E Filing new mystery?

I've been efiling for months yet today I get a new message.
" the document is trying to connect to file://Users/myname/Downloads/Save Return.aspx?Submitind=1"
My Mac is on 10.6.8
I am using Adobe Reader, which the tax people instruct me to use , 9.4.5.
When asked to allow if I trust the site, nothing happens?
Please help.
Thanks

You would recover the backup you made prior to doing your upgrade. If you didn't backup, that's unfortunate. You must backup your data whenever you upgrade*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
You may be able to visit Adobe's website for older versions of Acrobat, if your operating system supports it, but downgrading your Acrobat may also require removing all crumbs of it. Check with Adobe where they might leave crumbs behind.
* Links to my pages may give me compensation

Similar Messages

New Mysterious File popped up under Music Store

Hello. I opened up my iTunes today and there is a new file, in blue called "Mcarty's Music". I cannot open it; it requiest a password. However, the problem is, I do not know anyone named "Mcarty" nor did I try to import his/her music. This just popped up out of nowwhere. The icon looks exactly like the Music Store icon but it is blue. Could this be a virus?
I cannot delete it.
Thanks for the help!

You're seeing the shared iTunes library from some other computer on your local network. Go into the iTunes Sharing preference and turn off "look for shared music". If you don't want to similarly be sharing your iTunes library with other computers, make sure that the "Share My Music" option is unchecked.

10.4 Tiger Server FTP has new mystery password

10.4.11 Server
I've been running the FTP site for my freelancers for 4 years without a hiccup. Over this past weekend it suddenly won't let them log on. When I go to administer the site to see what's up, there are 8 characters in the password box, but my password is 7 characters long. I've deleted the user and group and rebuilt twice using the same 7 character password but each time I leave the username, or the group setting, or Workgroup Manager and then go back in the password has changed back to 8 characters.
How do I reset this password so it will stick? Or, how do I discover what password the user is being assigned by the machine?
Of course I'm also curious how this could occur but right now it's much more important that my freelancers can access the FTP site as they have for 4 years without a problem.

there are 8 characters in the password box, but my password is 7 characters long. I've deleted the user and group and rebuilt twice using the same 7 character password but each time I leave the username, or the group setting, or Workgroup Manager and then go back in the password has changed back to 8 characters.
The box ALWAYS shows a fixed number of bullets. Passwords are immediately hashed, and it cannot determine the length of your existing password, only whether the password you entered is correct or not.
Here is another example of this:
"Regardless of how many characters are actually in a Mac OS X 10.2 password, seven bullet characters (•••••••) will appear in the New Password and Verify fields the next time the password is edited."
HT1274- Mac OS X: Changing or resetting an account password
Message was edited by: Grant Bennet-Alder

Reg.New field creation in Consumption posting area

Dear Experts
We want to create new one filed in the below refered path.
SPRO->Material Management->Purchasing->Account Assignment category. in the below screen
Consumption posting filed - New field to be added.
How to create the above. Pls advise
Thanks
Rajakumar.K

Hi,
u can discuss with ABAP er for creation of new field in that existing screen means u can go for the enhancement as per ur requirement.
otherwise, u can use the existing 17 types of account assignment categories that are provided by std. SAP. u can use the following any one of consumption posting area.
A Asset
V Consumption
E Accounting via sales order
U Unknown
P Accounting via project
or u can check any possibility to define any new consumption posting indicator.

Over 100 new songs appeared in my iTunes. Artists I've never heard of. All seem to be "iCloud" songs

over 100 new songs appeared on my iPad, and also on my laptop. All of them seem to be "iCloud" songs, though I don't fully understand iCloud. on my iPad, some of my songs are missing. That was how I realized the problem. I was making a playlist, and some of the songs i wanted to put in there were just gone. kept browsing artists and saw a few album covers I didn't recognize. when I went through it again, I found a LOT of songs I didn't recognize. so I checked my music library on my computer. the missing songs are still there, as are the new mystery songs. sure enough, when I sorted my music library by "cloud", a tiny handful of my own music was "cloud", but most of them I've never seen before. my iPhone seems to be the only device not affected. but now, I'm afraid to sync the iPad or iPhone with my computer, if it's just going to be deleting my music and replacing them. When I figure out what happened, I'll delete all of these new singles. I'm trying to think what I did differently recently. I backed up my computer on an external hard drive (if more of my music disappears, I hope I'll be able to retrieve it from previous back-ups. most weren't purchased from iTunes Store). when I make playlists, it sometimes tells me adding iCloud songs will do something, but I never have any problems. I don't care about storing things in the cloud when I don't understand it or see the benefits of it. All I want is my music on devices :) I haven't downloaded the new software update that I was prompted with yesterday, I will once I figure this out.
has this happened to anyone else? suddenly a lot of music you've never heard of appears in your music library? I'm so confused..

