Customer Service

I'm finally getting around to swapping the cable bill into my name.

My wife set it up when we moved into the house seven years ago, and I just decided that I wanted to be able to access the bill online. The problem is she already set it up, and I didn't have any of her passwords and information.

A quick call to the cable company and I was assured that if I went into the customer service center with a copy of the bill, my ID and a copy of her death certificate we could get everything set up.

So, pulling up to the customer service center I curbed another wheel.  Not that it has anything to do with this, but it kind of set the tone. So now on the right side of the pony I have one curbed wheel in the front and a bent one in the back. My joy knows no bounds. Back to the subject at hand.

What had to happen is the old account had to be canceled and a new account set up in my name. Why it couldn't have been as simple as changing the name and resetting all the passwords I don't know, but there it is. On a positive note I was able to get a promotional rate for the first 12 months which is less than I was paying before for essentially the same service.  I also traded in an old remote that didn't work so well for a brand new one.

When I got home I prepared to set up the new remote and lo and behold the cable didn't work anymore. A call to the customer service center and they swapped the accounts over...which is what I thought I was doing when I showed up in person.  With that done I got the remote working for the TV, but it won't program to run either the DVD/VCR or the surround sound. Good thing I still have the individual remotes for them, and we don't use either one all that much anyway so it's fine.

I then went to the magic elf box to set up the account online. I don't have a bill yet so I don't have a customer ID number. First hurdle. Another call to the customer service center to set up a callback to the number on record (which is where I was calling from, hello? even your stupid answer-bot figured that out). Customer ID number in hand I was able to set up the new online account.

The old account had a credit of a little over $200 but the new account had a charge of $180. Not only that, but there on the charges line plain as day was a modem rental fee. I have my own modem, and have had my own modem since day one. Another call to the customer service center and the rental fee was knocked off and the credit transferred to the new account.

All that just so I could view my bill online. It might have been easier just to not pay the damn thing and I'm sure they would have been all over the place to call me and get it all worked out.  But, everything seems to be in order now, so I guess all's well that ends well.

Still not a damn thing on worth watching though...

UPDATE: and now I don't have all the channels I had before either. I'm about ten minutes from telling them to come get all of their junk out of my house and going with satelite.

UPDATE II: Looks like they got it this time. We will see.