Song of the day:
Video of the day:
What day is it?
I got my song and videos of the day ready to go on Friday but never finished the rest of my post so it never got posted. So please note that the song and video were from Friday and the post is from today. Honestly, the days have started to blur together a lot recently so I’m fairly certain it’s Monday but I could be completely wrong.
Let’s see if I can summarize the last few days…
Thursday night: Hamilton! Much joy and happiness. Even ran into a colleague from SJSU! I mean this cast is amazing and I’m so glad I got to see them again - and in San Jose even! If you’re in the area I highly recommend getting to the show in the next two weeks. After that they’re off to another city.
Friday night: The Comcast/Xfinity saga began…I’ll summarize below if you really want to know but suffice it to say this, it’s still not fully resolved and, in the process, I broke a TV and had to buy a new one. Okay, had to is a bit dramatic…I wanted to buy a replacement but still. It never should have happened. There’s a credit on my bill and possibly more coming because it has been ROUGH.
Saturday night: HOCKEY!!! I honestly didn’t realize how much I’d missed hockey until I was in the thick of the Sharks home opener. The fans, the lights, the hoopla, the chanting, the free tacos and oh yeah, the victory!! … it was SO MUCH FUN! I can’t wait for the next game. (Also, the Comcast/Xfinity saga continued…)
Sunday: The Comcast/Xfinity saga sort of came to an end but then started up again. I honestly couldn’t make this up if I tried. I did start a new book today, and it’s a fun one. I also did three loads of laundry and a fair amount of work so the day wasn’t all lost.
So, as I embark on the new week I’m hopeful that there is no drama. I have nothing planned other than lunch with a former colleague one day. Beyond that, I think I’m gonna just hang out at home for most of the time. I went grocery shopping yesterday so I actually have food in my house - WEIRD.
I hope you had a great weekend that was completely drama- and saga-free. Here’s to a good week ahead!
Okay…if you want to read about the Comcast/Xfinity saga, here it is…don’t say I didn’t warn you…
Every now and then over the past several months on both my DVR and non-DVR boxes, I received a message telling me that I needed new equipment to fully experience my Xfinity service. This seemed to happen mostly when I tried to access one of the applications via the Xfinity button on my remote control. I guess I kept thinking it would just work to click the Disney+ app, but it never did. I had other ways to access that service so I let it go. But it seemed ridiculous that I couldn't access it from the box when I could access Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Finally, about two weeks ago, I talked with someone about what I needed to do and, after checking to see what equipment I had, they suggested I trade in the two boxes and the modem/router as they were all a little old. I made an appointment to bring my equipment to the local store to make the exchange.
That appointment took place on Friday…or as I call it now, the beginning…
The customer service rep who helped me in the store was incredibly helpful. However, she let me know that the DVR was fine and didn't need trading in. This was frustrating since I'd gone to the trouble of disconnecting everything to bring it there. She told me that once I got the new wireless box for my other TV that the DVR box would allow me to access the apps like Disney+ that I wasn't able to access previously. This seemed strange but I figured she knew what she was talking about. She also reviewed my bill and helped me lower the monthly rate, which was fantastic, and I left feeling good about things.
Later that night I got home and set up my new modem/router without any issues. I set up the new wireless cable box in my second room but in the process somehow knocked over and broke my TV. This is not Comcast's fault, obviously, but it plays a part in this whole saga. Due to the lack of TV in my second room, I was unable to test to see if things were working. So, I went back to my main TV to reconnect the DVR.
I connected it exactly as it was previously, at least to the best of my recollection, but it didn't work. I double- and triple-checked the connections, and still, nothing. I tried rebooting the system through the Xfinity app more than once then finally gave up and decided to try the next day.
On Saturday morning I tried again to get the TV to work with the box but had no luck. That's when I connected to the Comcast online chat for help. The person tried the same things I tried to no avail and said the system was online. I still had no picture or sound, mind you. They asked me to check the connections. The customer service agent had me switch the port for the HDMI cable (it was HDMI 2 on the box and he told me it should be in HDMI 1). Okay, I thought, I'm an idiot. If that's the issue then I feel stupid. But that didn't change anything. The agent rebooted again - mind you, twice during this process the internet also got rebooted and I had to connect to wifi via my phone's hotspot, which I don't like to do, but I had no choice. At the end of about an hour of troubleshooting, they told me they didn't know what else to do and would set up an appointment for a technician.
I had several things set to record on the DVR between Saturday and Sunday and wanted to make sure they recorded but they could not get me an appointment for Saturday. They told me that he could make an appointment for Sunday between 9-11am. I said that would be fine. When I asked if it was possible to get a credit on my bill for not having cable for a day they said they would have to connect me to billing.
Upon the agent from billing connecting to chat, they basically asked me to regurgitate the entire problem, which I said I didn't have time to do. It's absurd to me that they couldn't read the chat that had just occurred with the prior agent. I told them I would deal with it later and ended the chat.
I ended up getting a new TV to replace that one that broke so later that day I was able to connect the wireless box and everything worked fine. I was able to access the apps (e.g. Disney+) from that box, just as I'd hoped I would be able to do. I thought maybe getting that connected was key to the other box working so I tried again...still nothing.