I have also found mysterous new songs appear in my iTunes as living in iCloud. About 250 of them!
Sometimes they are a duplicate of songs I already have and sometimes they are songs I have never heard of, like Karina, Can't Find the Words. None of the new songs appeareing in iCloud are particularly good, or in my taste. I even have videos appearing in iCloud, like Kanye West Can't Tell Me Nothing.
Not what I usually listen to. Except for, that is, the songs that are now duplicated on iCloud, like Bad Romance by Lady Ga Ga. I'm not sure, but perhaps about half of the 250 songs on iCoud are duplicates of what I already have.
I have the choice to download the icloud songs into my iTunes library, and apparently at no cost. I can also delete them with the usual, Are-You-Sure warning.
I think this happened after I upgraded to the new version of iTunes. Is this a gift from Apple for upgrading?

Importing problems (new 10.4.3 iBook, backup 10.2.8 CD)

My old iBook, which was running 10.2.8, died: logic board and hard-drive are both gone. (Note to other users, don't spill sticky drinks inside the machine.) I have a backup of my mail from a few months ago.
My new iBook is running 10.4.3.
I have tried to import my mbox files from my backup CD. I've tried importing en masse and individually (and individually would suck with so many folders); I've tried importing as "Mail for Mac OS X" and as "Other". At best I can get Mail 2.0.5 to import the names of most (not all) of my 194 mail folders and inbox.
The mail folders initially appear under "Imported" as they are supposed to, yet they are empty. If I go to "Mailbox" on the menu, the choice for "Rebuild" is grayed out, so that is not an option to fix them. If I quit Mail and restart, the imported mailboxes disappear.
Could this have something to do with permissions to the files on my CD rom? In the import scripts, I can migrate to files like
/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/Travis.mbox/
and I see greyed-out files like
mbox, mbox.SKindex.isValid, mbox.SKindex, tableofcontents
If that's the problem, do I have to do some batch permission changing operation like "sudo chmod something-or-another" to fix this? How can I effectively do that when there are almost 200 different folders containing the mbox files?
I also note that, when Mail was able to import folder names but not mbox folder contents, it didn't do anything whatsoever for nested folders.
iBook Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Clarification to the above:
Running chmod on a given mbox file didn't help Mail import it. It still imported a folder that's empty and that would disappear after quitting and restarting Mail.
New mystery involving Smart folders:
Mail was able to download mail that was on my POP server (since September). I defined a few smart folders (to identify mail from given senders). These Smart folders see some of the messages from my backup. If I try to click on one of those old backed-up messages, it says that the message "has not been downloaded from the server. You need to take this account online in order to download it." But I don't have an IMAP account. Does this tantalising hint suggest that Mail sort-of sees my messages, and if it sort-of sees them, can we make Mail really see them?
iBook Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Many Recurring Problems w. new Blackberry Curve - 3 new phones in 2 months

I got the new blackberry Curve on Jan 1, 12 and right away started experiencing problems with the texting (as I have seen many on here having the same issue as well) - I am unable to scroll through texts. Switching it to "stripes" and not "bubbles" does not help. Pulling the battery doesn't even help anymore. I've had the phone exchanged twice already and each time, have had the same issue.
The other problem is that my internet consistently freezes on me - pulling the battery will only help for me to load the internet page fully once, then immediately stops loading after that. This is beyond frustrating and I don't see the point in exchanging the phone over and over again when clearly it is an issue with the curve itself. Please help! I really cannot be pulling my battery 20 times a day to perform the simplest of tasks.

