I agree with your sentiments, but did you even bother to really read any of the posts in this thread? Where I pretty much said all you had to do was TELL ME and I would hand you the hardware and walk? Where I said, and I quote, "you are the customer and you need to call the shots"?
Taking your frustrations out on installers is gonna get you nowhere. You need to move your grievances up the chain to people that actually have *influence*.
I'm sorry you are *tired* of calling cable installers - is that your 9 to 5 job? Calling cable installers all day? Because hooking up modems for indignant pricks is the installer's 9 to 5 job.
I am a cable internet customer. I'm not real happy with the service (let's hear it for 128Kb/s upstream caps!), but I never, ever had a tech in my house. About a year ago I picked up an install kit at Circuit Shitty, plugged it in, called the 800 number to set up the account, and I was online in minutes. Replaced the rented COM21 modem last week with a purchased Linksys BEFCMU10 - that involved one phone call to provision the new modem. I know not all providers are as accomodating, but if you complain to the RIGHT people for the RIGHT reasons, things may change.
Seriously, I am just trying to make people aware of the other side of the coin. Sounds like you were kinda stuck and nobody had much choice. I can't speak for the tech who worked on your equipment but where I worked if the customer wanted to do the install themselves, or had a bizzare system configuration we couldn't fathom, we would have them sign a waiver and be on our merry way.
Some companies require their techs to follow a "standard procedures" checklist, some don't. I think your tech was either required to do things a certain way, or just didn't know any better and/or was stupid. The problem as you sort of mentioned previously is a lot of these broadband companies are hiring dimwits right out of high school, giving them a brief tutorial on what they need to do *most* of the time, and then kicking them out the door with the keys to a van, a bunch of hardware, and a schedule.
Since you worked retail you are familiar with both sides of the customer/business relationship...generally business will take place just fine, but there are always the mediocre techs/salespeople, or the customers with ridiculous expectations.
I still work as a tech (networks/hardware/consulting/desktop support, that sort of thing) so I still deal with the entire range of customers and suppliers. The fun never ends.
Like a wise person once said in a hardware newsgroup...you never hear from the people that don't have problems.
So stop wasting the installers time and do a self install. Do you complain about all the extra food when you order a value meal and only wanted the fries? Sure, the food is poisoned, but you decide whether to eat it or not.
If you are dealing with a provider that does not permit self installs, then maybe you need to change providers. I understand your position but you are the customer and you need to call the shots. My rant was pointed more at the elitist fucknecks who seem to think the tech making $11 a hour (who, 99% of the time, deals with brain-dead Win9x users) should be versed in every fucking OS and system config known to mankind, or at the very least keep a stable of computer scientists on alert to respond to the self-proclaimed geeks who in reality seem to need more maintenance than anyone else.
If you did not make your requirements known to your provider before the installer came out, and did not establish with the installer that you would prefer to handle everything beyond the actual modem installation, it is your own fucking fault. Just standing there staring googlyeyed at the tech as he fumbles with your ENIAC entitles you to exactly 0 complaint credits.
Granted, I agree wholeheartedly there are plenty of incompetent techs out there who frankly shouldn't even be permitted to drive a car to work (and I make absolutely no excuses for them), but as evidenced here, there is also a multitude of arrogant customers who expect Stallman, Grove, and Torvalds themselves to pull up in the Mystery Machine and plug them into the World Wide Wait. Fuck that, if you're so goddamn smart, why do you need someone to come to your house to plug in an AC adapter, twist on an F connector, and plug in a cat5 patch cord?
I worked a short stint installing hsi back in the day, and I had to deal with smug pricks like the lot of you every goddamn day. Here's a few tips:
1. The installer doesn't give a fuck about how many computers you have.
2. The installer could care less about your 31337 Sun cluster or god damn Univac in the garage.
3. The installer gets really annoyed when self-righteous geek zealots make their jobs difficult.
"Hey, lets all guffaw at the college kid who can't figure out my ereet customized csh shell on my fucking VAX". Oh, wait, what's that? You want broadband? You're tired of dialup? Well then leave me alone and let me do my job, or next time do a self-install. Don't need a NIC? Tell me. Would rather configure the system yourself? Fine, tell me. I'm not out to cripple your machine, I am trying to get you connected to teh intarweb. The faster I get the hell out of your house, the faster I can get to the next unfortunate ex-AOL schmuck running WinME on an E-Machine whose hand I'll need to hold for three freaking hours because they can't figure out god damn Outlook Express.
Don't try to impress me with your gigabit switches or Cisco PIXes. I've seen it all and could care less. If I could have tied a cable modem to a brick with a length of cat5 and hurled it through some of your living room windows with a note reading "Self Install Kit", I would have.
Oh! Guess what else??
I'm a geek too. I run fourteen machines in my bedroom. Five FreeBSD servers, two Windows 2000 servers, two OpenBSD firewalls, a Sun box, and an array of Linux, W2K, and BSD workstations. I loved turning the tables on Slashdot-esque geeks who thought they could get a kick out of playing 'confuse the installer'. Some of my peers were even geekier, and have since moved on to real jobs maintaining the fat pipes companies like Comcast, AT&T, etc. rely on to move their bits.
There's several entries that didn't win that I personally would have liked to see take home a prize, but when you take a vote with eight people, you don't always see the results you want. Just ask Al Gore.
Slashdot Mirror
vi/emacs! kde/gnome! windows/linux/bsd! ford/chevy!
/. would have a tough time handling that flame war.
Something, anything but code/no-code! Even
Sheesh..for $80K you could buy a 911 Carrera and get all the women you want =P
I agree with your sentiments, but did you even bother to really read any of the posts in this thread? Where I pretty much said all you had to do was TELL ME and I would hand you the hardware and walk? Where I said, and I quote, "you are the customer and you need to call the shots"?
