Comcast

I despise Comcast for the same reason. Terrible customer service and you get a different answer everytime you call. No one has the story straight--they keep passing you from person to person. God help you if you have trouble with a bill. I finally switched to a dish with DirectTV. It is better but the same price wars continue. I really should drop cable completely.

Amen!!!
I absolutely dread having to deal with Comcast.

It seems they hire nasty people who can't speak English. Also as you say -- one answer from one person, another answer from the next one.

At least you aren't Comcast customer Mary Bauer...

from today's Chicago Tribune as well as this link...

Here is a link that might be useful: Mary Bauer Comcast

jmc01 - WOW. I'm speechless (and that doesn't happen often).

We've had Comcast for years, excellent service.

Ditto to what scissors said!

Dropped Comcast after they sent us miles out of our way to return a part they sent that a. Wasn't needed and b. wasn't the correct part if we had needed it.

Local office is just down the road and when I went there was told they were no longer a return/issue office but just an administrative one. Huh?

Long story short other office called the local one as well as some higher ups to find out what was going on. Turns out local office person give us bum info. You think?

Then came the nightmare of trying to get a refund. Drove husband nuts speaking with people who a. didn't understand him as they b. didn't speak nor understand English. Took two months of fighting but finally got credit to bill. Once that was done, we promptly dropped them and went with Verizon. I know some folks complain about them, but our experience has been nothing but positive.

The best part is that our internet speed IS faster and TV picture 100% better.

Later Comcast sent someone to inquire why we dropped them. Big mistake. Once I got started guy quickly thanked us and left.

Over time I have had Comcast and DISH. Varying problems with both. When I moved into the retirement community, DISH was all that was available; Then Comcast came in and that was all that was available. I never did understand that, but somehow they had "sewed up" the possibility of getting anything else. So I had Comcast. Very bad reception and almost impossible to get any results from talking to them.

AHA! DirectV entered the scene. Best reception ever! And if there is a weather related problem, they fix it and you see that being done on the screen. Their Refer a Friend's Reward deal is great. In fact, I am in the process of making a change in my programing choices, and waiting right now for a technician to be here this afternoon, and as I am typing this they called to tell me what time he would here.

Best all around service ever.

Sue

Call centers tend to be staffed with minimum wage employees having limited training, limited authority and limited skills. With a few of my service providers, I've had consistently good experiences. There's no need to mention the names because I'm sure many of you have had awful experiences with the same ones.

I get my internet service from Comcast and have had an excellent experience with that. I've had a few occasions to call them, My experience would say they're very adequate, not more and not less.

I'm happiest when I readjust my expectations downward before making a call to a customer service or call center number. They can't anger me, no matter how they try. I always speak politely and explain my problem in a simple manner, and I can repeat it as many times as necessary to get my thoughts conveyed. It works for me.

I saw that news story too....I'm scared cause Time Warner Cable is being forced to sell part of it's market and I'm in it! Not that I'm all that thrilled with TWC, but the horror stories about Comcast scare me.

response when you change channels, and much more expensive than Comcast.

We have the complete bundle, TV/Phone/internet. big snow storm last winter...lines went down/ we still had Phone service.
We have a generator.

I am canceling my service with Comcast. I have the $4.99 charge to cover me in case I need to have a service call. Well in April I did have a service call as one of my two phone lines was not working. The technician who came out broke my phone and did not tell me that he broke it. I found that out much later -- it should have been a hint when he did not want me to hold the phone. Then he or Comcast put a $70.00 charge on my account. When I called Comcast, I told them about this, they admitted that it should not have been there and they told me that they would credit my account on the next bill, but that I was expected to pay it and they would issue a credit. I need to check the statutes but I don't think you can collect on disputed charges, especially when you are aware that YOU made the mistake. For the $70.00 that should not have been billed, they interrupted the service. I refuse to pay it and have notified my local jurisdiction and the FCC. If you are looking for a cable or internet or phone provider, don't walk past Comcast, run as fast and as far as you can.