Clarification to the above:
Running chmod on a given mbox file didn't help Mail import it. It still imported a folder that's empty and that would disappear after quitting and restarting Mail.
New mystery involving Smart folders:
Mail was able to download mail that was on my POP server (since September). I defined a few smart folders (to identify mail from given senders). These Smart folders see some of the messages from my backup. If I try to click on one of those old backed-up messages, it says that the message "has not been downloaded from the server. You need to take this account online in order to download it." But I don't have an IMAP account. Does this tantalising hint suggest that Mail sort-of sees my messages, and if it sort-of sees them, can we make Mail really see them?
iBook Mac OS X (10.4.3)

TitanTV listings page NOW affects my Firefox. I'd commonly run it -multiple tabs- with no problem at all. Now-- Hanging!; flash crash,etc.. What jusT changed??

(Using WiFi and all-- library computers, etc.. I got in the habit of keeping multiple tabs open. I came to Firefox because it handled that usage much, much better than any version of IE. Running the multiple tabs of the future television listings made sense and Was very convenient.. Was. Now it seems -after eliminating other possibilities* that the TitanTV page is the cause of my Firefox Hanging.. (when open at all It slows even Other pages' scrolling..?! ) So yeah-- 'Hanging,' unresponsive page, flash/shockwave -type crashes etc. ,etc. Obviously..I don't Have to use the page.. or run it on this browser but What ALL Of A Sudden is causing this to occur?? Is it the ad content on there somehow? I'd love to find out at this point... and I do prefer this to the other browsers. [*And did follow the posted usual troubleshoots as well as uninstall/re-install on both the Firefox and antivirus (Avast), clearing the cache memory...] I'd love it if I could solve this new mystery here.... Thanks! )

Tom, <br />
I am glad it is working again after following Moses's advice.
You say give us volunteers better ammunition, would help with troubleshooting. Well one thing you could have done along those lines was to follow the prompts to include full troubleshooting information in your question.
You have marked the thread solved and so it appears running in safe mode with plugins disabled solved the issue for you. That is commonly seen in searches as a troubleshooting step because it is useful. Firefox is highly customisable something people like, but the downside is all the various addons do not always work well in every situation and combination.
The action was only intended as a troubleshooting step, but you may well have more than one single issue here and may need further help sorting that out. I appreciate you are frustrated & not swearing '''at''' ''Moses'' but you are probably more likely to find help if you tone down the language.
I can not be sure yet but probably most of you problems are not directly related to the upgrade of Firefox from Fx28 to Fx29.

How can I force a smooth join and change a shortcut?

I am from Denmark so pardon me if I misspell something and I work on a Mac so the shortcuts and menus are for Mac, but you are clever people, so you can probably figure out what it will be on a Windows computer
I was having trouble in Illustrator CS6 joining two points smooth. I read this article ...
http://blogs.adobe.com/adobeillustrator/2011/06/join.html
... about joining in Illustrator CS5 (which seems to be the same in CS6) ... and noticed it says "A Smooth join is possible only when the end-points are smooth" ... now who came up with this asshat rule (pardon my french)??? I used to be able to force a joining to be smooth no matter what kind of points I had, however, not anymore it seems
This is what I had trouble with:
Smooth joins
Step 1.
As you can see in the image below I have two points both with an arm ... they should qualify as smooth end-points, right?
Step 2.
So after moving the two paths together I went ahead and selected the two points with my Direct Selection Tool (the white arrow). Notice how only one arm sticks out all of a sudden (this was actually a clue to why I had trouble in the first place but more on this later).
Step 3.
I tried to force the two points to join smoothly by using the cmd+opt+shift+J shortcut to get the Average & Join dialog box up and select Smooth ... to no avail.
Step 4.
It stil ends up doing this weird joining (this is after I tried to move the point with my Direct Selection Tool).
Step 5.
So I used cmd+Z until I was back to square one and then I discovered if I moved one of the end-points there was another one beneath it. Notice that it is the point that was missing an arm in step 2, when I had selected what I thought was only two points, which should have clued me in.
Removing the extra point and placing the two smooth end-points on top of each other again made it possible to make the smooth joining, I had tried to do countless times.
What I wonder about now is the fact that I could get the Average & Join dialog box without having Illustrator complain up a storm about me having selected more than two points? Illustrator used to be very picky about this, which would have made me discover the extra point way sooner.
Shortcuts
In the article I also noticed people complaining about the four keys shortcut for the Average & Join dialog box (cmd+opt+shift+J). You can just go ahead and change that in Edit/Keyboard Shortcuts... (cmd+opt+shift+K). Here is how:
Step 1.
In the dropdown change Tools to Menu Commands.
Step 2.
Go to Other Objects ... there you will find Average & Join. Go ahead and clear the shortcut and press whichever shortcut you wish for. I chose cmd+J, because I wish to use this method more often than Join. After this you get the option to Go To Conflict ... I did that and gave Join the shortcut shift+cmd+J and ended up giving Justify Text Left the shortcut cmd+opt+shift+J ... yeah, I seldom use the shortcut for Justify Text Left anyway.
Step 3.
I saved my new custom shortcut set with the name "Adobe Illustrator CS6 Shortcuts" ... that way I can search for the file and take it with me in case I need it on another computer and the name tells me which version it is for.
That's all from me ... I hope, this helps

