Waiting for the CABLE GUY!

[Pneumatic]

Well, guess what? I figured out my problem. I called and asked them to check the provisioning on my old (read: rental) modem. Sure enough it was one digit off in their computer. As it turns out they CAN provision modems that are rented from them so they changed it and I am back in service.

What really sucks is the fact that I had to figure out the problem and they wouldn't help me patch the problem till they could manage to get their tech out here.

Now I just have to figure out who to gripe to so that I will be heard. I want to go all the way to the top if possible, because they can't just leave the customer hanging like this. It's just flat out wrong. In addition, a heads up tech would have thought to check that out the first time I called and saved all of the hassle.

What would you do?

EDIT: BTW, they gave me a credit for one month of service. Does this even come close to all of the headaches that I have endured? I think not.

[cbman]

Thank god for my provider for DSL...

I got my modem.. hooked it up.. the modem didn't post.. I drove the half hour to get to their head office... said let me see a tech... they sent the head tech... I said... "This modem is broken" he said "If it is it will have been the first one out of a few hundred" I said... "Try it" he said "Hmmm... doesn't seem to want to work"... I said "I need a new modem" he said "Here take this other new one and leave this with me, I have to find out what to do with broken modems now..."

They may be a bit pricey (Rate wise) but they have excellent service...

[Beezer]

Now that you're on a dial-up, let's meet for some UT! Maybe I'll stand a chance.

Kidding aside, I do feel for you. This kind of thing makes me go nuts too -- I had a similar problem with my telephone lines a few years ago. Almost 2 weeks without telephone service (and before I had a cell phone).

[Wombat]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG HHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Toshiba modem went bad. Toshiba did a good job of sending me a new one, but @Home WON'T provision my new modem without sending a truck out. This is complete BULLSHIT (too frustrated to censor). $50 for the truck plus a day off work is a $300 day, not an option.

I talked to Tier 1, and the Tier 1 supervisor. They lied to me and told me they don't have e-mail or phone numbers for the people in charge of provisioning modems.

Help Me!!!

[Joel]

There has got to be someone that we can complain to. Hell they basically have a monoploy. I don't jnow about y'all but @home is the only cable provider in my area. And to make matters worse they are raising their rates, like I have the can say no, and saying it's so that they can continune to provide us better service and support. What a joke.

Joel

[Pneumatic]

Wombat, I feel your pain! Call them and ask them to check your MAC in their computer. In my case it didn't match the one on my modem and that was the problem! Somehow it was off by one number (one too many 0's)

I went as high as I could and they gave me the EXACT same story they are giving you. They said that they didn't have any way to get in touch with the guys that do the provisioning. I aske how they know that I need provisioning then. He said theat he puts in the request. I said PUT IN THE REQEST! He said "I can't". I said WHY NOT!!!! He said we aren't allowed without a tech comming out. I POPPED A GASKET ALL OVER THAT GUY. but it didn't help.

When they stood me up after a whole day of waiting, then rescheduled for two weeks later I was so mad I honestly though I was going to hyperventelate.

The tech FINALLY came out to provisionn it and said that he thought it was BS that they had to come out just to call in a MAC and serial number too. I complained as high up as I could but I don't think anyone cares.

I am strapped to @Home too. No choice.

[Wombat]

The biggest load of crap I got was that "as of August 27th they could change the MAC over the phone for a $9.95 'service fee'". Bullshit, but I want my service, so I said fine. But he filled out the form, and when he submitted it, he was told that the electronic change "wasn't available in my region yet.". What crap.

I'm about to hunt down an @Home truck, park in front of it, and make them reprovision my modem.

[Kruzin]

Well, thier billing department is as inept as their service dept.
I moved into a new place about 3 months ago.
They have continued to bill my credit/debit card regularly.
A couple of weeks ago, they started calling me, saying I owed them for the last 3 months of service.
After talking to a "supervisor", he saw that I had been paying my bill through automatic payment, but they had been posting those payments to the wrong address. He assured me that he would have the problem rectified, and it was as good as handled.
Yesterday they killed the service to my modem, saying I am 3 months past due.
Now they want me to pay the $150 dollars they think I owe them to get my service reinstated, and they will refund the $150 billed to the wrong address in 4-6 weeks.
BS

If there was a broadband alternative where I live, I would jump on it right now.
I have lost all confidence in AT&T service.

[GT98]

Well my support experance with Comcast @Home hasn't been nearly as bad everyone else here , but then again I've only had my service for about a month. My worst experance was that I lost my connection after a thunderstorm I called tech support and they had me reset my modem, which worked fine for about 24 hours before it totally when out again. They sent someone out who was supposed to come at 1PM, but winded up coming at 11AM waking up my Father, who just got in at 5AM that morning from work! They got it working again and wanted to run a wire from where it comes into the house to my room, but my old man said no when it was gonna run over $100 bucks and we could do it anyway ourselfs. Its been working since then...so far so good.


Scott

[Gurm]

They are flat out lying to you about provisioning. In many areas, @Home is giving out "self-install" kits, which include a modem, NIC, software, etc.

When you get one of these kits... YOU CALL IN THE MAC ADDRESS!

