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by Thomas MacMillan | Jan 6, 2012 9:01 am

(31) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Wooster Square

Thomas MacMillan Photo When Shakir Morton turned on his TV this week looking for SpongeBob SquarePants, he found nothing but a blue screen. He was one of dozens of Comcast subscribers left behind in a recent service switchover.

“You wake up and it’s gone,” the 37-year-old hospital worker said of his suddenly missing channels. “That’s a problem.” He said he relies on the Cartoon Network to entertain his kids.

He joined a troupe of other Comcast customers Thursday morning who filled the lobby of the cable company’s local office on Olive Street in Wooster Square. The line has been out the door for weeks.

The majority of the customers, including Morton, were owners of older televisions who needed to pick up new hardware to weather Comcast’s recent changeover from an analog to a digital signal. It’s a switch that Comcast has been warning its customers of since October, said company spokesperson Kristen Roberts.

She said customers received notices in the mail and by means of a scrolling bar at the bottom of their screen on channels that were in danger of being shut off without new hardware. “We’ve been communicating with our customers for quite some time.”

That didn’t stop customers from being frustrated with waiting in line for up to two and a half hours. The line was about 50 feet out the door Thursday morning, according to Domingo Arroyo, who was selling hot dogs outside the office. He said his boss had reassigned him from his spot downtown to cater to the clientele of Comcast queuers.

One of the most outspoken customers was Wooster Square activist Wendy Hamilton.

“I went in there this morning and gave a speech,” she said after emerging from the office. She delivered a jeremiad against Comcast for making people stand in line so long with no chairs. She received a round of applause from the roomful of people. She also received special expedited service from the branch manager, Hamilton said. She said she felt a little guilty about that.

Comcast opened the fourth of the office’s service windows after Hamilton’s speech, another customer said.

But some customers still stood waiting for quite some time. Hardik Amin, who’s 29, said he was in line for two and half hours. He said he had arrived early in the morning, seen a line out the door, and gone to a Comcast office in Branford instead. There he was told that he could only be helped in New Haven. So he returned to Olive Street to stand in line.

“I think it’s a travesty,” Amin said. “I just had to switch a box out.”

He said for the $150 a month he pays for cable, he shouldn’t have to wait in such long lines.

“It sucks,” said another man, leaving with a new cable box.

“It’s ridiculous,” said 22-year-old Christina Falkenstein, a student at Southern Connecticut State University, who also waited for over two hours. She said she watches sports, MTV, cooking shows, and E!
Not everyone was upset about the wait. “We don’t really mind,” said one couple as they left the office.

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable,” said Diana Richter, who heads the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen. “Everyone waited till the last minute.”

Comcast could bring in more staff to deal with the customers, said Richter, who said she likes to watch Survivor, Big Brother, and CSI.

Comcast’s Roberts said the company is keeping tabs on the problem: “We’re making sure that we’re fully staffed.”

Comments

posted by: timmy on January 6, 2012 9:09am

Funny I called the 800 number MONTHS ago and it came in the mail. You snooze you loose. The message was even on the screen of the TV. Comcast did everything right

posted by: Are you kidding me? on January 6, 2012 9:11am

I find it hard to feel bad for people who waited until the last minute to upgrade. We’ve been told about this for months.

posted by: Curious on January 6, 2012 9:11am

New Haven really is the land of the entitled. I have Comcast. I got the notices. I swapped my box out.

If these people did not wait until the last minute, they would not have a problem. Don’t blame Comcast, blame yourselves.

posted by: SouthWest on January 6, 2012 9:30am

I agree with all of the above statements. When you don’t pay attention to details you loose,,,,,

posted by: swamp thing on January 6, 2012 9:31am

I’ve been noticing the message at the bottom of the screen.I didn’t fully comprehend what was going on until i lost the Sci-Fi/American Movie/TNT,and a few others. They are scrambling the channels,you need a converter box,regardless of your type of TV.There was no need to get an analog (07) converter if you had cable,the cable co,the service itself was a converter - also with a new HD you would get dozens more channels,now everyone is back to the very basic cable line up of row one 0-13 channels - for $65 and up

posted by: MJ on January 6, 2012 9:35am

I have no sympathy for these people. I’m not even a Comcast subscriber and I knew about the change. Comcast gave these folks multiple notices that they would need to change their boxes. It’s not Comcast’s fault that they wait till the last minute.

posted by: William Kurtz on January 6, 2012 9:46am

I never thought I would find myself defending Comcast—in fact, I’m maintaining some irritation about their erratic pricing—but the message about this has been showing up on television for weeks.

It was a quick phone call to have the box delivered right to your house.

posted by: Really? on January 6, 2012 9:48am

Really? The biggest problem people see with this is long lines?

What about the comment that they ‘rely’ on the TV to entertain their kids? Really?