Joanna,
It seems that Illy (still) moves in (ever new) mysterious ways.
I was surprised to see that you got away with your French word, but the hat part must have hidden the first part from the nanny filter. The first part by itself would have become asterisks.

How can I force Firefox to properly format all html pages to a pdf without losing top and right hand margins?

Setting up page printout format for pdf on a Mac OS/X Snow Leopard Mac Pro. Printer is HP 8500A OfficeJet Pro Plus bought after July 14, 2011 serial number- CN141CK7QM
When I print to file as a pdf I am getting the first page correctly but subsequent pages are getting clipped along the top and the right margins.
I don't have this problem with my IBook 4.0
The issue is formatting an html page to a pdf when the print request is asking for a pdf or when the print request is to the printer.
The url to my HP Office jet Pro 8500A Plus is:
mdns://Officejet%20Pro%208500%20A910%20%5B530E4F%5D._pdl-datastream._tcp.local./?bidi
I have a IBook G4 and I do not have any of this problem.
I have specified a default paper size of "USLetter".
This printing issue is a new one that occurred since I started the Firefox updates after Firefox 6.0 series.
I am checking with HP on this issue. Prior to the HP8500A (installed in July 2011) I did have a HP6180 Officejet for several years without encountering such a conflict.
So my second question is; Are there Firefox printing conflicts with the HP 8500A printers?
EHW 091211

Joanna,
It seems that Illy (still) moves in (ever new) mysterious ways.
I was surprised to see that you got away with your French word, but the hat part must have hidden the first part from the nanny filter. The first part by itself would have become asterisks.

What is taking up so much space?

My iMac (aluminum) has suddenly accumulated nearly 3 times as much file utilization as it had a week ago. A week ago my 500 GB harddrive had 44 GB used. Since then, I've installed nothing of consequence and haven't actually used it all that much. Last night, when I went to back it up, Carbon Copy Cloner reported that 111 GB was in use. That startled me and I went on an exploration to find out what was suddenly consuming 67 GB that wasn't there before. I've used "What Size?", a handy utility that reports on file utilization across the hard drive. It, curiously enough, reports that there is only 45 GB used, which is consistent with my expectations. I then use disk utility, which tells me that 111 GB are in use. I then go out to the command line and use du and all the other Unix utilities and it still reports 111 GB in use. I've rebooted the machine several times and the reports are still 111 GB. I "think" I've exposed all the hidden files and system files and suspect that there are 67 GB of swap somewhere floating around the system, but I'll be darned if I can find it.
Anyone have ideas for further investigation, or utilities that might find where this space has gone. I have totally checked the disk with disk utility, as well as Tech Tool Pro (for Leopard). I'm baffled.
Help.

I believe I have solved this mysterious problem. For reasons still unexplained, upon very close inspection, I turned out that I had two clones of my hard drive on the SAME HARDDRIVE as my startup disk. If these were images, I could implicate a couple of different pieces of software - ccc, DataBackup, or even Time Machine - but these are complete copies of everything on the system in fully accessible form. Clearly one of the backup programs misbehaved, but the logs of all those programs fail to show any of them cloning to the same drive they were cloning. In fact, the mere process of cloning seems to preclude this from happening. I've deleted the clones and amazingly my drive is back to normal. If anyone has had any similar experience with CCC, Databackup, or Time Machine producing results like this, please share them here.
I haven't yet been fully satisfied with any of the cloning solutions available for Leopard. DataBackup has been consistent (until now, perhaps). CCC has been associated with some permissions issues that haven't been fully resolved (CCC says they aren't their problem, and nothing in the logs suggest they are). I just plain don't like Time Machine, and SuperDuper isn't fully Leopard compatible yet. So I bumble along waiting for all these folks to get their acts together and figure out what is so different about the file structure of Leopard that makes backup/cloning software such a challenge to write. In the meantime, I have a new mystery to solve. How can cloning software make a clone of itself to itself? Solutions gladly accepted.

