COMCAST Cares

Wow, I'm really impressed.

I had blogged about my experience with Comcast, my phantom box, and their failure to show up for an appointment to inventory my house.

Someone from their Customer Service department somehow saw my blog post, contacted me via a comment he posted, and within an hour of emailing him with my story, a representative (Betsy) from the Comcast Executive office called to say she would be personally handling my problem.

Comcast still isn't coming out any earlier (Friday, February 20th, between 8 and 10AM), but it's nice to know that someone there is overseeing the problem.

Can there be another company more INCOMPETENT than COMCAST of Burlington County

You may recall the issue of my 3 cable boxes--COMCAST of Burlington County has me recorded as having 4.

Last Wednesday, February 9th, I scheduled an appointment to have a search done of my premises to verify that I truly have 3.

When I made the appointment, the Customer Service Rep (I should have written or blogged her name) told me these types of appointments are limited, and that the earliest she could get someone there would be Tuesday, February 17th, between 12 and 2.

At 2:10PM today, after no one showed up, I called COMCAST to ask where they were---the Customer Service Rep (again, I didn't record the name) told me the technician was running late, but would be here today.

Finally, when no one showed by 3:45, I called COMCAST again. The Customer Service Rep (Danielle her name was) told me the appointment had been set up wrong, and that no one would be coming out today. Furthermore, she said, these types of appointments are limited, and the earliest she can get someone to verify my service would be Friday, February 20th, between 8 and 10AM.

Danielle apologized profusely, and assured me she knows how to set up the special appointment.

COMCAST, by the way, is great for apologizing---they do it all the time when they mess up your service, fail to provide reasonable Digital Voice in the Cinnaminson area, not show for appointments, mess up appointment registrations, etc, etc, etc.

Want to be they don't show?

Comcast---February 16, 2009

Comcast believes I have 4 Cable boxes---I have 3. I found this out last week when I returned an unused cable box and their representative told me my count had gone down from 5 to 4. Huh?

I only have 3, I said. No problem, they're sending out a technician on Tuesday to execute a search warrant on my premises. Presumably, at that point, they'll realize I only have 3.

Interestingly, the 4th cable box they believe I have has been used to order 7 on demand movies on my accounts since November (it could be worse, it could be more, and the person has decent taste in movies.)

After installing Purchase code PIIN's on all 3 of my Cable boxes last week, I thought I was fully armed to ask Comcast to remove the charges. They refused. Well, after some arm twisting (asking to talk to a supervisor, threatening to call my Cable ombudsman--whatever that is--they agreed to think about it.

They still didn't see the issue.

In fact, I was absolutely stunned to discover that Comcast can't prevent the purchase of any Pay-per-view activity from my house. Really?

Their solution? Put a purchase PIIN on all of my cable boxes. I did that, remember?

It's hard to believe that a company as big and tech savy as Comcast can't figure out where cable box

M1....805

really is.

All I know is that it's not in my house.

More to follow.

Links to my books

Recent analysis of my blog stats indicates that people are looking for links to the many computer books I have written, so here they are...

Learn to Program with VB.Net 2008 Express
ISBN: 978-0-615-24843-1 (Smiley Publishing, August 24, 2008)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order via Amazon
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)

Learn to Program with Visual C# 2008 Express
ISBN: 978-0-615-24842-4 (Smiley Publishing, June 20, 2008)
Note: If you already have the Visual C# 2005 Express edition, please don't order this one. The changes in the Editions, at the Introductory level of this book, are miniscule. Only screen shots have changed.
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order via Amazon
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)

Learn to Program with Visual C# 2005 Express
ISBN: Not Assigned Yet (Smiley Publishing, April 7, 2008)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)

Learn to Program with VB.Net 2005 Express
ISBN: Not Assigned Yet (Smiley Publishing, May 16, 2007)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)

Learn to Program with JavaScript
ISBN: 978-1-84728-999-1 (Smiley Publishing, September 20, 2006)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order via Amazon
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)

Learn to Program with C++ (using the Borland C++ Batch Compiler)
Original ISBN: 0072-225-351 (Osborne/McGraw Hill, April 23, 2002)
ISBN: Pending: (Smiley Publishing, February 14, 2007)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)
Read a sample chapter (Chapter 6)
View Table of Contents

Learn to Program with C# (using the .Net C# Batch Compiler)
Original ISBN: 0072-222-611 (Osborne/McGraw Hill, April 23, 2002)
ISBN: Pending: (Smiley Publishing, December 11, 2006)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)
Read an article on Installing and configuring the C# Batch compiler
View Table of Contents

