The Comcast Conundrum

Have you ever had issues with your cable company?  Well, I certainly have.  Recently, my person with Parkinson’s decided that the remote control that Comcast provided was too difficult to use.  Especially when his tremors are severe, the buttons were simply too small to manipulate easily.  As television is one of his (only?) favorite pastimes, it was very important for him to control the TV by himself, even if a caregiver was here to help.

So, what did Frances do?  She found a remote that had larger buttons.  This was  a “mini project” that quickly became a “major project” because George became inpatient with the old one.

Below is a picture of his new remote, nearly actual size:

After going through the  Comcast phone support merry-go-round, I was finally able to speak to a person who could place an order for the subject remote.  Happily, Comcast did not charge us for this device.  And, the helpful tech support person asked:  “Do you have another cable box/TV in another room?”  Well, of course, the answer was “yes,” and then “Do you want a remote for both TVs?”  And, of course, the answer was again “yes!”

Next the waiting began.  The devices were shipped within about five business days, so our wait was worth it.  We were excited when they arrived.  Only problem was that Geo’s “personal tech support person” (i.e., me!) did not get cracking on programming the remote.  (Hey, didn’t I retire from my IT job??)  Gratefully, his kind and patient caregiver Greg took a stab at programming the remote.  Here’s where the conundrum came in.

Unfortunately, Comcast did not send complete instructions for how to program the remote (at least we didn’t find it in the package).  There were sketchy instructions emblazoned on the remote itself, but curiously, they were incomplete.

Being a naturally inpatient person with electronic devices that don’t work “out of the box” I took a deep breath and ventured where no sensible person goes who has a list of things to do:  I called Comcast tech support again to get “complete” instructions.

The conundrum became more of a mystery, that was encased in an enigma.  Time does not allow me to relate, nor do you care to read, all the technical details of what transpired next.  Suffice it to say that we resorted to having a technician visit our home to see what could be done to tame the beast and make it work.

My initial assessment of the situation (based upon inadequate knowledge) was that this remote would not work with the cable box we had.  In fact, when the technician arrived, he told us the same thing.  However, after a couple of calls and entering the proper codes (which we did not have for some reason with the first remote) he was able to get it to work!  Mission accomplished!

The funny part of this story was when the technician asked if we wanted the second remote to be programmed while he was here.  Well, of course!  Wonder of wonders, when we opened the package for the second remote, the complete printed instructions were there!

All’s well that ends well, but it is incredible that so much time and effort can be expended by multiple people to get a little entertainment in our home.  Giving George more independence, and thereby making him feel in control, made all the effort worthwhile!