Holy smokes we’re a bunch of overweight, brain dead zombies in the US aren’t we?

posted by: WoW Missing Channels on January 6, 2012 9:49am

” the 37-year-old hospital worker said of his suddenly missing channels. “That’s a problem.” He said he relies on the Cartoon Network to entertain his kids.

Just maybe if he read to his kids instead of making the TV the kids babysitter they’ll grow up knowing how to read !

posted by: Sam Jones on January 6, 2012 9:57am

The solution is simple. Cut the cable. Go buy a new TV - 32” screen for under $300. Buy an antenna for $20. Watch broadcast TV for free.

If you want more, pay $30 per month for an internet connection and stream from the web. Many sites are free. Netflix is only $8 per month, with no commercial interruptions.

posted by: Icarus on January 6, 2012 10:05am

‘I went in there this morning and gave a speech,’ she said

First World Problems : )

posted by: Vanessa Poholek Fasanella on January 6, 2012 10:19am

“Hardik Amin, who’s 29, said he was in line for two and half hours. He said he had arrived early in the morning, seen a line out the door, and gone to a Comcast office in Branford instead. There he was told that he could only be helped in New Haven. So he returned to Olive Street to stand in line.”

Me, too. I live in New Haven, but work in Branford, so I thought I’d venture into the Branford Comcast office. I was told that, “Branford 06405 parts will not work with your TV in New Haven 06512, and we are out of more New Haven 0651x parts.”

I couldn’t believe it. I had tried to resolve it over the computer, over the phone, but couldn’t. I understand Comcast is trying to service their customers, but they’re going about it all the wrong way.

posted by: DingDong on January 6, 2012 10:29am

There’s always a huge line at that place, even before this new hardware swap. And they never open all the windows. Basically, Comcast knows they’re the only choice consumers have and they don’t give a rat’s *** about making you wait for hours and hours.

posted by: cedarhillresident on January 6, 2012 10:36am

to all you critics!! I was one of these people a few weeks ago. 100% my fault. mine went out in my rooms were we did not have the HDTV box. Called them and he would not mail them (the boxs) to my office (did not want them left on my pourch). Ended up going down to get them and the line was really long then as well. Got the two free ones and one I have to $1.99 for. oh well I guess that was not covered under my $165.00 TV bill. AT@T is in my part of town and all my neighbors have switched. (which is a pain because we go out alot and I have not a soul to check with to see if theirs is out) life goes on.

posted by: VInny G on January 6, 2012 11:38am

3 months ago Comcast started sending notices out attached to the monthly Bill. Notification was shown on the channels that would be lost with out the upgrade. Comcast made phone calls to customers to make the switch.
These irate customers didn’t receive any notice?

posted by: natalie on January 6, 2012 12:07pm

Comcast can’t be blamed this time. They have been warning about this for months. The adapters are free and they mailed them right out.

I will complain about their unusually long lines—just to pay a bill!! It’s ridiculous. The day I was there to swap out a bad dvr, there were only 2 lines open, the line was out the door and some woman was eating lunch behind the drawn shade of another customer window. People were REALLY pissed!

posted by: William Kurtz on January 6, 2012 12:40pm

posted by: robn on January 6, 2012 1:32pm

cathode ray nipple.

posted by: for sure on January 6, 2012 2:58pm

Cathode Ray Nipple is my favorite band.

posted by: Pat on January 6, 2012 4:57pm

Comcast has the WORST customer service around. It is understaffed and lines are an every day occurrence. Only a protected monopoly like Comcast gets away with raking in zillions of dollars and operating its customer service on the cheap.
Shame on this business for making people with crutches and walkers stand in line for an hour or more.
The people rose up and were heard.
More people should follow Wendy Hamilton’s example and speak up loudly when you are treated so poorly and when your time is treated as less valuable than increasing corporate profits.
If all else fails, get a new generation antenna and cut the Comcast cord. An antenna and Netlix plus Apple Tv, Raki or Wii will save you money and improve your choices.

posted by: Sven Martson on January 6, 2012 8:24pm

Kudos to Sam Jones! I also am no longer a Comcast customer. A few weeks ago I put an antenna in my attic and connected it to my TV. I was surprised to find that I can receive all the major networks plus their sub channels and several other channels I’d never heard of. I was doubly surprised to find out that I receive many of these signals in high definition! No extra boxes, nothing to plug in to draw more juice and (depending on the channel) a beautiful picture. I just disconnected the Comcast cable and connected the antenna cable. A few adjustments in the TV setup menu and that was all. It’s just as good if not better than the very basic Comcast channel lineup. I’m saving $20.00/month plus I’m getting high definition for which I would have had to pay Comcast an extra $10.00/month.

