I spent much of my birthday weekend fighting
with Comcast.
The problem actually started weeks ago, when
the error message RDK-03033 appeared on my TV screen. That effectively freezes
all functionality, and you have to do the Comcast equivalent of rebooting—unplug
your DVR box, wait a while, replug and wait about five-eight minutes for it to
cycle back on: powering up, connecting to X1, powering up the “entertainment
experience”, connecting to live TV. I’d been doing that on a nightly basis,
until last Thursday I finally called what they are pleased to refer to as
customer support.
Patricia sent a test signal, then sent a reset
signal, and functionality was restored. However, as I pointed out,
functionality would be restored every time I went through the home version of
reset, but then RDK-03033 would show up again. She arranged for a technician to
come out Friday, but then she insisted on passing me on to “Advanced Support”,
in Manila from the sound of the woman. She insisted on sending a signal,
despite me telling her Patricia had already done so. No, no—this is a different signal.
It was indeed, because after she sent that, my
box wouldn’t get past the connecting to X1. That means no TV at all. Imagine my
joy.
Okay, Friday afternoon the tech showed up,
spent a great deal of time chatting, checked the signal (it was fine), brought in
a new box and left. TV working…until…
Two things: RDK-03033 appeared, and I lost most
of my recordings.
Now, one of the things Comcast touts about the “X1
entertainment experience” is that your recordings are saved to the cloud. So it’s
not supposed to matter what box you have, your recordings are not on a hard
drive, they’re in the cloud and accessible on multiple devices.
Right.
I spent 52 minutes on the horn with Rita at
their support line. She was well-meaning, but obviously not well trained. Much
of the time was spent with her looking through web documents on problems with
recordings. Eventually we ascertained that she could see my missing recordings—she
read them off, so they were there—but she didn’t know how to get them back in
my queue.
She had to consult a “supervisor”, and she
called me back on Saturday to instruct me to synch my box—she walked me through
it, but the synch process was instantaneous, which told me it wasn’t gathering
in 30-40 recordings from the cloud. She read her instructions and said, “it can
take an hour.” She called back about 90 minutes later, but the recordings were
still missing. Rita said she’d have to consult her supervisor (or maybe it was
a different one) and get back with me. On Monday.
About an hour later, RDK-03033 appeared. I
rebooted, but then it reappeared a few minutes later. So I called again. New
signal sent, functionality restored, but, as I pointed out, that’s no guarantee
that the problem is solved. So, new technician out Sunday afternoon.
(Interspersed with this was a series of tweets,
which got @ComcastCares—except they don’t—to desperately ask me to please DM
them, so they “can help”. One on Friday suggested $18.36 as compensation for
all my lost recordings. I told him/her that was completely inadequate. Someone
else told me that my cable box is not cloud-enabled. I suggested that it would
be extra primo good if all of Comcast could settle on one story to tell me.)
So, yesterday, a new, Comcast-employee technician
came out (evidently Yuri, or Mitya, or Pasha on Friday was a contractor), spent
nearly two hours checking inside and outside the house (including inside the
walls and in the attic)… He swapped out the box (again—this being the fifth box
since I opened the account in February of last year), and had a ticket created
for the lost recordings. (When I told him one of the score of initials I DM’d
with on Twitter told me “your box is not cloud enabled”, he snorted.) I am not
holding my breath.
Okay, but this is Gratitude Monday. And in the
midst of all this utter crap, here’s what I’m thankful for.
The library here in the People’s Republic is
next to a homeless shelter (which new residents would like to drive out,
because ew), and you often see people who look like they have no permanent abode,
sitting in the courtyard. August in the District They Call Columbia is brutal,
with heat and humidity, and that entryway is usually shady, at least.
Friday morning, I walked to the library around
1000 when it opens. It was already nasty hot/humid at that time. Just ahead of
me was an older woman, carrying a bottle of water. There was a fellow sitting
in the courtyard, clearly not intending to go into the library. She asked him
if he’d like her water. He demurred at first, but she said, “I have more in my
trunk.” So he accepted.
That small gesture of kindness and decency just
made up for everything else.
When I ran into her later in the library, I
thanked her; told her that was my grace for the day. And it was, for the whole
weekend, even through Comcast.
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