not a Comcast tech /// Comcast corporate policy says no shorts.

Why didn’t you drop a snake on his lap and see what happens? Or is that the next video?

hey lance, don’t you think there’s also a “Comcast corporate policy” against falling asleep on customers’ couches?

If you’re going to take the job as the guy who googles “Comcast” and then responds to anything negative you find on the Internet, you’re going to have to come up with more creative ways to discredit them.

Lance, right, sure, Brian took the time to fabricate the entire story. If the guy’s gonna fall asleep on the couch, I doubt strict adherence to dress codes are his first concern.

I think you should get him fired

It’s ridiculous that even the Comcast techs have to hold with customer service. What a bullshit company Comcast is; I’ve had similar experiences with them in Philadelphia.

Hopefully this video will go meme and catch their attention.

I’m a Comcast customer, too–not too crazy about it, but they DO have really fast Internet–and whenever I had to have someone come out to the house, the guy had some special number he called to service and ALWAYS got through. This guy must be a real dingbat to call the regular customer service line. After waiting more than 5 minutes, he should have hung up and tried something else–no tech I know would have waited that long. This guy needs to get another job ASAP–maybe mattress tester at Sleepy’s.

I experienced a similar, horrible ordeal with them. Any time a tech has to go on hold with his own company (and it happened to every tech that visited me during my ordeal), you know something is seriously wrong with their customer service model. They were never able to get me online. After three weeks of failed attempts, I called Verizon. I was online the next day. Of course, about six months later, I started getting collection notices from Comcast that claimed that I never returned my modem. The one I had purchased to avoid paying a rental fee is currently moldering in my basement. I’m now a pleased-as-punch customer of Verizon/Dish Network.

I’m a Tech w/ a rival company. We have a completely separate section we call to set up new or replacement devices. it sometimes get’s backed up or their computers go down. They are Windows based :). As for dress code, most employees should have a Uniform, and those shorts don’t look like a uniform item. This is possibly a Contractor. But none of that really matters. He F’d up and should be fired. Comcast should also give you a credit, or something for your inconvenience, but they probably won’t because they suck. I would plug my company but if you can get Comcast you can’t get us. Our Cable service doesn’t overlap areas with other companies.

Well, that completely sucks, reminds of Eircom here in Ireland, only worse! :)

Most Comcast techs are contractors, so I’d imagine they don’t have to adhere to any dress code.

Hey, sorry, since I’m offline at home I can’t respond to things promptly.

I don’t know if he was officially a Comcast employee or a contractor. I called Comcast and this guy was the one who showed up. He was wearing the standard black and red Comcast shirt (sadly only partially visible in the video). It doesn’t seem to matter whether he’s officially working for Comcast or not, he’s working on their lines and wearing their shirt… he represents them.

Ok, back to real Snakes on a Plane stuff any minute now.

Whats the song in the bg?

I work for Comcast. I’m a rep. And if you get a hold of me, I could probably fix the issue (credit, whatever). I Deal with people that are sent out for installing/changing anything, they might drive around in Comcast trucks and have Comcast shirts, but they’re outsourced. They’re not really our techs.

I forgot to add that the tech called the wrong line, too. They have a specific line to contact the reps that gets them in right away. All of this stuff about “filling out customer service surveys” is crap on his part. All he has to do is call the line and say “hey, blah blah, new router” etc, and we’d have him right away. But he must have called the regular customer service line (whose wait is mostly 40 minutes regularly), instead of the direct line for technicians.

He was indeed calling the direct line. He was talking to the office via those annoying walkie-talkie things half the time.

Mr. A

I don’t know if you are who you say you are, but if so, your comments show the exact problem at Comcast.

You sent the tech out. He was wearing your uniform. As a customer, I don’t care if he was a direct or indirect employee: he still represented (badly) Comcast.

Outsourcing does not get you off the hook — the guy is your responsibility, your representative. It’s YOUR problem.

uh, like, your video is gay on a number of levels- and not in the good sense of the word. get over it.

Get over what, exactly?

I actually do work at comcast. We’re in Canada, and sourced out through a place called Convergys, which is the email address I’m giving you now. I’m not sure what else to tell you besides that fact.

Hey, this just made it to Countdown with Keith Olberman…yay!

I love this site and can relate to the frustrations but it would have been nice if somehow this post could have been tied to what is truly important.

Need I say it? OK I will.

Snakes.

On a plane.

No way even contractors have to were uniforms that is a crock of crap!!!!!! There is no way he could have left the office with shorts!!!

Let me get this straight, you video tape some guy sleeping on your couch and add in some text, and suddenly there’s proof that the big bad evil empire is incompetent?

Taking cheap shots at an easy target (everyone hates a monopoly!) to get more hits on your blog is pretty lame.

Is Walmart the next target? (The old man who was supposed to greet me at the door was asleep! Complete with random video of an old man sleeping, and some text-over comments.)

Daniel–isn’t the connection obvious?? Because our beloved Brian had NO Internet access for so long, he was unable to update us on all this vital “SoaP” info! It was extremely decent on his part to give us the details, even though he didn’t have to.

I like the idea of tossing a snake on the guy to wake him up. That would’ve been SWEET.

From your description you have the Comcast Home Networking service which uses the cable modem gateway. There have been known issues with intemittent connectivity on the Linksys gateways lately - this is hopefully fixed now. Of course, it could just have been the cable signal breaking down in the apartment building’s coaxial cabling to your unit causing the gateway to lose synch - in which case, you’ll likely have issues with the new gateway. Nice to see the tech didn’t lose their grip on the phone when they lost consciousness. It was likely a company satisfaction survey; however, dispatch should have been staffed appropriately. Sorry.

[...]  Also via Boing Boing, this piece from Snakes on a Blog - A Comcast technician sleeping on the customer’s sofa after being kept on hold for over an hour by his own company.     [link] [...]

I wanna see that Olbermann piece!

Let’s clear up a few things…

1) if my company outsources its home-visit techs, i have absolutely no control over them - this includes their attire, their knowledge or their deportment

2) that home-visit outsourced tech is making one heck of a lot more than i am, sitting in a cube, trying to explain the difference between a pop server and an smtp server for the umpteenth millionth time

3) home-visit techs have always, in every ISP i’ve worked for, been given a direct-dial number to the company techs sitting in their cubes - if this guy was using Nextel, he wasn’t talking to the homebase tech - perhaps another outsource tech?

4) this has nothing to do with pointing fingers at monopolies, etc. - it’s about appallingly poor customer service - give it a break y’all

Amusing, but not the entire truth. I have to think you have been punked!

Saw this on TV last night, Countdown on MSNBC, so with that exposure am sure Comcast will fix you up, but you should check if other ISP’s in your area, as I have never heard one good thing about Comcast ever. Also, the Tech may not have actually been on hold the 90 minutes, as he was asleep right? Probably more of his being up all night, and just needed some shut-eye, and after waking up, called the real number..:) But thanks for bringing this to world attention.

Why don’t you sign up with Clearwire??? Much more reliable customer service & you don’t have to deal with the non responsive giant. http://www.clearwire.com, it’s the way to go!

“Aaron” (if that’s even your real name), what the hell are you talking about? This is Snakes on a motherfuckin’ Blog. He doesn’t need to do anything else to “get more hits.”

The video of a Comcast Representative SLEEPING on a customer’s couch is intended to document the incompetence of the Comcast Rep in question, and to commemorate Brian’s bad experience with Comcast. And to amuse his friends–the SnakesonaPlaniacs. How this amounts to a cheap shot is a mystery.

To call it a denouncement of the evil empire is a wee bit paranoid, don’t you think? And how does taping a contractor in one’s own home lead to the obsessive filming of WalMart greeters? Sounds like a slippery slope and fallacious logic to me. Is witnessing an unprofessional technician in one’s own home the gateway drug to stalking the employees of one stop shopping empires?

Your crazy is showing, friend Aaron. I suggest you cover it up.

And if an elderly WalMart employee followed me home and took a nap on my couch I would certainly record it on video. Or at least snap a photo. How else is one to show friends and laugh later?

None of you even have a clue as to what goes on in the Cable Industry. I am a Cable Contractor and have been for about 10 years. We work on average of 15 hour days 6 to 7 days a week trying our best to get to every call that we are Dispatched to. Yes, Contractors have a direct connection into Cable Companies via Nextel 95% of the time. Yes, we get put on hold just like thier own Employees do. Yes, we can wear shorts because it is hot as hell crawling around in your 150 + degree attics. No, this Tech in this video should not have fallen asleep no matter how tired he was. Yes, that is just pure disrespectful of his customer and he should be terminated because all he had to do was keep calling back dispatch to make sure they did not forget about him. No, every Cable Tech in the industry does not act like this. Yes, There are lazy people in every business in the world so do not try to make it out like the only lazy people in the world work in the Cable Industry. Yes, manufacturers do make faulty equipment in every industry not just the Cable Indusry. Yes, there is a high possibilty that the wire in your house or apartment is SUBSTANDARD since every Electrician and Cable Customer think that Cable work is so easy and and you can just hook it up. Yes, about 75% of homes and apartments have SUBSTANDRD cable that was installed by a Electrician or Customer and not your local Cable Company. To run Cable modems or any kind of Digital equipment in your house or apartment you need high quality wire and splitters not to mention the ocasional amp to boost signal in a residence since Cable looses signal every time you split it to add another connection let alone the most important factor SUBSTANDARD WIRE does not carry good signal. Yes, the average Cable Customer gets about 5 to 6 connections in thier house or apartment and they think that it takes 30 to 45 minutes to get all of those working. IN REAL LIFE IT CAN TAKE SEVRAL HOURS TO FIX SUBSTANDARD WIRE OR INSTALL THAT MANY OUTLETS ON A NEW INSTALL WITHOUT EXISTING WIRE THAT IS NOT SUBSTANDARD. If you think you can do better you should start your own Cable Company or go and get a job with a Cable Company or Cable Contractor and see for yourself what we deal with on a daily basis. Our call centers are flooded with calls from people who do not know how to work there own TV’s and remote controls let alone pay attention to us when we are in thier house trying to teach them how to use thier OWN equipment and ours too. That means our Technicians are flooded with calls that they have to go out to and repeatedly show someone that the reason they can not watch TV is because thier VCR or DVD player was not turned off after they watched a movie and you have to turn those off to watch TV again. The list could go on for days. Yes you will say hire more peolpe to help with all of the work but you fail to realize just how hard it is to get someone to pass a background check, driving record check, and drug test. Or, would you rather we hire people without checking all of that info and send them into your house !!! The bottom line is if you do not work in the Industry you are slaming then do not talk about everybody in that Industry like you have all of the answers.

To everyone he is an in house tech for comcast. i was a former co-worker of his as of about a month ago.he was fired today.. They allowed us to wear shorts. He was not an contrator….I must say we were over work and under payed…….over ten jobs a day

BTW, if your phone rings when you are waiting on a Cable Tech and you do not recognize the # it is more than likely your Cable Tech calling you to either get directions to your home or to update you on how much longer it will be before he leaves the job he is on to come to your house. So answer your phone and you will not get missed. No, we do not leave our cell phone numbers on your answering machines because everyone in the city will be calling our number when they have a problem instead of the Cable Company. If you do not understand that then there is no helping people who have missed appointments.

Cable Guy

The appointment itself is supposed to hold the appointment. One time I was waiting for a cable guy, he called while I was in the bathroom, and since I missed the call, he never showed up.

Cable guys like you like to call their appointments so if we don’t answer right away, you can just skip it for no reason. In fact I called the number back within 2 minutes, got the cable guy’s voicemail, left a message, and he still didn’t show up.

Cable companies are so used to their monopoly that they treat customers poorly, either through not hiring enough employees to man the phones, or not hiring enough sub-contractors to go around. You say you work an average of 15 hours a day for 6-7 days a week. 15 x 6.5 = 97.5 hours a week.. I doubt you even work half that, because cable technicians are paid hourly and no cable company is going to pay a technician 60 hours of overtime per week as required by law.

If you worked 97.5 hours a week you would be so rich from overtime you could retire. So please stop exaggerating.

Pepeeg

Again someone with a bad experience with a poor individual comments on something he has know Idea what he is talking about. I get paid salary time and I have never not gone to a customers house no matter how long of a day I have had. Not to mention I have 15 guys under me that I have to keep up with and make sure that they do thier jobs professionally. Our trucks have GPS on them so everytime a customer calls and says we never showed up I can give them a discription of the house and the exact time the truck was in thier driveway. I have customers say that ” the discription of my house is wrong he/she must have went to the wrong place” and when I go to thier house and the discription does match and I have a GPS report in my hand they do not feel so cocky any more. I will admit I have had a few people try to pull off what you are talking about but when my gps did not show these people in front of the upset customers house but only just driving down the street they became promptly unemployed and I took care of that particular customer my self right then and there. Your problem is just like everyone else in this country who thinks he is more important than the person in front of him/her or behind him/her. Everyone seems to think that they are owed something and that this Company and that Company are a Monopoly. Grow up. There are not enough people in this country with good work ethic to fill all the numerous openings in the Cable Industry. Every Cable Company and Cable Contracting Company are trying to hire people on a weekly basis (52 weeks a year). Monopoly ( ROFLMAO) My wife and four kids are asleep when I leave in the morning and asleep when I get home. It is my ultimate goal in this industry to make people like you see the error in your thinking. When you were growing up did you not learn simple things like ” A few bad apples do not spoil the whole crop “? There are millions of us in this indusrty who do care and are giving 300% of ourselves everyday but people like you do not give us a fair chance. Your thinking is narrow minded. Your probubly the type of person who might see a drug dealer somewhere while driving around in your car and so now to you everyone in the entire 10 mile square area around you is a bad person and this is a bad area blah blah blah…… Give people a chance to show they care and quit focusing on only negitive stuff and grouping everything with that one negative experience. All people do in this country anymore is point out the negitives and never look at the positives. There are plenty of satisfied Cable customers out there just know one will post a video or start a blog on thier good experience.

Cable Guy

Fair enough, but if you’re working 100 hours a week on salary and getting no overtime, you are being exploited. You sound like you know what you are doing, so why not start your own business or at least work for another company who doesn’t work you, as you claim 97.5 hours a week?

BTW, anyone reading my post please forgive the mispelled words, bad grammer and run on sentences etc….. I am still @ work !!!!!!

Wish it was that easy. Trust me they do Care about the customer. The hardest part is finding enough good people to fill all of the vacant spots in this business. With the onset of digital Technology the Cable Idustry has exploded and not one person can stand to wait for it they have to have it naw, yesterday, last week, and to not have to wait even a day.

For those of you reading this page I will check on it every chance I get to defend this industry to the end when ever I am near an internet connection. I do not mean to sound rude when I post something it is just the simple fact that I take pride in what I do and what the people I work with do. WE DO CARE !!!!! And we enjoy what we do. The best part of my job is when I leave someones house and they are happy and make comments about “the best service they have ever had” , “My cable modem has never downloaded so fast”, or “thats the best picture I have ever seen on my TV ” Good Night

Cable Guy

Well I hate to predict it but your cable co. and other data companies and ISPs are going to be in deep shiat when Google launches its nationwide, net-neutral, free wireless network in response to your evil industry’s monopolistic tactics.

Power to Google and other content providers, down with ISPs.

Care to explain to the gallery here how your company’s industry is working to kill the free and democratic Internet with the downfall of Net Neutrality?

Another nail in the coffin of reliable customer service.

Everyone is in sales in your company…even drowsy cable installers.

OMFG this has turned into a usenet style flame war!!!

Had a long, long battle with Comcast trying to get a stable Internet connection. After at least 7 tech visits over 6 months, got one who knew something about technology, and he measured the signal at my modem at -28 decibels (which is to say, about the level of line noise).

He ran another line from another neighborhood across my back yard, and resolved the problem - but Comcast then put a filter on the TV line to block all but local channels. Their rep all but accused us of “stealing” their TV service, despite being a paying subscriber for many years.

I switched to DSL / satellite, and have been very happy. Oddly, we now get 2-3 calls a week from Comcast, offering us “special deals” to come back. If only they were that determined to KEEP a formerly loyal customer…

I feel bad for the tech. He shouldn’t have been fired, he should have been used to turn the situation around with a pr campaign using lots of coffee.

Now you have an out-of-work cable tech without fixing any of the problems Brian experienced.

This happened to me. Are you in Chicago? The guy looks kind of like the guy that fell asleep on my couch too… Same story almost…

http://fur.livejournal.com/326313.html
http://fur.livejournal.com/326543.html

…

Hi Brian, sorry about your problems with your internet service.

I have to defend the cable company in light that wireless technology doesn’t always function right and to a customers expectation. It’s not Comcasts or any other ISP that uses wireless technology fault that your apartments may have intereference knocking your signal off line.

Comcast uses the same technlology that you buy off the shelf at your local computer hardware store, or even Wal-mart. If you want to blame anything, you need to blame the technology itself. 802.11— technology is prone to interference from microwaves, phones, small motors (like the ones in your fridge) other wireless equipment like speakers, and it doesn’t have to be in your apartment, it could be your neighbors equipment as well. As far as cableguys comments, substandard wiring or even customers own favorite store bought wiring will cause problems with the RF signal, making the modem drop offline. If you want the cableing replaced in the apartments, a lot of times ISP’s cannot replace that cableing due to restrictions. It’s usually up to the owner of the apartments to get the cable replaced for their tenants.

Sometimes you have to be patient, and let the ISP do its job even if it takes 5 or 6 trouble calls to hunt down the problem. Just remember that a very good percentage of customers do not have problems with their internet and wireless service, and you would be considered a special case in this matter. It will get resolved, and not because you posted a video of a technician that was sleeping on your couch. But because the company and MOST tech’s do want you to have good service without instance.

I wish you luck with your problem, and I hope you post a good job well done when Comcast finds your problem and fixes it to your liking… just remember, it’s not always the persons fault your blaming.

