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04/18/2002 Entry: "TV Turnoff Year"
At first I thought it was some sort of telemarking scam. There was a message on my machine that went something like ".... .... our computer shows that your service is scheduled to be turned off this coming Tuesday. So call 703-xxx-xxxx anytime between 9:00 AM and 9:00 PM and there will be an operator there to help you make sure your service will not be disrupted.". It's obviously a recording. So I check the caller ID, and it shows a number, but it's listed as "out of the area". The caller ID number is not the number the message is asking me to call. Hmmmmm... This is starting to smell very fishy.
So I call the caller ID number, and I get a recording. Its the same voice as the message left on my machine. It says "Our office is closed. Please call back between 9:00 AM and 9:00 PM Monday through Saturday." It is 8:30 PM on a Thursday. Neither call has mentioned the name of the company. Very, very fishy.
I figure this is some sort of scam geared towards fools that are afraid of having their service disrupted. Probably some sort of twist on slamming. Making the phone message sound like was garbled by the answering machine at the beginning was a nice touch. I don't bother calling the number left on the message. I thought that would be the end of it, but the same message is on my machine a couple other nights the past week. It was starting to get a little annoying.
Then my cable stops working.
Turns out my EFT transactions to Comcast hadn't been going through for the past three months, right around the time they installed 'digital cable' in my neighborhood, and that I owed them around $200. Whoa... I've been paying over $2 a day for what - the occasional glimpse of Nigella Lawson, a CSI episode every now and then, an hour of Six Feet Under once a week and maybe one of the four Chef episodes shown in the States. It's not worth it !
Add to that Comcast's spying on their customers and my attempts to limit my exposure to advertising, and the cable must go ! Go, I say !!
Looks like this happened just in time for TV Turnoff Week.
