The Mystery of the Disappearing Channels

I'm biting my fist every time I see a Charter commercial. That is, when I have any channels on which to actually see a commercial.

Since Monday night, we've had a weird situation where channels have been disappearing. (Replaced with a blue screen and message THIS CHANNEL WILL BE AVAILABLE SHORTLY.) Uh-huh.

At first, it appeared to be only a few channels. By Thursday, it was MOST of the channel line-up EXCEPT for the movie channels. (Oddly, when we've had this kind of trouble before, those are the ones to go.) We were limited to local, a handful of non-kid channels in the 100s, and the movie channels EXCEPT for On Demand. (Which sucked because I thought I could use the absence of everything else to catch up on John Adams.)

By Friday, the local channels were all gone, too. No news. No weather. No TCM or HGTV. Life with Carole was NOT fun. (My mother watches those channels and all news almost to distraction. Yes, I've created a news junkie.)

We went to pick up some things yesterday and when we came home presto! Several channels were back. Several others were gone. And then some of which had returned -- including TCM -- were gone again. On a Bette Davis night. Carole was livid.

Phone calls -- sometimes more than one per day -- have been futile. Even when you can get a person. And how's this for hilarious? My cable is out and I can't get anyone to admit there's a problem. Would I like Charter phone service? Oh sure. That way, I can't call you when my cable goes out! Sign me up right away -- not!

After getting sick of wrangling with the automated system, I resorted to an online chat. At least THAT got acknowledgement that something was wrong. And, for now, an appointment with a tech on Tuesday.

Stay tuned ...