Nick

[...] On Tuesday night I posted a video about my experiences with Comcast.  Within 24 hours it had been seen by over 70,000 people (by now its over 200,000) and shown on Countdown on MSNBC (Keith Olbermann made fun of my air conditioner). [...]

Snakes on a Blog, that is exactly what you are, a SNAKE ! Who in their right mind would load something like that? Obviously a snake like u !

Snakes on a Blog, that is exactly what you are, a SNAKE ! Who in their right mind would load something like that? Obviously a snake like u ! Who is the idiot for letting him sleep there in the first place? Hmmm that’s a hard one! Instead of a NORMAL person calling in a complaining about a problem, you get the media involved. GET A LIFE A$$HOLE!

Wow…so many comments on this one entry? People need to spend more time thinking about Snakes on a Plane. very worrying what the world’s turning into when people don’t mention snakes on a plane in their comments.

Yes, Clarice mmmmmmmm so very tasty…mmmmm

nice try at&t try making your employees do job before you make videos trying to discredit other companies

CUTE VIDEO BUT WHERES PROOF. NICE COMMERCIAL FOR TALK AMERICA OR AT&T THOUGH.

If my own company put me on hold for 90 minutes, I’d try to catch some Zs, too. It’s not the tech. Something’s wrong with the system. The tech should *not* have been fired, if you ask me.

That poor guy from the cable company lost his job. Well, he fell asleep because he had to wait for ages on the phone didn’t he? That could happen to anyone. The company he worked for must really be a bad company, blaming him for their crappy system.

Has anyone else noticed a recent barrage of people who come here not to discuss “Snakes on a Plane”, but simply to bash our beloved “Snakes on a Blog” host?? These people need to go away and stay away. :-p

I know I’m a little late, but once upon a time, I needed a part-time job, so I made the horrible mistake of working in the customer retention department of a well-known cable company. Because my job was to handle basically any customer issue that came up, I got to learn the cable TV business from one end to the next.

First off, most of the comments made by “Cable Guy” are accurate. Contractors do work their ass off for very little money. In some instances, the company they work for doesn’t even get paid if the install isn’t done right the first time. And yes, there are alot of dumb people out there that can’t operate their own televisions (although, the installers should provide a quick reference card when they install the tuner boxes - that would greatly reduce the number of calls).

The problem with the cable companies are the fact that they don’t pay enough for the people working there to care. You might be paying upwards of $60 a month, but the CSRs start at $8/hour. Even as a retention rep that could pull a tech off a job or even waive entire months - I only made $10/hour working part-time (with no benefits). While there is alot of overhead, there is also alot of money to be made. (For example, why are the satellite co’s cheaper? Why does the cable co charge over $40/mo for phone service when Vonage is half that?)

Yes, exactly, because they have monopolistic control over services in an area. If there were real competition, they’d have to pay their techs enough to actually be able to provide the services we’re paying for, to not miss appointments, etc. You can’t make excuses for a company because they aren’t paying enough or can’t find enough good people, and you can’t make excuses for an employee who does a crappy job because he wan’t more money or fewer hours.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/technology/26comcast.html?8dpc

I had an appointment with Comcast last night. I waited for 4 hours called them multiple times. Finally was told someone would call me in a matter of minutes to tell me when the tech would be there. An hour an 1/2 later comes a ring at my door (not my phone) and he is there. He couldn’t hook it up, and I told him to just hook up the cable box and I would reschedule for the rest, he wouldn’t. He took the cable box and everything with him and now I have to reschedule for the works. I have to take a day off work and wait another 4 hours (probably) to have it hooked up. It should have been done right the first time. I wasted an entire 90 degree summer day sitting inside waiting for them. Ridiculous. I have given up on Comcast also, but not sure yet what I will choose in way of TV and internet.

It isn’t just the cable companies that have monopolies they feel they can abuse! I went to the emergency room in February (Spring Hill Regional Hospital in Spring Hill, FL 34609) because of an eye injury. It wasn’t life threatening, but it was painful and a little scary. I wanted to have it looked at and get some medication for it. After over two hours of waiting, the eye was feeling a little better and I saw no indication that service would be forthcoming, so I told the nurse I was leaving. She apologized, and I thought that would be the end of it. A week later they sent me a bill for $468.56!!! Needless to say, there’s no way I’m going to pay it. At least when the cable company fails to connect you, they have the good sense not to try to bill you for it.

Try calling Microsoft in Canada and you will have to repeat your request several times as each MS dept. has its own database for requests and records. MS takes first prize! Sympatico.ca takes second prize, and the banks are all horrible with ‘phone calls.
Voice Jail Mail is Canada ia alive and well!

Nice one: you got a Comcast technician fired, jerk! I can’t wait for when you’re filing your first tort claim against some hospital or old folks home for some frivolous class-action claim…

I blame the elevator music they play on the lines when you’re on hold…Who wouldn’t fall asleep?!? Maybe they should try White Snake instead…

Snakes,
I don’t understand why folks are flaming you? I’m sure you had no idea that this story would reach such popularity in the media. Not your fault. I don’t blame the tech either. What should he do while waiting on the phone for an hour? Do your laundry? I would have fired the tech supervisor or whomever was responsibe for the tech having to be on the phone for an hour. Ah well. Ignore the trolls and flamers. I used to have Comcast and feel your pain. When they are the only game in town, service stinks. You should see them in N. VA. They compete with two other cable compainies and the service is very good there. Go figure. Fire the ones in charge for allowing this to happen. In my world the Captain is always responsible for the ship. Not in the corporate world. It’s “fire the low man” when the system is messed up.

Good luck!

Hello Brian,

Great job catching your Comcast service incident on tape and adding the entertaining creative touchs.

I agree - probably not the technician’s fault but instead it is the fault of Comcast’s corporate management. The technician is working for a sorry company and is probably holding down 2 jobs to make ends meet.

Comcast drove me crazy in Atlanta with their inefficiency and stupidity (i.e. installing obsolete equipment, and then requiring customers to take more days off from work so that Comcast can deliver an equipment cord …., no it couldn’t be mailed…. but must be hand-delivered. Delivering the cord was an hour round-trip drive for their tech guy - of course, the tech guy was never informed to take the cord on the service call, so he showed up wondering what needed repaired!)

Time Warner must have hired Comcast’s employee cast-offs. Most of the techs that come to your house are good, BUT, the other employees in the local office and `international help desk` are clearly are flunkies. Twice, the Time Warner techs spent 3 consecutive days at my house waiting `on hold` for some simpleton at the local office to answer and to correct an unbelievably stupid mistake that he made. I’ve wasted 20 months with Time Warner trying to get the internet service to work. What nerve - they swore that if I bought their most expensive service, that would solve the problem - well that was 13 months ago! Time Warner finally informed me that they couldn’t fix my internet service problem because the part needed to repair the main junction box servicing the area `was too expensive…. and that it was raining`.

Both Comcast and Time Warner scolded me for complaining about the `on-hold` time required of their customers - as if it was our fault for calling in

Thanks again for the entertainment. It is nice to know that we aren’t alone in our frustration.

Haha!

I just read on Yahoo! news that Comcast fired this lunkhead ‘technician’.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060626/wr_nm/media_comcast_dc_1

Shoulda never hired him in the first place.

So Brian, is your connection fixed yet? Let us knoww how this unfortunate incident wraps up….

Expensive connection.

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=1097

it is probably his buddy and they are trying to burn comcast for the dissatisfaction of one customer. isnt america great, drag everyones names through the mud. pick on the little and the big guys

snakes, you say!?

As a former Field Ops Manager for a Comcast Contractor in PG, Montgomery, Howard, and Baltimore counties I can understand your frustrations with Comcast. I cannot however, understand why you would humiliate this technician in such a fashion. The technicians, especially of the contractor variety, work extremely long hours for very little pay. These technicians have to withstand an inexplicable amount of Bull Shit at every job. My only issue with what this technician was doing is that he was sitting on your furniture, that is the number one thing to NOT DO when in a customer’s home. Have some sympathy and help this guy get another job with all of your “influence”.

Karma is a powerful thing and a force to be reckoned with.

I am a contractor for all the cable companies dealing with the hardline and sometimes doing installs. We are never issued the comcast, charter, adelphia, or any other cable companies inhouse shirts. We always have our own shirts with an I.D badge. So for anyone to say that this guy is outsourced is lying. The cable companies hire contractors to save cost. Why would they give us uniforms? I actually feel bad for the guy that got fired. Nothing was solved and everyone that is still putting up with long wait times and crap. They just used this guy as a scapegoat.

[...] Read his blog here, or click here for the YouTube page. [...]

Having been a broadband install and service technician in the Dallas Metroplex the past 7 years I have seen many things done by my fellow employees regardless as to wether or not they were contractors. There is not doubt that this type of conduct has no excuse. As with all companys there are good and bad employees so localizing this one incident as being the end all be all of Comcast as a bad provider is pathetic. Its damn funny becasue as I sit here in my Comcast office it is the buzz of the day, but it doesn’t represent the company as a whole, all of you should be mature enough to know this and if your not you are probably the kind of person next to get into this type of situation.

