Apartment Complex tears down cable line

Somebody kill me please - Cable/High Speed Internet

Posted By: art_freemind on 10/30/2007

Location: Coppell, TX

Recently moved to a new apartment (cable was free at my prior building)...and got the basic expanded cable/high speed internet package for $99/mo. First time they come to install on 10/16, tech goes through my apartment and walks around outside for 45 minutes only to tell me he can't find the line, and that he will have to reschedule someone to come out and install a "post line".
Says they can't do this until Sat 10/20 all day appointment which I don't argue since this is only a few days away, and since it's on a Saturday I'll just make sure I'm at home.

Well, 10/20 rolls around, and around Noon no one shows so I decide to call just to confirm appointment...lady who answers phone in customer service says they don't install post lines on Saturdays. Ask her what the hell did the tech tell me they were scheduling it on a Saturday for then? She apologizes profusely and "reschedules" for 10/26 (Friday). So another week, no cable and I'm ok on internet since I've got a wireless pc card but I'm having to use my laptop.

10/26 comes...technician shows up reeking of that wacky tabacky (marijuana for slow people) and does the same walking the apartment rigamarole with his magic wand-y thing-y...and he says that the line has been cut. Tell him whooptie-doo I thought they already decided the reason why he was here in the first place was to install this post-line? He says "oh yeah" (probably because he has short-term memory loss, an unfortunate side effect of long-term smoking of The Chronic) ...and proceeds to get his equipment from the truck. Comes back and asks me where the office is so he can get permission to drill a hole in the wall to put in new line. Walk him down to the office and they say okay dokey do your magic mr. cable guy.

Well, I'm in my living room working on my laptop (since I'm working from home as I had to leave the office early to wait for 1/2 of Cheech & Chong to install my cable)...he does the install.

Comes back and says everything is ready to go. I test both TV's, and internet on my pc and all is well. I sign off the papers and he's out the door faster than you can say roll me a joint.

1 hour later, my TV goes blank as I'm half working and half watching Judge Judy. I call Time Warner. The CSR who talks like a high school dropout informs me that Half Baked hasn't closed the order yet so there's nothing they can do until he does. I say fine and hang up. I end up stepping out with friends for the evening, get home around 3am and decide to take them up on their 24 hour customer service guarantee. Very nice lady (actually, she really was nice) picks up, looks at my account and says that the tech didn't activate my cable box all the way. So she does this and all is well...she apologizes for inconvenience.

All is well until today (10/30) when I come home from work, turn on the TV and...no cable. Before I get myself all riled up...I check plugs, cable box, etc etc...make sure my cat didn't chew up any cords, that kind of stuff. I decide to go check the mail while I figure out what to do...on my way out of the breezeway I notice a bundle of cable cord sitting on the side of my apartment with the end still attached to my wall where Cheech drilled the hole. So now I'm thinking WTF? Somebody (probably the apartment complex) disabled my cable line.

So I walk down to the apartment office to see what the deal was. They said they had to disable the cable line because it was a hazard. Apparently, Cheech in his infinite wisdom decided to take several hundred feet of cable cord and stretch it from my apartment ALL THE WAY AROUND THE BUILDING to the far side where the cable box is. The maintenance guy said it was a pretty shoddy job...the cable cord wasn't even hidden...it was just all over the place...on top of bushes, grass, whatever.

So I thank the apartment complex for the info and apologize to them for the cable guy doing something so retarded...and return to my apartment to call TWC. Lady answers the phone, I explain the situation to her and she apologizes and says they will send someone out tomorrow (10/31) to look at it again. So yippee I get to leave the office early yet again. At this point I'm just hoping they don't send a monkey with cymbals as my technician.

I see why people steal cable. If they can't get it right this time, I'm saying eff it and going with DirecTV.