Classic example of monopoly in certain regions. Poor customer service, poor product, high price. There are no other options so they couldnt care less.

We only have internet with Comcast but that company is a nightmare that never ends and if I could get my DH to agree I would drop them in a heartbeat. We constantly have problems with the outside wiring and poor service. Now during some construction that took place last fall, workers for the city severed the cable lines and then unknowingly buried them under the new asphalt. Comcast said it was too late in the season to rebury lines (even though it hadn't even snowed yet) so they literally strung thick extension wiring across the backyards of half our neighborhood to another box. They finally fixed that a couple of months ago, however, a neighbor who had ATT when the wires were cut signed up for Comcast in March and since their box "was dead" (due to the wires being cut during construction) with out even asking they just laid a bright orange extension cable across our backyard and hooked the neighbors up to our box. We keep calling to have the box fixed and instead they keep sending contractor crews out to bury the line under our NEW driveway and hook it up permanently to our box. We won't let them do that and the neighbors agree they should fix the box. The first crew that wanted to drill said they would let the supervisor know so the right crew could be scheduled to fix the box. No one has ever come to do that. Instead a 2nd crew came and asked for permission to drill and again we said no. When we suggested they drill under a new path put in by the city, they even admitted that they couldn't get permission to drill under the city's part of the new asphalt either. We said hmmmm; well guess you need to fix the homeowners box. The 3rd crew said they could run the wire anywhere we would agree to including the back yard except it would require too much cable to go that way. We're only talking about 15-20 feet in extra cable.

We had Directv for years. When we moved from California to Michigan, the new bill had charges on it that didn't look right, but I was assured on two different occasions that they were correct. During a service call 4.5 years later, we were told we had been over charged since the move. I was livid, but the guy said he would credit us a years worth of over charges and send us a new box for free since the box we owned was acting up. But when we didn't like the new box and decided to return it, we were told we were locked into a NEW 2 year contract which we had never agreed to. It took me days of fighting but I finally got a hold of their executive customer service line and the contract was canceled, as a one time FAVOR by them to us. I told the guy he could kiss my you know what and as a FAVOR to them from us, I was canceling the service that day. We switched to Dish and have not had any issues since. I will never go back to Directv.

Do you think the FCC could help us get the wiring off our grass? We have to keep moving it around to mow and my dog keeps peeing on it. :c(

I'm a little confused, but can't you just disconnect the wires? or are you still using them with the Dish. If so, have THEM take care of it. Isn't it a safety hazard???

Comcast has a monopoly in my area, which I thought was illegal. But via buying Congress, they apparently own the infrastructure (which should be illegal) so no one can compete because a new company would have to build its own infrastructure!

What I hate the most, though, is that when Cable was just just coming on the scene, it was sold to us, the American public, as being "pay TV and therefore no commercials!" It would be our subscription fees that would be the income generator for companies like Comcrapstik. It was presented to us that we'd have great programming, movies galore, no commercials…because WE'RE paying for it.

Well, obviously that was one HUGE lie. In fact, there are more commercials now than ever. Watch a re-run from the '70s, and you'll notice that the them song and credits, at both ends, are sped WAY up. That is to make room for more commercials.

And now we even have "programming" that consists of infomercials! Who watches that garbage???? No one. But those companies pay Comcast and Verizon huge bucks to air that junk and clog up the airways with it, and they pay Congresspeople huge bucks to keep from stopping it.

And the latest, I've noticed, is this bizarre thing where an infomercial actually is aired IN THE MIDDLE OF A PROGRAM!

So not only are we seeing MORE commercials, we're seeing longer ones, in the middle of shows we're watching, and we're still paying ridiculous monthly subscriptions which were supposed to be the vehicle for NO commercials!

this is just one more industry now that has colluded, has bought Congress, has made sure there is NO competition so that they can keep prices high and quality low, and mostly so its customers have NO power to change it.

