Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Things You Probably Shouldn't Do at Work

For the past month I have been having problems with my cable provider. 

It all started right after I got back from Key West. I turned on my TV after a long hard vacation/work trip ready to watch Grey's and Private Practice to find my DVR had been erased - everything that I had pre-recorded and all the shows I still hadn't watched from the week before poof gone. Of course I was irate since I'm one of those people that love TV (as I have mentioned over and over). 

I called RCN, my cable provider, and they informed me that I had low signal and that I would probably need a new cable box. So the next week they sent out a technician who gave me a new cable box and then proceeded to tell me that he didn't know why but my signal was low (you think genius?) and that he would need to send a proper technician out to fix it the next day. Of course that guy never showed up.

So I called the next week, fuming, and told them my plight. They opened a work order and told me to wait for dispatch to give me a call to set up an appointment. Three days pass, nada. So I call back and this time they set up an appointment -- catch being that it is an all day appointment where someone needs to be home from 8-5PM to let in the technician.

Since I have a 8-5 job, my little sister who was home on her Spring Break from college, offered to sit in my apartment and wait for the cable guy. 5PM rolls around and I am about to get on my plane to NYC (to see WG1 for her bday of course), and my sister tells me no one has showed up and no one has called all day long. I call RCN in an irate state and start bitching and they drop the bomb on me that an all day appointment isn't 8-5...it's actually 8-8PM so there is nothing they can do until 8PM. So my sister waits till 8PM. Guess who still doesn't show up? Yea, so predictable.

Last week, during work, I call RCN and scream until I barely have a voice. I talk to managers and supervisors and no one will do anything but put in another work order and offer me a free month of HBO (which is useless when you don't have signal BTW). So I let them put in another work order and waited 8 days for someone to call me. Nothing. I have not heard one peep. 

Today, in my last ditch attempt, I called RCN again and I got the same song and dance about work orders and dispatch will call me. This time I cried BS and cancelled my subscription. So doing this in the workplace probably isn't the best idea, especially when you are so fuming angry that veins are popping out of your neck as berate the customer service reps who can barely mutter two sentences and offer up "condolences all all your frustrations". A co-worker kindly offered to transfer the call into an empty office so I could bitch in peace. 

After I finally cancelled and went back to my desk, a co-worker of mine who sits in the office behind me (aka my one of my only friends who also happens to be over 50) offered up this sage advice, "WG2," she said, "Cable providers are like boyfriends. You dump them and you move on." 

Nicely put co-worker, nicely put. 

18 comments:

Sam said...

Cable companies are sooo frustrating! I'm sorry they put you through so much BS. As for things you probably shouldn't do at work, when you're working full time, sometimes you can help but take care of personal stuff. I'm in the process of moving, so I have to find new doctors. Of course, most doctors are only open 9-5, so I've had to make some calls from work. It happens, so don't worry too much. Good luck with your TV issue!

Cristina said...

lol...I have done this numerous times, its no wonder the entire office knows all of my business!

I feel your pain WG2!

PS - How was NYC?

L.L. said...

Hey, you know what? I promise you if you're making a call like that at work, your bosses are doing it too. Cable companies are a joke. They don't have to offer customer service because they know people will do anything to have TV, including wait for almost a month. Just as bad as cell providers!

Chatham said...

I feel your pain right now, except mine is in the form of a freezer.

Situations like this make me want to rip off faces.

Dollface said...

Oh my.. I have had problems with RCN as well.... and nothing is worse then coming home to an empty DVR.. im sorry!! xoxo

Anonymous said...

Amen! Divine advise :-)

Raychelle said...

Oh my goodness! I would have been irate too! That is terrible service. We have Direct TV and love it! I've also heard great things about AT&T's Uverse (like that you can watch your DVR'd shows in ANY room!!) Hopefully you'll find another company who will treat you better :) Good luck!

Katness said...

I like that advice your co-worker gave you. It goes with so many other things as well.

Sarah said...

Nice story. I get the same way with my stupid cable provider. I know exactly what you mean and I love this story. :) Glad I'm not the only one who gets extremely angry over a cable box. LOL

golublog said...

We canceled our internet just because we didn't want to deal with time warner. We rather erratically steal cable then deal with waiting for the service guy that never comes.

ruthibel said...

lmao!

Bayjb said...

Oh dear I totally hear you. *knock on wood* I've not had any issues with RCN but that stuff is so frustrating. Comcast was my nightmare. I hate cable companies.

BLC :o said...

Muahah, that is too funny. I heart your co-worker's take. Xoxo-BLC

Unknown said...

Ohhh nothing worse than dealing with communications companies.

Rachel said...

the same thing happened to me with Comcast! i spent the first few weeks of my job on the brink of tears calling them trying to set up our cable and internet. it was miserable.

Anonymous said...

This is one reason I just don't have tv at all. I always made my roommates deal with it, and now that I'm on my own I won't do it at all! And every company is the same!

Bridget said...

We have a company called Mediacom. We recently cancelled our subscription because they (without warning) raised our rates about 30%. Cable companies don't have to work hard to get business because they have a monopoly. It stinks!

Anonymous said...

I feel bad for your sister! Totally wasted a whole day out of her holiday for a cable guy that didn't come. It was nice of her not to totally get mad. I feel your frustration!!!!