The Comcast Xfinity Mega-FAIL

So there I was late on Sunday afternoon, in front of my computer, which is in my basement. I think I've mentioned that before, but in case you weren't aware, keep this in mind as you continue to read. I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when I noticed that none of the pictures people were posting, via Twitpic, Instagram, etc., were opening when I clicked on them. I looked at the cable modem and the little light on the side that indicates a signal is available, was out. I had no Internet service.

I tried cutting the power to my modem and rebooting, but it didn't help. I figured Comcast, or Xfinity, or whatever they're calling themselves this week, was having a temporary glitch. (I'll just use Comcast the rest of the way, because Xfinity is a monumentally stupid name.) So I went up to my living room to watch the rest of the NFC playoff game (by the way, as well as the New York Giants played, the Green Bay Packers really, really gave the game away with flat-out awful play). When it ended I watched "The Simpsons," and then went back downstairs to try the computer again.

No luck. No Internet connection. Which means, because my phone service is VoIP, I had to rely on my cell phone as I called Comcast. I was on the phone for an hour as their representative tried various things or had me try various things. Because my cell phone gets no signal in the basement, I kept having to run up and down the stairs each time the guy did something. First he sent a signal to refresh my cable modem, then tried something else, then asked me to push the reset button, then asked if I had a wireless connection of some kind. Then he asked if my modem was connected to a splitter or if it was connected directly to the main wire. Since I have an extra TV outlet in the basement, there is a splitter. One line then goes to the TV, the other to the modem. So I suggested I try switching out the cable going from the splitter to the modem, because my TV service was fine; I thought that stretch of wire might be causing the problem. I took off the old cable, put on the new cable, and...still no luck.

The rep finally said he'd have to send a technician out, but because of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday the earliest someone could come out was Tuesday. I told him I didn't want to go two days without service. He said that they have some people to work emergencies, but that in my area of the city they didn't have anyone to cover it (really!). He said he could set up a service appointment for 5 pm-7 pm Tuesday. I explained that I could not miss work and, because of my lengthy commute, wouldn't get home until 6 pm at the earliest. He said that the best he could do was put a note on the schedule to make my stop the very last stop of the day. So I told him to do that, but if everything didn't go perfectly that I'd cancel my entire Comcast service, noting that I've been a customer for over 20 years.

Way To Keep Up, Virgin Mobile

There are times when I complain on Twitter about my Virgin Mobile wireless service -- because they have more than a reasonable number (or at least reasonable to me) of problems with their web service. Either I have a slow connection or none at all. And any time I do, some Virgin Mobile Twitter account will post a reply asking how they can help me. It's not like there's anything they can do. The problems are never with my phone or my ability to use it. It's always with their connection.

So today, just after I got outside and was waiting for the bus, I tried to update Twitter via my phone's web browser and got "Network Connection Failed." Same thing for other web sites.  Via text message I updated Twitter at 5:37 pm:

 

It's nice that their help desk personnel, or whomever, are so up to date.

Two things...

1) I'm not sure how removing the battery would help. I know my friend Kurt has had to do this with his BlackBerry, especially the one he had before that was really bad, when the screen would freeze or it would otherwise not cooperate. I don't have that problem. My phone, for what it's worth, works fine, and even when these web outages occur I've always been able to text or make calls.

2) Notice how I pieced those three tweets into one image? I just pasted them onto a word document and typed in between. I am so smart! S-M-R-T...

More Comcastic Customer Service

Just before Memorial Day I got a letter from Comcast saying the modem I've had for some years now "may not be able to handle the increased speed" they're supposedly providing, so they wanted to give me a new modem at no additional cost. I called to have it sent to me, and got it on Thursday. I hooked it up and at first I was unable to connect to the web. Then I finally was directed to a page on their website to activate my service (which really meant to activate the modem). I went through the process and seemed to be going okay, but then it stalled out and I couldn't do anything. I hit the Back button on Firefox and it took me to the very beginning instead of to the previous screen. I tried to start the process again and got an error message.

This would have been a problem as my phone service is VoIP and if I don't have the Internet, I don't have phone service. (It's a very good service, by the way. If you want to try it, send me an email so I can refer you and we both would get a $10 credit.) Since my cell phone signal is just about nonexistent where my computer is located, it would have been a problem calling them from upstairs, running back and forth to follow their instructions (the predictable "unplug it and then plug it in again/reboot the computer" merry-go-round). On a whim I picked up my phone and was surprised to find I had service. I called Comcast and was on hold when I discovered that, while I was still being directed back to that Comcast activation page every time I opened Firefox or tried to go to my home page, I could actually visit other websites. I tried various bookmarked sites with no problem. It was only my home page I couldn't access. So, since I was hungry and tired of waiting on the phone, I hung up and sent them a message through their website:

I installed the new modem I received. I tried activating it and something is screwed up. Every time I open my browser, instead of going to my home page it goes back to the Comcast page to activate my service. I can go to any other websites with no problem, I can get my email, but if I try to go my home page (Yahoo.com), either by clicking the Home icon or typing the URL, it always takes me back to the same Comcast page asking for my account number to start the activation process.

