| Things break, systems go down, fix it and life goes on. I read this story, and read his blog. Although I feel sorry that the E911 system did not work when he needed it, the cell phone worked as a backup. I would also get the local number to the police dispatch and have that on speed dial. He could have called the cell phones 911 center off the tower near his home so that it is a local center, and talk to someone about keeping his address on file for emergencies.
911 systems go down all the time. Sometimes there busy. Ever get a busy signal, or a recording and then put on hold? I have. If you don't believe me, do a google news search and you'll see that Comcast is not the only phone service with 911 outages or problems. Here is just one recent example: »www.whptv.com/news/local/story.a···1655db0f
If you have someone with medical problems living in your home, you should have several plans in case of emergencies. During a major storm, a tree could take out the main telephone pole. I have seen, a car take out a pole during an accident. Construction crews digging water mains cut main phone lines. So you should always have a second or third plan. Cursing out CAE's at 2AM in the morning made no sense. You would have been better off going to the local customer center and talking to someone in person.
Maybe speak to a supervisor while your at the customer service center. Then I would have followed it up with a letter to my area vice-president and to Brian Roberts in Philly. Maybe find out who the tech ops manager is for my area. After they assure me the problem is resolved, I may test the 911 system for a few months. One time, every 30 days or so, and apologize to the 911 operator for the test.
Would he have acted that way to any other provider? I think the CAE's did a professional job at 2AM. Knowing there wasn't any supervisor higher than a call center supervisor, they still let the man rant and rave throughout the many levels of customer support. Try calling Verizon repair at 2AM and tell me if you get the same amount of people, willing to take your crap.
I think the man should apologize to Comcast for his profanity. That could have been someones mother or grandmother he talked trash to. Then he can expect an apology back from Comcast, and a full investigation into his problem. Something went wrong, and we would like to know what caused the outage. So that other systems can check and make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.
Also, you agreed to the fact that there may be an E911 problem and waived Comcast of any liability. Read your work order that you signed when you got your Comcast Digital Voice. Comcast is not liable for outages from the E-911 system and you signed that work order and agreed to that. The important part of the mans story is that his child got help, thanks to his reliable wireless backup. Thank God for the cellphone. |
