View Full Version : Comcast put terminator on cable line, blocking my OTA signal as well


Hutch1ns
12-16-07, 03:09 AM
Hey guys,

I've been through a complete disaster with comcast over the last few days. It all started when I recieved a letter on 12/11 from comcast stating that my services would be shut off on 12/12 if a payment of $4xx.xx was not made in cash at a payment center. This was completely bizarre because as far I knew I hadn't been late on a single payment (had automated billing setup on my checking account) and hadn't recieved any bills or notices (I have paperless billing.) The notice was dated 12/3/07 but was postmarked 12/10 from the collection center only 20 miles away from me. The first thing I did was call my bank (this was an old checking account of mine that I put $1000 in a few months ago in order to pay my Comcast account and not have to worry about it for awhile) and they told me that they froze my account 60 days ago because of suspicious activity on it. The balance on the account was down to 0 because someone withdrew all of the funds from it. They told me that they would get me my money back but it could take up to 30 days. They faxed me a letter stating all of this so that I could show it to Comcast. I then called Comcast Collections and told them what happened and they didn't care. I asked them if I could pay it with my credit card, but they wouldn't let me. Bank account? No. I asked them if they could give me a week extention since I just found out about all this and didn't have that much cash on me. Nope, not even a one day extention. So I'm arguing with the supervisor at the collection center for a good half hour pleading my case to him (this was after 5pm on 12/11 I remind you) and he was extremely rude and lacked any sort of empathy or understanding towards the matter. I told them that I could not make the payment that night because a) they wouldn't accept a credit card b) the payment center was closed and c) I didn't have the cash on me. So what he did next appauled me and almost caused me to drive down to the Collections center (only a 20 minute drive away) to have a few words with him. I asked him for his name so that I could tell his boss who I spoke with yesterday and he instead tells me "well since you can't make the payment by 12/12, I'm just gonna shut your services off right now, your services will be instantly turned back on when you make payment by cash at the payment center, good bye. Within seconds I was shut off and my phone was in pieces. At 12am, mysteriously my cable turned back on. 12 hours later, it went off again. That night I asked my parents if I could borrow the money until I got my next paycheck (just started a new job) or earlier if the bank was able to get my funds back to me, which they suprisingly accepted and gave me the cash. So on 12/13 I made the payment in cash. They told me that my services would be back on by the time I got home. Right... It's 12/16 now and my services still haven't been turned back on. I called their main 1800comcrap number and they told me that my services had been disconnected at the pole and that they would have to send a technician out to reconnect my services. At first I corrected her and told her that they would have to go into the attic to reconnect it, not the pole. I then told her that I had been promised that my services would be instantly turned back on when I made the payment. "Oh sorry sir, we disconnected it at the pole because of how far it was overdue." We have a slot open on the 28th from blah until blah. THE 28TH!?!??!?!?! WTF? IT TOOK YOU 12 HOURS TO DISCONNECT IT AT THE POLE WHICH WAS UNNECESSARY CONSIDERING IT WAS ALREADY DISCONNECTED FROM YOUR END BUT IT WILL TAKE 15 DAYS TO RECONNECT IT?!?!?!?!?!?

Apparently, they also blocked my OTA signal that every condo here gets via the outdoor Antenna on the roof. It runs on the same coax as the cable to every unit in the building. The box is located in the attic and it's unlocked (someone, and no it wasn't me, kept breaking the lock on it everytime they locked it up so they just said the hell with it.) I haven't checked but I'm sure they just put a terminator on it. Because they also interupted my OTA signal which is not part of their service, and because I've already paid what I owed, can I just take the terminator off and reconnect it legally? Also, regardless of legality, how would one remove the terminator or is it better just to cut the cable and crimp a new coax connector on the line? The Pats game is on in 10 hours and there's absolutely NO WAY I'm missing it.

**Feel free to move this topic into the proper sub-forum, I'm not really sure where the best place to post this would be.**

Hutch1ns
12-16-07, 04:49 AM
Ok well I've got my cable back! All they did was unscrew my cable line from the box... They didn't even put a terminator on it or anything! I made sure I took my boxes and modem off the cables in my condo before I did it so they didn't pickup the signal from the boxes. I'm getting all my local HD channels as well so I can watch my Pats in HD! Yay! The box is hilarious, there's actually 2 splitters in the box from other people splicing into someones line. There were a couple traps and terminators just lieing in the box. The other box was open too which contains everyones 5-1000mhz splitters.

Was this legal? Meh, probably not, even though I am paying for the service... Gotta do what ya gotta do I guess!

nybbler
12-16-07, 12:56 PM
Congratulations, you've just committed a Federal felony. See you in Pound-you-in-the-a** Federal Prison. The cable companies write these laws. They disconnected you at both ends basically as punishment for you being a pain in the a**, just so you'd have to wait and pay a new installation fee.

Hutch1ns
12-16-07, 06:10 PM
Congratulations, you've just committed a Federal felony. See you in Pound-you-in-the-a** Federal Prison. The cable companies write these laws. They disconnected you at both ends basically as punishment for you being a pain in the a**, just so you'd have to wait and pay a new installation fee.

The Antenna hookup is in that same box. Comcast does not own the Antenna nor the Antenna Tap. When they disconnect someones cable, they are supposed to put that cable on one of the unused Antenna spighots. Our condo association owns the Antenna and the Antenna tap, so it's not stealing. They also did not put terminators on all of the unused spighots, which is required by law. The box is left unlocked because of the Antenna tap I believe. Forcing me to wait and pay for a new installation fee after I payed the bill a day later is simply cheating me out of my money, so quite honestly, they get what they deserve. I'm actually being charged right now, as my due date for my next bill was unchanged, so if I didn't hook it back up myself I would technically be paying for services that I was not getting. I'm still not getting all my services (HD box, digital premier package, sports package, and HSI.)

It's also not a felony because I AM paying for the services. The most the cable company could ever do would be to take me to civil court for breaching the contract by tampering with the tap, however, if I caused no damages and and cost them nothing, than I owe them nothing except at most an early termination fee.

SPACEMAKER
12-17-07, 12:33 AM
They can't prove that he hooked it back up himself. As far as he knows, Comcast took care of the problem for him. :D

arxaw
12-18-07, 08:23 AM
Moral of story. Never pay with direct bank draft (or debit card, either). Always use a credit card.

Perch33
12-18-07, 10:16 AM
They can't prove that he hooked it back up himself. As far as he knows, Comcast took care of the problem for him. :D

Well they know now, as he just wrote a book on what he did.:eek: