I run a small computer repair and troubleshooting shop in Alexandria, VA and have been doing all kinds of computer/ networking jobs for more than 12 years.
Yesterday, I received a call from a very nice (elderly) couple who were having connectivity issues with their new Comcast 3 in 1 package installation (Phone, Cable, Internet). Basically, they were not able to connect to any internet sites after the installation, though; they had no issues prior to upgrading their service with Comcast. The service technician that came out and upgraded their service installed the new hardware and "helped" connect their computer, but was unable to do so. The couple said that the technician attempted to establish a connection for more than 2 hours but at the end failed to do so. All the while telling the couple that he was actually a contractor for Comcast and actually does computer repair/ troubleshooting as his primary job with his own little company.
Anyway, the Comcast technician finally told them that the issue was with their computer and that the operating system (Vista Home Edition) needed to be reinstalled. Here is the catch, the technician told the couple that he could do this for them but that it would not be part of the Comcast service contract. He offered to help provided they called him after he got off work for the low price of $199.99 (hmm... I've heard that before). The couple told him that they appreciated his effort and would consider doing so but wanted to try and get help as part of the Comcast service contract. They are on a fixed budget since they were retired.
The couple then contact every customer support number they had for their equipment to include the computer manufacturer, Router manufacturer, and Comcast once again to resolve the issue. Alas, none were able to assist since none could connect to their system and Comcast emphatically denied that it was an issue with their modem.
As a last resort they called me as I was recommended by a neighbor and asked if I could take a look at their computer. I agreed and made my way over that afternoon. Once I arrived I talked to the husband for a few minutes to get an idea of the issue and started my preliminary testing. This is how it went down:
1) I verified that the devices worked properly. Blinky lights — OK
2) I connected my own laptop to the modem. Everything was OK there too. I got an IP with no issues (68.86.X.X — I am making this number up since I do not recall the exact IP)
3) I connect to the Router (Linksys). Everything was OK there too. I got another internal IP (192.168.1.101) with no issues.
4) I verified that the Router was getting an IP from the Modem. OK there too and I was able to cruise the internet. So it must be the computer.
5) I checked the computer's security settings (Firewall & Anti-Virus) — Everything looked OK there too.
6) I check the IP that was given to the computer from the Router via the command console by typing "ipconfig". 10.1.10.1/ 24 — Screeech— What the heck? This isn't right! It should have been 192.168.1.X something. Let's see here—the network connection was assigned a static IP. Hmmm. I asked the husband if he had changed the connection to a static IP. He didn't know what I was talking about so I went back into the Router to check that the router didn't reset itself. It hadn't, all the original configuration settings that it originally had were still the same (Wireless name was the same and didn't default to "linksys", DHCP was enabled and the IP address scope was 192.168.1.100 - 200).
7) So I reset the Connection to receive an IP from the router dynamically and low and behold, everything worked.
Now here is what makes me sick to my stomach. I had the same exact issue with another customer a few weeks prior no more than 2 blocks away from the current residence. They were also not able to connect to the internet after an upgrade and were also offered to have the problem fixed for a price. I wasn't aware then that the technician was selling his reported services by piggy backing off of Comcast service calls at that time so I wasn't able to connect the two events immediately since I believed that the price was an actual Comcast service quote.
I am definitely not a conspiracy theorist, but, the similarities between the two events were just uncanny.
1) The same issues after an upgrade
2) The same price to fix the problem
3) Within walking distance of each other
4) The same misconfiguration of IPs on both systems
5) The real Comcast service call prices were nowhere near the price that was quoted by the technician
6) Both customers that I helped were elderly and limited in their computing knowledge (not trying to sound arrogant)
It is my belief that there is one rogue individual who is contracted by Comcast that is exploiting Comcast customers by intentionally misconfiguring computers to put a couple extra dollars into his pocket. This is entirely unethical behavior and probably illegal. It makes me ill to think that some sleazy technician is exploiting elderly in such a way.
In any case, I wanted to make you and your readers aware of what has recently transpired in the hopes of warning any future customers from getting suckered that live in the Burke area of Virginia.
Thanks, Rick! We hope you shared this information with the couple and urged them to contact Comcast to complain. But if not, posting it here should get the message out.
(Photo: Justin Marty)
]]>Off Airports and Time Capsules...
Now obviously this isn't the case HERE, but I chalk it up to a tech who thinks he knows more than he does, and can't admit when he hosed it up...
]]>Also, he's probably in violation of his (employer's) agreement with Comcast. I do a lot of subcontract work, and I have yet to see an agreement where soliciting the customer on behalf of another company, or even revealing that you're a subcontractor isn't prohibited.
