I think it’s safe to say that I thought 2014 was going to be fabulous. I bought myself a car for Christmas, and I was on cloud nine until January 5. That’s when it started to go downhill. My apartment flooded due to a busted pipe, I had to move to a hotel two days later, and just as repairs were on the way, there was a fire. Welcome to 2014.
Fast forward to April 16: I’m settled into my new apartment and I’m ready to select an internet service provider, but monopoly-style conditions mean I’ve only got two choices: Comcast and AT&T. I’m no fan of Comcast, but they had a good deal, so I said let me try it, what atrocities could I enter with just the internet? Let’s make a list:
(I wanted this to be a list and number but I had no idea how exactly to break it up without interrupting the story.)
- I placed my Internet order for the self-install kit (sans modem, I had one from my previous provider and I figured I’d try to use that one first); it arrived on April 16 – two coaxial cables and a guidebook. I follow all of the steps to set it up the connection for at least an hour before I decide to call Comcast to figure out what the issue was and the representative said my modem wasn’t approved and I would have to either buy my own or order theirs.
- I opted to order theirs the next morning via chat and that didn’t go over too well as the representative told me I can use mine after I told him it was not approved and I just wanted to order one. Of course, the same thing happened that night when I called and I asked that representative (I spoken to three so far) to send me a modem, her response: “Oh Miss White, you don’t have to do that. You can go into the customer service center and pick up one. They have the modem you need available and I will send you a text message of the location and number of available modems.” A little irritated, I got off the phone; set on going to the center the next day (Friday) after work. Needless to say I left without one because they didn’t have one I needed after she said she ordered it for me to be sent to the “address on my account” and that I would have it “around Wednesday.”
That Wednesday came and went twice and I called Comcast to check on its status and the status was there was none. It was never ordered yet I had a bill for the pre-billed month of service. I took a deep breath and politely told ___ there would be no payment for services not rendered and she apologized saying, “We’ll issue your credit once you receive and activate the modem because we can only credit the account once.” So she places the order and gives me the confirmation number, date that it would arrive in five to seven business days and its deliverer, UPS. Another two weeks go by and no modem so at this point I am beyond irritated and am now calling Comcast to cancel and to talk about these bills I received. Cancelling service was successful; they even tried to keep me by my sending a modem overnight, no thanks, then we moved on to the bill that was supposed to be taken care of by them since they have numerous notes about me not having service then she says “Well, your outside the 30-day money back guarantee.” “Okay, so what does that mean because I’ve spoken to several representatives, you guys have failed to do your part. I have not connected to the internet through any kind of Comcast service.” “Yes ma’am Miss White, I completely understand. We will get this taken care of.” Either I don’t know what get this taken care of means or that faux assurance was just lip service, and I pick the latter. Because that conversation happened May 19 and on May 30, I received a bill stating that I owed for two months of service and the self-installation kit.
On Monday, June 2, I called Comcast before morning huddle and spoke to Collete and he informed me that I had to pay because they sent out an installation kit even though I’ve had no service. I was getting extremely frustrated and I asked him to transfer me to a supervisor since he could not do anything to the charges… and apparently that was too hard because some kind of way the got phone disconnected. After huddle, I call again and this time I get Tonya, the seemingly most helpful representative that I’ve encountered and explained the entire situation to her, and she was able to put in a supervisor escalation to approve the credit at the time of disconnection and it would take 24-72 hours. I thanked her a great deal as she gave me the confirmation number and I’m thinking this nightmare was over.
Boy, was I wrong. Considering the past history with Comcast expressed above, I decided to follow up June 17 speaking with Chuck and the charges had not been taken care of and the account was in collections. I asked Chuck how could that be when it was supposed to be taken care of when I talked to Tonya on the 2nd. I gave him the confirmation number and he couldn’t any updates on that information so he transferred me to supervisor Paul and Billy asked the phone and in mid-sentence he hung up. I call back and speak to Esa, located in Michigan and asked her to be transferred again to collections again, but she said wait I might be able to help you, what’s going on. I give her the run down and she says hold on let me check to see if we have a modem on your account. I was placed on a hold for maybe a minute before she clicked back over and said “Okay, we’ve never had you connected at any moment so I just waived the charges.” Of course that sounded way too simple and I asked follow up questions on how I could confirm that this happened? How could I be so sure that wasn’t getting swindled this time too? Easy. I waited a few hours until I went to get lunch and called back there was no balance and no account. Thanks Comcast for being terrible at providing the Internet.
