Sunday, August 24, 2014

I believe that corporations are NOT people, my friend.

The Fake American is back and she's pissed.  Sometimes life just gets in the way and little projects like this get put on the back burner.  This weekend, though, I've had a lot of time to catch up on things.  Why?  Because I'm trapped at home waiting for the cable technician for the fourth time.  So forgive my rant--even though it is pertinent to the point I want to make.

"Corporations are people, my friend," said Mitt Romney during the 2012 campaign.  I guess they are people if the people you know are irresponsible, unreliable, back-stabbing crooks.  They certainly are not like any people I hang around with.

What prompted this feeling?  Well--Three days ago, a delivery truck backed into our driveway and snagged the cable line running to our house, pulling it off the pole down by the street.  This really isn't an unusual thing for us as it happens at least once a year.  Usually when the line comes down though, it's because of a storm.  That same day, we were able to get Comcast to come and put the line up.  Yay! We were not home and they did not test the signal.  We lost all of our services (phone, internet, tv). After a long customer service call, I was able to schedule another appointment the next day from 3 - 5 even though I told the rep that I could not get home until 4.  They came at 3:30 and left.  After another long phone call, I scheduled an appointment the next day (Saturday) from 1- 5 and I stayed home watching for them.  They never showed.  When I called, they told me that the appointment was for Sunday which was incorrect.  They scheduled one from 5 - 7 that same night and never showed.  Called again, got one for Sunday morning 8 - 10.  Called in the morning to confirm and they had no record of the appointment.  We were finally able to get connected to someone in the same state who scheduled us for a 1 -5 slot Sunday afternoon.  Logged into my account which is showing a 3 - 5 window.  We have to leave at 2 for a function.  So goes the ordeal.

One of the phone reps said "Wow, I see that you have one of our most expensive plans."  One wonders how they treat those who only have basic cable!  I've started reminding them that we've been with them since 1982 before they were Comcast.  They always thank me for being such a loyal customer. Shouldn't loyalty go both ways?

Comcast seemed offended when people opposed their merger with Time Warner. They only strive to provide the best service. Really?  If this is their best service, is is any wonder why people do not want to see monopolies which would mean fewer choices?  If we have no other choice, then they can treat us however they want.  I made a point to tell the service reps that I would be spending my time waiting checking up on the competition.  My loyalty is getting pretty exhausted at this point.

The problem, as I see it, is that they have moved their call centers and dispatch centers overseas to different places.  The first person we got was in the Philippines.  They had to put us on hold while they checked with the dispatchers who were God knows where.  We went through a bunch of layers before we finally got someone in our state.  Don't get me wrong--the people we spoke to were lovely--very polite and they stayed on the script.  They just cannot help you when the script doesn't match the problem so you have to get transferred to another country/continent.  This illustrates a bunch of problems--not only does it affect the quality of service, but it takes a lot of jobs out of the United States. Comcast will say that they would have to raise rates if they had to pay American salaries.  They raise rates anyway and they enjoy record profits.  How about this.  Stop being so greedy.  People aren't even asking for Fake American salaries, which would be a livable wage with benefits.  They're just asking for Real American salaries, which is basically minimum wage.  What about a little patriotism?

This shouldn't be a big deal and in the scope of life, it's not.  It does illustrate the problems with allowing corporations so much access to politicians who make the laws regarding the behavior of those same corporations.

Corporations are NOT people, my friend.  They exist to make money by fulfilling certain needs, wants or desires that people have and lately, they're not keeping their end of the bargain. If they were people, I would've severed my friendship with some of them years ago. Sadly there aren't many other choices and the choices are becoming fewer and fewer.

Sorry for the rant.  You may now return to your regular programming--provided you have cable service.