#themediacomhorror: As Told By Powerpuff Girls Gifs

Follow along for a horrifying tale of shoddy equipment, poor customer service, and the three month long ordeal of getting what a customer pays for.

The story begins....

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I have been a customer of Mediacom, the nation's 8th largest cable provider and a holder of a cable monopoly in many Iowa communities since 2008. My cable and internet bill is about $180 a month. I love binge watching Netflix and new episodes of Mad Men or The Walking Dead so always felt it was worth the cost.

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In August of 2014, I came home to discover my cable and internet was not working. Total hell!

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After three days of no service and several pissed off phone calls and tweets to @MediacomSupports - everything magically turned on!

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Everything worked fine until one week after the lack of service - one of my two cable boxes stopped working. The box didn't just stop - it started buzzing and overheating to the point I had to unplug it for fear of causing a fire.

Robots are taking over

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I followed this up with phone calls to Mediacom's customer service which the automated system told me to just keep unplugging and plugging back in. #massivefailure #prefertotalktopeople

"No help came from Mediacom that day"

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I gave up on having a second cable box and stopped trying to be helped. At the beginning of October my second cable box did the same thing. i had no cable and was paying about $120 a month just for that service. The phone calls and tweets began looking for help but of course no help came from Mediacom that day. If you didn't know - Mediacom has been ranked as one of the worst companies for customer service and it started to show.

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I was finally given a time someone was supposed to come out and fix my cable boxes. Friday October 17th was the big day and I even received the time I asked for! #pumped

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Mediacom still didn't come that day. Angrily i called the customer service line yet again and demanded that my cable be cancelled. After 30 minutes arguing and continually telling the employee that I felt it wasn't her fault but the company is clearly evil - I was told I'd be able to cancel my cable and receive an $80 credit towards my account. This would not cover the full amount for the cable that I was not receiving but I felt I had made progress. After all - this past week HBO announced their new HBO Go would be available so I can enjoy that instead of having to pay for cable.

No internet for you!

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i went to turn on Netflix on Friday evening only to discover - Mediacom turned off my internet. This was not confusion on part of the customer service representative I spoke with on cancelling my cable as continually stated to please keep the internet. Mediacom cut me off. Retaliation or just plain stupidity? i began live tweeting my customer service experience which you can find on my twitter @MonsonNate I was hung up on and told repeatedly that no one can help me until next week. There would be no Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Buzzfeed for me without having to go to Starbucks or use my data plan on my cell phone.

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After a weekend long Twitter battle - I discovered several things. 1) Mediacom does not care about its customers and will resort to bullying and retaliation; 2) The representatives will refuse to let a supervisor speak with you or anyone up the chain of command (including when I have requested to speak with Tapan Dandnaik the VP of Customer Service at Mediacom; 3) Monopolies like Mediacom need to be broken up and allow for greater competition and services for customers.

My appointment is supposedly scheduled for this Wednesday at 5PM. Even though their technician was a no show to fix the cable and that they turned off my internet - I am not being bumped up to be fixed. I have spent money using my phone's data plan and spend money for subscriptions to Netflix and Amazon Prime that I cannot use now.

I feel I am owed reimbursement for my data plan, reimbursement for services I pay for that I cannot use because of Mediacom's mistake, and an apology for three months of no help. I understand there are bigger issues to deal with in the world and I've gotten to spend more time outside, with my family, and at the gym as a result of this. I just hate spending $180 a month for something I cannot use.