I have over 20 years in the Cable TV industry, and I can tell you that Cable Guy’s comments are right on, he does know what he is talking about. It has already been confirmed that this tech. was a Comcast employee, not that it matters. I would be shocked if the tech called anything OTHER than his “tech” direct line”. Comcast and any other cable company routinely puts techs on hold, although that amount of time was extremely excessive to say the least. Sounds like someone “forgot” about him which would be hard since I’m sure that have an auto ring back setup, after a certain amount of time on hold! Why in the world would anyone care whether he was wearing shorts or not? Don’t you want working people to be as comfortable as possible in the summer heat? I would of left the house and had the dispatch person at Comcast call me back when they could (explaining that to the customer of course, but not letting Comcast know) “activate” the equipment. This is against their policy but you have to bend the rules if you want to make any money as a contractor (most are paid per job) in this business, but then he was an employee so he was being paid by the hour, meaning he couldn’t care less how long he was on hold. BTW their in house people (employees) are extremely underpaid and Comcast has a hard time keeping and recruiting new employees do to that fact.

Any competent tech should be able to diagnose and repair a problem that exists in the customers home in one (1) service call, with some exceptions (like bad wiring in an apartment complex where the cable company doesn’t have the ability, or right, to replace it). If anything you should blame any of your cable problems on the top management of the companies in this industry. Does the greed of top brass at Adelphia ring a bell? Their only concern is for more profit (meaning higher bonuses for themselves) and the price of the stock. It is all about mathematics. What I mean is, how high can they price their service and how little can they pay their workers and still make as much profit as possible? That in itself creates the problems many of you experience in dealing with your local cable company. Of course, that isn’t the “spin” you will ever hear from their public spokesperson!!!!!!!!! They will always blame the common worker!

Cable Guru

The individuals that are posting comments on dress code, and stating that this isn’t true, I hope ComCast paid you well and you saved up your money. Dresscode means nothing, and even if he is a contractor, he represents your company, oh I mean ComCast…

I hope ComCast has a plan B for their business…

I share your outrage towards Comcast….
but now this dude is out of a job. Did you ask for him to be fired? Either way, talk about things being handled the wrong way…

[...] When the video received attention, Comcast’s regional VP called me to apologize and to promise they would work on the service. The first statement I made to that VP was a plea not to fire the technician. My issue, as I thought the video made clear, was with my Comcast service in general, not with the technician. Comcast’s regional VP told me that he couldn’t comment on internal disciplinary matters. [...]

Comcast cable t.v. installers destroyed the heating and AC ducts into my living run because they took the easiest path in my crawlspace to where they hooked up my t.v. It cost me almost $3,000 to get the ducts repaired (in part, because the Comcast installers disturbed some asbestos, which I had to have abated before getting the ducts fixed).

Why in the world would anyone care whether a service tech that came to your house was wearing shorts or not. How can that possibly make any difference to you? Do you bitch at the mailman/lady when you see one wearing shorts? How about the UPS guy/gal? I could go on and on!

[...] And, speaking of the latter, if you’ve ever had problems with your cable broadband service, enjoy this video shot by the poor guy who runs the Snakes on a Blog Web site, and originally played on Keith Olbermann’s Countdown. [...]

I work for Comcast in Florida and we are allowed to wear shorts
during summer season. It’s hot out there!!!!!! As for tech falling asleep that is another issue. Inside tech support does bite. Comcast upper mangers should work on better trained dispatchers.

Dam do I feel sorry for this tech he got the shaft. I hope you use your influence to get him a job. Falling asleep is not acceptable but I am sure there are hundreds of techs who can relate to being in some cramped apartment with no AC and on hold for some petty problem and were out working until 10:00pm the night before. You should have tried to respect the man’s identity and have taken the footage in a manner that would not personally identify this guy to the entire country.

1. Regarding uniforms… Comcast does have contractors wear comcast shirts and pants to look like in house techs in some systems. In some areas of Comcast, contractors are told that the word contractor is a dirty word and just say they are a Comcast tech. As a subcontractor shorts should not matter a subcontractor is not provided a uniform since they are their own business. Only thing the subcontractor should have to worry about is OSHA. In reality most Contractors make their subcontractors wear whatever shirt the Contractor requires. If its an inhouse tech they are provided uniforms. Most systems in the warmer climates during summer all permit shorts. After all its dang hot in your attic.

2. I can easily understand a long hold time and have experienced ridiculously long hold times myself. I can’t say I have spent an hour on hold for a modem but I have for a MTA on VOIP phone jobs. As a tech you got two options: First you got the automated bedrock system and contractors are in a way held accountable to insure they use the automated system as much as possible. If that doesn’t work and I am not going to speculate on the success ratio, you have to call in. Yes you do get a special number but if hits are backed up or there is an area outage or some other system problem you could be on hold up to an hour. You can almost always expect a hold time during peak call in times but an hour is not typical, usually no more than 5-10 minutes most of the time. Most of the time these outsourced techs are burning up their own cell phone minutes which they most likely are not be reimbursed.
3. Comcast can’t complain about not being able to hire quality techs. Good techs leave the business each year because they get tired of the servicing appointments from 8-11 up until 5-8 six days a week. Each year techs are expected to do more work for the same amount of money. The scopes of work get more inclusive and the payouts remain the same. If you read any cable tech forum they have been bitching about money for years. Cable companies report profits but most contractors can’t get a fuel increase. Compared to any other skilled trade cable pays crap. Virtually all outsourced techs are compensated on a piece rate system, many as an independant contractor and do not get any overtime. This area is kind of a hot button right now in the cable industry and there will mostly likely be a lot of employee reclassification over the coming years. On the other side of the coin there are thousands of techs who get up each day and take it up the rear because they like the job. There is a lot of benefit to not having some 22 year old looking over your shoulder asking you to check to see if the restrooms are clean. That is what keeps most of the veterans around they are addicted to their independance. And of course you got techs out there that would give superman a bad name because they are that dam good. If you would have had one of these techs they would not have waited on hold. They would have given you their cell phone # and followed up throughout the day with you until the hold times cleared up.
3. To complicate things Comcast retains contractors so most outsourced techs are the contractors, sub contractors. So from Comcasts perspective they pay out good money to the Contractors. As with all Contracting lowest bidding Contractor does look awfully good to the bottom line of the Cable company. So all these Contractors are stabbing each other in the back just to get the work and a contract. Many of these Contractors take 50%+ of the install monies just so they can pay someone to hand out work orders and crawl up your butt to make sure its done and keep a nice % for the owners. The big cable companies don’t pay out monies weekly so the average subcontractor can’t afford to wait for 90+ days for a Cable company to pay. Plus the insurance requirements to satisfy the big contracts are $$$. Not to mention you got to buy some VP a boat to get one. Contractors are a necessary evil because they are the bankers for the outsourced tech having the bankroll to be able to pay out to subcontractors weekly. If you are lucky you will be working for a Contractor whose check will not bounce. Assuming you got your check on time.
4. Then you got the customers. I can assure you that any tech worth his salt areadly knows how much your job pays before he left the shop. By the time he gets to your front door he has a pretty good idea how long he is going to be at your house. Now you people are downright nasty and want your cable today no matter what. Extend a little courtesy and have your furniture moved before we get there. We will not pull your entertainment center out. We do not touch anything because if you complain Comcast wants the tech to pay for it regardless of fault nowadays. So when we say no, it’s probably cause we already bought our one tv stand for the year. If you want internet have the common sense to have your computer already set up and running. If you are getting phone service don’t look at me to pull out your 300lb bed to check a phone jack. If you are getting digital cable then have the tv already set up where you want it. If you want your DVD and VCR hooked up have it in the entertainment center so we can get behind it. Do not just point to a box and say can you hook all that crap up for me all the cables should be in there… The customer service rep on the phone told me you would? If I am at your house I do not care if the customer service rep is the VP of Comcast we are outsourced to go by the work orders. Unless of course you have already made media coverage or written you city official then you get deluxe service :). If you want outlets added then let the tech get their $10 to to install it in by making sure its on the work order. Don’t play the outlet game with us. If you want 9 new outlets installed… tell them on the phone when you order service you want 9. If the work order does not say 9, its not our problem. We do not have time to debate it because we got 3 other 8-11 appointments after you and if we miss one it costs us $$$ for being late. You didn’t think Comcast absorbed that late fee did you? When its on the work order they will not schedule a tech for 3 other 8-11’s if they got a 9 outlet job. If you know we will be in your attic have all that crap moved out of the way in the garage so we can get in it. I have seen some filthy houses. Have some decency.. clean up first before you call Comcast. I am not talking about clutter from a Friday night party but when the bugs have the balls to walk across the floor to the kitchen in broad daylight something is wrong.
5. I would highly recommend that you don’t call screen if you got a cable appointment and just answer the phone. Like someone said before it will be your installer calling. If you are not home and we drive to your house its our gas and drive time. With gas prices being what they are you can’t blame a tech for trying to weed out a wasted trip unless they are an in house tech driving a company truck with a locator getting paid hourly.
6. If you are getting your cable installed this is your one chance to make sure its done right. If it is not done right at the install you will be on hold a lot with the Cable company. The biggest service a cable tech can do for you is replace any substandard wiring. Someone else already mentioned this. Unfortunately with piece rates where they are… $500 a week is a pretty attractive income to a young person. There is a lot of turnover in this business so odds are you will be fortunate to see a tech who has been around longer than two years. If I was not comfortable with my tech I would reschedule the job and request a different tech before I let a crappy tech do a crappy job on my house but that is just me. If the wiring is substandard you know what the next step is… a service call. We have all had those and you have probably heard every reason under the sun why your cable didn’t work and five service calls later a wire was replaced and viola problem solved. If the wiring job is done properly the biggest problem you can possibly have is switching out a piece of equipment. Most people can go the the local office pick a new one up and switch it out themselves and not have to even fool with a servie call to try to accomdate a 3 hour appointment window. If you do tip your tech at least get his cell phone number in case you have a problem. A good tech is a good friend to have.

