I Loathe Comcast/Time-Warner
The problem has now been fixed, but I want you all to see what I went through thanks to these fuckbags at Time-Warner. And it's the people in charge who did it -- not giving a shit who they put out; who, like me, just stayed up from midnight to 1:22 am in hopes of fixing my cable when I actually needed to be in bed at midnight because I have to wake up at 4 am to write.
Forgive me if this little tale/plea for help below is a bit repetitive and semi-incoherent. I'm tired, and pissed out of my skull, and I don't mean drunk, but drunk with rage. Here's what I wrote before the cable got fixed, thanks to Brian, a TW Tier 3 tech support guy:
I'm on double deadlines, and then some, for the holidays, and I'm supposed to be up at 4 am. I should be in bed now, but I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with my cable. Time-Warner's secret tech support number isn't answering (at 12:51 PST) -- or there are a lot of other people with fucked up cable waiting to get helped. Maybe they're closed, maybe they're not, the asswipes.You'd think they'd leave a message on there telling you they're closed, but their unprofessionalism is legendary with me. I live about a mile from the beach, and about once a year they let the lines degrade until my cable goes out, and then they come fix it. Maintain the lines? Why would they do such a thing? Just wait till we complain! Much cheaper, easier, much less manpower.
Worse yet, while I'm waiting (for Godot, I think -- it's now been 19 minutes and 28 seconds) they have these ads I have to listen to...plus these recorded apologies that make me want to throw my desk out the window -- at the exact moment the president/CEO of Comcast or Time-Warner or whatever it's called is walking by.
"We're very sorry you're still on hold. We appreciate your patience and ...some more insincere crap...be of service to you." Yeah? Fuck you. If you were sorry I was on hold, you'd have answered my call. Better yet, you'd have maintained my cable.
Oh, I love a monopoly. But for theirs, I'd be with anybody, anybody else. Satanic Cable, Inc? I'm there.
"Thank you for holding. One of our representatives will be with you momentarily."
I'm guessing I'll have to go to bed, and one of my blog commenters, not one of your representatives, will come up with some idea of what's wrong.
To that end, here's the modem.
Only the light on the far right is lit, and I keep shutting down my computer and pulling the modem plug and reinserting it, to no avail. Sorry the type isn't clearer, but the text under the light says "Internet." The others, from left to right, are Messages, Cable Activity, Cable Link, PC Link, then Internet, the lit one. I'm on an iMac G5.
Wait -- now the light just to the left of the light on the far right, PC Link, is lit, too. Perhaps this will clear itself up by morning.
Oh, "We're very sorry you're still on hold. We appreciate your patience and look forward to being of service to you." Yeah? Eat me.
Again, no need for volunteer trouble-shooting, problem has been solved, and here's a bit about what caused it:
Brian, Time-Warner Cable Tier 3 Support (who was great, really knew his stuff) said: "Servers are down. Servers will be up no later than 6 am."
Why would they do such a thing? Brian said: "Don't know why the servers are down. They just decided 'We're taking down our servers and making changes to them.'"
Charming.
Brian said they had 20,000 customers calling them, and six people to take their calls.
These scumbags in charge at Comcast/Time-Warner could've called, e-mailed, put out a press release. Instead, surprise, surprise, they just took down their servers, no warning, no explanation.
To the president of Comcast/Time-Warner: Have a really shitty day. And the day after that, another really shitty day. And so on, and so on. And if I had the energy, and I could find your home number, at 1:30 am PST/4:30 am EST, there's nothing that would give me greater joy than to wake your ass up and scream obscenities into your ear.
Is that crass and vulgar of me? Sorry, I was hoping for extra-crass and extra-vulgar, but I'm a little low on steam.