Learn to Program with Java
Original ISBN: 0072-131-896 (Osborne/McGraw Hill, November 2, 2001)
ISBN: Pending: (Smiley Publishing, August 13, 2007)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)
Read an article on Installing the Java Development Kit
Read the bonus chapter, Chapter 14 on Applet Creation, which is not in the book
Read a sample chapter (Chapter 7)
View Table of Contents

Learn to Program with Visual Basic.Net 2002/2003
Original ISBN: 0072-131-772 (Osborne/McGraw Hill, January 11, 2002)
ISBN: Pending: (Smiley Publishing, February 14, 2007)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal)
Order a copy for $39.99 via Lulu.com
Order an Electronic Version for $13.95 ($12.95 via PayPal)
Read a sample chapter (Chapter 8)
View Table of Contents

Learn to Program with Visual Basic Objects
Original ISBN: 1902-745-048 (Wrox Press, December 1, 1999)
ISBN: 1929-685-165 (Course Technology, March 1, 2001)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 (Sorry, sold out)
Order via Amazon
Download the China Shop Project as of the end of the Intro book/beginning of this book
View Table of Contents

Learn to Program with Visual Basic Databases
Original ISBN: 1902-745-035 (Wrox Press, July 1, 1999)
ISBN: 1929-685-157 (Course Technology, March 1, 2001)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 ($45 via PayPal) Hurry, only 1 left!
Order via Amazon
View Table of Contents

Learn to Program with Visual Basic Examples
Original ISBN: 1902-745-06X (Wrox Press, May 1, 1999)
ISBN: 1929-685-157 (Course Technology, March 1, 2001)
Order an Autographed Copy for $38 (Sorry, sold out)
Order via Amazon

Learn to Program with Visual Basic 6
Original ISBN: 1902-745-000 (Wrox Press, November 30, 1998)
ISBN: 1590-591-518 (Apress, July 3, 2003)
Now being published by Smiley Publishing (September 1, 2007)
Order an Autographed Copy for $48 (Sorry, sold out)
Order via Amazon
Order via Lulu.com (Coming soon!)
View Table of Contents

.NET 3.5 framework object models

My thanks to a student of mine, Steve, for pointing this out to me.

For anyone who might find this useful (I know I always do), Microsoft has a link where you can download the .Net 3.5 Framework Object Model Posters.

These come in quite handy if you are programming in any of the .Net languages, such as VB.Net or C#. Here's the link...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=7B645F3A-6D22-4548-A0D8-C2A27E1917F8&display=en&displaylang=en

Here's the Tinyurl

http://tinyurl.com/asahe5

Printing the poster will be up to you---I have an old one here that came with my Visual Studio 2003 edition---it's about 3x5 feet, and it hung on my wall for many years.

Drunken driver ignition lock bill advances

I'm all for this one...

The Associated Press reported last week that a bill requiring alcohol-sensing ignition locks on the vehicles of most people convicted of drunken driving advanced in the New Jersey Legislature on Monday.

The lock is a Breathalyzer like device that keeps the vehicle from starting it is senses an alcohol level that exceeds the legal limit. Either states have ignition-lock laws. New Jersey currently requires the licks for repeat offenders.

Not everyone convicted of drunken driving will be required to use the locks---but repeat offenders will, and that makes me feel better.

Here's a Philadelphia Inquirer link to a story that details the fight to get this law passed by the family of a teenager killed by an Ocean City realtor (repeat drunken driving offender) who plowed into him as he and a group of his friends rode on the shoulder of Ocean Drive on their way to Ocean City.

http://tinyurl.com/al35gd

Let's hope the law passes---your chance of being hit by a drunken driver are high.

My parents were twice in cars hit by drunken drivers.

Gene therapy curesa a "bubble boy disase"

I used to think that Gene Therapy was getting closer to curing diseases--now it seems to be there, for at least one disease.

Researchers report that Gene therapy seems to have cured 8 of 10 children who had potentially fatal "bubble boy disease" according to a study that followed their progress for about four years after treatment.

The eight patients were no longer on medication for the rare disease, which cripples the body;s defenses against infection.

The successful treatment is reported in Thursday's issue (January 29th, 2009) of the New England Journal of Medicine and offers hope for treating other diseases with a gene therapy approach.

Bubble boy disease is formally called sever combined immunodeficiency, or SCID. this genetic disorder is diagnosed in about 40 to 100 babies each year in the United States.

The nickname comes from the experience of a Houston boy, David Vetter, who became famous for living behind plastic barriers to protect him from germs. He died in 1984 at age 12.

He was portrayed in a made for TV film my John Travolta.