It’s a sad fact that often the only face a content provider has to a customer is the lowly cable installer. It seems that more often than not, said installer is not the best representative to what could be a good company. Of course, I’m not saying all installers will set fire to a house, sleep on a customers couch, or perform a sloppy install, but when those infractions happen, everyone finds out.
Take this Charter install at my mother’s house. She just got cable for the first time in her life, not for the TV service either but the bundled telephone service; she doesn’t watch TV past the occasional newscast. My mother keeps an impeccable house and yard though and this cable install downright frustrates her for several reasons.
One, the cable was routed around the basement window well covers when the cable could have been easily routed in between the plastic covers and the house. Screwing into her aluminum siding creating a permanent hole in doing so. Plus, it looks bad as these covers are seasonal and get removed a few times a year.
The other wiring mystery involves why Charter felt the need to install another cable line within her enclosed patio when there was already one there. The new installation was performed from the outside of the house, which apparently required drilling through the external walls instead up through the outdoor open wooden deck to install the outlet right next to the original cable run (which ran under the deck, btw).
Oh, there’s more. The digital telephone service was plugged into a switchable outlet that controls one of the only basement lights. My mom told me she has grown to live with not have a light in that area and just ensures that the pathway to the washer and dryer is clear. And Charter apparently felt the need to mess with her A/V setup and disconnected two of the front channels. Why they were even messing with the receiver is a mystery as she just had the very basic, non-digital service installed.
I realize that this isn’t the worst cable install ever. There aren’t cables draping across sidewalks and nor is there a spiderweb of them hanging all over. It’s hard to blame Charter directly for the bad install — it’s not like the bankrupt company can control everything its workers do. I don’t even blame the cable installers all that much as they are probably overworked and underpaid and could care less about my mother’s home.
But come on, installers are the face of the company and a little work ethic would be great. They are getting a pay check, which after all, is better than a lot of people can say — especially in my hometown of Flint, MI.
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