So don't let them yank your chain. Call them. Stay on the phone until you get results. I had a similiar experience with Media One (now AT&T Broadband). TRUST me, you can get results.

- Gurm

[Greebe]

ditto

[Snake-Eyes]

The same thing is true for DSL providers too. When I called to check on availability of the service at my new address here in Lake Zurich, the person on the other end claimed to be checking to make sure that the address I moved to could get the service, and then he took the order and arranged to have the self-install kit sent out. Two days later (3 before the supposedly scheduled date of activation) I received a call from one of the Ameritech (my provider) broadband reps saying they'd been notified that I was interested in their service, and wondering if I'd like to place an order?

After I explained that I'd already placed an order, the rep checked their records, and said that there was no order in the system. So we began the whole process over again, and at the point that the new rep checked availability and told me I could not get service at this address, I nearly popped an artery! I had to stay on the line for 30 more minutes until I finally convinced that rep to let me speak to someone higher up. The next person on the line rechecked, and said that yes, I could get service. Then they sent out the self-install kit, and set a new activation date two days later than the original one. (making the effective date 7 days from my original order- quick by most people's experiences, but I'd been trying to schedule that day off of work to get things set up straight).

So, my DSL self-install kit actually arrived within about 3 days, and I had it a day or two before the activation was to take place. I thought, what the heck, and went ahead and connected everything. Just for grins, I powered up the modem, and got a sync signal!

So the line was active, but I couldn't yet use it (no account). no problem, I'll just call for the account info on the date it's supposed to be activated, and be on my merry way..

NOT.

The day comes, and at around 5PM CDT, I start getting a bit nervous. I'd called at 2PM and was told that it would take at least another 2 hours before the acount info posted into their end of the system (evidently two offices are involved- one enters info to the effect that a connection has been activated, then their computer system's supposed to generate an account, which triggers a notification at the office that gives that info to the customer..). At 6PM I called them back, and was told that there still was no account info listed for my connection. This was a Friday night.

I asked them why it wasn't already there, since the folks that actually activated the line had done it 2 days prior. Surely that info should've been in the system by now? But it wasn't! They told me it might show up over night, and to call back on Saturday. At which point I asked if they were even open on Saturday. I was told yes, they were open.

Saturday comes, and I called at 11AM to check on the account. The person who answered tells me that the office I spoke with on Friday IS NOT open on Saturday, and that I'll have to call back on Monday...

Needless to say, I'm more than a bit pissed at this point. Now I'd been blatantly lied to, after having put up with a bunch of total incompetents when just checking to see if I could get service and when placing the order..

So once again I sit on the line until I can speak to a higher-up. This time I waited an hour on the line.

Fortunately, this person decided to tell me something the others had not- namely that there is a generic login for new users to use until their permanent accounts come through (or was, I hear they've deactivated it now). The person gave me the account name and password, and mentioned that I still wouldn't have e-mail, since those were only generated from the system for final accounts. I took what I could get, obviously.

So at around 2PM on Saturday I was finally able to get online using my DSL connection. Kindness probably remembers this pretty clearly, because we discussed some of the ramifications of the temporary account login (namely, whether to op me in the MU chat room yet or not, heh).

It eventually took them another 4 days (counting Sunday) before I finally received my final account. Even then, it was because I was getting a bit impatient, and called them back. The person I spoke with the final time was sympathetic to my problems, and manually 'triggered' the generation of the account, saying that it was probably a computer glitch that kept one from being generated through the normal method.. (yeah, sure, or someone else just dropped the ball, and nobody else wanted to pick it up).

I still wonder why:
1) The first people I talked to when I tried to get the account info didn't tell me about the temporary access provisions, instead of making me stew for a day or two without access, and
2) Why NOBODY but the last one could manually create my account, and avoid the whole mess.

I guess it all comes back to what we've been saying in this topic so far- they are basically a monopoly, so they don't care. It's a take it or leave it attitude, and they're not above lying to you to get more money from you in the process. (AT&T is the local cable provider, and even though they have the fiber laid down, and digital cable is available here, they won't offer cable modem service to my area yet..)

[Wombat]

Man, this just gets weirder.

So, Greebe tried to help me out. He gave me some phone numbers that would have been <I>great</I> if I were a Comcast@Home customer. The Comcast people were very kind and tried to find phone numbers for AT&T that might help me, since the two companies apparently have different setups.

I bounced around about 5 AT&T numbers, but to no avail.

Out of desparation I called the same number that I used yesterday (default service: 888-262-6300, memorized it by now). This time, the tech helped me right away, submitted my info to the "task group", and said the new modem should be working this evening.

WTF, why is this different than yesterday? I'll be happ(ier) if my modem actually works tonight.

[Pneumatic]

Wombat, I guess I forgot about that part of my story. One of the "tech" guys took all of my info and said he would put in the request too. Unfortunately when I called back there was no sign of the request and when I asked the guy I was talking to do it he said he couldn't. (/me beats head on wall!)

I think that 's just their way to buy a day of silence.

[Wombat]

Man, don't tell me these things. I had an inkling of success here. Well, I'll know for sure in about 24 hours.