Spent over two hours on the phone today with the cable company.

[conuly]

First, the modem decided to fail immediately after I moved it from one end of the dining room to the other so it'd be more centrally placed. (I will take a minute here to praise my mother's foresight. When we got internet, lo these many years ago, she asked the tech to make sure we had lots of extra cable "just in case we decide to relocate it". I've moved it at least twice since then, and each time I've had cause to thank her for that request.)

Then, when I was about to call the company to ask them what's up, it occurred to me that this was the perfect time to install the new modem. So I did that... and then I sat on hold 20 minutes before somebody could help me set it up. But for some reason it was okay on their end but we weren't getting any connection, so I had to be transferred to somebody else to fix that. That's another long hold. Then, once it was set up I was transferred a second time to sales so I could upgrade our speed because it's no longer fast enough given how many people are home all day due to pandemic. This involved us being transferred over because our service was so old we were legacied in at a speed they no longer offer.

Two and a half hours. And you know what? I am so sick of hearing, no matter who I call, that "call volumes are higher than normal". They always say it, and it's never true. The truth is they didn't bother to hire enough call center folks to handle normal volumes and they're hoping we'll never figure it out. The doctor, the cable company - I'm on to you!

Comments

[elf]

"Call volumes are higher than normal" means "for this hour, call volumes are higher then they are for an average hour."

Of course, when you average in the calls that come between 11 pm and 7 am, calls-per-hour are ALWAYS higher than normal during times when people are normally conscious.

(At least, I assume that's what the message means.)

[hamimi_fk]

The trick is to call early. By 9:30 is when you have to call them.

I’m also fascinated by how old your service apparently was. lol

[mtbc]

Both our residential landline and our DVDs-by-mail service are on satisfactory plans no longer offered so I am always careful in the account management not to accidentally switch as it's probably irreversible!

[hamimi_fk]

I had no idea things like this occurred but I love it! My family is always swapping contracts and companies or just going without so we’ve never had anything like this happen.

[rebeccmeister]

It's fun to imagine a business having their phone system say, more truthfully, "Due to our chronic understaffing because of the relentless drive for profit..."

[conuly]

It's the dream.

[silveradept]

Wouldn't that be nice? Actual honesty would go a long way toward making the wait more bearable.

all volumes are higher than normal

[the_siobhan]

I have a twenty minute rant about that every single time I call tech support at work. If you're going to lie to me, at least put some effort into it.

[greghousesgf]

Is this Comcast? It's sucky enough to be Comcast.

[adafrog]

Oh man. But did you at least get it all set up?