]]>The screwy thing is you couldn't get into this program without running the pre-program that did all the normal 'add a bunch of settings and crap to my computer I really don't need' before it got to the program he needed to use to get your T.V. reciever to actually work.
]]>@qwijybo: Yeah, anybody can pass themselves off as a "technician" these days and get away with crap like this. It pisses me off because it gives us real technicians a bad name.
]]>I disagree. The first step is to confirm that all the relevant equipment is present, connected and running, which is what he did ("Blinky lights--OK"). The best next step will usually depend on any reasonable suspicions of what's wrong based on the individual situation. In this case, since it was a new installation, it could have been faulty hardware or faulty software configuration, so it was a tossup which to check first. He verified the router and modem weren't the problem and moved on to the software. That's where the first step is ipconfig.
]]>Of course, Johnny-Boy Installer takes one look at hard-of hearing grandmother and begins the Schmooze routine. "Oh, no, ma'am--I HAVE to install this software on your computer."
I look at him hard. "Okay, fine. You can come in to this little room and use this vintage Win Me machine."
He puts in his CD, starts wheezing at the fact that the computer takes a million years to boot, then "installs" his crapware programs.
I just stand and watch. He wants to set up my email? "No, dear, I don't need you to do that for me ..." says the old granny.
He tries to sell me "network service" for up to five computers? (This in a house with no fewer than 5 desktops, 4 laptops, and a couple of iPhones all sharing the WiFi--and only two of the above are PCs; all the rest are Macs). For an additional cost, of course ... and again, Granny here tells him, 'My, no, we don't need anything like that; just install the Internet."
It's my Sweet Senior Citizen Routine.
As he's wrapping up, I say, "You do know that I'll have that MAC address cloned and in the router before you're out of the driveway, don't you?"
The poor young man just boggled. Out of his depth, so he was ... and me and my crowd of Macs have enjoyed wired and wireless networking without any help, assistance or additional charges from Charter ever since.
The End.
]]>(Happy Weekend!)
]]>Not only is this a disgusting case of disregard for honesty, but the price quoted for "repair" ($200) is an absolute crime. An OS reinstall should not take you over 2 hrs, barring a really antiquated system, gigabytes of information to back up and restore, or multiple programs with the size of Adobe's Creative Suite. By that logic, this asshole's hourly rate is about $100. Pathetic.
I'm trying to start a little side job performing IT house calls. It infuriates me to no end when I hear about individuals and companies charging these obscene amounts of money for simple jobs, and when they scam the hell out of hard working folks they should be helping. Hell, have a look at Geek Squad's price list. Practically every service is grossly overcharged. On top of that, if you want a technician out to your house, be prepared to pay about a $100 premium on top of the fortune you're being charged. Finally, you better hope you have nothing digital that's worth stealing; certain enterprising individuals have proven that G.S. has an appetite for their customers' pr0n.
Wait, I take it all back. You stay classy, Geek Squad. It just make me look all the more better.
]]>But I'm fat, lazy and impatient! Why can't I just scam old people. They're not going to need the money soon!
]]>And ignoring everything else, 200 bucks for a reformat?? That's highway robbery. It's an hour of my time and requires about 2 brain cells. 4 if you bother to check that all the drivers are installed.
]]>I have been to the point of just re-installing the OS for people. Most of the time it's because of a major virus or spyware intrusion. Sometimes they really bog down the system OR completely screw up the network settings and cannot be fixed easily.
Whether this person is innocent or not, he is definitely trying to take advantage of people with limited computer knowledge. Kind of like an elderly couple I just helped get a new computer at their new house. They have lived there for about 6 months and Windstream were so kind to set them up with a "package" of phone and DSL, because a package saves right? Well they had no need for DSL for the past 6 months so I got ahold of Windstream customer service and got their last 6 months credited back for the DSL portion.
]]>If EVER you run into an issue like this get the name of the contracter and call Comcast. We do not allow a card to be passed from a tech much less a offer of additional service. What happened here is a direct conflict of intrest and that contracter needs to be "coached" appropriatly. (up to and including termination - though we do not fire contracters we will not allow them to work on our network)
Our customers hold the power of our company not us and not our contracters.
]]>hahaha well played.
it would probably be even funnier now with a GUI based linux like ubuntu... looks just close enough to completely mess with him.
