Bits Post: Warning: No Yelling in the Food Court
December 10, 2009
Try this incredibly simple but quite useful analogy to reach students who are struggling with issues of audience and style. Soon they’ll be speaking to, and not at, their audience.
Does Comcast Care, Part 2
December 9, 2009
It’s now 5 months and a day. Still no $300 refund check. Still no explanation for why.
12/08/09:
After I tweeted and blogged about the situation, Detreon, the most recent Comcast rep I’ve communicated with, left a comment on my first blog entry about the problem:
Our regional offices were closed yesterday evening when we last corresponded, but I’ve asked that someone reach out to you this morning to make this right. We will be in touch!
Okay, I figured I would give them time to make this phone call or email contact. They seemed to be trying.
Detreon tweeted at 3:15 pm to ask if I’d gotten the message. He misspelled my first name. I didn’t reply. I was hoping to hear from the regional office, as he said, and I got busy with other things.
Sadly, there was no contact from the regional offices.
12/09/09:
5:24 PM, I get an email from an Oakbrook, Illinois rep, Mary:
Thank you for contacting our executive office with your questions and concerns. We value your business and appreciate the opportunity to resolve your issue as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, our attempts to contact you at (217)***-**** have been unsuccessful. At your earliest convenience please contact us to address your service and billing concerns to ensure efficient resolution.
Office Contact number: (800) 630-2140 ext. 82334
Office Hours: 8:00am – 5:00pm, Monday through FridayWe look forward to hearing from you.
Right. There’s a shock. You cannot reach me at the phone number that is no longer mine. Please note that I have given them the correct phone number every time I’ve talked to someone, including in my last message to Detreon.
Of course, by the time I get home and find this message the office is closed.
5:26 PM, More confusing, Mary has left a message on my phone here in Virginia as well, also. So she has the right phone number and after sending her email, she called the right number.
Her message refers to my “refund request.” Why can’t they just tell me if this check has been cut or will ever be cut? It’s still a “request” so I’m assuming there’s no check yet.
Again, they’re closed, so there’s nothing I can do right now.
Sigh. I have a receipt that shows a $300 credit. I have been told over the past 5 months by repeated customer service reps that there is indeed a credit on my account.
Yet 5 months and 1 day later, I still have no indication that Comcast has any intention of sending me this money. How can $300 be so precious to a company that is making a $37,000,000,000 bid for NBC? Just 300 little dollars. 0.0000000081081% of your bid.
To me however, $300 would be a 535% increase in my checking account balance. It matters desperately to me.
I know that my account with you has been messy with you Comcast. My life was turned upside-down last fall when I had to move to Virginia to help take care of my mother. My finances got very confused, and I was late paying you. But you have your equipment back, AND you had me pay for that equipment. I don’t have a job right now. $300 matters to me. You said it was due to me. Over and over, you have told me a check would be on the way. Will it ever be?
Does Comcast Care?
December 8, 2009
The issue is very simple. I am due a $300 refund on equipment that I turned in July 8, 2009. Everyone who actually looks up information on my account says that yes, I am due the money and yes, they have the correct mailing address, but no, the check has not been sent.
It’s not that I disliked Comcast service. Heck, I’m using it now. It’s that I had to quit my job and move home to help with daily care of my mother. Her home already had Comcast service, so mine was discontinued. It’s as simple as that. Granted the cable box I now have does not receive all the channels it’s supposed to, but generally speaking, this service is fine.
Comcast customer service and business managment are not however.
It’s now December 8, 2009. That’s five months since I turned in my equipment. Five months of Comcast sitting on $300 rather than cutting a check. Since I keep having to explain the same thing over and over, I thought I’d just post the history for the world to see.
07/08/09:
I returned two cable boxes to the Comcast office in Urbana, IL. I was told at the time I would receive a $300 refund on the equipment in 4 to 6 weeks. I confirmed that my mailing address had changed to Virginia, as I had moved.
08/17/09:
The refund still shows on my account, but it will probably take 6 weeks, not 4 weeks. Should receive the money in a few more days.
