Advice on Getting A Good Cable Technician?

[Jack 1000]

I want to start off by saying that I have been very fortunate with TWC in the 25 years that I have been with them.  We had maybe 5-8 service calls in the time period and only 2 techs were really stupid.  The others were helpful.  However, the cable industry has been ripe with ridicule in the media for years, and many times justifiably so.  It appears that the independent contractors have the worst knowledge and the least experience.

For anyone on the board who needs cable help now, or did in the past, what specific steps can you take to ensure that you will get a qualified cable tech, and not some high-school dropout?  With my new HDTV and HDMI cable hooked up and tested by an electrical engineer with more than 25 years experience,  I don't want some inept clown going back there and replacing my HDMI cable with Component, or replacing a box that doesn't need replacing, but some idiot replaces the box because they don't check other things first.

Is there anything that you can do in contacting cable and setting up your service call appointment that can separate us from the gullible or misinformed customers to ensure that we get competent techs that know what they are doing to our expensive equipment?  Or is it really like drawing straws with the Forrest Gump analogy with the box of chocolates? "You never know what (who) you're gonna get?"

Jack

[Jack 1000]

The AVS board has guided me to a good suggestion:

When setting up a TWC service call, specifically request an IN-HOUSE TECHNICIAN for service and NOT an INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR.  The IHT are generally more qualified and experienced than the IC's because the IHT's have direct linkage to the company and overall seem to do a better job than the IC's.

Jack