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Ok... my net has been down on and off, for those who do not know about it, well this is where I have been lately. Its been pretty ok this past week, but yeah. I knew we had old cabling in the house, but its been like that at other places we have lived and It has never been this bad! So we are finally considering leaving cable...

Before I get started here, I just wanted to say if you are a technician and you do a good job, hell even if you do a bad job but you are honest - please don't take this post personally!

So the net went down on a Tuesday, and it was a sign of the times over here for a household of people beholden to the net, and especially two girls trying to get their finals done (one of which included a web publishing course which is online only). Of course its a disaster. Its trips to kinkos to turn in homework.. extended periods of time down at the school, and requests for understanding from the teachers who have probably heard all kinds of bullshit, you know?

The soonest they can come out is a Saturday.. I am understanding having worked in tech support for an internet company - there is not much you can do about it. And besides it will be, for the most part, just in time to get the final uploaded. The guy arrives at the end of his scheduled time frame - almost 7pm (nothing new there, they get busy) and basically comes in to say he cant work on anything because the apartment locks the access to the taps and they are closed. I'm like: ********. I didn't know that our new apartments did this, but, yeah its still my responsibility to have the equipment accessible. I try to decide whether or not I can contact someone on the repair number when this guy says he can come out tomorrow but that he can't work on it tonight.

So, I'm like ok... he probably wants to get home, its late anyway (and dark soon) lets forget it, tomorrow will be fine. He begins to make a few tests or something to ensure its not the modem (we already knew that because when it was installed they told me I had a bad prewire and lower than good signal and for the most part I just wanted them to tell me why it got much worse and to get them to put a note on the account so I can try to follow up with the managers here and get the wires changed).

I ask him what I need to get started with getting my apartments to work on the wiring, and he flat out tells me they (the apartment managers) won't do it. I try to argue and say I just had a customer service person give me the gist of what I had to do and he says, yeah they tell you that but they wont do it. And I'm like, what wait a minute.. not only did the guy tell me what to do he told me he knew of several people in the same complex who had gone through the same situation. Unfortunately I did not get the details because this was all before our net was down and I wasn't sure I was ready to go through the hassle. Anyway, finally I begin to get frustrated trying to give details which I couldn't rightly remember - except for a name (mc communications). I mention it and the guy tells me its going to cost 2-3k to put in a new wire for my apartments. I blink a few times and I'm like who believes this bullshit?

Ok maybe I'm wrong.. I admit I didn't check into it, but the thing is I used to work in satellite tech support so I kinda had the gist of prices for this sort of thing and my idea of 2-3 hundred was a little off. I decided to just be quiet and not argue with the guy.

Later when I mention I wish I could go down and have a look myself at the tap he leaves to make sure the access is locked - because he didn't check already, which is fine, but it just says something about the whole operation.

Finally, when he is getting ready to take off, he begins to call in to set up the time for tomorrow and asks me if my managers work on the weekends. I hesitate, thinking that yes I remember they are, but I want to make sure and so I call my sister and ask her (we just moved in here). While I am doing so he decides that hes not coming tomorrow - he'll set it up for Monday now - because he says I don't know for sure they are open. >.< Which is pretty much utter BS, I realized for some reason he now decides he doesn't want to come out tomorrow either. Sigh. I say I am pretty sure they are open (I got confirmation over the phone too), so I try to tell him that, and now he says he *knows* they aren't since he comes here all the time! I am so frustrated with this guy by this time I ask him to leave and say I will make the call to set up the appointment (and ask for another tech).

While I'm calling I decide to walk down to the office and make sure I am not crazy, and sure enough they are open on weekends (teach me to double check something out of consideration). The next available day is Wednesday (of course I was expecting that). Final is due on Tuesday. Yay! Anyway, there is one thing I cannot stand and that is someone insulting my intelligence. I mean, go ahead and lie in the interest of pleasing the customer, but please make it believable at least - and especially don't lie about something which can be checked upon.

Ok, this story is to be continued. Its already insanely long for an angst against Comcast.