09/15/09:
The refund hasn’t been issued because I moved and the check needs to be approved by the Blacksburg, Virginia Comcast office. I was specifically told:
Rosal> Traci, since you have moved to new address, we need to set up an agreement with the local office since they will be the ones who will send the check to your current address.
This absurd explanation was that I needed to contact a cable office that I had never had service with and ask them to issue a check that a cable office in another state should have sent 10 weeks earlier.
Rosal insisted however that he would take care of it and that there were extensive notes on my account. S/he added:
Rosal>
I am also processing a follow request to have it mailed to you the soonest possible time.
I have the log of this contact (with addresses and account numbers removed) since I used the online chat.
As the local office would have been closed, I could do no more, but believed that Rosal was taking care of things.
11/20/09:
Reread log and realized that I needed to call the local office myself, that Rosal clearly did not follow up as promised.
I called the number Rosal gave (1-888-375-4888). The rep, Shirlane, said she could not help me because she was a local “authorized Comcast retailer” (not Comcast itself) and that I needed to try Comcast’s toll-free number.
I called the Comcast number she gave me (800-266-2278) and talked to Louis, who said that the information Rosal gave me was incorrect. He said, in fact, that the previous rep, Rosal, was “crazy.” He could see that I was due $300 and could find no explanation that I had not been sent the check. He said the address to which the check was sent made no difference.
Louis transferred me to someone named Tracy. Tracy agreed that there was no reason that I had not received the refund. She said the computer showed that the refund was due but the check had not been cut. She could find no explanation for the delay in sending the money, but said that the information Rosal gave me was incorrect. She said checks could be sent anywhere, and that they often were.
She checked with a supervisor and said that she was expediting the request for the check, and that she would see I had the money before Christmas. She was to speak with whoever handles such things and call me back the next day (11/21). The next day was a Saturday, but she said she would be in and worked till 5:30 PM. She never called back.
12/07/09:
I have not heard from her or anyone else. Even allowing for the weekend and the Thanksgiving holiday, it seemed like Tracy could have made a return call or that the check would have arrived since it was expedited. Neither has happened, so I turned to Twitter:
tengrrl @ComcastBonnie Can you check on my refund from July? Was on 11/20 I’d get a callback the next day. More than 2 weeks later, still nothing. Mon, Dec 07 12:46:19
ComcastGeorge @tengrrl @ComcastBonnie if off today, may our team help? Mon, Dec 07 12:56:50
ComcastGeorge @tengrrl please email our team, we will review, we_can_help@comcast.coom Mon, Dec 07 13:00:47
tengrrl .@ComcastGeorge I returned 2 cable boxes in July, and have been waiting on a $300 refund ever since. Can you check its status? Mon, Dec 07 13:01:11
tengrrl .@ComcastGeorge Last rep I talked to said she would call me back next day and that I would have the money before Christmas. That was 11/20. Mon, Dec 07 13:02:45
tengrrl .@ComcastGeorge She never called back. Refund is on equipment turned in nearly 5 months ago. The delay in sending me a check is absurd. Mon, Dec 07 13:04:25
ComcastGeorge @tengrrl our team can work with the regional office for a update, yes, we_can_help@comcast.com Mon, Dec 07 13:12:03
ComcastGeorge @tengrrl agreed Mon, Dec 07 13:12:37
1:24 PM, I sent an email to we_can_help. Nothing happened. I expected an auto-response telling me that the message was received, but got nothing.
4:15 PM, I received a reply from Comcast’s Detreon asking for the address included in the original email.
7:18 PM, I replied and pointed out that they had the address already.
I returned to Twitter:
tengrrl Emailed Comcast, as instructed. 3 hrs later, response asks for my mailing address. I included it in my original email. Seriously people. Mon, Dec 07 19:11:24
ComcastMelissa @tengrrl sorry 4 the mixup. Mon, Dec 07 19:24:08
tengrrl .@ComcastMelissa If only this were the first mixup . . . Mon, Dec 07 19:44:55
ComcastMelissa @tengrrl :( about 14 hours ago
7:23 PM, Detreon’s email reply: “Thank you. I apologize for the oversight.” No information about the refund or when I could expect to hear anything again.
