It seems like on a daily basis, you can find a news story of someone suing a cable or satellite company for one thing or another. Being wronged, lied to, over-charged, physically harmed… the list goes on and on. We stumbled upon this article the other day, “Comcast sued by cyclist clotheslined by cable cord”.
At first glance, you might chuckle as you read that headline. But think about how dangerous this could have been, and was! This cyclist is lucky to be alive after fracturing his spine and three ribs. Of course, Comcast is fighting this lawsuit and is refusing to pay the cyclist’s medical bills. The reality of the situation comes down to the fact that Comcast, and other cable companies, hire subcontractors to do many of their installs. They do this for several reasons. First of all, to cut costs. Secondly, to place blame on someone else when a situation like this occurs. Which is exactly what Comcast is doing here.
We recently heard from an employee who had a disconcerting experience with a Charter contract worker. Note, she is a cord cutter who does not have cable.
“A young man rang my door bell a couple days ago, and when I answered he immediately asked to get into my back yard. When I asked why, he said he needed to set up the cable service for my new neighbors. He was wearing jeans and black t-shirt with no logo, had no safety vest or hard hat, no identification or even a vehicle, so I was a little concerned, to say the least. I asked who he worked for and he said Charter with an attitude, like how dare I ask him or not know. That’s when he realized he didn’t have his badge on and apologized. I finally let him in the backyard, but kept a very close eye on him, which I have to say, was pretty amusing watching this guy attempt to squeeze through the fence with a ladder. After about 30 minutes he left without saying anything. An hour later there was another knock at my door, this time by a Charter employee with a hard hat, vest, and Charter truck parked in my driveway. He asked if he could go in my backyard to check on the cable, and I said that someone had already done that. His response? ‘Oh, yes, we use contractors, so it’s my job to come by and make sure they did everything correctly.’ He then proceeded to the backyard with another Charter employee to check on the install. Basically, 3 people were paid for 1 install. How does this make sense?”
This isn’t the first time we have heard stories like this. Essentially, Charter is looking for a middle man, a scapegoat, if you will. If anything goes wrong, they don’t have to take the blame, they can pawn it off to the contractor. It’s like a parent committing a crime and blaming their child. “My son said he wanted more money and told me to rob a bank. So I did.” Should the child be charged for the crime? Absolutely not! “My cable isn’t working.” Oh, sorry ma’am, not our problem. A contractor did the install.” Yeah, that doesn’t fly; they are going to have some angry customers.
Comcast and other cable companies, it’s time to start owning up to your mistakes rather than placing the blame. We are on to you, as are your customers.
photo credit: Yard Buddies via photopin (license)