I also stream entertainment to my TV screen from the internet through several other sources…mostly Netflix through my Roku box. I just got through watching 4 seasons of “Breaking Bad”...sometimes 3 and 4 episodes a night.
Break the cable habit. Choose what you want to watch instead of being fed a diet of 99% garbage from the cable packagers.

posted by: Lifer on January 6, 2012 10:50pm

Standing in line for hours just so you can watch TV??? Sorry - I don’t get it [...]

posted by: scissorhands on January 6, 2012 11:18pm

Some of you folks are not too smart.

To Pat: Comcast is not a monopoly. They have competitors in the same markets…Verizon Fios, DirecTV, Dish Network. Furthermore, cable service is not a birthright or a utility (like electricity or water). It’s entertainment. It’s a choice. You don’t need it to live.

To Natalie: Why would you wait in line to pay your bill? It’s the 21st century. Get a checking account and mail in your payment. Or even pay it online! Are you kidding me???

posted by: natalie on January 7, 2012 11:45am

to “scissorhands”,

I said I was there to swap out a dvr and there were bill payers out the door. Duh! This is probably the first time I set foot in the place in over a year.

posted by: NOT A MONOPOLY....REALLY? on January 7, 2012 12:18pm

scissorhands, really, you are telling me that Comcast is not a monopoly? While technically they are not, they might as well be one. With all the lobbying they do to make sure no forms of competition make it to your neighborhood (see Verizon FiOS vs. Comcast in New England trying to expand.

When you think about high-speed internet solutions, what options do we, the consumers, have? Comcrap (tiered services with an outlandishly high price), AT&T DSL which generally has much slower speeds for almost the same price and then there is dial-up. I agree with your statement that TV is a luxury, you don’t NEED it. However, in this modern, 21st century society, we should consider internet as a utility. We are fair behind other parts of the world in price vs. performance in bandwidth. I think in places like Japan and S. Korea, $20-30 a month gives you 40-50 mbps. Here in the states, $30 gives you the “economy” service of 1 mbps…YAY capitalism and competition…:(

posted by: pat on January 7, 2012 1:14pm

Scissorhands: you’re correct that Comcast is not a monopoly. I was mis-informed.

The issue remains the lack of investment in customer service and the totally inadequate office set up here in New Haven for the people who are forced to wait in line - for whatever reason.

Just because cable is an entertainment and not a necessity (internet service and phone might be necessities) does not mean the public should be treated so poorly. Whether its an over=scheduled doctor’s office, the DMV or Comcast, the public is entitled to prompt and courteous service. Waiting in line for long periods of time is disrespectful of people’s time. The public is subsidizing Comcast’s profits by enduring shoddy service.

I plan to follow Sven Martson’s example and get myself an antenna for tv, a Radio Jack at Radio Shack and limit myself to an internet connection (for work, not entertainment).

We are paying top dollar and not getting top service.

posted by: HewNaven?? on January 7, 2012 2:26pm

Since you all lost your only source of entertainment, now would be a good time to take up and old sport, like READING.

posted by: J.M on January 7, 2012 6:49pm

I am the woman in the photo, not at all flattering by the way. I had called months ago and ordered my 2 free adapters when the first letter came. They were mailed to me at no charge, and not hard to install. I have no complaint about how Comcast handled that changeover.
I am unhappy about what they charge for services though!! Why had I been paying almost twice what a new subscriber pays for the same service after years of loyalty??!!
When I called to complain and to decrease my services and bill, I was offered a new lower rate, more features for 40 dollars less a month!!! I feel like I have been taken for the last few years.
So all I had to do was swap a a box, wait in a line…with some very nice people…to save money that I shouldn’t have been paying in the first place.
They suck, but it worked out okay for me.
And yes, even with all the stations offered, most times its just better to read a book, and cheaper!!

posted by: Cinderella on January 8, 2012 11:10am

I waited in line on Dec. 30 for an hour and 15 minutes with some of the kindest, most patient, politest people I’d ever met. And, none had chairs to sit on. One woman cut in line ahead of about 20 people and I rebuked her for it. Everyone else just shrugged their shoulders and said they wouldn’t “mess with her” and were used to endless hours of waiting in line for any services anywhere.

Does Comcast charge too much? Yes! If you pay a lot do you get good service-I think so. But I did call and did get my bill reduced by asking to decrease my services.

posted by: Billy on January 8, 2012 7:59pm

If only we could get this kind of turn out for things that really matter. Sad state of affairs when people’s call to action is not having TV. Ugh!

posted by: nhteaparty on January 8, 2012 8:54pm

I switched to u-verse 3 years ago and it is heaven. Anyone who still gives Comcast business is getting what they deserve. Horrible service, horrible customer service, hour and a half wait for the tiniest transaction if you actually have to go in to the office, and losing internet for a week at a time 2-3 times a year with no explanation. Switch to U-verse, or like someone else suggested cut the cable and just stick with broadcast.

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