Posted on 10/18/2007 5:56:35 AM PDT by 3AngelaD
...Fear not, fellow Americans! In these dark days of war, pestilence and Paris Hilton, a new hero has arisen. She is none other than 75-year-old Mona "The Hammer" Shaw, who took the aforementioned implement to her local Comcast office in Manassas to settle a score, and boy, did she!
This was after the company had scheduled installation of its much ballyhooed "Triple Play" service, which combines phone, cable and Internet services, in Shaw's brick home in nearby Bristow. But Shaw said they failed to show up on the appointed day, Monday, Aug. 13. They came two days later but left with the job half done. On Friday morning, they cut off all service.
This was the company that has had consumer service problems serious enough to prompt the trade magazine Advertising Age to editorialize that Comcast and other cable providers should spend less on advertising and more on customer service. And has spawned a blog called ComcastMustDie.com...
So Mona Shaw and her husband, Don, went to the local call center office to complain...according to Shaw: Mona demands to speak to a manager. A customer service representative says someone will be right with them. Directs them to a bench, outside. (Remember, it's mid-August.) Mona and Don sit.
Tick, tick, tick, goes the clock. Sit, sit, sit, go Mona and Don. For. Two. Hours.
And then...the customer rep leans out the door and says the manager has left for the day. Thanks for coming!...The insulting idea that, as Shaw puts it, "they thought just because we're old enough to get Social Security that we lack both brains and backbone."
So, after stewing over it all weekend, on the following Monday, she went downstairs, got Don's claw hammer and said: "C'mon, honey, we're going to Comcast."...Hammer time...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I DON’T WANT DIGITAL CABLE!
I have 5 TVs in my house and I would need 5 cable boxes with digital, and 5 additional remote controls. And it would mess up my Tivo.
If I have to go to a cable box, it won’t be with Comcast. I will go to the Dish or something else.
Yes, there is. Cancel the f#%&ing cable, shut down the f#%&ing internet, and get a f#%&ing life.
It may come a shock to some people, but the phrase "entertainment needs" (which I've heard in advertisements, BTW) is an oxymoron.
Especially since she is a peace-loving Unitarian.
Heh.
I understand that these people were frustrated but being a person who sat on the other end of the Customer Service line, equally frustrated that I couldn’t help the crying lady on the other end, I find no satisfaction with this.
The poor little blonde that had her keyboard smashed did not cause her problem. All I can think of is what my own sweet daughter would be going through, if she were that blonde.
I pray that people will not go off this way.
Anyone with Comcast 3-Ply willing to share their impressions? Positive or negative, it doesn’t matter. I’m in NW Chicago.
I sense a fund drive to pay the $345 fine.
We have Directv and are thinking of ditching that.
A friend of mine has three kids and does Netflix with NO cable. They love it and it costs them less than their old cable bill.
We need to take charge, not terrorize people who have nothing to do with the problem.
....... Comcast will drop channels from my package.....
Which is to say....Comcast is stealing cable.
I thought they prosecuted cable thieves?
And secretary of the local AARP coven.
When we tried to add their phone service, it blew out everything, and took forever to fix. Cable went out. internet was down for hours at a time, every day, and the phones rarely worked.
We went back to regular Verizon for the phones, and just have ComBastards for internet and cable. As soon as the FIOS service breaks the monopoloy ComCast has in our borough, we're switching over.
It was after I installed a wireless network and shortly after I hooked it up to my new Computer. All lights were Green (good to go) but couldn't get a network connection. But Ping worked, tracert worked but I couldn't get a website (any - FR, Drudge, etc). The guy spent a 1/2 hour trying to help.
About an hour later - wham - I get a network connection again as my desktop weather started working. Must have been a Gremlin. It was the darnedest thing.
And give up Freeping? I don't know if life would be worth living without that.
I've seen kids at fast food joints handle irate customers with more skill than 99% of the customer dis-service departments I deal with. What is it about "customer service" that is so hard to get?
Right. It would be tough, but sometimes we gotta make do without. LOL.
http://www.potomacnews.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WPN/MGArticle/WPN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353015622
(older story)
~ snip...Shaw’s problems began when she and her husband, Don, waited all day Aug. 13 for a Comcast worker to come to their house to install its much-publicized Triple Play service, which includes digital cable, digital voice and high-speed Internet service. The Shaws were Comcast customers already but wanted to upgrade.
No one came Aug. 13 but two days later, a representative arrived.
According to Shaw, the Comcast worker didn’t finish the job, told her that he needed a third party to finish it and left his equipment there.
Before leaving, the cable guy gave her the option of changing her phone number, but Shaw said she didn’t want to change a number that she has had for 34 years.
The next day the Shaws couldn’t receive calls but were eventually able to make calls.
That Friday, Shaw spent the morning on the phone with Comcast and made a frustrating trip to its Manassas office that resulted in no assistance from a company manager, she said.
When the Shaws returned home, they discovered they had no phone service at all.
A cell phone call to Comcast resulted in their receiving a new number and a promise that someone from the company would call on Monday. In the meantime, the Shaws figured out on their own how to plug their phone directly into the equipment the worker left.
That weekend, Shaw called the State Corporation Commission, the regulatory agency with authority over Virginia businesses. She says she spoke with the SCC’s Larry Kubrock and was promised that someone from his agency would contact Comcast.
The Shaws waited Monday for a call. Finally, around 4:30 p.m., Mona Shaw put a hammer in her purse and returned to the Manassas Comcast office.
“I smashed a keyboard, knocked over a monitor ... and I went to hit the telephone,” Mona said. “I figured, ‘Hey my telephone is screwed up, so is yours.’ “
Shaw said she was panic-stricken the previous Friday when they came home to no service because of her need in the past for emergency medical help. Their house on Bristow Road isn’t close to a neighboring house.
“It’s totally not like me to do stuff like this,” she said. “But it is so irresponsible and so disrespectful [what they did]. I can’t think of any company reacting that way. It’s like they got you in their clutches and they’ll do what they damn well please.”
The day after her arrest, Comcast called her husband and said they could switch her to the Triple Play service but the couple would have to wait a week. He demanded that the company come out the next day and remove their equipment and told the company they were returning to Verizon for phone service.
Comcast did as her husband requested, but several weeks later the Shaws received a letter from the company thanking them for subscribing.
That was typical Comcast, Shaw said.
“They are so confused, they don’t seem to know what the hell they’re doing. You begin to wonder how well they are trained,” she said.
In a public statement, Comcast said it holds all its employees, whether they are in-house or contracted, to the same standards and expects them to provide quality service.
Mona Shaw’s disorderly conduct case will be heard in Prince William District Court in December.
Have the 3-play here in MD...First try, everything works..got phone service free as being new customer, once offer expires will be removing phone....who needs it, with cheap cell service...
If you do get soemthing like Dish TV, you will need a box for each two sets. We needed six tv hookups. Well, fun time. You cannot lease a third box. You must buy it and/or get a 2nd satellite dish. If you attempt to get some understanding on this from Dish TV's customer service... be prepared to speak to someone in Manila (a long way to bring a hammer).
However, on Dish TV the programming is excellent. We have the "Everything Package." I've never been more pleased with a service. It's much better and less expensive than dealing with the cable bastards.
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