]]>What makes me wonder if really is a scam, or at least unethical beyond using the Comcast brand to sell his unrequested services, is that he still charges $200 after the fix fails to help the problem. It's true a doctor may charge for a treatment that was unsuccessful, and a mechanic may charge for a fix that doesn't repair the problem, but PC repair tends to be pretty trial and error, with fixes being part of finding the root of the problem. When I fix computers for pay (under the table as a side-job), I never ask for payment until the problem is fixed. The only time I ask for any money before the job is done is when I need to get hardware that costs more than $20 or so.
]]>maybe the guy tried tricking comcast into thinking a residential account was a business account? Then the trick didn't work anymore?
]]>Offering to fix a computer for $199 where the only thing wrong is that static IP address is either amazing incompetence or fraud.
Since the tech believes his time and ability is worth $199, I vote fraud.
I'll link this to the local news "on your side" whatever consumer advocate and see if they want to pick it up.
]]>The static ip as mentioned in the story isn't likely to have been set by the user who doesn't even know what one is. It also isn't in the default range of a Linksys router, so that removes that unlikely possibility.
Also, as a tip to the person who sent this in. When troubleshooting any NT based machine for a networking issue, the first thing you do is run ipconfig...
It is pretty clear this was a scam. This was an easy fix that even an ISP rep should be able to troubleshoot off the paper that is in front of them. You know, the paper that tells them all they actually know.
]]>@fencepost @slickdealer: You are correct! However, they were behind a Linksys router. The default LAN scope is 192.168.1.X
@Papa Midnight, @Shoelace: Comcast did get in contact with the editor and then he passed the contact information along to me. I called the customer to make sure I could reference their information and pass it along to the Comcast POC. They refused. I assume they had enough and quite frankly if the guy got fired I do not wish any harm to come to them. I did ask the Comcast Rep to get in contact with their regional manager which she assured me she would. They will be bringing this up at their next meeting. Hopefully that will make the guy think twice before trying this again.
]]>That said, the fact that he wanted $200 to reinstall an OS is not something I would consider wrong, so long as he was willing to be held responsible if something went wrong and data was lost (or, possibly more annoyingly, no valid license key for the OS was found for reinstallation).
]]>A plumber who worked for Roto-Rooter did this to me also. After spending a couple of hours trying to unclog my bathtub. He wanted less than the company would charge for coming back but something didn't feel right to me so I said no. This was after three visits, none of which helped.
I got tired of bathing in the sink, so I called someone else who actually went under my house to look at my pipe configurations, located the hairball in the pipe, waved a magic wand and *voila* It was fixed.
]]>Glad I don't ever have to call tech support.
]]>I'm just wondering why he would offer to reinstall Windows for $200 then. That's a ridiculous price just to reinstall an OS, and it wouldn't fix the problem automatically either.
]]>-- I started off with less than a dozen customers in the summer of 2004.
-- I don't have employees or a storefront, and I don't aspire to have either of those things... ever.
-- I get new customers from referrals and my Idearc SuperPages ads.
-- The more satisfied customers I have, the more referrals I get. New customers come in at about the same rate year to year, so I slowly get busier.
-- Right now, I have about 750 customers who spend an average of $100 per year.
-- In five more years, I should have about 1500 customers. If they still spend an average of $100 per year, I will no longer need to advertise (much).
All of this would collapse if I started ripping people off.
]]>Since he was a contractor, he doesn't get paid by the hour. They get paid a per job rate, so the longer the job takes, the less money they make. Most likely not a scam, but rather a stupid contractor. If those customer contacted Comcast, there would be an investigation launched that would ultimately lead to loss of employment for said contractor.
However Comcast should be blamed for not being able to resolve the connection issue over the phone, or with a trained comcast technician. Shame on them!
]]>If he wasn't offering to do a simple OS reinstall for 200 bucks I might believe he was just incompetent too
]]>@eskimo81: Considering hes getting paid by Comcast for that 2 hours, doesn't sounds like too much effort to me. For that 2 hours if the customer falls for it hes going to make an extra $200. Also spending 2 hours on it makes it seem like hes tried all possible fixes.
]]>Great sleuthing, Rick!
]]>To misconfigure a computer for a static IP instead of a dynamic one takes only a few minutes. The "technician" spend more than 2 hours there (according to the elderly couple).
I think the "technician" really isn't a well trained technician, and couldn't figure out that a static IP had been set, and was actually planning a reformat to try and resolve the issue, but after 2 hours of pathetic attempts to fix the problem, he was't willing to spend the extra 2 hours to reinstall an OS.
If he was running a scam, and knew what he was doing, he could break that in a couple of minutes, and still offer to fix for a couple hundred bucks. Why waste 2 hours pretending that you're trying to fix it?
Seems like too much effort and risk for too little payoff.
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