How to stop robodial scam calls

Will the spam blocker help me?
Yesterday about 8:30EST I started getting calls form people saying they were contacting me about a payday loan that I'd applied for. I told the first caller I never applied for any such loan and hung up. I wouldn't answer the call from the second mystery number, but I got the company name (bogus I'm sure) and told them to remove my number from their list.
After the 7th call (rather, the 7th new mystery number - some numbers dialed me twice) I called and begged Verizon for help. All I could do was block 5 numbers, then pay $5/mnth to block 20 more. I declined as I'd already passed 5 and had the feeling more were coming. The only help they offered was to suggest I change my number or not answer (in case some were international, and then VZ would bill ME for the call) and the calls would eventually stop.
So 21 calls later I contacted the police for help. They said they could take a police report but thats it because they could only investigate land lines. They also said to answer the calls and tell each one I've informed the police and they'd probably stop. I did that last night around 8pm and today I'm up to 37 calls. I called VZ again yesterday evening and asked again if there was anything I could do and they again suggested I pay to block 20 more lines. But at that point I was already up to 28 (again, that's 28 unique numbers, some called several times), so I figured, why bother?
I added AVG security app to my phone so I could block any amount of calls, but of course the calls still initially come through. And it just hangs up on them, so if you're on another call, it'll hang up on that one too. I've disabled AVG and am desperately looking for another solution. I'll try the robospam blocker and see if that helps. Thanks.
>>Branched from an earlier discussion<<
Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

Of course, I got my first spam call on my phone in over a month the day after posting this... It wasn't one of those robodial recordings though.

Database Inconsistency Nightmare

As an avid user and supporter of Aperture since it's release, I now have an new issue. I am a pro photojournalist using Aperture every day for all my magazine assignment work and I feel like I know the program very well after 2+ years of heavy daily use.
I have never had any serious problems with the program at all, until one week ago.
The problems started when I launched aperture and got a database inconsistency dialog box. I was not too worried as I have had this once or twice in the past and I just relaunched the app with apple and option keys down and rebuilt the database. Everything seemed ok but then I noticed that 2,400 of my 12,000 referenced images were tagged as missing. I thought this was strange, and I used "Manage Referenced Files" to see what was going on and reconnect the missing files. I also noticed that 2 subjects had a second version not in a stack that contained the thumbnail for each image without metadata, while the normal version and stack with metadata had no thumbnail! On my FireWire drive 1 which holds a first copy of all referenced files in my library, each subject has a corresponding folder and I started to reconnect the offline and missing files. For most of the subjects everything went fine, but then there were 4 subjects where I encountered very unexpected problems. Firstly the names of the Master images for some subjects had been changed more that one year earlier, but the reconnect dialog box showed the original filename from the camera as the master filename. It did not want to "Reconnect All" so the only way is one by one!
Then I notice that the smart folders set to show "Offline" and "Missing" masters are inaccurate for some reason.
I even have a few "Managed" masters that will not export because the dialog box comes up to tell me that the image is "Offline" or "Unavailable". What? Ok so at this point I decide that since I have everything backed up on two separate Firewire drives and a server in California, that it may just be cleaner to reinstall Aperture and revert to a recent Vault. I did this and guess what, same problems plus a few more headaches reconnecting masters!
The biggest problem at this point is that for two subjects, the captions and adjustments are in a version that has no thumbnail, shows the "Missing" tag in the Metadata panel listing the original filename from the camera as the Master Filename, while there is a new mysterious version 2 which has a thumbnail, no caption, the offline tag and and shows the correct Master Filename. If I reconnect the masters for these images it still shows as missing for the normal version which has the captions, keywords and adjustments.
At this point I have decided that for two of the subjects One is Versailles 600 images and the other Cyprus 700 images, that I will probably end up having to just reimport these two subjects and manually move the caption for each image.
This is all starting to make me call into question the stability of this type of system for archiving large amounts of images. True that with all the backups and the normal robustness of Aperture you should not loose images. But if the Masters get unlinked in a corrupt way from the database you CAN loose a large part of your post processing work. And the worst seams to be that this can happen even if you DO know what you are doing.
This does not at all mean I am going to stop using Aperture, but it does make me feel a little more weary from an archival standpoint about keeping all metadata and adjustments separate from master images.

