Raging Over a Condo Cut-Off

Paul Redzimski’s condo neighbors hate him right now, and it’s all because he wanted better Internet connectivity.

Instead, he’s had periodic outages of his new service from Comcast, a plague he has visited on his RCN neighbors, too. And it’s not his fault but the fall-out of dealing with two big corporations that apparently refuse to talk to one another.

Redzimski e-mailed me, describing himself "at wit’s end." In mid-April, he decided to drop RCN digital-subscriber line service in favor of faster cable modem service from Comcast. The video-Internet package was installed April 18. But four days later, his cable went out, then his Internet followed. He did get, he noticed, an RCN sign-in screen. He called Comcast for help, and a repair call was scheduled on April 26.

In the interim, he talked to his neighbors in the three-unit condo where they all live (according to my Internet search, they are from Chicago) and discovered the problem. His installation knocked his two RCN-using neighbors off line, cutting their connection to their video, Internet, and most importantly, phone service. When they got their connections re-established, the RCN repairman knocked out Redzimski’s service. Redzimski’s Comcast repair on April 26 knocked out his neighbors AGAIN.

Redzimski then made what I think is a reasonable request.

"I pleaded with the agent to try to coordinate a Comcast service call with RCN so we can get the services working correctly for everyone in the building, but I was told that is impossible. I even spoke with a supervisor, but he just told me the same thing, and was of no help whatsoever," Redzimski wrote.

To their credit, officials at Comcast and RCN’s corporate offices said they would look into Redzimski’s problem, when I contacted them and provided the sketchy info I had identifying the consumer. But must it come to that? With more competition coming into the marketplace, it is in the best interest of all companies to make sure these switches go well. All providers are hanging out the "best customer service" banner: how about living up to it? Further, "impossible" should not be part of the customer service lexicon.

If companies make switching this hard for the millions of multiple-dwelling units out there, I know I would think more than twice about switching any service, or adding a new product such as phone service, at any time. Messes like this may cause providers to have to create deeper discounts, and longer terms for them, to convince anyone to go to the aggravation of switching.

As for Redzimski, he’s gone from voluntarily selecting Comcast as his provider, to asking national media who to call at the Federal Communications Commission to complain because his neighbor’s utility service was cut off twice. Don’t give the feds another excuse for rule making.

I provided Redzimski with some contacts in hopes he can get his problem resolved. Paul, let us know how you do.