That’s Comcastible!

Nope. Not Comcastic. Not at all. Want to hear a scary story? Are you reading this late at night. Under your covers with a flashlight? Well you don’t need one unless your device doesn’t have a backlight – and that’d be a scarier story.

I’ll keep this brief – if that’s even possible.

So, I know my cable box is old. I know my TV is new. I know that my picture is awful because I’ve got an old cable box connected to my 4K resolution TV via rca cables. Not HDMI. But, my box doesn’t have HDMI. So, I thought I’d finally tackle this error and go online from work and bring up a chat box with Comcast. After a while of explaining my situation (and why do they make you fill out the pre-chat info if the chat operator never reads it?) – the final recommendation – call Comcast tech support. So, I called Comcast – picked up a phone. Old school method. Their final say – call and pay to have a tech replace it with a newer one or drive to the local Comcast office and get it replaced for free. Brick and mortar it is! Ultimate old school!

You’ll find a strange lot standing in line at a Comcast office. Remember those pictures of the people of Wal-Mart? I think it became a coffee table book at one point. Well, Comcast might have a go at that. So, there I am standing in line, holding my number, like I’m going to ask for a side of beef. I get a new box. Story ends? Nope, but soon- sort of!

I take it back and find out that the new cable box doesn’t power on. I use “new” loosely as in my Mr. Fixit hat, I find that the date of manufacture was 2010. I also find that it’s not the box, but the AC Adapter. Being Mr. Fixit, I, of course, quickly found an equivalent AC Adapter in my stash of AC Adapters (similar voltage and amperage and plug that fits with the correct positive tip). That’s kind of a big deal. And I was especially happy since I had rec’d the “new” Comcast box near noon on a Saturday and it was Sunday and they were closed.

Two weeks later (today), I went back to the brick and mortar location to get a replacement AC Adapter. Busy day. I was number 87 and they had just called 77. But, I waited patiently. Me and my non-working ac adapter to my new decade old cable box. Finally, they called my number. However, they would not replace the AC Adapter. They didn’t have any laying about. Only with other “new” cable boxes. I’d have to bring back my entire cable box, ac adapter and remote and swap them out for another set. Or they could give me a completely new set and charge me for it until I brought back the old new decade old set. Wow.

So, I left. I’ll just throw my non-working ac adapter in a drawer should the day come when I return the cable box or upgrade it again. I’m not going to remove a perfectly working cable box just to get a replacement AC Adapter. And wouldn’t the end result have been the same? They would have ended up with my broken ac adapter and a cable box and remote and I would have ended up with a (hopefully working) cable box, ac adapter and remote – so why couldn’t they have just opened another used new cable box and given me that adapter?

That’s an example of customer service run by a conglomerate. No rules for Mr. Fixit. I suppose the average Joe would have not figured it was the AC Adapter and have returned the whole thing and done it all in one trip. Sigh.

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