Thanks for all your replies. And yes the Project container is a fantastic way to back things up. It is especially useful for moving a project from one Library to another without risk of overwriting files.
Naturally if I could get my corrupt projects in order I would export the projects, including the masters and then reimport them. But Aperture is not going to let me do that with these corrupt Projects, as the masters are not be properly linked. I have tried everything I could think of.
There are still some really weird things going on with the database in my library. One really strange thing is that some referenced images that DO have the master linked and show the normal reference tag, but will not Consolidate as the dialog comes up "The selection does not contain any referenced files".
But then for the same image you can choose "Show in finder" and it goes straight to the master on it's external drive! How strange is that. For that matter it will also not "Relocate Master" for the image because it says that the master is "Offline or cannot be found". OK then here comes the weirdest part: It will export the image without a hitch! Managed referenced files shows these images as connected and black.
Then the other really bad thing is that some of the managed images will not export or relocate as the dialog comes up "Offline or cannot be found". I have rebuilt the library and everything else to no avail.
The thing that bothers me about this is that if this can happen to me, who spends untold hours on Aperture and on the computer in general and I believe I do know quite a lot about the program, what is going to happen to the many photographers who do not fully grasp the abstract file management of Aperture?
Maybe it is more stable to run your Library as Managed, but for working photographers who are usually laptop users it is almost essential to keep the masters on an external Ruggged drive. If you put the Library on the external drive the performance which is already sometimes sluggish when you need to work very quickly (even with the most powerful MacBook Pro) becomes too beach ball when on an external drive.
In any event I think that if I can ever get my Library back in order, in addition to the many backups of masters and vaults, I am going to export each project including masters and back that up too on a regular basis. Seems like a lot of work backing up to maintain the integrity of a database!
Cheers

Discarded Dock Icons Reappear. Why?

Hi,
I don't use Time Machine (I'm a SuperDuper guy), and I don't need to frequently open my Documents folder, so I've removed both of those icons from my Dock.
The last week or so, however, when I reboot in the morning, those icons keep coming back onto the Dock.
I've cleaned my Dock cache with Cocktail, tossed the Dock prefs (which annoyingly also tossed my Spaces prefs?) and the Dock db file.
Anyone have any ideas what's up here?
Thanks.

I've got a partial answer and a new mystery.
If I remove thecom.apple.dockfixup.plist file from /Library/Preferences, the problem goes away. If I put it back in, the problem returns.
My questions are:
1. Do I need the com.apple.dockfixup.plist file?
2. Since it's exactly the same (size, contents) as the one on my MacBook, I have to feel that the problem's with some other component calling on this file, not the file itself. Does anyone know what component is incorrectly calling this file to fix my dock when it doesn't need fixing?

Disconnected for Financial Hardship: No Way to Make Payment Arrangements

Lately, I have been sick a lot missing substantial chunks of my paychecks and it's been increasingly difficult to keep up with my ~$130 monthly bill that includes high speed internet and cable TV. On June 24, 2015 Comcast suspended my service because I had a $202 past due. However, I couldn't pay that amount until July 3rd, when I would get my paycheck. Normally, with other companies (like my cell phone and electricity providers) I can work out payment arrangements, setting up automated withdrawals from my debit card or electronic checks on the dates I know I have enough funds to pay. Well, it was impossible to do this with Comcast, either on the phone or emailing the We_Can_Help customer service address. I was even told that on July 3rd I would have to pay $341 instead of $202 because the system would generate a new bill on July 1st. I've been a customer for 13 years and was very displeased with the treatment. I've always paid my bills and caught up with them when late. Plus, I did express my willingness to pay, providing precise dates as to when I could make my payments. So, I filed complaints with BBB and FCC. Eventually, on the fifth day since my disconnection, a regional executive got in touch with me and was able to get my service restored against my promise to pay $202 on July 3rd, which I did. Lo and behold, not even a week later, I was disconnected again, this time being asked to pay $138. Luckily, I was able to reach the same executive who was expecting a follow-up call from me, and she managed to restore my service again. That didn't last long, though. On Monday, July 20, my service was suspended for the third time in less than a month, and, of course, reaching out to customer service didn't help. Since I was out sick a lot, my next paycheck will be super low and I can't afford $138. I can pay half of it, though, and the other half on August 14, when I get the following paycheck. Nobody at Comcast seems to be able to note this down and restore my service, though. I should also mention that I've desperately tried to cancel my cable TV so it would be easier for me to catch up with my bills, but I was told I have to pay all the past due bills in full before I can make any changes to my service (never mind Comcast bills you one month in advance). So, the bills keep piling up and with late fees and all, it's really a struggle to catch up. Also, the 5 days I was without service were not deducted from my new bill. A fast home internet connection is a must for me because I'm currently freelancing in addition to my part-time steady job and am taking an online class. I'm tired of being disconnected without notice and for several days at a time when I'm actually proactive and trying to set up payment arrangements. I've filed new complaints with BBB, FCC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, and even the VA and PA office of the Attorney General, but these things take time and I have urgency to get my service back. There should be a way to schedule payments so that I catch up with my bills without losing service!