Cable is just one of those businesses that you just can’t possibly understand until you have worked in it. Cable has some quality techs and linemen. The true cable dogs are more like cable Marines. But we have an industry where the big companies report profits in the millions, the low man bitching about gas money, and the customer video taping techs sleeping on their couch… IT’S JUST ANOTHER DAY IN CABLE.

I have to agree w/ what Cable Guy & Cable Tech had mention and they really know what they talking about. I started working for the cable industry a little less than a year & my husband is a contractor for the cable company for 10 years now.
Definitely they do work 90+ hours a week specially on “rush” season like NOW, they work wheter is sunny, raining or snowing (below 0′) and most of all, they are being underpaid.
After reading what Cable Guy & Cable Tech wrote I feel I had to add a little bit more. I conclude saying that my husband love his job & he performed every single one w/ a lot of pride & professionalism. I can make a big argue about the hours he’s working, but I can never say that he left any customers unhappy, he even leave he’s phone number so customers can call him if they have future problems. Needless to say that by him doing that, we DO NOT have a day without cable. For my husband and a lot more cable technicians, $$$ is not the issue, they just love to do what they’re got hired to do.

I had a similar experience w/Comcast! For 3 weeks, they promised to come to my house on several different occasions. They either didn’t show up, or in the last incident-The guy said it wasn’t his job to “finish” someone elses job (another Comcast tech) and proceeded to leave my house w/all the equipment he was supposed to leave. Then, I called and spoke w/a “Supervisor” who PROMISED to call me back the next day, first thing in the morning to schedule another appointment-Still waiting for that call. I now have Dishnet & they showed up within the time slot & the tech. did his whole job with a pleasant attitude & thanked me for my time when he left.

Well First off you should really think about this whole issue.This guy was in reality trying to help the customer not hurt him in any way or intentionally trying to disrespect the customer.I truly believe I myself work for a top notch company and you should really be ashamed for ruining this techs life.He didnt hurt you or your property and you ruined his life.Now maybe you think it was so funny to video this poor guy that works probably 10 to 13 hours a day in an enviroment that you could probably not handle but reality is that this guy didnt deserve the deal that was thrust upon him by the media thanks to you.Now professionally he was wrong but you didnt have to make a national joke of him that sir was wrong!!If you or anyone else reasding this can say they have never and I mean never done anything wrong at work no matter how minimal I have a whole cable system for sale.You and everyone posting these snide comments calling names and what have you just always remember “Let he without SIN cast the first stone”.

If you are not happpy with Comcast, CANCEL your service ASSHOLE!!!! Way to go on fucking this guys life up, I hope you get what is coming to you jerk off.

Why do people keep saying this guy’s life was ruined? If working as a Comcast tech sucks as much as everyone says it does, then it seems to me he’s better off not working there. Also, I think you’re all forgetting the larger point - he FELL ASLEEP ON THE JOB. I’m sure all of you would have brought him a blanket and pillow, right?

And incidentally, Brian didn’t fire this guy; Comcast did. That’s right - shockingly enough, Brian is not the Human Resources Manager at Comcast. It’s too bad the guy got fired, but I’m sure he’ll be able to find an equally illustrious career with a similarly kind-hearted company elsewhere.

fuck yea hes fired got what he deserves.

fucker shouldnt have fellen aslep.

my cable sucks road runner.

most techs cant fixe something cause they aint got no experince.

fire all the fucking morons who think this is not a good idea.

He was a internal technician not an outsourced contracter. I do OK shorts for summer months. He was on progressive discipline for stuff like “sitting on customers furniture” as he had many customer complaints about that. He claims he wasn’t actually asleep that he was just “chilling” while on hold and just “looked” like he was asleep for over an hour. Was he snoring Snakes? Yes we do use iDen walkie/talkie system phones (aka Nextel to some). Things were a little busy that day and I called him on the w/t a few times looking for status update as I needed him back on the road. Unfortunately I had to terminate him as it was the last straw. He got state UI paid from us for awhile. Also exec. mgmt demanded his termination after all of the national publicity. Don’t feel sorry for him as he knew the departmental rules and he chose to be cavileir about them… didn’t count on Snake’s camcorder either! Oh well… I think he works for Wal-Mart Loss Prevention now doing CCTV installations for them. No he is not a door greater! Wise guy! :-)

The question is not the technician’s quality of service, it is Snakes on a Blog’s abuse of dignity. There’s a case for a lawsuit. The technician did not enter the apartment in order to be humiliated by him on youtube. The technician entered the apartment due to necessity unrelated to snakesonablog.

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=1097

Yeah Snakes tell me how he was asleep with a very expensive laptop kinda’ balancing on his lap and a phone up to his ear? Sometimes people LOOK like they are asleep when they are just “chillin’”, as it were. Albeit, he should not have been sitting on Snakes couch with all of those comfortable pillows and with that funky but comforting A/C blowing huh? How about offering the poor guy a stimulating cool drink or a coffee? Standard societal niceties are offered to homeless people why not a lowly cable rep with a full workload that day?

You know I never thought of that! Snakes is a law student you say? And he never thought of getting a standard “waiver of release” or at least video dodging or croping out the technician’s clearly visible face? Oops… And I guess Snakes got one from Comcast too? Nope… none on file with corporate legal I think. Let me see did any of the websites and the megalith television companies portraying him and Comcast in a very negative light get a signed one from the technician or Comcast’s legal department? Oh well, Snakes got his internet service back that’s what’s really important in today’s society huh? Taking care of #1. Snakes your #1 man! You da’ man!

RIGHT ON RABOZ… POWER TO DA’ PEEPS!!!

PS - Job reinstatement not an option at this juncture… sorry folks. Wal-Mart pays good right? :-(

BTW FWIW - That’s a glass of tepid water on the “coffee table” that Snakes offered him. No ice cubes, no Coke, no Pepsi, no tea, no coffee, just standard tap water. I know the customer’s house is not a restaurant so don’t throw that at me. It’s like Raboz said it’s about basic dignity towards your fellow man. Do you see the frustration in the the poor guys face? Notice, if you go full screen in Windows Media, you can see his eyes are clearly OPEN not closed as if asleep. And Snakes included audio feed… Do you hear any snoring or slow rythmic breathing of a person in REM stage sleep??? Notice the cardboard router boxes opened to his right on the couch, the Comcast workorder to his left, the laptop is clearly balanced on “both legs” not one leg of a sleeping man… HE IS FULLY AWAKE!!! Any forsenic scientist can see that he is not comatose during this video. He’s just exasperated and wishing he were somewhere else!

It was a hot day with all of this GW crap (pun intended). He had a busy week as weather or climate can play a part in system problems. Some call centers are manned by clueless offshore outsourced Indians. If he was doing a customer survey (and God knows why) then he probably was on hold while Apu asked his supervisor Saheeb for next steps.

So the tech was frustrated not sleepy. With all of that his relentless but driven supervisor was concerned about his workload and his well being. Look at what type of nieghborhood he was in! The dispacther was bugging him. Level 2 network support can be pricks too when they feel over worked. “MORE FOR LESS” is the new world order’s motto. Life sucks for the worker bee these days. And all at $8~$12 bucks an hour for 40 hours. After taxes and FICA what’s left? Enough to pay the landlord and maybe something to eat… What do Georgetown lawayers make?

Snake? Thanks for giving him the water. Looks like he really gulped it down fast… Oops…

comcast you crazy you hate the cable dude? Or love snakes? Which dick turned you down?

