Comcast, Progress?

Finally, after over three months, I've gotten some sort of response from Comcast regarding "the case of the disappearing channels." Sadly, it wasn't worth the bits it was written with. The reply went something like this:

We're sorry it took so long to get back to you. I've talked with assorted people here at Comcast and can assure you that we are under no obligation to notify you about channel reassignments from one tier to another.

Ahh, marketing people, that was slick. "From one tier to another" - that would be "from analog to digital" presumably. Maybe you are, maybe you aren't. But, not only did you change the tier, but you change the channel positions. And that, my friend, is exactly what the FCC says you need to notify me in writing about.

Upon pointing this out, I received a "we'll need to research this with our lawyers."

Fast-forward 10 days or so, another email shows up - asking if I had only received voicemail messages about the changes.

Doh! Where have you been? What do you think this is about? Read my blog, sheesh. No, actually, don't read it, I say mean things about you.

Yes, that is correct, I am complaining and trying to get my local government after you because you only left me voicemail messages and didn't notify me in writing at least 30 days before you changed my channel lineup.

Why do I feel like I'm repeating myself? Is this a strategy - wear me down? Ha! It won't work. I've got the law (and cut/paste to resend things) on my side!

FCC U L8R

Doh! I called the FCC to follow up on the complaint I filed against Comcast. Boy, was that fun. After lots of trial and error in their phone system, my call was answered by a woman who probably shouldn't have been answering phones.

Me: I'm following up on a complaint I filed last month
Her: When did you file it? We ask people to wait 45 days
Me: Six weeks ago, 42 days, close enough, no?
Her: What's the reference number?
Me: [reads the reference number]
Her: Hold on a sec.. Let me get to the right screen.. Ok, what is it?
Me: [reads the reference number slowly]
Her: [repeats the first digit] ... ok.
Me: Arg! [reads the rest of the digits slowly]
Her: Ok, what's the problem?
Me: Comcast remove channels and failed to give me the necessary notice?
Her: They don't have to give you notice
Me: Sure they do, your web page says so
Her: I have a note here that says they don't.
Me: Where is it on your web site? I believe what I read online sooner than a post-it note on your desk.
Her: Where online did you see it?
Me: The FCC web site
Her: Where?
Me: [it took three tries to spell out an eight digit number, what will a URL be like!] Let me look it up
Her: ok.
Me: I found it - it's rule number 76.1603.
Her: Let me look it up [lots of muttering, apparent inability to "numerical order"]. Ok, I found it.
Her: This doesn't apply in your situation
Me: Why not - it says they can't change the lineup without 30 days written notice and they did just that.
Her: It doesn't. They don't have to give you notice
Me: It seems to spell it out pretty clearly?
Her: Let me find someone who can explain it better
Me: [better? that would imply you've explained it!]

After a brief pause, a new person came on the phone who first attempted to convince me that Comcast might have notified me in writing via some mechanism other than writing, possily something broadcast on one of their channels. I questioned whether anyone at the FCC, in looking into my complaint had contacted Comcast to see if that was in fact the case.

Rather than answer (which I think means "we didn't look into it"), she pointed me to 76.309 which states pretty clearly (it's a government document, so clarity isn't a goal) that it is up to my local cable franchise authority (city government) to enforce this issue.

I explained that I was aware of that and had already spoken with them but they were not able to help and that another FCC person I spoke with said I should file my complaint with them and make a note that the local government was not able to do anything.

She explained that this other FCC person was wrong, that they were not able to help me (which was, I've since learned, a crock of shit because there are instances where the FCC will act against a cable provider - DA-061587 is a perfect example) - I'm just not important enough.

So in this matter, I've talked with three government officials (FCC), and two of them told me completely incorrect information, and one was correct but left out relevant pieces of information. That's my tax dollars at work. I'd like my money back now please.

Take that! evil near-monopoly with an inept customer support staff

Ha! Comcast didn't know who they were messing with when they took away my California channel (whatever that is) with a scant 12 hours of notice and left a couple of mo-rons to answer their phone. They thought I was just some raving lunatic with a hammer who would accept their acts as gospel.

Think again! You see, the search engine is mightier than the sword. With a few scant queries on the Google, I found the FCC regulations guiding your operations. In particular:

Changes in Rates or Service and Billing Practices

Thirty days advance written notice (using any reasonable written means) must be given to subscribers and local franchising authorities of any changes in rates, programming services or channel positions, if the change is within the control of the cable operator....