Later that day, when I went online again, I got to Yahoo just fine. Whatever the problem was had been corrected. The next day, however,

The Post That Keeps On...

...posting? Perhaps that's not quite it. Anyway, every now and then I get a comment on my post from last fall regarding a credit card transaction for "PNL Advertising" that I was sure was fraudulent, until it turned out to be for a B-52's ticket I bought from Philly Dealyo (the Philly.com version of Groupon). It seems I'm not the only one who can't remember what I purchased when their billing is listed with such an obscure name. Come on, Philly.com, fix this. Better yet, don't, since it helps me get blog hits.

Granted, it probably doesn't get me as many pics as Fake Jake...

Sirius-ly?

Ever since I canceled my Sirius satellite radio subscription, they've been trying to get me back. There was the occasional letter. Recently, there were phone calls. Many phone calls. What started out as an occasional call became at least two calls a day. Both in the morning and in the late afternoon or early evening, like clockwork. I did some Googling and found some discussion board comments saying that they're pretty relentless. (Or desperate, as I mentioned in the above-linked post; the letter I got today again offered the $20 for 5 months' service deal.) An automated calling system dials your number. If you answer, you're then connected to one of their representatives. And even if you ask the caller to stop calling you, to remove you from their system, that doesn't always work.

The first times the calls came in, since I didn't recognize the number showing up in my caller ID I didn't bother to answer. There's never a voicemail (since it doesn't connect to the rep unless you answer). One night I finally answered and the caller said, "I'm calling from Sirius/XM..." At that point I hung up. Then the calls began coming twice a day, every day. So I took a new, more fun approach. If I was in front of my computer when the call came in, and if I was listening to music, I'd pick up but not say anything, and just put the phone down on my desk next to a speaker. After a bit they'd hang up. I did this three or four times in a week.

In the last few days I haven't had any calls. I'm not sure if they've finally given up or not. I had planned to begin vehemently cursing out the callers, but I thought of something else instead. On their website I still have an account setup (where I could log in to make payments, etc.). So I changed the phone number in my contact information. Remember the phone number that we used to be able to call to get weather forecasts? That's my new phone number...as far as Sirius is concerned.

How To Save Money On Sirius/XM

There's some excellent money-saving advice in this for you if you currently are a subscriber to Sirius/XM satellite radio, so pay attention. I've been a Sirius subscriber for a few years (back before they merged with XM). Last year at this time, because of my financial situation, I decided to cancel. I changed my mind when they offered me a year at half-price -- about $80.00 instead of $160.00 (I'm rounding these numbers, by the way). I really like listening to music commercial-free, and I'm not able to get a reliable wi-fi signal in my living room to listen to Internet radio (which I'm listening to right now, since I'm in the basement in front of the computer).

Since things still haven't improved, and when my account statement on their website said I would owe $160.00 for the coming year, I again decided to cancel. I called on Friday. The woman I spoke to offered the $80.00 deal again. I declined. She made another offer, which I didn't hear clearly, but I just turned it down again, not bothering to ask her to repeat it. So she said she would take care of canceling my subscription.

The satellite signal still was coming in to the receiver, though. In the last couple of days I've gotten a number of calls from a toll-free number (my caller ID displayed the number but not the name of the caller). I usually let them go to voice mail unless I know the caller, but last night I decided to pick up. It was a recorded message from Sirius asking if I received my bill, saying I owed $160.00, etc. The woman I spoke to didn't do anything. More customer service incompetence.

So I called back today, and told the guy who answered what happened, and said clearly that I cannot afford it and it has to be canceled. He said he would take care of it, but then repeated the second offer that the woman had made last week: five months for $20.00.

Four dollars per month! That tells me that Sirius/XM is really desperate to keep subscribers. I still turned it down, and the subscription was finally canceled and the signal cut off. It's sad but I had to do it. So if you subscribe to Sirius/XM, just threaten to cancel and say you can't afford it and they'll offer you a nice price break.

Today's DJT (Dumb Joe Tale)

I was looking at the current statement for one of my credit card accounts, and saw a $25.00 transaction listed that I didn't have a receipt for and had no memory of. The statement listing said "PNL Advertising" followed by what turned out to be a phone number (there was a 0 in front of it so I didn't realize it was a phone number). I called the credit card company and the woman I spoke to said it was for "books, or a newspaper or magazine" based on the info in their system.

Still didn't ring a bell. If it was a book, if I didn't buy it in a store (such as Borders) I bought it from Amazon. The magazines I get in the mail (Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated) were obtained by redeeming Dividend Miles from US Airways. The last payment I made for my Daily News subscription was in June and the payment covers delivery through mid-December. I did not authorize any auto-renew option. For a moment I thought that might be it, thinking the "PN" in "PNL" might stand for Philadelphia Newspapers. But the "L" threw me off. Also, it referred to advertising and I didn't take out any ads. It made no sense. I asked if there were any more details about it, because if I knew where the store was where the transaction occurred (if there was a store) it might jog my memory. She found an address -- in York, Pennsylvania. I've never been to York in my life.

