$109... What do you think?

When Dustin and I moved, one of the first things we did was to call Comcast (our cable/internet provider) to have them come hook up our stuff in the new place. We had them come out the day after we moved in because internet connectivity is next to oxygen in our house -- we can't live without out it. 

It was going to cost us $77 to come hook things up. It seemed like a lot to me because all they had to do was 'flip the switch' (we carried over all the cable boxes, modem, etc.). Anyway, they were supposed to be there at a certain time, and they were an hour late-- annoying, because we had stuff to do. So the cable man comes to our duplex and hooks it up, and then we had cable and internet. Yay. 

A few days later, all cable and all internet was completely out. We called their "technical support" (I use quotations, because these people clearly have no technical know-how whatsoever) and spent time trying to figure out the issue. No dice. They told us that they'd send a tech over in two days. TWO DAYS! That's a long time considering I take two online courses and Dustin needs the internet for everything he does work-related. 

So the fixer-cable man came over, fixed the problem and told us a funny story. 

Here's the story.

Once upon a time, Comcast sent out a contractor to set up the cable and internet at a cute, young couple's new duplex. Unfortunately, the contractor was an idiot and instead of adding cable and internet to the duplex, he unhooked the neighbor's cable and internet in order to hook up the young couple's cable and internet. This displeased the neighbor, because his cable and internet went out completely. The neighbor then called Comcast and complained that his service had been interrupted. Comcast sent out another fixer-cable man to fix the neighbor's problem. This cable-fixer man was also an idiot and instead of adding cable and internet, he simply unhooked the young couple's cable and internet to RECONNECT the neighbor's cable and internet. This is when the young couple noticed that their cable and internet was completely out and they called Comcast. It's at this point in the story where we meet the only decent person that works for Comcast -- the fixer-cable man who told us this story. 

What happens after the story is not funny. It's sad and tragic. I opened my bill from Comcast and they did not bill me $77 to install the cable/internet... they billed me $109 for installation. 

They have got to be freaking kidding me if they think that I am paying a single cent for that jerry-rigged installation. They will have to pry my credit card from my cold, dead hand.  

What's even worse is that when I called their customer support to tell them that they need to remove the charges from my bill, they told me that the customer support people are only authorized to give a credit of $50 max. I now have to drive to their main office and tell them my story in order to get a credit. 

Oh, did I mention that Comcast has a monopoly here?