Thirty days - do you see that? That's different than 12 hours. It's much more. Even if you count the hours slowly - one ... two ... three ... you won't be able to make 12 hours drag on for 30 days. No, I don't think even the Maccabees could have helped you with this one.

Ok, sure, if I was a fruit fly that only lived for 8 hours I'd never even know - you could have lied in your phone message and said "next month the California channel would go away" and I'd be dead long before I ever knew what happened.

But thankfully (for me, not you), I'm not a fruit fly so I do know what happened. And now you're so screwed.

Comtastic means Craptastic

I had an interesting conversation with some support people at Comcast this afternoon. Some background first. We've had Comcast for about three years now. They're our Internet provider and we get basic analog cable television from them.

I know, I know, the world is going digital, but I'm not ready for it yet. I suppose the primary reason I'm not ready for it yet is because I use a computer with SnapStream's BeyondTV to record shows I want to watch. It's just like Tivo, except that it's my computer, so I can put as much disk in it as I want without dealing with warranties, etc. I call it my Me-vo in fact.

Ok, back to the present. For the past few weeks, Comcast has been calling and saying "on XX, you'll no longer be able to receive channel YY with your analog cable, you'll need to switch to digital." So far, they've removed four channels. I'm not worried yet, as they've removed channels I didn't watch (TV Guide channel, AZN, CSPAN2, and most recently the California Channel), but I wanted to find out what their plans were so I could plan accordingly (i.e. panic if they were going to pull a channel I actually watched).

So I called them. After a few rounds with their phone system, I found Edgar. He seemed willing to help. I asked him what was going on:

Me: Edgar, listen, in the past three weeks you've pulled 4 channels; can you tell me what other channels you're planning to remove in the future? I'd like to make sure you're not going to get rid of anything I actually care about
Edgar: We're not going to get rid of any more channels. But you can upgrade to digital cable and it will only cost you $1 more per month
Me: I don't want digital cable, thanks. Do you have any sort of timeframe? Like you're not going to remove any channels this week, or this month, or this year?
Edgar: I don't. But let me check with my supervisor....

[Edgar came back a few minutes later]

Edgar: You should be ok for the next six months.
Me: That's great, can I get your information so I'll have someone to blame if that's not the case?
Edgar: Sure.
Me: I'd also like your supervisor's info so I can blame him or her
Edgar: I can't give that to you
Me: Then perhaps he or she can, maybe you can transfer me?

[A short time later Maricela came on the line - this is when the fun began]

Me: Edgar tells me that nothing more will change for six months, I just wanted your information so I would be able to tell the next Comcast person who it was that told me nothing would change for six months.
Maricela: Analog television is going away in January
Me: January is not six months from now. Edgar told me that you told him I had six months.
Maricela: It's about six months.
Me: No, it's not. There's November, and then December; that's two months
Maricela: October too
Me: October's half over, ok, so I'll throw you a bone. We have two months and two weeks
Maricela: O-c-t-o-b-e-r, N-o-v-e-m-b-e-r, D-e-c-e-m-b-e-r
Me: Saying the names slower doesn't make the month any longer
Maricela: Maybe til the end of January
Me: Ok, that's three months, two weeks
Maricela: You can get digital cable for only $1 more
Me: I don't want digital cable, and it will cost more than $1
Maricela: No, it's only $1
Me: Ok, how does it work
Maricela: We send you a box, you plug it in, hook cable up to it, hook it up to your television and its done
Me: Does it use electricity?
Maricela: Of course
Me: Well, that's not free, I pay for that too, so I guess it costs more than $1
Maricela: Uhm

That was about as far as we got. I really just wanted information, and Maricela wasn't in a position to give it to me - the only thing she knew for sure was that it would only cost me $1 to upgrade to digital cable, and I think she was heartbroken when I showed her it was more.

But I'm left wondering a bunch of things, including..

1. Is there a competent person at Comcast that I can talk to to find out what channels are disappearing and when?
   
2. Can they really do this - just yank channels with effectively no notice (I got a call on the 17th that the California channel was going away on the 18th)
3. Shouldn't I be getting money back? I getgot 80 channels, 4 are gone, that's 5%, so should I not be receiving a discount on my service now?