The credit card rep said I should call the number on the statement first, and gave me another number to call for disputed transactions if I didn't get it resolved. I called the number and got a voice mail that said, "If you're calling about a credit card transaction for PNL Advertising please call..." followed by a different number. I started to really get agitated, thinking that this obviously was a scam. But how? The card has never been stolen, and I haven't even used it lately except for a couple of transactions in September that were done online.

The voicemail continued: "If you're calling about a credit card transaction for Philly Dealyo..."

I hung up the phone, feeling incredibly stupid. Remember the half-price B-52's ticket I bought? Yeah. That. D'oh.

IHOP Screwed Me!

When I was walking around Outfest earlier this month I happened upon the IHOP table. There's been an IHOP in the Gayborhood for...I dunno, a year or two now? Well, they were asking people to sign up for their mailing list, to get emails with coupons and promotions and the like. The first deal would be a free Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity. I like free stuff, and if it's food, so much the better. So I signed up. A few days later I got an email with the deal. I didn't print it out at the time. I was going to do it the next day and again decided to wait for some reason. A couple of days after that, I decided to print it, only to find I can't. The email suddenly has an addition. Note the area I've circled:

Can you believe this? I assume this is to try and prevent people from forwarding it around or printing it multiple times or something, but there has to be a better way than this. I wonder if there's a cookie on my computer that caused this? I want my free food, dammit!

Phils Playoff Tickets Are Mine! Or Not...

Here's the text of the email I just sent to the Phillies, who have offered me the "opportunity" to buy tickets to Game 1 of the NL Division Series tomorrow...

You sent me an email saying I have the opportunity to purchase NLDS tickets. The email instructs me to:

1. Click the "Buy Tickets" button below.
2. Underneath "Postseason Ticket Opportunity," click the "Activate Your Account Online" button.
3. Enter your Account Number and your PIN (located above) in the appropriate fields.
4. Click the "Activate" button to proceed through the purchase process.

I did all that and got a message saying my email address is already in use and to try another. I tried my other email address and got the same message. If I log in as a returning customer I get "no events/items available."

Clearly your system is flawed since I can't purchase tickets using the account number/PIN you sent me or the ones I already have, so thanks for nothing.

UPDATE: The email response from the Phillies' ticket office:

Thank you for your email. All you have to do is enter an email address that is not associated with any other offers you have received from the Phillies or your Phillies account. You may need to create an email account or use a family member's email address.

So, since I'm not a season ticket holder and doubt that I'll be able to afford to be one any time soon, I'm supposed to create another email account? And then another one next year? And yet another the year after that? Or use someone else's email address, assuming that they don't have their own Phillies account? And by the time I create a new email account, or get someone's permission to use theirs, and assuming I can access their email somehow to get my email to confirm my purchase/print out the tickets, do you think there will actually be any tickets left to buy? The sale started at 3 pm today. I logged on at 3:05 pm. Tickets for eight Eagles home games sell out in 15 minutes or less. How fast do you think the small number of tickets for this one Phillies playoff game would go? Hell, I'm sure they're gone already anyway.

Unreal. Remind me next year to not register for the lottery to buy playoff tickets.

Half The Price, Twice The Hassle

I found a half-price ticket offer for the B-52's concert this Friday at the Electric Factory at PhillyDealYo (I'm not crazy about that name), a site connected to Philly.com that has daily specials. Usually these deals are for restaurants or shops, not for concerts. "$50.00 ticket for $25.00" was the offer. I've wanted to see the B-52's in concert but $50.00 is out of my price range. So is $25.00, probably, but I bought one anyway.

So I signed up, and once the minimum number of purchases were made and the deal became official (if they don't reach that minimum they cancel the offer) I received an email with instructions on how to get my ticket. I had to print out a voucher and take it to the Electric Factory box office. The voucher said I could redeem it during normal hours, including the day of the show.

Yesterday, since I was downtown, not far from the Electric Factory, I decided to head over to the box office and get my ticket so I wouldn't have to wait in line the night of the show. At the window I handed the woman the voucher. She and another woman looked at it and told me I had to bring it back the night of the show. "That's not what it says," I explained, and repeated the instructions on the voucher. I then stood there, in the 90-degree late afternoon sun, for about 20 minutes while the two women tried to figure out what to do, sometimes entering info into the computers; I think one woman got on the phone with someone at one point. Apparently this was the first time they had to deal with such a promotion. Eventually they determined that it was a deal between the PhillyDealYo site and Ticketmaster, and Ticketmaster had to authorize the discount ticket, and one woman said "we put in the request to Ticketmaster but I don't know how long it's going to take." Or something like that. It was only a minute or two after that when the ticket finally printed out.

(In case you still want to go, I checked the Ticketmaster site and it seems the actual ticket price is $39.50, but their added fees are $10.20; apparently, if you go to the Electric Factory box office and pay cash you can avoid the Ticketbastard fees.)

I only hope that I don't get half the entertainment for the half-price ticket!