[...] Un esilarante articolo del NYT segnala la storia di Vincent Ferrari, un blogger americano avventuratosi in una telefonata al call center del provider Internet AOL per chiedere la cancellazione del proprio account. E’ stato tenuto inchiodato alla cornetta per 21 minuti da un addetto fermamente convinto di poter “salvare” il cliente, recitando un copione da modesto addetto vendite totalmente disinteressato al senso delle sue parole e convinto di poter mantenere accesa una qualche forma di contratto tra l’azienda e il cliente. Fin qui niente di nuovo. La novità, se vogliamo, sta nell’aver registrato la telefonata per poi renderne disponibile il file audio tramite il proprio sito, attirando l’attenzione della blogosfera e della Nbc e obbligando il provider a lettere di scuse e a ridefinire formalmente le clausole di disimpegno dai servizi offerti. John, l’addetto al call center che avrebbe percepito un bonus in caso di “salvataggio” del cliente guardandosi però dal soddisfarne le richieste, è stato prontamente licenziato per aver ignorato la richiesta di cancellare l’account ripetutagli almeno 21 volte nel corso della telefonata. Altro caso di customer dissatisfaction è quello, altro blogger, che ha filmato il tecnico Comcast intervenuto al suo domicilio di Washington per la sostituzione di un modem e addormentatosi al telefono in attesa di risposta dalla propria ditta. Il video, intitolato “A Comcast Technician Sleeping on My Couch”, è disponibile tramite You Tube a questo link. [...]

Comcast’s problems would be resolved with a little competition. The technician had his 15 minutes of fame and will now probably wind up on some reality or talk show.

Many of you who are responding to this situation need to acquire some manners, use less offensive language, utilize MUCH better spelling and grammar, and, ultimately, get an INTELLIGENT life!

That being said, could we PLEASE return to the topic of snakes–the concept for which this blog was created?

I just can’t believe the number of people on this post who are angry that the dude got fired after literally falling asleep on the job. If I fell asleep on my job, I’d be fire also. What’s the problem?

It sucks that he was on hold for 90 minutes and his working conditions are terrible, but how it that the fault of the customer? Why should he be stuck in his home because the service company can’t get it’s act together?

The best way to improve a company’s overall service, when it doesn’t react to customer complaints (which Comcast has plenty of, I know from experience) is to embarass it into action. If they don’t want to listen to customer complaints, that’s their choice.

No SK Comcast doesn’t hate the cable dude, jeez!

A-O-hell… uhhh… this is an English forum. Why Spanish? When in Rome…?

Cecelia - In UK you’d be deemed a dullard with your spelling. Who made you the spelling and forum police?

Jeremy - Are you from a 3rd world country? In America you don’t get summarily fired for falling asleep OTJ. BTW he was fired for “willful misconduct” not napping OTJ. If by your standard then we should fire people who accidently took a cold remedy before work, napping pregnant women, and senior-citizens who are accidently scheduled to work in the late afternoon (nap time?). General Electric ENCOURAGES napping on the job - in an controlled environment that is! Europe and Mexico do very well with SIESTA TIME. Productivity is enhnaced by controlled napping during working hours. It means longer operational hours but you have happier more productive workers. Viva capitalism!

Again get it straight… Brian’s Cable Guy WAS NOT ASLEEP. Don’t believe the media hype. They will say anything to enhance their audience share numbers. Let’s wait and see if the now thourghly documented slandered party seeks civil justice… Oh well gird up your loins! Talk about good drama to come! I hope Larry King and Oprah are watching…

JEREMY SAID: “The best way to improve a company’s overall service, when it doesn’t react to customer complaints (which Comcast has plenty of, I know from experience) is to embarass it into action.”

Absolutley! I agree with you 100% Jeremy, but why (allegedly) slander and/or libel the innocent Cable Guy? To me it appears that Mr. Cable Guy was giving it the “old college try” as it were. I think he was doing the best he could under a very stressfull environment with Brian taking advantage of him while he was looking up at the cieling in abject desporation over his rapidlly down-spiraling situation made worse by Comcast’s support - my bad. Brian misintrepted Cable Guy’s reaction as a “lazy jerk who fell asleep on my couch”. Could that be a cultural or ethnic bias on Brian’s part? Does Brian know many people of the Cable Guy’s ethnicity? Is it common for people of Brian’s ethnicity and class status to misintrepret certain cultural group’s mannerisms and personal customs? Whatever… In the final analysis Brian should have blocked out Cable Guy’s face or had Cable Guy and/or Comcast sign a release waiver for his video production. Brian claims to be a cineamatographer so why didn’t he know this very basic rule??!! LESSONS LEARNED HUH BRIAN?

And Cecila if I mispelled anything, used poor grammar, or was off-topic…? GET OVER IT!

Dear ComcastCSD:

It’s too bad you feel that I’m a dullard; it’s your loss, since you don’t even know me. However, I won’t lose any sleep due to your name-calling or negative opinions. I’ve learned over the years that people who respond as you have usually do so out of ignorance. That “lack of awareness” can’t be altered by anything or anyone.

To respond to your comments: I don’t consider myself to be the “spelling or forum police”, nor do I need to “get over” anything. Apparently, however, YOU are quite threatened by my obvious ability to communicate in an intelligent manner. Instead, you veer onto tangents that add little value to the topic, and your diatribe contains nothing but insults to people who have legitimate concerns.

Rather than continue to insult me and the rest of the readers of this blog, why don’t you find something more constructive to do, such as making your beloved cable company more consumer-friendly, or taking a course in blog etiquette?

I’m certain that you’ll try to send another invective-filled response. However, I don’t intend to write again, because I don’t wish to waste my time on the likes of you.

Whatever happened to the REAL snakes?

To have cable internet for the past eight years, I’ve paid Comcast $40/mo, plus $10/mo to “lease” the modem, for a total of $4,800. They’ve also been my (analog) basic cable TV provider for ten years at $45/mo, for an additional $5,400.

I should DEFINATELY be getting better customer service for my $10,000. Comcast monopolizes the market and bleeds it. They make cash hand over fist with their version of customer service. Kinda makes me wish I was a stockholder, not a customer.

“I have to agree w/ what Cable Guy & Cable Tech had mention and they really know what they talking about. I started working for the cable industry a little less than a year & my husband is a contractor for the cable company for 10 years now.”

Overworked? Underpaid? Welcome to the club.

Because COMCAST the comapny is a greedy monolith overcharge and underpaying, doesn’t mean the customer should have to put up with bs like this.

the masses are getting tired of these uncalled profit-margins. if these companies like comcast and aol and wells fargo don’t wake up soon, they’ll be in a world of trouble.

As a fellow cable industry worker for the last 7 years, I would like to take up for the guy. Yes, this guy should not have fallen asleep, but most of you think cable is just some simple piece of wire that you can bend and pinch and use twist on connectors and split it 100 times and run it as far as you want to. For those of you who dont know, cable internet involves forward and return signal, and can be affected by many things. It is usally customer caused. Have any of you heard of carrier-to-noise,or composite second order or comosite triple beat. Not to mention that noise and ingress in the return spectrum will shut down modems, not only in your area, but any other area combined with yours. And guess what, 90-95% of noise and ingress problems are caused by customer wiring. People always complain about the cable prices. Well, most price incress are due to each of those channels you watch raising their prices. Cable is considered a luxary, but a lot of people depend on it for more than entertainment. A lot of people use the cable internet for business use and only subcribe to the residental service. Props to all businesses that dont do this.

Sorry to sound like a Third World country, but I don’t think falling asleep on the job is okay, ever. I’m a nurse and if I fell asleep on the job I would be fired. I think the very least an employer should be able to ask for is that employees stay awake. And I don’t think it’s the customer’s job to provide stimulating beverages. Why can’t the tech bring his own coffee & ice water? Isn’t he an adult?

This whole argument shows me it’s time to go back to reading a good book.

My complaints are not with the service personnel who seem to be polite and caring, but (and please note I have only two TV’s hooked up to cable - nothing else - no internet thru comcast or anything else)
1) being totally overcharged for the service being provided - I’m tired of the service in the area going out or the picture on my screen freezing just as the jury comes back and says “we find the defendent …” frozen screen that comes back to a commercial 10 minutes later - so how did the story end - or just being unable to receive one whole channel that I watch every night, but suddenly cannot get tonight, when I can get every other channel.

2) the choice of the crappy channels and tv shows (which to be fair is not totally Comcast’s fault) - but why are all the shows I want to watch - such as the weather channel, science channel, history channel, mystery channel above the #100 - is it perhaps because I have to pay extra to get channels over #100? Even shows that once upon a time were on channels below #100 have suddenly been changed to equivalent channels above #100 so that unless I pay more I can’t watch them

3) to having to wait 10 days to get service personnel to my home to reinstate service after being unable to get anything but local channels on my tv because that is their first available appointment. Especially after customer service has had me try a dozen different things while they have me on the phone for 20 minutes, and nothing they try has worked.

Firstly, to me that says that the problem is not my fault, and secondly, if it’s not my fault why is their first available appointment 10 days away? And after their coming 4 times in the first couple months of service, when there has been service to the home prior to my moving in, and when the problem always seems to be outside the house, if the problem is inadequate electric wiring, or anything like that, why doesn’t one of the techs tell me so I can do something about it?

But the most aggravating thing is that about a year ago when I researched getting DSL, I could get it from Verizon, who’s main providing office is only 18,000 yds from my home, as well as a couple other providers, but obviously I didn’t move fast enough because a month or so later as I was making up my mind and as soon as Comcast started advertising its broadband service, we no longer could get DSL service from any provider but comcast.

Finally, after all the advertisements about choice started showing up on TV a couple months ago, and my checking every couple weeks and waiting for months, Verizon and others again started to provide DSL in my area and I have gotten their service just in the past month.

