thanks, Brandon of Comcast! you ROCK!!!

I was beginning to suspect that cable techs were a myth.

I've not had access to "On Demand" on my TV since about this time last week.

Error CL-17 -

that was the message I saw every time I hit that button.

It advised that I unplug the TV box for a minute, then plug it back in.

I bet I've done that at least 15 times since I first saw that message on the blue screen.

Each time, I'd see the same result.

Sometimes I would try again; sometimes I would even unplug the cable from the box, then put it back on; sometimes I would just turn the damned TV off and do something else.

Saturday was my first attempt to contact Comcast for resolution of the problem.

Let me just say this: their Online Assistant was useless for this issue.

It didn't even recognize the error code.

So, after running in circles with it for a while, I called...

and got the same damn Online Assistant, just talking on the phone this time.

"Do you want me to send the signal to reset your TV box?", it asked.

Yes, I do, was my reply -

at which the damned fool thing reset my INTERNET.

The TV box wasn't affected at all, but I still had to wait 15 minutes for the damned fool thing to call me back and see if the problem was fixed.

Of course it wasn't, right?

But it connected me with a real, live, person who then proceeded to try to troubleshoot the problem remotely, from wherever Jana was.

After about 16 minutes on the phone, she informed me that she had determined the problem was on their end and she would pass it along as a work order ("ticket") to higher-order techs to resolve.

That shouldn't take more than 24 hours, she told me, and they would call when done.

Well, they never did call, and the problem was still there on Sunday.

That's when their text-bot informed me "it's all fixed" and I had to break its heart.

I tried to get an appointment with a real, live, tech, but eventually had to walk away as the text-bot would not shut up.

Sigh.

Yesterday, I called Comcast to try again.

Again, the damned fool phone version of the Online Assistant asked about resetting my TV box, and, again, the damned fool thing reset my INTERNET.

Shiite.

Second verse, same as the first, as per the song done by Herman's Hermits, though this time with a real, live, person named Ash.

She worked on it from her remote location for 22 minutes before telling me she was turning it over to the higher-order techs with a "ticket", and I should hear back within 3 hours.

No one called except the text-bot and, after informing it the problem remained and trying in vain to set up an appointment with a real, live, tech to come here, I finally turned my phone off to get the text-bot to shut the hell up.

Sheesh.

And, while dealing with it, my dinner burned.

Shiite.

I almost cried.

At least I was able to rescue most of it, but still...

damnity damn DAMN.

Sigh.

After dinner, when I was calm, I actually googled how to call Comcast for an appointment.

And that worked!

So, next time I'll call 1-800-934-6489 directly and bypass the damned fool Assistant.

Because you know what happened when I called that number?

A real, live, person answered, and, after listening to me vent about my burned dinner, David set me up with an appointment, with a real, live, tech.

For TODAY.

Wow.

Then, when Brandon arrived, it was well within the time frame I'd been given.

Wow.

And, in less than an hour, he'd determined the issue was with the bnc adapter on the TV box, and, after seeing how old that box was, he set up a new one -

BOOM! -

and set up a new remote to go along with it -

BOOM! -

and made sure I knew how to use both before he left -

BOOM!

He even gave me his cell phone number in case of any issues!

Wow!

And I didn't even lose my movies that I'd been given last year.

(smile!)