Taking your frustrations out on installers is gonna get you nowhere. You need to move your grievances up the chain to people that actually have *influence*.
I'm sorry you are *tired* of calling cable installers - is that your 9 to 5 job? Calling cable installers all day? Because hooking up modems for indignant pricks is the installer's 9 to 5 job.
I am a cable internet customer. I'm not real happy with the service (let's hear it for 128Kb/s upstream caps!), but I never, ever had a tech in my house. About a year ago I picked up an install kit at Circuit Shitty, plugged it in, called the 800 number to set up the account, and I was online in minutes. Replaced the rented COM21 modem last week with a purchased Linksys BEFCMU10 - that involved one phone call to provision the new modem. I know not all providers are as accomodating, but if you complain to the RIGHT people for the RIGHT reasons, things may change.
Aha! So it's your girlfriends fault! =P
Seriously, I am just trying to make people aware of the other side of the coin. Sounds like you were kinda stuck and nobody had much choice. I can't speak for the tech who worked on your equipment but where I worked if the customer wanted to do the install themselves, or had a bizzare system configuration we couldn't fathom, we would have them sign a waiver and be on our merry way.
Some companies require their techs to follow a "standard procedures" checklist, some don't. I think your tech was either required to do things a certain way, or just didn't know any better and/or was stupid. The problem as you sort of mentioned previously is a lot of these broadband companies are hiring dimwits right out of high school, giving them a brief tutorial on what they need to do *most* of the time, and then kicking them out the door with the keys to a van, a bunch of hardware, and a schedule.
Since you worked retail you are familiar with both sides of the customer/business relationship...generally business will take place just fine, but there are always the mediocre techs/salespeople, or the customers with ridiculous expectations.
I still work as a tech (networks/hardware/consulting/desktop support, that sort of thing) so I still deal with the entire range of customers and suppliers. The fun never ends.
Like a wise person once said in a hardware newsgroup...you never hear from the people that don't have problems.
So stop wasting the installers time and do a self install. Do you complain about all the extra food when you order a value meal and only wanted the fries? Sure, the food is poisoned, but you decide whether to eat it or not.
If you are dealing with a provider that does not permit self installs, then maybe you need to change providers. I understand your position but you are the customer and you need to call the shots. My rant was pointed more at the elitist fucknecks who seem to think the tech making $11 a hour (who, 99% of the time, deals with brain-dead Win9x users) should be versed in every fucking OS and system config known to mankind, or at the very least keep a stable of computer scientists on alert to respond to the self-proclaimed geeks who in reality seem to need more maintenance than anyone else.
If you did not make your requirements known to your provider before the installer came out, and did not establish with the installer that you would prefer to handle everything beyond the actual modem installation, it is your own fucking fault. Just standing there staring googlyeyed at the tech as he fumbles with your ENIAC entitles you to exactly 0 complaint credits.
Granted, I agree wholeheartedly there are plenty of incompetent techs out there who frankly shouldn't even be permitted to drive a car to work (and I make absolutely no excuses for them), but as evidenced here, there is also a multitude of arrogant customers who expect Stallman, Grove, and Torvalds themselves to pull up in the Mystery Machine and plug them into the World Wide Wait. Fuck that, if you're so goddamn smart, why do you need someone to come to your house to plug in an AC adapter, twist on an F connector, and plug in a cat5 patch cord?
RANT MODE!
I worked a short stint installing hsi back in the day, and I had to deal with smug pricks like the lot of you every goddamn day. Here's a few tips:
1. The installer doesn't give a fuck about how many computers you have.
2. The installer could care less about your 31337 Sun cluster or god damn Univac in the garage.
3. The installer gets really annoyed when self-righteous geek zealots make their jobs difficult.
"Hey, lets all guffaw at the college kid who can't figure out my ereet customized csh shell on my fucking VAX". Oh, wait, what's that? You want broadband? You're tired of dialup? Well then leave me alone and let me do my job, or next time do a self-install. Don't need a NIC? Tell me. Would rather configure the system yourself? Fine, tell me. I'm not out to cripple your machine, I am trying to get you connected to teh intarweb. The faster I get the hell out of your house, the faster I can get to the next unfortunate ex-AOL schmuck running WinME on an E-Machine whose hand I'll need to hold for three freaking hours because they can't figure out god damn Outlook Express.
Don't try to impress me with your gigabit switches or Cisco PIXes. I've seen it all and could care less. If I could have tied a cable modem to a brick with a length of cat5 and hurled it through some of your living room windows with a note reading "Self Install Kit", I would have.
Oh! Guess what else??
I'm a geek too. I run fourteen machines in my bedroom. Five FreeBSD servers, two Windows 2000 servers, two OpenBSD firewalls, a Sun box, and an array of Linux, W2K, and BSD workstations. I loved turning the tables on Slashdot-esque geeks who thought they could get a kick out of playing 'confuse the installer'. Some of my peers were even geekier, and have since moved on to real jobs maintaining the fat pipes companies like Comcast, AT&T, etc. rely on to move their bits.
Moral? Give the installers a break.
END RANT MODE
nt!
Your entry came within 5 points of fourth place.
If I find some time this weekend I'll put the rest of the top ten entries up.
There's several entries that didn't win that I personally would have liked to see take home a prize, but when you take a vote with eight people, you don't always see the results you want. Just ask Al Gore.
We actually got a four-character Enigma machine as one of our contest entries. I'll try and post it later on today.
Too bad we don't advertise and site hits don't make a bit of difference, eh?
We pay for everything out of pocket and are obligated to do nothing...any other "complaints"?