So, I'm on Comcast's web site, trying to order the PVR service, since last time I tried they said it wasn't available in my area. And while I'm logged in to my account at comcast.com, after selecting the PVR service to add to my account, it not only asks me for my full address (It knew my name, miraculously.), it asks if I am already a Comcast customer and, if so, to enter my account number. So, I opened up another tab, copied my account number from the page that knew it and pasted it into the page that didn't know it.
Then, it asks me to pick up to three times for the appointment, and the final step of the order process is to send you to a live chat with an "analyst" who will help you complete your order. After five minutes, and asking for the last four digits of my SSN, he tells me the order is complete and I can pick up the box at my local center—there's no appointment. I asked why I was asked to pick a date, and he says "That is part of a generic order form that is used to order any or all services."
I don't know why I find any of that surprising. We're only 10 years into this web thing. But this company is one of the biggest Internet providers in the US—and responsible for a pretty-damn-higly trafficked site or two. And that seems like evidence of kind of a broken-ass system.
Then, it asks me to pick up to three times for the appointment, and the final step of the order process is to send you to a live chat with an "analyst" who will help you complete your order. After five minutes, and asking for the last four digits of my SSN, he tells me the order is complete and I can pick up the box at my local center—there's no appointment. I asked why I was asked to pick a date, and he says "That is part of a generic order form that is used to order any or all services."
I don't know why I find any of that surprising. We're only 10 years into this web thing. But this company is one of the biggest Internet providers in the US—and responsible for a pretty-damn-higly trafficked site or two. And that seems like evidence of kind of a broken-ass system.