Lack of Competition

Let me preface this story by saying that both Comcast (for cable/internet) and AT&T (for wired land phone lines) have no competition in our area if you want *cable* TV and a dial tone that is a LAND line, not a VOIP/digital phone.

Yesterday was the official day of internet/phone hookups. It did not, in fact, go well.

Mr. Sleazy Comcast Guy showed up right at his little appt window, and was gone by 3pm. (1pm raid time). We have working internet – solely because I got lucky and had brought my laptop with me to have something to do while I waited – but no cable, because we didn’t have a TV there – nobody told us we had to have a TV there, even when I told the appointment making person that it was a vacant home – and since there wasn’t a TV they could check, they won’t leave a box.

Since, you see, it might be broken. And they don’t charge for *service* calls to a broken box, but they WILL charge me a full second installation fee to come and plug in a stupid box once I get the TV at the house.

Anyway

My “appointment” with the phone company to get our land line hooked up – which is required by the security company to have our alarm system working – was 8am to 8pm. yeah. 12 hours. So I told them in really BIG YELLING LETTERS that they needed to call me first, since the house is vacant, and I can’t guarantee someone will be there to let them in.

And then I sat at the house from 8am until 8:30pm.

Nobody called. Nobody showed up.

So I called them this morning?

“Oh, we’re sorry, they were there sometime during the day and just flipped the switch at the street. Since there was a previous line there, we just assume that the jacks all still work and just activate it.”

Didn’t call. Didn’t leave a note. Didn’t even ring the (deleted) doorbell. I have no idea if it works – we don’t even LIVE THERE YET, so I don’t have our phone moved over there. The nice lady on the phone ran a line diagnostic and says it works, but since everything else in the house is broken, that means I get to take a phone around to every jack and plug it in and see which ones work and which don’t.

Not to mention the very weird bundle of wires sticking out of the wall that are supposedly some kind of ancient telephone hook up that I was told to ask our phone technician to test and fix.

I am, in fact, FURIOUS.

(Oh – and she said they would call the phone at the house and give me a survey. apparently she missed the part about NOT LIVING THERE YET.)