I am so sick of Cox Cable, and I can't even use their services yet.  I finally had the extra money to get the internet hooked up at home, so I went down to the local Cox place to set everything up.  I paid my $80 deposit, got my cable modem, and their "Fast Connect Kit" with all the software I need.  I went there on Wednesday to open my account, only to find that they need a copy of my lease because the person that lived here before me still has an outstanding balance.  OK, no biggie.  I've already been through this with the gas and electric companies, so I really wasn't surprised.  The lady told me that because the outstanding balance was so high, that they had cut the service off at the house, and that a tech would have to come out on Friday to connect it again.  Oh, and that they were out of modems, and that I'd have to drive another half an hour to the next nearest store to pick one up.  Sure thing, no big deal.  It was my day off and I had nothing better to do.  I finally get everything and go home to set it up so it's all ready for Friday.

When I get home Friday night, I still can't connect to the internet.  The little icon says that it's connected, but when I try to open both Firefox and IE, it says that the page cannot be found.  I call their 24/7 line to make sure that they had come to the house to do their thing.  The rep said that everything looked fine, and that she could see my modem online.  We did about an hour of troubleshooting on the phone, and still couldn't get anything to work.  I asked her if they could send a tech out to look at it, to make sure that there wasn't something stupid that I had overlooked when setting everything up.  No prob, she sets it up and tells me that they'll be here Sunday between 10am and 12pm.

I work late Saturday night, but was up at 930 Sunday morning to clean the house a little before some stranger shows up.  By 1pm, the guy hasn't showed up and I call Cox to see what's going on.  The rep I spoke to that time said that the tech had already been to the house and all he was supposed to do was turn the line on from the street (the same thing they were supposed to do on Friday).  I try to explain to her what I had gone through with the previous rep, but all she says is "I apologize for the inconvenience, but I can't send another tech out until this work order is closed" over and over and over again.  I finally hang up before  I lose my cool with her.  I decide I'll call back on Wednesday (my next day off) and see what I can get accomplished.

Then today, I get a call at about 8am, from Cox's main number.  I ignore it since I didn't get off work until almost 3am and was exhausted.  At 11 I get another call, this time from a number I don't recognize.  For some reason I answer it.  It's one of Cox's tech's calling to get directions to my house (sidenote: I live on a pretty major road in this city,  but the street name is kinda funny.  It goes from Mystreetname Blvd. to Mystreetname St. and a lot of people don't realize it).  I explain to him where we are and ask why he's coming out.  He said that he has a work order to come out and turn the cable on at the street (something I've been told that they've done twice already).  I tell him that they've been out to do that already, and ask if there was anyway he could come upstairs and check the connections inside the house to see if that's where the problem is.  He tells me that he doesn't have time allotted for that, but to call and schedule another visit.

I leave for work today at about 230 and check the mail on the way out (it's habit, I do it everyday even when we aren't supposed to get mail), and find nothing.  I get home at about 10pm to find a note stuck to my mailbox.  It was a "Sorry we missed you, please call and reschedule" note from Cox.  The time on the note:  1150am.  I was home all morning reading and cleaning up.  There was never a knock on the door.  The guy told me he didn't have time to stop, and even if he did he had my number to call and let me know.  Besides, how could he have left the note at 1150am when there was no note there at 230pm?  And reschedule a visit that I never scheduled to begin with?  If there were any alternatives to Cox in this area, I would have gladly gone with them.  I researched it for a month, and no other company provides service to this city for cable or highspeed internet.  I'm stuck with these morons!  And to think that I could have kept leaching off the neighbour's wireless with less trouble.