I totally feel manipulated by comcast, and that makes me angry. I do not intend to sign up for cable tv, internet and phone service that costs more than my electric bill each month, especially when the one service I have does not work steadily. And if one service cuts out, they all do.

Several people at my office have gotten Comcast internet in the last month and not one has had anything good to say, two have had to each make 3 appointments and have had to miss work because the modem wasn’t connected correctly the first time, or when the internet works the cable tv doesn’t, or the channels they can get changes because they are told there’s not enough power coming in to run both things at the same time, or something so silly as the cords attaching the tv or computer to the outlets are so short that the computer or tv can’t be moved one inch, or in one case a receiving box of some sort was left dangling off a roof only to be seen in front of a bedroom window on the second floor of the house that evening as the person went to bed.

One person finally did ask that a different tech be sent out and she finally, on spending her 4th 1/2 day of vacation time at home waiting for Comcast to show up, got someone who could connect everything correctly only to say the other tech had never hooked her up with the correct equipment.

I do not intend to sign up with a company that is so obviously running a monopoly. Otherwise the service would be better. I don’t even see how they got away with Verizon and others suddenly not providing DSL service for a large business community in an area equidistant between Baltimore and Washington - not the backwoods - unless something illegal was going on as far as being that obvious a monopoly.

I could care less if the service tech is wearing shorts, etc. And I believe that most of the individual workers care and that only a few are “bad apples”. At least that’s my experience.

And it seems from the one post that sounded like it was written by that tech’s supervisor or HR department that the service tech in question had a history of substandard work habits and that it was, as the post said, the last straw and he had no choice but to fire the tech.

I just want the service I pay for and to have a choice of who I get service from. And as all the commentors who have stayed with the actual starting topic seem to have pretty much agreed, and which I had previously been on the fence about, but have now decided is the only real comment I can make that matters to comcast: it’s time to CANCEL COMCAST. Maybe that’s something they will understand. Even if they don’t, it will lower my blood pressure not to have to deal with poor service and outlandish prices anymore.

A good book is always readable, a book doesn’t “cut out” when it rains, and I don’t have to wait days looking at a blank page waiting for service.

I actually had the same thing happen to me with CableVision. I was waiting for the guy to show up at my house for over 3 hours. He shows up at 4:00pm, replaces my cable modem, then calls customer service and is put on hold.

I told him I was surprised he didn’t have his own number for support. He told me, nope, he goes through the same support number and the same wait in hell. About 30 minutes later, he was asleep. I woke him up, and he apologized. I told him it was okay, I also work long hours (when I’m not waiting for the cable guy) and also start to lose consciousness in the afternoon. That’s why God invented coffee.

I got him a cup of java, and he told me about his job. He started at 7am, and is suppose to do two jobs per hour, and that’s how they schedule his time. However, when he has to call customer service (he has to about half the time) he falls behind and ends up missing appointments.

By the way, he was also wearing shorts, and I really can’t blame him. He is probably in attics, climbing on roofs, and spending a lot of time in the heat.

To me, the guy they should fire is the CEO and chairman of the board who is using his monopoly power to cut back on customer service. Bastard pays himself over $13 million per year.

No comcastcsd in manner represents the comcast. It is only one handle. It resembles to lawyer. Always speaks about the bad type of cable job ppl. Why comcast is here if it is comcast. If it is so smart and occupied why it worry soab. Soab is a good idea but now immoral success. Henceforth. Too many blows of video. Ppl always speak about the bad type of cable job ppl. And bad comcast. But soab immoral. Cannot hide the truth. Soab obtains the ticket of first on the basis of immorality. The soab public excuses would be very nice public excuses would be very nice Soab would be a better personality and would be happier while going TO SOAP the first.

translation of excuse

POR you should use a better translator program… No I do not represent Comcast. I am a disgruntled person and I hope that the Cable Guy pursues civil litigation to remedy the injuries made against him by many parties. I am no lawyer either. I don’t think he should go after COMCAST as they did pay him UI and every chance was given him to stop his unprofessional behavior (sitting on customer furniture). I guess he could have stood up or knelt down on the floor. Either way that would have removed any doubt that he was actually asleep. I challenge any of you to prove that he was actually sleeping from that little video piece of Snakes on a Blog’s.

Dave I like that you posted about your sleeping cable guy and offered him coffee. NOW THAT WAS THE DIGNIFIED THING TO DO. Cable Guys don’t bring their own coffee (or any refreshments) as that would also be an unprofessional get fired thing to do… Whatever happened to the milk of human kindness? You’d give a stray dog or cat a refreshing drink wouldn’t you? I’ll bet you Cable Guy naysayers don’t tip hotel, taxi, and restaurant people well or at all do you? Thinking of #1 huh? Isn’t that how our country lost its way in the human DIGNITY department?

“Just install my modem or cable Mr Cable Guy… your petty problems have nothing to do with me”. Well I sure hope that none of you believe in a God. As if you did, I imagine that you are having some stressful moments thinking about the future huh?

PS - Falling asleep on the job is NOT a firing offense in America. It is a disciplinary offense that may get you written up but not fired. As if you can show a reason for your drowsiness that has nothing to do with willful misconduct, a firing would be an opening for a wrongful termination suit. Nurses and cops included. Jeez… we are only human. Even Jesus’ men fell asleep on the job the night before his execution. Stuff happens… GET OVER IT!

When Comcast installed the digital voice service at my desk at home, the technician sat with my dog and me for 45 minutes while he continously tried to contact Comcast to activate it. He finally got through after 45 minutes. Since I was there chit chatting with him about dogs and kids, none of us fell asleep.

I blame Comcast more than your technician for your experience. Hitting a redial button for an hour would put anyone to sleep.

To Cable Guy and anyone defending Comcast: They have done every thing mentioned in prior posts and more to us: missed appointments, no equipment or tools necessary for the job, no adequate repairs, no call backs that are promised.

This is a BUSINESS and they are PAID (in advance, I might add) for a SERVICE that they do not often provide. And if they elect to use bad equipment, tired contractors or techs, no fast phone response and everything else involved, they should be required to compensate those people who have lost business, time and money due to their incompetance.

Overworked techs? That is a crock. They cannot force anyone to work over 40 hours because that is the law. If these people are working 15+ hours a day, then that is THEIR choice.

They would be the first to complain if THEIR cable was not functioning and no one showed up and they were forced to pay.

Comcast needs to have their monopoly in my area broken. Verizon is trying and if they succeed, Comcast will lose A LOT of business because we, the customers, remember the rudeness, expense, lack of service and substandard repairs that Comcast has provided.

We WILL switch to Verizon or anyone else.

i want to know what the comcast guy did when he woke up from his nap

“posted by donttread”

fuck yea hes fired got what he deserves.

fucker shouldnt have fellen aslep.

my cable sucks road runner.

most techs cant fixe something cause they aint got no experince.

fire all the fucking morons who think this is not a good idea.

Comment by donttread — June 30, 2006 @ 7:40 pm

– Hmm,.. I see why your name is “dont read”.

Oh,.. it’s not. It should be.

LOL ,.. gotta love the internet.

ROFL

Dumbass.

-dan

PS: SNAKESSS

“Comment by Cecelia — July 2, 2006 @ 8:37 pm
”
“Instead, you veer onto tangents that add little value to the topic
”

Hmm,.. I’ve been reading this thread for the first time, for over an hour now, and found his post, “Comment by Cable Tech — June 27, 2006 @ 9:13 pm
” to be the most contributive post in this thread so far. Yes, I am slightly bias as I have a brother who has worked in the cable net biz for many years. However, that’s why I know that the info being posted by the folks in this thread, who work in the industry, is fact.

hmm

“Comment by Cecelia — July 2, 2006 @ 8:37 pm
”
“I won’t lose any sleep due to your name-calling or negative opinions.” ” taking a course in blog etiquette?
”

“Comment by Cecelia — July 2, 2006 @ 8:37 pm
”
“I don’t wish to waste my time on the likes of you.”

Nice etiquette. ROFL

/hugz

-dan

ComcastCSD,

Are you authorized to speak on behalf of Comcast? To post personnel issues about this tech on a site? I would think those are confidential. Or are you just trying to win friends and influence people? Maybe your arse is the next one on the chopping block. I think Comcast could probably figure out who you are by the information provided.

FIRST LETS GET IT STRAIGHT.
I HAVE BEEN A CONTRACTOR FOR ABOUT 12 YEARS NOW. IT IS A GREAT INDUSTRY TO WORK IN. WE DO PUT UP WITH A LOT OF SHIT. LIKE SOMEONE SAID BEFORE, WANTING A DOZEN OUTLETS, AND ALL KINDS OF STUFF THAT IS NOT ON THE WORK ORDER.
OR LETS GOT BACK A FEW WEEKS AGO WHEN I WALKED IN ON A LADY WHO STABBED HER BOYFRIEND IN THE BACK 12 TIMES IN FRONT OF ME, AND THEN THE POLICE FIND 10 OZ OF COCAINE IN HER APT, OR THE OLD MAN IN APRIL WITH THE DIRTY DIAPER WITH SHIT ALL THE WAY UP HIS BACK TO HIS NECK, OR THE CRAZY CAT PEOPLE WITH 400 CATS IN THE BASEMENT, JUST TODAY I HAD A FAMILY OF FATS, YOU KNOW MAMA FAT, DADDY FAT AND DAUGHTER FAT, ALL OVER 400 POUNDS, AN IN A DISGUSTING 2 BEDROOM, CRAMPED FRIGGEN SMELLY APARTMENT, SMELLED LIKE ASS.
I HAVE BEEN BIT IN THE ASS BY A POODLE
BIT IN THE LEG BY A PITBULL
BIT ON THE ARM BY A PITBULL(OWNER TRIED TO SUE ME FOR KILLING HIS DOG)
I HAD A CAT CLAW HIS WAY UP MY BACK (WHERE 1200 WORTH OF TATTOO’S EXIST)
PEED ON BY A 4 YEAR OLD,
DURING THE SUMMER I GET STUNG ABOUT 10-15 TIMES A WEEK
BY BEES, HORNETS, ETC…
HIT ON BY UGLY FAT WOMEN CONSTANTLY
OH I HAD A GUY CHASE ME WITH A 2X4 BECAUSE HE DID NOT PAY HIS BILL AND I SHUT HIM OFF( I INTRODUCED HIM TO MR. BASEBALL BAT REAL QUICK)
MR I KNOW EVERYTHING YOU KNOW THE GUY THAT CAN DO YOUR JOB BETTER THAN YOU, GO FOR IT SMART ASS
1 WORK ABOUT 13 HOURS A DAY, 6 DAYS A WEEK FAMILY IS SLEEPING WHEN I LEAVE, AND SLEEPING WHEN I GET HOME JUST LIKE THE OTHER GUY SAID.
I HAVE 17 GUYS THAT WORK FOR ME THE AVERAGE LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE IN MY FIRM IS 4 YEARS, MY GUYS (AND 1 GIRL) KNOW THER SHIT.
WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH A TON OF BULLSHIT, THERE HAVE BEEN MANY TIME WHEN FALLING ASLEEP WAS DEFINITELY AN OPTION, I GET PUT ON HOLD ALL THE TIME.
.I SMELL A LAWSUIT COMING, IN OUR STATE IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO VIDEOTAPE, OR EVEN AUDIOTAPE SOMEONE WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND CONSENT IF HE WAS SMART HE WOULD SUE YOU JACKASS.SOME LAW STUDENT.THEN AGAIN, IT WILL TAKE YOU PROBABLY 5-6 YEARS AFTER YOU GRADUATE, TO MAKE THE 90-110 K THAT I WILL PULL THIS YEAR WORKING MY “SUBSTANDARD JOB” THEN ANOTHER WHAT 10 YEARS TO PAY OFF YOUR STUDENT LOANS? HAVE FUN, AND ON MY ONE DAY OFF THAT I GET TO SPEND WITH MY WIFE AND KIDS I KNOW IT IS ALL WORTH IT SO MY WIFE CAN STAY HOME, AND KEEP MY KIDS OUT OF DAYCARE….SO HAVE FUN POKING AT THIS POOR GUY NOW BECAUSE IT WILL COME BACK TO BITE YOU IN THE ASS MAYBE NOT TOMORROW BUT I GUARNTEE YOU WILL,
HELL I WOULD HAVE ALREADY KICKED YOUR ASS, IF I AM GETTING FIRED THEN I AM GOING TO MAKE IT WORTH MY WHILE

i hope you are happy with yourself for destroying this techs livelyhood..you ar pretty foolish for doing what you did(putting this on the web) i dont know about you but i would have thought about it before i went through with it..this tech knows where you live and when you mess with someones liveyhood they can become capable of causing harm and bodily injury..im not saying its right he was sleeping at your house but there are better ways of dealing with this situation than humiliating the poor guy publically..in my opinion you are nothing but a selfish peice of human waste

Saw the movie… dumbest premise I’ve ever seen! Snakes are cold-blooded and seek warmth. Airplanes are ice boxes on wings. The snakes would have been curled up in some galley equipment or avionics. They wouldn’t bite unless messed with. Even then they would be so lethargic… Hollywood sucks… Just as anti-reality as this writer who exposes jaded Cable-Guys on the internet without a face-dodge or at least a release waiver… Hey remember the movie CABLE-GUY??? Hmmm… life imitates art or vice versa??? :=/

LUDDITE,
Nah… I’m one of the CC bigwigs in Wash. DC office. Philly HQ doesn’t have the nerve to fire me. They can’t afford my severance pkg… And no I hated Dale’s book… He actually lost friends and influenced his enemies with his pre-1950’s manipulation style of sales… I lean more towards Machiavelli and Poe… :->

I bet Cecilia is fat and lonely

The bottom line is if you do not work in the Industry you are slaming then do not talk about everybody in that Industry like you have all of the answers.
Comment by Cable Guy — June 22, 2006 @ 8:29 pm

I love these types of responses (”Don’t talk about _ unless you work/are an expert/etc. in that industry!”).

Honestly, Mr. Sleepy doesn’t represent ALL Comcast-outsourced-Techs but he still screwed up and this is the second (maybe?) widely documented one, so of course it’s going to be overblown. And honestly, if I heard nothing but bad news about Comcast in MY area, I would avoid them.

THAT ROCKS! you go! That is the greatest thing I have ever seen - cable companies suck

ah well after readin this dribble.. i have a couple points to make..
cable companies are over worked and underpaid.. that is with just a bout every job.
but you have the time mid day to make these long and tiredlessly boring posts..
your cutomers are the ones that pay your salary.. before shaming your company.. even more.. you might want to ponder on that.. just by readin the response of the “comcast employees” on here id not want business with them.. no wonder dish network and the satelite companies businesses are soaring.
And all the disgruntled employees.. you guys are the only ones that can change the way comcast treats you

Just saw the above complaint on 20/20. It was a great idea to shoot a bit of video to document the complaint and just like an other complaint posted here which includes the audio file of the recording about a customer who went through hell to cancel an AOL account, we, customers can finally have the exposure and share our complaints on issues that cost us many times a lot of money, puts us in collections, companies may easily damage customers’ credit, they garnish wages, and in the end we get nothing but huge problems which were never alowed to be solved. That’s an abuse of power, that’s an abuse of the fair business act, that’s an abuse! (period) and that’s how Comcast, AOL and others become biollionair corporations; stealing from people. I love this site and I want to congratulate all the complaints posted here that were picked by ABC’s 20/20. Good work people.
H.Q. Radio News Editor in California

Why are people defending a monoply that has the worst service and Customer service out of any company, with a range from the government, to the lemonaide stand on the corner run by a kid. Comcast sucks, period. not only does their internet suck (get AT&T DSL, their service has actually improved over time), but so does their cable. I personally hate any company that has commonwealth in their name commonwealth (commonwealth Edison (Comed) Commonwealth Brodcasting (Comcast)), because I believe the word Commonwealth will instantly and somehow magically make all your services horrible.

And by the way, to the people who say that other people need to stop looking for people to slam, I think that if there are those people, comcast shouldn’t be a target, but they suck so much that even people with lives are slamming them. they are a main provider of cable television and “high-speed” internet, they should be able to provide good service if they are so common.

And since they are so well known, they should stop spending all their money on advertising (like retards), and start spending it on something that matters, like that fucked-up server that need replacing (they most likely only have one).

And if advertising is really necessary (which it is clearly not), hire someone over 5 and make sure they are not retarded. comcast has some of the most ineffictive and flat out retarded commercials I have ever seen. If a turtle liked slow internet, they would have a 14.4 modem. I just HATE those fucking turtle commercials. Actually I hate all the comcast commercials because they are all so retarded and don’t make any sense.

I say it’s about time AT&T rips on comcast. And the reason their commercials are starting to get retarded is because they are making fun of how comcast’s commercials are so stupid.

AT&T FTW!
ftw=for the win

OK, last one.

COMCAST CAN SUCK MY BALLS!!!!!!
COMMONWEALTH SHITTYBRODCASTING!!!!!!!
COMCASTIC????!!!?! MORE LIKE SHITTASTIC!!!!
SUCKMYBALLSTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FUCKTASTIC!!!!!!

Ok, I feel better. Much better. *deep breaths*

And by the way, what in god’s name happened to your air conditioner?

Comcast may have a huge press blitz on regarding their “Big Push” to repair its image, unfortunately other than pay a good PR specialist I don’t think they have done anything to change their monopolistic user unfriendly ways. As a senior citizen I am on a limited income. The only time my TV is on is during football season yet the money grubbing, greedy monopoly that Comcast is insists that I pay over $70 a month just to get ESPN as part of a package that I don’t need any other channels from. These rates recently went up. How about a football package like the hockey package they offer. No. That wouldn’t get as much money into corporate hands.
We have to stop this monopoly and call for a cable customer’s bill of rights. We need protection from the constantly increasing rates for decreasing service.

Wow really good sites. That Design Snip was really random and I loved it.