Back to Twitter, very frustrated at this point:
tengrrl So replied to Comcast with address & got this back: “Thank you. I apologize for the oversight.” That’s right. Nothing about the REFUND. Mon, Dec 07 22:37:08
12/08/09:
Overnight a friend twittered to ask about progress on the situation, and I reply:
tengrrl @Freekie Still waiting. Today makes it exactly 5 months waiting for a $300 refund. If @comcastcares they certainly don’t show it.
Tue, Dec 08 04:41:20
So this morning there were fresh new tweets from Comcast:
comcastcares @tengrrl email us the details we_can_help@cable.Comcast.com Tue, Dec 08 05:30:13
ComcastSteve @tengrrl can i help? Tue, Dec 08 09:01:00
ComcastBill @tengrrl email us details we_can_help@cable.comcast.com Tue, Dec 08 10:02:30
10:31 AM, Still no email or call from Detreon. Am now posting this history publically. Twitter seems to be the only thing that gets any real response, but all they do is tell me to email, which I already have.
Oh, by the way, a Comcastic day to you!
Bits Post: Getting Beyond Words in Visual Analysis
December 2, 2009
Take a poster into the classroom, and what will students see when you ask them to analyze the message? Most of the time they zoom in on whatever words are included. They may later come back to other aspects of the poster, but the words color what they see. Here’s an easy technique to emphasize the other aspects of these visual messages using posters from The Spanish Civil War.
Inbox Blog: How to Move Closer to School 2.0
December 1, 2009
William Kist’s article “From Web 2.0 to School 2.0: Tales from the Field” includes vignettes of students using digital technologies to connect to one another and to the texts that they explore. How can you get to School 2.0? I outline three steps to using social networking in the classroom in this week’s NCTE Inbox Blog.
Does THIS Make Me a Real Blogger?
November 15, 2009
So what makes a writer really a writer? It’s when you believe that you’re a writer. Course having a super important badge that says so also helps, especially if they look at you funny when you try to crash the writer’s parties:
Made this while playing with BigHugeLabs toys and utilities for a Bedford Bits blog entry. :)
Bits Post: Using Current Events to Discuss Writing and Visual Rhetoric
September 22, 2009
Talking about Swine Flu at your school? The news stories and public documents give us current texts we can dissect for use of persuasive techniques and visual rhetoric. Combined with similar materials from the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918, current documents can give students the chance to consider how rhetorical techniques are adapted to fit the times. You can find links to texts on the flu and related classroom assignments in my Bedford Bits Post.
WFMAD 5: Word Geek
August 5, 2009
Dear Teacher,
I completely fail at vocabulary exercises. Sure, I can use your words in a sentence, but they sound like words I was told to use in a sentence. They never sound like anything natural. No matter how much I try to rephrase or revise, they all sound wrong.
Maybe it’s that there’s no context. Just a floating sentence with some new word. Maybe context would help.
Shive: She looked at the three sets of hungry eyes staring up at her and then back at the bare crust of bread in her hand. She turned to the counter, away from their faces, and shived and slivered the crust into three transparent slices, hoping they wouldn’t see the tears that fell on the board as she worked.
Hmm. Not really. That sounds like some toss off from a Grapes of Wrath draft. Or some really awful Lifetime movie about a welfare mother. The word didn’t even get to have star-billing. It didn’t feel right without the “and slivered” bit. Just not right. Definite FAIL.
Why do teachers want us to write these vocabulary sentences anyway? Do they really think that this is going to help us actually use these crazy words? Maybe they don’t want us to use them. Maybe we’re just supposed to recognize them in some Shakespeare thing later. I just don’t see the point, but w/e. I’ll write your sentences.
Dwale: “It’s pure dwale to presume that someone will learn a word just by dropping it in an awkward sentence that they’d otherwise never write,” she said to her English teacher, Mrs. Grimes.
