Notes from the storm zone

I was listening to the radio this afternoon since it is the only information source available to me at this time. My landline telephone, television and internet connection are all down. They come from the local cable provider Cablevision (or, as the service is now called Optimum). Our power came back yesterday, so things are not bad here. I just assumed that it would take a bit longer to get the cable back. Clearly, restoring services to those without electricity which means, for many, no water, heat of light comes first. At that point, I heard an ad from Cablevision. The company announced that it was working very hard to get its services back up and running. At the end of the commercial it said that if listeners had power but no cable service, they should call the company at a particular number to report that fact, day or night. As they gave the number on the radio, I put it into my cell phone. I called and was told by a computer voice that I was welcomed to Cablevision and then said that it would connect my call. That started the phone ringing again. I held for five minutes of ringing just in case someone was actually going to answer. Of course, there was no answer at all.

I have had many years of experience dealing with Cablevision. They are not very good at customer service. The best thing I can say about the company’s efforts in that regard is that it has better customer service than Verizon. That is sort of like saying that cancer is better than rabies. Nevertheless, it seems amazing that in the midst of all the chaos in this area, the fools at Cablevision would advertise a number to call and then not answer the phone when someone attempts to contact them in that way.