Comcast

In the great consumer rip-off that was the change to digital TV, one of the points during the "everyone has to get a converter" flap was that if you had cable, you didn't have to worry about it.

But now you do, at least if you have Comcast. You have to get a cable box, even if all you have is "expanded basic" and you don't subscribe to any of the premium channels. And it doesn't help you if you have a digital TV or DVR/VCR, because you still need the frelling box. I gather that means that you can forget about setting your DVR/VCR to record things on different channels, since everything has to go through the damn cable box. Oh, and if you have more than one TV, then Comcast is going to tack on an additional rent charge for more than one of those frelling boxes.

One of the things that Comcast is doing, at least in this area, is "guaranteeing" appointments. That apparently is in reaction to the competition from both Verizon FIOS and local cable start-ups, both of which have had considerable success in taking away disaffected customers. (The "guarantee" doesn't apparently mean anything; you won't get back the day's pay you lost waiting for the cable guy to show up, nor will you be able to bust a cap in the ass of his boss.)

I don't know what it is with Comcast. I've been pissed off at them ever since they bought out the locals and began with the "we're giving you two more channels because we like you" routine, followed, in a month or two, by "we're raising your rates four bucks". Residential users are not customers to Comcast, they are a crop: Supply them with cable, fertilize them with bullshit and harvest money.

Then there is the fact that where I work, we have high-speed internet through Comcast. The rates for business internet and home expanded basic cable are not significantly different, but the customer service could not be more different. If I call them up for a business issue, their customer service could not be more helpful. Those guys really do try. But try to get an answer from the residential services side of Comcast and it's as though you called up Dale's Happy House of Retards to consult on the design of a new nuclear reactor.

So now I have to truck on down to their offices and pick up a stinking box and disassemble my TV cabinet and wire it in and have another remote and each time I use it, you can bet your ass that I will pissed off once more at Comcast and be hoping that Verizon gets FIOS into this area pretty damned soon.

I hate Comcast.