When I woke up Sunday morning I realized that I'd never received a confirmation for the 9-11am appointment that the first agent told me they'd set up. What I did get, however, was a text telling me service was restored and all should work. It didn't. I checked my account and it showed that there was no appointment set for me.
At this point I called and talked to someone because I was, as you might imagine, not at all happy. This person had something in her notes that I was having issues with my internet, which was not at all the case. I had to explain the ENTIRE story again. She said there was definitely not an appointment set and couldn't get me one until the next day (which would have been today) but would put me on the waitlist. This meant I would go another full day, most likely, without being able to view the cable I pay for on my main TV. She did indicate that she would issue a credit, which I appreciated.
About 2 hours after that call, I received a call from someone who identified herself as an Advanced Repair Technician. I assumed that meant they had a cancellation and were coming to check things out. However, she wanted to troubleshoot again via phone. I didn't see the point but went through the motions. Finally, after all the other time spent troubleshooting, she figured out that the HDMI cable was NOT in fact in the right port. Once she explained what it should look like things actually worked fine. Sort of. I told her how frustrated I was that this wasn't resolved during my first attempt at troubleshooting with the agent and she said it's typically only the advanced repair techs that know how to really look at the back of the box. REALLY?! This seems like something ALL the help people should know.
Once I finished speaking with her I went to the apps (again, Disney+) to make sure it worked. IT DID NOT. In fact, it popped up the same message I was getting before, telling me I needed new equipment. REALLY?!
So, after ALL this time, time to unhook everything, time to take everything to the store for the exchange, a broken TV, time to get a new TV, more than an hour of troubleshooting online and the phone, I STILL can't do what I wanted to do when I started this whole thing. I honestly would have been better off keeping the old equipment and continuing to use my Kindle Firestick to access the applications as I've been doing for the last couple of years, which is, of course, what I'll have to keep doing on my main TV.
This is one of the most frustrating experiences I have ever had with Comcast/Xfinity. If I had not been told that my DVR needed to be exchanged so that I could watch Disney+ through the DVR box, I would have never unplugged it and my connection issue would not have occurred.
On Sunday evening I decided I wanted to send a message to customer service explaining my frustration so that, hopefully, they could shore things up so someone else didn’t have to go through this. After several minutes of searching their site for an email I reluctantly connected to chat and had to practically beg them to give me an email. They finally did and I sent my email (basically what you’ve just read above with a few other details that would be important for them).
THE EMAIL BOUNCED.
I told you I couldn’t make this stuff up.
So I decided to see how Twitter would respond and found their customer service Twitter account and sent the whole thing via a direct message. And they responded almost immediately. I guess people really don’t use email anymore!
As part of this Twitter chat they said, “Oh, I see you’re not signed up for our rewards program. I can send you a link to sign up.” I said I thought that happened automatically but sure, send me the link.
Y’ALL.
It says I’m not eligible for the rewards program. No seriously.
So now they’re trying to figure that out and these rewards better be amazing because this is insane. But now all I can do is laugh because it’s like I’ve been banned from their rewards program and it’s all ridiculous.
So there you have it. Maybe I’ll have an update tomorrow…or maybe something new will happen…who knows?!
WOW! I had the same message on my Comcast, but only on my 2nd TV (not the DVR) and it only affected Disney+. Fortunately, I was able to order the updated equipment online & they shipped the new box to me; then I brought the old box to their store (though I could have shipped it back). After hearing of your experience, I'm glad I didn't have to update my DVR (fingers crossed).
My biggest issue was I found out this month that they'd been charging me for my old box + the new box for the last couple of months!!!! Had to call them three times until I finally got someone that understood the issue, but then they disconnected the NEW box (rather than the old one) and I had to call them back again so they would reconnect the new box and disconnect the old box).
Then, I tried to see if they could lower my bill as it keeps going up and up and up and up... I don't know about in San Jose, but they've really reduced the number of packages and the number of deals they used to have, so in order to save real money I'd have to drastically cut my internet speed and the number of channels I can access (which is crazy I have to pay for so many when we only watch about 10). After an hour of haggling, finally got them to reduce our bill by a small amount.
I keep thinking about cutting the cord and just streaming, but I love my DVR and being able to record stuff and being able to watch live shows. I have particular shows that I regularly watch and want to be able to watch them when I want, not have to wait for them to be released on a streaming platform. Not to mention the ability to watch the Packers, OSU Beavers, Blazers, and Sharks, which would be harder without cable.
Comcast/Xfinity has great quality and I love the service. Just wish their prices would come down and their service quality would improve.
P.S. - For our kitchen TV, we got a cheap Roku stick and just access our Xfinity from there since we didn't want to pay for another box and didn't have a cable outlet in that room. Thinking about doing that for our 2nd TV and just having the DVR, but the Roku remote is too basic.
Let us know how it works out. That's especially frustrating about the DVR still not being able to access some of the apps!!!!
That Olive and Mabel video is hilarious. Thanks for the laugh.