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Sentinel
Premium Member
join:2001-02-07
Florida

Sentinel

Premium Member

Does this sound fishy?

Or am I just paranoid?

So my daughter (a cox customer) moves across town from 1 apt. building to another. She calls Cox to have her service moved. First person in the office tells her no charge as long as she does self install. So of course I end up having to do the "self" install. So far so good.

Guy at the new building tells her he is an ex-cox installer and he can hook up her stuff for her for less than what Cox will charge her. She asks me and I tell her to tell him no thanks because she is getting it for free.

Cox says they can't do it for a few days though. So last Fri. it was supposed to be done. I hook up the modem and no dice. Nada, zilch. So we call up and they say the guy was supposed to be there and hook everything up but "I guess" he didn't come. You guess? OK, so they set up another day to come hook it up outside. I believe all that needs to be done is hooking up the apt at the junction box for the building. All inside wiring is done long ago. But they are going to charge her $60! So I go back to the office and talk to the first lady and she says no, that's supposed to be free because it's just a transfer of service and a self install.

OK, so a few more days go by and finally a guy is supposed to be there to do what the first guy was supposedly there to do but "we guess" he never did it. Day comes and day goes. Next we assume he must have done the outside thing and again hook up the modem. Again nothing, nada, zilch. So again we call. Again the person on the phone says they can't see her modem so the trouble must be outside. So they want to schedule yet another truck roll but this time they have to come inside so it is going to be $30! Well better than $60 but what happened to no charge?

So we're waiting for truck roll #3 (we guess) but I'm wondering:
1. Did anyone ever come the first time?
2. Did anyone ever come the second time?
3. What is the actual cost here?
4. Is the guy from the complex that "helps out" new tenants by hooking up their cable actually disconnecting it every time the cox truck leaves until we pay him?

I'm a long time Cox customer and because of the great service I always got my daughter is too now. But this whole thing is quickly making her and me now think of DSL. I'm going to be moving too soon and this cares the crap out of me.
m8trix
join:2003-12-24
Chandler, AZ

m8trix

Member

on self installs with apartments if the lines are not tagged correctly or sometimes not at all it can sometimes be a guessing game for the tech so in most case its a return trip were they need to get access to the inside wiring to figure out which is yours. by any chance does this apartment have a smart panel in one of the rooms or closet, if so I would check it as it might be disconnected there
ajwees41
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Omaha, NE

ajwees41 to Sentinel

Premium Member

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don't know on cost I'd try and be there to meet the tech maybe see if they can call you when they get there and see if it works. The ex cable guy could be doing that, but how to catch him thats the issue.
Sentinel
Premium Member
join:2001-02-07
Florida

Sentinel to m8trix

Premium Member

to m8trix
Nah, it's an older apt.. No smart anything. I wish I could be there when he gets there but of course that would require me waiting there all day because since it is an outside thing there is no way to know at what point he will show up.

Termites
@174.79.1.x

Termites to Sentinel

Anon

to Sentinel
way fishy

AnonPhx
@68.231.70.x

AnonPhx to Sentinel

Anon

to Sentinel
To answer your questions

1. Yes someone came the first time, completing a work order without actually doing it is easily one of the fastest ways to secure your termination.

2. Yes someone came the second time, again same as answer number 1.

3. 60 dollars is the charge for a failed fast connect if the problem is inside the unit. If the line is mislabeled then this issue is not the customer's fault and the charge should be removed.

4. No the ex cox installer or whatever is not camping out all day waiting for a Cox truck to roll in and then go behind him and disconnect the line. Seriously I can not fathom why should would spend their entire day dedicated to disconnecting a line after an install just to make like 20 bucks.

side note, this scares the crap out of you? Relax man it's just a cable company goofing up.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

1 recommendation

dvd536 to Sentinel

Premium Member

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Sounds like you're paying for a 'failed self install' penalty for work that was never performed.

Hard Harry7
join:2010-10-19
Narragansett, RI

Hard Harry7

Member

said by dvd536:

Sounds like you're paying for a 'failed self install' penalty for work that was never performed.

If thats true have the tech log it in the notes when on site and have billing waive the fee. They should stop self installs and just set up pro installs and if you get it working before then, just office only complete the work order on call in to confirm service. Then the "failed self install" isn't seen as a fine, but payment for a pro install if completed. The biggest issue I see are sales reps too quick for the commissions setting up installs that should never have been self install in the first place.
Sentinel
Premium Member
join:2001-02-07
Florida

Sentinel

Premium Member

Well there is a third scheduled truck roll to finally figure this out. Hopefully this guy will check everything all the up to and including the apt and we'll find out where the disconnection is. Hopefully it is outside the apt and thus no charge.

