Comcast Issues

Last I knew I lived in Illinois... Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong. So, when I go to the Comcast Cable website and sign in and choose to contact customer support via chat I get this message and have for the past 2-3 months:

We apologize that chat for Michigan is not available as a support option. Alternatively, you can telephone us at 800-COMCAST (266-2278) and a Michigan customer care representative will take care of your question or concern. 

If your inquiry is of a less urgent nature you can always email us and well get you a response within 24 hours.

So when I call and FINALLY get a customer service rep, they tell me they're aware of this problem and they're working on it... For 2-3 months??? How hard can this be to correct??? 

Ok, so my REAL issue... for the past few months we've been having a problem with certain shows pixelating on and off. This all started back a few months ago (hmmmm... not too long after Insight changed to Comcast). I ALWAYS watch Frazier on FOX WYZZ 43 at 11 pm Monday-Friday (LOVE that show... kind of like M.A.S.H. use to be for me... I HAVE to watch it). 

Anyway... back a few months ago I noticed that occassionally each night the screen would pixelate and freeze briefly. Then it became worse... then worse. NFL on Sundays would broadcast without a problem, as well as other regular FOX shows. It was generally syndicated shows that we were having the problems.

It's not quite as bad now as it was, but it still does it occassionally. I talked to Comcast about it via 800#, but that got me no where. I went in to our Comcast office here in Normal and that was even worse... they basically made me feel stupid and told me that it's our TV or our DVD recorder causing the problem. 

Last night we had The Weather Channel on (I know, we watch such exciting TV, don't we?) and it pixelate, freeze then go completely black for 5-10 minutes at a time. So, I decided to call the 800# again... I explained what was happening on The Weather Channel at that moment (she saw no problems in our area... surprise surprise) and then I also repeated my whole story about FOX WYZZ 43 and the problems with late night programming and some problems with a couple of shows Laurie had watched this week mid-day (syndicated shows, but on NBC). It was obvious that my information was news to the rep and they hadn't heard of any problems prior to my call (??????????????). 

I went ahead and scheduled for a technician to come to our house to make sure it wasn't the line coming into our house, our DVD recorder or our TV. I received the call from the technician late morning today and, in my opinion, he should be president and CEO. I was amazed... someone that actually understands and can explain TV broadcasting. After speaking with him for 10-15 minutes he stopped at the house, tested everything, talked with Laurie, explained a few things to her, made some suggestions... he said our reception is fine. It's not our TV, or DVD recorder but the feed being received and sent by Comcast (which means it's not necessarily Comcast's fault either). He connected the cable directly into the TV and we're watching it that way rather than through the DVD recorder just to make sure it's not the DVD recorder.

So, I'm watching Electric Company on PBS WILL (LOVE what they've done with that show... I use to love it as a child) and noticed the pixelating over and over and over again. Hmmmmm... syndicated show. I called Comcast AGAIN (third time in 18-hours)... reported the pixelating on PBS WILL during the specific show... he didn't really seem to care and didn't know of any problems... blah blah blah. Same thing... so AGAIN I had to repeat the story/history. He asked, "do you want me to have the technician come back out?" DUH... I just told him what the technician said earlier... it's not our cable, our TV or our DVD recorder... it's the feed and we were told to call when it's doing it so Comcast can keep track of the problems.

So... it's come to this... simply... our cable sucks. It's not going to improve. We CANNOT be the only ones having problems and seeing the pixelating, but... are we really the only ones that ever call and complain??? GRRRRR!!!! I don't have hopes of it improving... I'll just learn to put up with Raymond and Frazier breaking up into mozaics every couple of minutes during their shows at 10:30 & 11 each night.

(I didn't plan on this entry being this long... thanks for "listening")