WFMAD stands for “Writing for Fifteen Minutes a Day.” Author Laurie Halse Anderson
Teachers can use a similar project to discuss writing successes and challenges (as well as get some fast drafting done). As my Inbox blog entry this week explains, it’s an easy way to build community in just 15 minutes!
WFMAD 4: Writing Space
August 4, 2009
Since I left my job at NCTE to come back to Virginia and take up family obligations, I have learned to write in what used to be a family bedroom. It’s a nice, standard-sized room. Every one of my siblings have called this room home at one point over the years. My niece was also an occupant for a few years while their home was being remodeled.
Now it’s my space. The moving process is ongoing, so this one room has to serve as my writing space, my bedroom, and my entertainment area. It’s like a large dorm room. Everything has been arranged to accomodate my desk, a light-colored wooden desk that I purchased as a birthday present two years ago. Too expensive, I’m sure. Now that I spend more than half of my time sitting here, I realize it was one of my wiser investments.
The desk is my control center. Everything I need to write is within reach. Two laptops sit on top of the desk, one Windows and one Mac. They share a keyboard and mouse, via Synergy (a great piece of software). Ball-point ens in every color, paper, Sharpies, file folders—all the tools a writer needs are spread around the laptops, spilling over onto a second table that sits perpendicular to the desk.
The chair has rubbed deep dents into the floor protector. The mismatched pieces of furniture look more like an awkward LEGO construction than a planned workspace. Oh, and did I mention the bed? Directly in front of the desk, beckoning me to nap many days, sits my inflatible bed. It was the only place that it would fit, but it’s such a dangerous location. The television across the room can distract me, but the bed tries to lure me off course in evil ways.
No crisp sheet of white paper, this writing space is a crumbled, aged scrap, repurposed for scribbled notes. There a computer and an Internet connection though, and with that, I can write anything, absolutely anything.
WFMAD stands for “Writing for Fifteen Minutes a Day.” Author Laurie Halse Anderson
WFMAD 2: Yearbook Picture
August 2, 2009
Yes, that’s me. Or at least it’s the girl I was a very, very long time ago. I’ve only brought her out of the photo file because of Laurie Halse Anderson’s writing prompt for today:
Find a yearbook pic or school photo . . . . Choose a photo that evokes an emotional response – that gut feeling – even if you aren’t quite sure what that feeling is at first. Don’t think, just write the words that stream through your mind as you look at the photo. Write for fifteen minutes and have fun!
I figured it wasn’t fair to just write about that girl and not share her yearbook photo. When I pulled it out for this writing prompt, my first thought was that poor, naive girl. She really had no idea how messy life would become in the decades that followed.
Senior portraits were taken in a hotel, near the interstate. We were all given appointments. Girls were told to wear dark shirts, and boys were told to wear a white shirt and tie. Girls spent their entire spring and summer trying to make sure that these pictures came out perfectly. Even on that day, the poor, naive girl was missing information on what “everyone” was doing in their photos. She just never had the social skills to be connected enough.
All in all, I guess her porttrait came out okay. If you didn’t know the year that she graduated from high school, there’s not really anything in particular in that photo that would give it away. The hair is rather plain. No trendy haircut, jewelry, or clothing. All rather basic and simple.
I wish I could talk to her. I wish I could tell her of the mistakes she would make in the years that would follow that portrait session. If only I could help her know to take this path–and not that one–at a few crucial crossroads, she might be better off today.
There are moments today though, that I wish she could talk to me. That girl, that silly and naive girl, was rather optimistic. She blundered through school and work, but because of luck or perseverance, everything seemed to work out in her favor. She had faith in the world. She believed things would work out. Maybe it was just luck. But maybe it was that she believed in herself and was optimistic about whatever crossed her path. I wish I could still hear her voice. I wish I were still that naively optimistic and brave.
WFMAD stands for “Writing for Fifteen Minutes a Day.” Author Laurie Halse Anderson