Comment by jedberg | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jedberg | Hacker News Reader

About two years ago I signed up for UVerse. There was no modem fee. 6 months later, there was a $2 fee. Six months again, $4. And then 6 months later it was $6.

At that point I actually noticed the fee (I hadn't really looked before that) and so I went in to complain. Here was basically my conversation:

Why did you raise the modem fee in January?

Because we hadn't raised it in a while?

Did you give me better service?

No.

How do you justify raising the fee on old equipment?

Because we hadn't raised it in a while.

But my equipment is getting older and less valuable

Oh, is your modem broken? Do you want a new one?

No! I just want to know how you justify raising the rates on equipment that is unchanged on service that is unchanged. You raised your rate and provided no additional benefit to me and your costs actually went down.

Because we hadn't raised it in a while.

That's when I left.

To be fair, a front line customer service agent is probably an unreliable source of corporate strategy, or really anything in general. In fact, I'm quite sure Comcast customer service can make Mother Theresa herself look like an evil megalomaniac.

That's the brilliance though. The TSA, customer service, and every other wish-they-could-be fascist organization operates by distancing enforcement from policy decisions.

Every try debating a TSA agent about how many explosive shoes they've seen in their careers? They just have a job to do. They aren't allowed to think -- they just follow their state diagram. "Shoes on? Yell until shoes come off. Why? Because that's what the chart says."

Those workers are not paid enough to pay attention. I wish we could remove the Rapiscan machines and use that money to train and pay TSA staff. Then we might get security instead of just the theater.

> Every try debating a TSA agent about how many explosive shoes they've seen in their careers?

No. As a dark-skinned person with a short beard/light stubble, I doubt that would go over well....

While I know what you meant, Mother Theresa is a bad example.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Mother_Teresa

Every sufficiently famous person has his/her critics, and everyone - saints included - have flaws, whether or not those flaws are publicly known.

I doubt there's a better example.

I don't see denying professional healthcare to the sick while traveling internationally to seek it yourself as a "flaw," but we can agree to disagree.

"I doubt there's a better example."

There are plenty of better examples, but they couldn't afford the PR agencies and myth-creators.

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