If you live in an area that cable television provider Comcast serves, you've likely been barraged with advertising for the company's new digital offerings. However, be wary of Comcast's promises if one of its representatives comes knocking on your door.
Last week, a gregarious Comcast representative rang my doorbell offering free digital boxes for our two televisions which he said would allow us to watch channels that we were paying for but had stopped receiving as well as access on-demand programming. Furthermore, he said the digital boxes would integrate perfectly with our TiVo system. Best of all, he promised that all this would come with no increase in our monthly cable bill. Momentarily, I forgot the maxim that "if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is" and agreed to the upgrade.
Today, a Comcast technician came to our house to install our new service. Things started off badly and got worse quickly. First, I was told that there were no guarantees that my TiVo system would work with the new digital box. In fact, he told me, "I don't know why our people promise so many things that can't be guaranteed." Second, he said that he had only one box with him since the person who created the work order had forgottent to put in the code for another box.Third, after installing the digital box, the framing of the image was distorted making it impossible to read the scrolling information on the bottom of the screen that has gotten so popular on television news. Fourth, when leaving, he asked me to sign a piece of paper approving his work and agreeing to a monthly price increase in our service. Since everything that the Comcast technician did contradicted what the Comcast sales representative told me, I refused to sign the work order and requested that the digital box be removed.
While the "Comcastic" advertising campaign has entertained me, I was sorely disappointed with what the company actually delivers. Instead of spending money touting "Comcastic" service, Comcast would be much better served concentrating on offering honest information and quality installations to engender satisfaction and positive buzz.