So, after I posted this, I got a call from an alleged Comcast executive who identified herself as "Stacy" (no last name). I'm not sure what prompted her to call me -- whether it was the above post, or one of my numerous complaints. "Stacy"'s reason for not wanting to restore my service is that I "promised" to pay the $139 on July 17, but I didn't, so that's a breach of contract and I will never have my service restored until I pay in full. She couldn't care less that I could pay that amount only on August 14, and by then it wouldn't be enough to get me back on because a new bill would be generated and the past due would increase. When I told her that I can't afford to be without the internet for so long because I need it for work, she had the nerve to say that my internet is "for entertainment". Says who? I freelance and I occasionally work from home for my part-time job, too. I don't own a business, so it's more cost effective for me to just pay for residential high speed internet than a business plan. Ms. "Stacy" doesn't live with me and has no right to infer that I use my internet "for entertainment" -- she can't possibly know how much time I spend on it working or studying vs watching cat videos on YouTube! Also, just to clarify, I never "promised" to pay the whole $139 on July 17. I said that would be the first day I could make a payment because I was getting a paycheck, and I did mean to pay as much as I could, but my electricity would be shut off if I didn't pay at least $70 and that took priority. At least, Dominion accepts payment arrangements and works with you splitting the payments as you can afford them. When I complained that I'm never allowed to downgrade my service and cancel my TV until I pay the full past due amount, "Stacy" said "TV and internet is the same" which is not because I would save $30 a month if I only paid for internet. Then she tried to blame me for not calling to cancel when the service is working as opposed to disconnected, which I have done an infinite number of times. In the end, she adamantly denied to restore my service and told me if I want to find a lawyer to help me with this, it's my right (but it didn't seem to concern her, as in her mind Comcast is right and maybe too powerful to be deterred by a lawsuit). I did let her know that this is very bad customer service and now I want to let know whoever reads this, too. After this conversation, I called to cancel my service and the retention representative I spoke to had more common sense and waived the late fee on my past due because I've been with Comcast for 12 years and I'm behind - what? - maybe a month, month and a half? Big deal! I've really been through health issues and financial hardship and all I'm asking is to get at least my internet restored so I can work from home and study online instead of losing money and falling behind with my classes and homework. I'm not asking to get away with not paying my past due. I will eventually catch up. What's the difference between paying half of it on July 31 and the other half on August 14 or paying all of it on August 14? In the end, Comcast would still receive the same amount that I owe. It may not be Comcast's policy to accommodate such payment arrangements, but life happens and customers can get ill, lose their jobs, have unexpected expenses, etc. A company with a heart who really cares about its customers should have a policy in place to help and retain such customers during a rough patch. I know Comcast proudly offers high speed internet access for $10 a month to families with at least one child who qualifies for a free meal or a subsidized meal at school. That's great, but there are many more people who struggle financially and they have the same rights to access the internet, especially if they use it to work and study. From now on, I'll be happy to discourage anybody I know from signing up with Comcast or suggest they switch providers if they're lucky enough to have a choice (unfortunately, I'm not). I may not get my internet back, but I'll take advantage of every free wireless spot and my cell phone service to post my story to any available public forum so that everybody knows how horrible Comcast's customer service is. Well, not everybody is horrible -- the reps I talked to last night after "Stacy" called me (one from Retention and one from Collections) were actually pretty nice and reasonable, but they had their hands tied by company policies and couldn't do anything to help me restore my service. I know losing a customer is no big deal financially for a giant like Comcast, but business isn't just about money. It's also about ethics and satisfying/retaining customers.

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