{"id":588,"date":"2017-02-18T12:24:25","date_gmt":"2017-02-18T17:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ericstechblog.com\/?p=588"},"modified":"2017-02-18T12:24:25","modified_gmt":"2017-02-18T17:24:25","slug":"thats-comcastible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/2017\/02\/18\/thats-comcastible\/","title":{"rendered":"That’s Comcastible!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019t need one unless your device doesn\u2019t have a backlight \u2013 and that\u2019d be a scarier story.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll keep this brief \u2013 if that\u2019s even possible.<\/p>\n

So, I know my cable box is old. I know my TV is new. I know that my picture is awful because I\u2019ve got an old cable box connected to my 4K resolution TV via rca cables. Not HDMI. But, my box doesn\u2019t have HDMI. So, I thought I\u2019d 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?) \u2013 the final recommendation \u2013 call Comcast tech support. So, I called Comcast \u2013 picked up a phone. Old school method. Their final say \u2013 call and pay to have\u00a0a 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!<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll find a strange lot standing in line at a\u00a0Comcast 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\u2019m going to ask for a side of beef. I get a new box. Story ends? Nope, but soon- sort of!<\/p>\n

I take it back and find out that the new cable box doesn\u2019t power on. I use \u201cnew\u201d loosely as in my Mr. Fixit hat, I find that the date of manufacture was 2010. I also find that it\u2019s 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\u2019s kind of a big deal. And I was especially happy since I had rec\u2019d the \u201cnew\u201d Comcast box near noon on a Saturday and it was Sunday and they were closed. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u2019t have any laying about. Only with other \u201cnew\u201d cable boxes. I\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n

So, I left. I\u2019ll 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\u2019m not going to remove a perfectly working cable box just to get a replacement AC Adapter. And wouldn\u2019t 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 \u2013 so why couldn\u2019t they have just opened another used new cable box and given me that adapter?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019t need one unless your device doesn\u2019t have a backlight \u2013 and that\u2019d be a scarier story. I\u2019ll keep this brief \u2013 if …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2gH3K-9u","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":590,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions\/590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}