Now somewhere around waiting for the second Comcast modem to never I appear on May 19, I called AT&T to order their Internet. They were originally my first choice since that’s who I had before above apartment came to inevitable demise by water then fire, but I would have had to get DSL since U-verse wasn’t available yet and was a little bit more pricey and I wanted to save a few dollars. Alas, I call them and set an appointment for May 22 from 1 pm to 4 pm. That faithful Thursday appears and I leave the office around 1:30 to head home to wait for their people, missing fun at work. 4 pm rolls around and there’s no sign of AT&T so I call the number on the preliminary bill they sent me (that I was quoted the wrong price for, more on that later), speaking with Paul only to find out that the governor issued a state of emergency for a severe weather advisory so dispatch has ended services indefinitely but I was tentatively scheduled for June 2. I get on the Google only to find nothing about such an emergency, and I said, “You have to be mistaken, the sun is shining brightly and I’m looking at the news now, and there’s no such thing being talked about, so what else can you tell me? And at what point, was anyone from AT&T going to call me to let me know because you all have wasted my time.” (Deep sigh) “I’m so sorry Miss White there’s not anything I can do until dispatch takes this governor issued state of emergency and I don’t know when that will be.” Well, thanks for nothing I guess and also this price is not the one I was told when I signed up for service and he assured me that one thing he knows that AT&T does is stand by their quotes, and he asked if I would like to speak with a billing specialist; I declined because I felt at any moment I was about to blow and I was quite frankly tired of talking to people.
May 27, I called back to straighten out the billing discrepancy, I spoke with Jacqueline first, then Lee, then Jackie who said she was “expedite” my service since my AT&T rescheduled date of service was June 2, and then because pricing still wasn’t straightened I was transferred to Tracy who swore that they couldn’t do that and I had to get phone, which I didn’t even want. So after much conversation a total of 1:34:08 we agreed and she, too, was going to expedite my service and call me back personally from her Mississippi to let me know by the end of the day because she canceled my June 2 day since “new” orders get a preferred date. That was at around 10:30 a.m. or 11 a.m. as I called at 8:48 a.m. Of course the end of the day came and I still hadn’t heard anything so I called back on the 30th speaking with Estelle getting a date of June 5 for the 1 pm to 4 pm time slot again.
AT&T sent me another letter insuring me that my DSL Internet services would be activated on June 5 after 8 pm and that it was not contingent on phone services. This sounded fine with me. June 5 rolls around and I get a call from Charles saying that he’ll be on his way to my apartment in 15 to 30 minutes. Perfect. I go home, sit on my couch and wait. He calls to say he’s been driving around for 10 minutes trying to find parking and I suggest him parking in the roundabout and come in through my complex’s office – but there was no space and I told him he could come into our garage, but the truck he had was the one with all the buckets and couldn’t fit so he was going to call the supervisor to see if he could send someone else out today who had a regular truck. At least an hour goes by so at this point, I call him back but got no answer so I left a message. He called me back to let me know he had called the supervisor and is waiting for word back. I went to drop my rent check off at the office and ask if they’ve seen any AT&T trucks and they informed me they haven’t. I came back to my apartment to see a missed call that happened three seconds ago so I immediately call back, no answer and I couldn’t leave a message because their voicemail wasn’t set up. I sent a text message to ask if it was AT&T letting them know I was still home and I received nothing. I decide that I’ve wasted enough time so I go back to work and still hear nothing from AT&T until 5:47: “We’re sorry we’re unable to repair your service today. Rescheduled as priority for tomorrow.” Great, just great… but keeping in mind that the DSL letter said my services would be working after 8 pm on June 5 not needing a phone so I decided to make the final call at that time.
Around 9, I set up shop in my hallway to hook up all the cords and follow the guidebook’s steps and after an hour of nothing I decided to call it a night and try again in the morning. By this point, I am worn out and I feel like the universe and God are clearly trying to tell me to read all these new books I just purchased from Barnes and Noble and not get caught up with Orange is the New Black series. I’m just about ready to accept it. I wake up bright and early that Friday morning to try everything again, and still no connection so I call AT&T to see what’s the problem. The technician, Lisa says that my services haven’t been activated even though I received a letter in the mail stating that activation would be on June 5, 2014 after 8 pm when clearly today is June 6 and no Internet for me. I asked her how could that be and when she couldn’t give me an answer, I politely asked her to cancel my services. She attempts to protest, but I was done reasoning so she transferred me to customer relations to Justin who tried to make it as if I was being overzealous about my services when they have a new installation date of June 6 after 8 pm. I politely told him that’s not what AT&T stated in the letter they sent to me, and if Internet service was contingent on phone set up then it should have stated that in the letter and it didn’t, it stated the opposite because quite frankly my services were supposed be set up on May 22, but you all lied about there being a state of emergency issued and that didn’t happen so it’s clear to me that providing internet services is not your forte either. that I’m not waiting another day nor giving up any more hours at work for the service that may never come. He took a moment then asked what modem I had and I told him and he proceeded to tell me that it’s not the right one and I retorted letting him know that they didn’t tell me that when I called them and I asked them on several occasions to make sure, but it doesn’t matter now that I’m cancelling services now does it? “I guess not ma’am,” he said. “Your services have been cancelled as you requested.” “Thank you,” I said and hung up the phone. Surprisingly dispatch could come up with that elaborate fabrication that the governor issued a state of emergency, but couldn’t quite tell Chris that I had cancelled my services so he didn’t need to call me at 1:15 pm. So Kudos to you too, AT&T for being bad at providing the Internet too. It was just must not be meant for me to live in the Gulch and have the Internet and to universe and God, I accept this fate.
Signed,
Ashley, the internet-less girl.