The wire comes from the junction box to the apt underground and in concrete so I can't see there being any damage to the cable in the run itself. So it would seem that the problem must be at the junction box.

Just sounded fishy to me to take 3 truck rolls to connect a cable? At least at face value it seems fairly straight forward. If I had a key to the box I could check it myself. I have a cable tester and I could check the connectivity in the line and see of they are getting signal from the main too.

I guess we'll see.....

DDR329
@72.218.32.x

DDR329

Anon

Is the apartment on the bottom floor and is there a unit directly above it? The only reason I ask is because my brother moved into an apartment and had the exact same experience. Come to find out the cable line for the apartments ran through the utility closet and the tenant above him had connected the downstairs apartment line to his inside line. We didn't find this out until the installer came out and had to gain access to the above unit and found the problem.

To make sure this did not happen again my brother requested a lock to be put on the utility closet door. The rental office ended up picking up the tab for the install since it was advertised as "cable ready" but obviously wasn't when the wires weren't connected due to a theft of service by another tenant.

Check the utility closet and see if the cable line comes from the unit above would be my next guess. Hope you get everything up and running without any more hassles.

Anonononon
@24.248.72.x

Anonononon to Sentinel

Anon

to Sentinel
To reiterate what some have said but with more detail.

Cox's program for self connect is, at its simplest, a low odds gamble for all parties involved. Cox will typically offer the self connect for free and the gamble is that the line is labeled correctly outside and all lines are ingress free and connected inside. The tech is supposed to test the drop of the unit number for ingress. If it passes, hell connect, doortag the home to advise service is connected and be on his way.

At worst, you lose the gamble because a line is discoed inside, the unit fails an ingress test, the drop is not labeled outside or a variety of other issues. In this case, you would call to troubleshoot, they would determine it a failed self connect and set up a time for a pro install for it to be installed from start to finish by a tech. In this case you lost the gamble and had to pay for a pro install.

This should all occur in 2 stages. The attempt to connect and the failed connect go back. The fact that his has drug on farther than that is unacceptable and im sure Cox would appreciate that feed back. There is no reason for this to take 3 phone calls. They are working on a new customer first program and tracking that feedback so i would definitely offer a supervisor my opinion on how a simple process was mangled beyond recognition and almost lost a customer.

Also, Cox, does not in any way employ techs that can solicit their own work. He is one of the many many many criminals out there who have their own tools, know enough to play the part, and sell potential customers on connecting them. It is a federal crime and friend technician texted me a pic of a guy in the back of a cop car that they finally caught. He was charged with a felony. If he offers again, call the police. It will help protect your daughters services by gettin that guy out of there.
Sentinel
Premium Member
join:2001-02-07
Florida

Sentinel

Premium Member

update:
Should be here today. I'm going to be there. Hopefully all will known by the end of the day. [fingers crossed]
Sentinel

Sentinel

Premium Member

Don't know if anyone cares but in case you were waiting on pins and needles to find out the ending of this story here goes.

Guy finally came today. First thing he said was "Do you have the key to the maintenance room?". Turns out the cable junction box is in the maintenance room which is a locked room that only the building maintenance guy has a key to. So a bell went off. This must be why no one could get in to connect the cable. Because the cable was locked in a room that only the building staff had a key too.

After a long ordeal of finding the darn key (which I won't go into here) the cable was finally connected. But what boils me is that the guys that came the first 2 times either did not inform the cox office staff that they were not able to access the panel or the office staff did not make a notation on the account. This left everyone wondering why truck after truck was going there and yet nothing was being connected.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

let me guess: "guy at new building" was one of the people with a key.
pretty lucrative little scam hes got going there.
Sentinel
Premium Member
join:2001-02-07
Florida

Sentinel

Premium Member

Yeah, when the cable guy finally came he said "OK, I taped this box closed when I left on Friday and the tape is gone". But that is a 'nuther story unto itself.

The guy that did come was a nice guy but hooked up the wrong cable. Luckily I was there and saw it before he left so I had him fix it. Granted there are a lot of cables in a building with a lot of old tags that fall off and I guess it is hard to tell which one is which, but still. Ya kinda should not leave until your sure everything is working.