[sf-lug] Why I'm not a huge Comcast fan (2015 incident)

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Akkana Peck (akkana at shallowsky.com):

> That is an amazing story. I hope you don't mind my linking to it
> from my own (less impressive) Comcast saga:
> http://shallowsky.com/comcast-odyssey.html

You're of course welcome to.

Since re-posting that 2015 story, I found yet more bobbles in the text,
which I've now gone back and fixed in the Web archive file (the one you
link to).  That includes little things like correctly giving the superb
antenna installer firm's name as AV Solution Pros (BTW, Web site is
https://avsolutionpros.com/ , and one actually significant screw-up
where I mistakenly referred to Cberyl's new Comcast Business Internet
service as 'aDSL' -- whereas of course it's Internet service over cable
TV cabling, not aDSL, which arrives over telco landlines.


At the time I wrote that, as I mentioned, I had been _really_ close to
suing Comcast and its dreadfully bad subcontractor O.C. Communications.
To boil down the point of my long saga, what particularly incensed me
was:

1.  The O.C. Communications guy (Timothy Almacer) deliberately blew off
his customer's (Cheryl's) attempts to supervise his work and be in the
loop.  This is an instant red flag; it means the guy went rogue from the
start.  Unfortunately, beause I'd wanted to have nothing to do with
Comcast and required Cheryl to manage _her_ contract with them, I didn't
learn about O.C. Communications going off the reservation until after I
kicked them off my property.

2.  Their guy _gratuitously_ destroyed absolutely all wiring
infrastructure coming into my house, except for PG&E electrical.

3.  This included, in particular, sabotaging the TV antenna feed
we'd paid $400 to install four years earlier in order to fire Comcast's
lousy and dishonestly managed cable TV service.  Plus the Comcast
contractor stole part of the underfloor cable network we were using
for the antenna signal.

4.  Confronted about his sabotage, the installer guy lied, ludicrously
disclaimed responsibility for the breakage, and tried to distract my
attention away from his criminal action at my roofline by asking me to
go look at the telephone pole.

5.  Moreover, his alleged boss Josh F., upon arrival to supposedly
handle the situation as an escalation, did the same thing.  And also 
refused to give his full name.


At the end of the first day, I made clear to Comcast upper management 
that they and their contractor were liable and that I was likely to 
chew their asses in court.  Comcast offered to send Comcast _corporate_ 
techs (rather than O.C. Communications again) the next day to do repair.
I let them schedule a 6pm visit, but said frankly I would rather that
the antenna guys fix their sabotage, and that I expected Comcast to 
promptly pick up the bill for any required work.  The Comcast manager
agreed, which helped end the matter without litigation.

> I had an earlier, more minor, run-in with Comcast when I lived in
> San Jose. I had signed up for a basic cable package, not the fancier
> digital option (which supposedly wasn't even an option in that part
> of San Jose at that time anyway). The morning the cable installer
> came, he puttered around the living room for a little while and then
> asked, "Where's the telephone line I should plug into?"
> 
> Me: "Um ... telephone line? Excuse me? Nobody said anything about that."
> 
> It turned out that despite what I had been told on the phone, he
> was auto-upgrading us to a fancier package, which apparently
> required a phone connection in order to phone home periodically
> about what was being watched.


Eh, that would be an 'absolutely hell no' from me.

These days, if a utility contractor is going to visit for work, I
require being briefed in advance about what is to be done where,
in writing.  Then, when the tech arrives, we review that, to make
sure there's no confusion.  And then I watch them like a hawk and make
sure they do exactly what was in the work order, all of it, and nothing
not part of the work order.  If they show signs of going rogue (through 
substantive actions that are outside the pian) , I plan to make a record
of what happened, tell them the job is now cancelled, order them
immediately off my property, and notify management that they screwed it
up, and would they like to make a new appointment to send someone who
can follow a work order?

I remember one time I had a contractor visit to unclog the drains, and I
carelessly left him alone for a while.  Suddenly, I noticed that the
house Internet link was down.  I came out to the garage, and found 
that he'd made an executive decision to unplug AC power to my aDSL
bridge unit and _my server_, in order to plug something of his in.
Moreover, he saw nothing wrong with just yanking power to a mini-colo of
sensitive infrastructure electronics, and merely looked sullen when I
read him the riot act.

Lesson learned.  No more unsupervised utility workers.  Instead, watch
them like a hawk, and be prepared to say 'Stop.  Hands off, and tell me
what you were about to do there and why.'




> That was maybe ten years ago and I've been fine with DSL internet
> and no TV. Comcast obviously thinks that people are so desperate for
> TV that they'll unquestioningly accept whatever plan Comcast decides
> to foist on them, regardless of whether it's what they ordered.

See the URLs in the first part of my epic anecdote, giving detail about
Deirdre's 2010 decision to cut the cable and get our TV from
over-the-air plus Internet sources.  She arrives at some interesting
conclusions and figures.  One of the takeaways is that every Comcast
cable TV customer is subsidising the expensive ESPN sports coverage,
whether they are ordering the sports channels or not.  As of 2010, that
was the biggest single reason for the price-jacking that lead us to give
them the heave-ho completely.  (At the time, we'd noticed they had
surreptitiously upsold Deirdre onto a higher-priced plan than the one
she'd agreed to, and then were dishonest about having done so, and that
was the last straw.)