Last Tuesday (May 15) I closed the lid on my trusty laptop at about 11 p.m. and went to bed.  As far as I know that was the last time we had a highspeed internet connection in this house.  When I awoke and finished writing my morning pages at about 7:15 on Wednesday morning our internet connection was gone.  We have not gotten it back since.  The following is a chronicle of our interactions with the (un)helpful people who have answered the customer service phone (888-205-500) at Comcast.  The “I” refers to LightHusband … he has had the unmitigated pleasure of dealing with these jackanapes.  Just remember as you read this that we pay ~$150 per month for a business account.  This ensures rapid response when our service is down.  It is to laugh.

Lost Internet early Wednesday (before 0700), note left from Comcast that service disruption (“a few hours”) could be expected as they install fiber-optic lines in our neighborhood.

Called Thursday, 17 May, in the morning:

– Told that a Technician would be dispatched 1:00 – 5:00 (no show)

Called Friday, 18 May, 8:30am:

– Told that a Technician would be dispatched 11:00 – 2:00 (no show)

Called Friday, 18 May, 1:55pm:

– Told ticket was from 11:00 – 3:00 (still no show)

Called Friday, 18 May, 2:55pm:

– Told that they couldn’t reach dispatch and that my case would be elevated to “tier 2″… told that supervisor would be calling shortly (never received a call)

Called Friday, 18 May, 3:25pm:

– Told that it was sent to “escalation department”… supervisor would be calling shortly (never received a call)

Called Friday, 18 May, 3:50pm:

– Told that he was “walking it over to his supervisor” (put on hold… call dropped)

Called Friday, 18 May, 4:00pm:

– Told that there was “no record of the case being elevated” but that he was escalating it now. Then he said that “I’m showing that there is a tech on site now”. I assured him that I was standing in the street in front of my business and that there was no tech on site. Then I was told that local supervisor would be calling shortly. (never received a call)

Called Friday, 18 May, 5:10pm:

– Told that “every time you called today, the person taking the call backed your ticket out of the escalation queue because they were all received at different offices”. Told that “someone from the local office will contact you soon to set up an appointment”. (never received a call)

Called Monday, 21 May, 7:30am:

– Talked to “Mark in the main office”. He said that he was going to escalate the ticket from “his side” (it had not yet been escalated from “his side” before). He told me to expect a call back with a couple of hours.

Called Monday, 21 May, 9:30am:

– Talked to Bill… put on hold while he contacted the local dispatch. Told that “the phone wasn’t hooked up at the local dispatch and that’s why they never received my ticket”. I asked for the name of the local supervisor and was told that “he didn’t get his name”. Asked for the address or phone number of the local office and was told that he didn’t know. Then he said that the local dispatch “knows that I’ve been without service for a while and that he’d send someone right away”.

Received call Monday, 21 May, 1:10pm:

– Received call from Upgrade Department telling me that the reason that I had no connectivity was because they were doing work in the area. She went on to say that I should be connected in the evenings and on weekends. When I explained to her that we had absolutely NO connectivity at any time, she told me that an “inside technician” would need to be dispatched, but that the technician couldn’t work while her team was doing their upgrade. When I asked her how long I could anticipate being down, she told me that there was no way for her to tell, but that it affected other businesses in my area as well.

Called Monday, 21 May, 1:20pm:

– Talked to Brian… He assured me that a tech was due between 11:00am and 2:00pm today. He told me that the reason that we never received service on Friday was because it was marked on the system as completed.

Called Monday, 21 May, 2:10pm:

– Talked to Richard… put on hold while he talked with a supervisor. Told that “Eric the supervisor” would be calling me within 30 minutes. (Never called)

Called Monday, 21 May, 4:10pm:

– Talked to Latrice. She said that Eric did enter notes on my ticket. He stated that the local dispatch has been canceling work orders on my node because of outages due to the ongoing upgrade work. I stated that I had already spoken with an upgrade supervisor and was told that I should be up on the weekend and after business hours. When I told her that I had ZERO connectivity since last Tuesday, she put me on hold to talk to local dispatch again. When she came back, she told me that I could speak with Eric (her supervisor)… Eric told me that local dispatch had been canceling trouble tickets because they were performing work on my node today. I asked why my three appointments on Thursday and Friday got dropped without explanation, and he told me that he would speak with local dispatch and call me back. I also read to Eric the notice that was left on our office door last Wednesday morning telling us that there was ongoing upgrade work going on in my area and tht we should be prepared for service interruptions, but that “they would not exceed one day”. I then asked for a technician to at least come and test my line from the street to my router. He reiterated that he would speak with local dispatch and call me back.

Received call Monday, 21 May, 6:15pm:

– Received call from Eric telling me that local dispatch was sending a truck tonight to check the outside lines. If that didn’t resolve the issue, they would be sending a tech in the morning.