NEW show is Thursday at 10pm and that all the others are repeats throughout the week). Having it record all shows screws with other shows I have series recordings for so I can’t make this easy on myself. The old Comcast software used to let you choose to record this show on the same day/time every week. I wish they would bring that back.

There is still an issue with no sound when you turn the box on. You have to go to the DVR and hit play then go back to whatever show you wanted to watch just so you can hear it. This was an issue early on that was only half way fixed. Either that or it came back.

Biggest problem I have with them is the fact that the DVR even with the problems wasn’t a bad deal, price wise, to begin with. I think I started out paying $10 a month for my box. Each (I have two – even though they kept trying to tell me I was not allowed to have two. That’s why the other one is still a single tuner as I am afraid to take it in an have them refuse to give me another one). Then the prices went up to $11 bucks a month, still cheaper than the Tivo service. Then they rose again and I saw that I had two different prices on my bills for the two different boxes (I really need to find out why) but they jumped to $12 and $16. Now I see by the latest Comcast Cable bill on my table the costs have gone up again to $12 and $18! Okay, now I am seriously going to be looking into a Tivo the Comcast prices have now exceeded the Tivo service fees and in my book the Tivo (an actual Tivo and not this non-working Tivo software crap from Comcast that I have been reading about online) is a much better product and service.

I can’t live without my DVR but no one says it has to be a buggy piece of crap from Comcast just because they are a monopoly and I don’t have any other cable options. Yes there is always Fios, DirectTV or Dish Network as alternatives (and some of these are cheaper and offer more channels too), but I have invested far too much time and money with Comcast to let them ignore me. If you are sick of the ever increasing prices, lack of services and failing equipment please do like me and call them about it. Their number is easy enough 1-800-COMCAST.

Comcast Cable Sucks Here’s Why - Part 1: The Channels

Add comment April 27th, 2008

Comcast needs to do some re-organizing of their channel line up. That way they can give us some channels we want. Some of the newer ones out there like the Chiller Channel and some long awaited ones like Boomerang. (The Chiller Channel is so much better than that Fear Net onDemand crap we have now and we should have had Boomerang added to the Comcast line up years ago.

Just a few years ago (if even that long) Comcast removed what they considered duplicate or redundant channels such as all the East Coast line ups for the premium channels. Which really were redundant as it offered different programs at different times therefore giving us even more viewing options. Well if Comcast wants to stand by their decision to remove duplicate channels they got some work ahead of them.

Their On Demand service is on channel one, but there are at least 22 other channels that point back to Channel 1. That list doesn’t even include the seven channels that are all pay per view. I thought that the OnDemand service replaced the old pay per view system. Didn’t it?

Comcast’s onDemand menu is not that hard to navigate so why so many channels all pointing back to the same place? Plus once you click on one of the other channels like say the movies on demand channel 315, it takes you to that section only. You cannot get to the OD main menu from the one. You have to exit and re-enter the On Demand menu all over again. Which can be a pain depending on how long it takes the menus and content to load. Personally, I never access those subsections because of this draw back and only go to Channel 1 so I have all my options available to me at one time.

I am tired of hearing Comcast say they don’t have enough channels in their system when they are wasting so many channels on their own crap. I haven’t even mentioned the duplicate channels they are using for the high def channels. The premium stations like HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and Starz all have HD channels in their group of channels but Comcast also list them down in the HD channels too. Why? Clean up the channels and give us more content please.

The HD channels that can be removed are:

215 HBO HD
219 MAX HD
223 SHO HD
227 Starz HD

Because they are already in the channel listings as:

300 HBO HD
319 Cinemax HD
339 Showtime HD
369 Starz HD

As for all the duplicates of Channel 1 they are:

151 Movies OD
166 Fear Net onDemand
228 HD on Demand
238 HD on Demand
297 Local on Demand
298 Free Movies on Demand
 299 HBO on Demand
315 Movies on Demand
366 Movies on Demand
390 HERE! On Demand
487 HD on Demand
488 Free HD OD Movies
490 HD Premium Channels on Demand
491 HD Music on Demand
499 Movies on Demand
740 Exercise OD
886 Entertainment OD
888 Searchlight OD
891 Searchlight OD
892 Searchlight OD
893 Searchlight OD

I will leave the duplicate Spanish channels out of my griping as they are needed, especially in areas with a high Spanish speaking population like ours. But why, oh why, all the channels pointing back to the same place? If you really want to offer us better service and give us more options then add a few channels to the line up and stop pointing everything back to your on demand service.

If you are sick of paying the high, high prices for Comcast Cable then do something about it. Pick up the phone and give them a call and tell them you want more channels, better programming and less channels going to OD content! Their phone number is 1-800-COMCAST. Go ahead and give them a call.