New digs

Well, it's official. I have a new apartment. Well, technically we have a new apartment since I'll be living with Pat. It was the 3rd apartment of 4 that we saw one night after work (and about the 12th one I had seen in a few days).

When we arrived, the girl at the door whispered that her roommates were watching a movie in the living room so we tiptoed around the apartment looking at stuff. It was weird to have all three tenants there while we poked around so I barely looked at anything. In fact, I didn't even step foot into what will be my bedroom, so I don't know anything about it. Still, Pat and I decided without hesitation that this would be our apartment. It has big bedrooms (from what I remember), laundry and extra storage in the basement, it's in a great neighborhood, and it's half a block to the bus and about 12 different bars.

Today we went to sign the lease and after work we celebrated by each buying an iPod shuffle. Ok, so maybe we weren't celebrating, but we did sign the lease and we did both buy an iPod shuffle.

My first piece of new apartment business was to set up our cable so we wouldn't miss a minute of Gossip Girl or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I went to Comcast's website to check out their cable/internet packages. Because I work in an office where everyone can hear everyone's conversations (see previous post about inappropriate noises), I decided to place my order online and avoid having to talk on the phone.

So it turns out that this is the best idea Comcast has ever had. When you place your order online you are automatically connected via IM to a sales rep who takes your info and answers questions. And boy did I have a lot of questions. In fact, I was IM'ing my new Comcast friend for over an hour but it didn't seem like a nuisance at all. No annoying hold music and I could do two things at once (like IM Pat about whether we should get DVR and HBO - yes and no). Genius! IM also allowed me to challenge the price (something I would probably never do on the phone) and I ended up getting a better deal than the advertised special AND I saved $20 on the installation.

This wasn't my first great experience IMing a company. The other day I scheduled a rental truck to move all my stuff out of storage and the company - Penske - offered live chat with a customer service agent too. I got to ask a million questions and get answers in writing. It was all so simple and hassle-free.

I'm beginning to think all customer service should be handled via IM.

Or maybe I'm just giddy about getting a new apartment.