This is how big business is done in the America now. With the help of Congress, quash competition. There is no free market. It's actually the opposite. A very controlled market.

the irony is that it's the self-proclaimed "free-marketers" who fear an actual free market more than anything and do anything they can and spend a LOT of money to quash any semblance of a free market.

My son, who works for a TV station, calls it "Comcr**." I've had many horror stories too, the latest just this week. I detest having to make a call to them; it's nerve-wracking to first make your way through all the automated choices, then get a person you can't understand, although they've always been quite pleasant and patient.

My interesting problem occurred when I was at their local office getting a new remote (my dog loves to chew them) and as an aside I asked why my friend who also has Comcast can get TCM and I can't. She explained it was part of my package and that I should be able to, and that I should CALL Comcast, which I did. The tech and I walked through various possibilities, checking on the other TV sets in my house, and she decided that I needed to schedule a service call as I should be able to get TCM on all my sets. The technician called to tell me he was on his way, he asked about the problem and HE told me that you could only get TCM on the TV set with the incoming box attached to it. He said he was glad to have been able to help and save me the service call charge. . . which I would have contested as there were three other people who could/should have been able to tell me that.

I've taken their online survey after any work or contact has been made and, of course, none of their questions relate at all to the problems I've had with them. It's nice to say that the customer's feedback is important to them. HA!!!

I guess I should consider myself fortunate that we can't get cable at our house. The farm across the street has it (or at least their telephone poles have cable), however they are the end of the line for that run of power line, we have a different power company (a local co-op) with its own different set of poles, and either comcast doesn't have an agreement with them to use their poles, or they feel its not worth their time, money and effort to install the cable.

I've only had cable for a short period of time in the past, and even then didn't pay for it, but for as much rancor, vilification and outright hatred this company seems to continually earn, I fail to see why people don't cut all ties, kick them to the curb and be done with them once and for all.

I've just spent the last 3 weeks "fighting" with Comcast in one way or another...I have found, you can't get a live person on the phone or one that you can understand so I've started Emailing the office of one of the "higher up" and low and behold, I usually get a phone call...Just yesterday, I think I might have finally gotten satisfaction AND a lower rate....You gals who are having problems, send all your complaints to the Office of Tom and his last name starts with a K... And if you don't get results, keep sending those emails....

We keep hearing that FIOS will be coming to the area and hopefully, I'll be able to tell Comcast what they can do with their service....

FIOS is no different, nor is COX…these companies are NOT competing with each other, they are colluding with each other. That is the problem and why companies like Comcast charge what they do and treat their customers the way they do. there is NO real competition.

wantoretire, the wire is hooked up to our neighbors house. The box set up years ago for their Comcast needs is dead due to the construction last year when the city redid our landscaping. They cut the wires by accident (even though they were marked) and since the neighbors weren't using Comcast at the time, it went unreported; but now, they have switched to Comcast and the box is dead. The wire extends from the wall of the neighbors house through our back yard, around the side of our house and to the box we have on the far side of our yard. Sure we could cut it, but then our neighbors wouldn't have access to their phone, tv or internet and we don't want to do that to them. Is it dangerous...I don't know. The Comcast employee in South America says it's not, but do I really trust that? NO.

Sunny, can you please post the email address you used or send it to me privately lukkiirish @ gmail dot com, I would really appreciate it.

I just had a call from AT&T (my landline and cell carrier) that ended with me telling the guy to eff himself. I try not to let it come to that, but I lost it.

It was a call to get me to sign up for U-Verse. Normally I don't answer the calls, but the same number called 12 hours apart and I wanted to put an end to them. Often you can press a number to be taken off the list, or the person at the other end will say OK when you request it verbally. I have no illusions that it really happens.

When I told the guy to please take me off his list, he said, OK, but let me tell you about the great offer. I repeated myself 3-4 times and he had the same response. I told him he was mentally-challenged in a most insensitive way. This is when I knew I had lost it.

Was there someone at the other end of the line holding a gun to this guy's head? That, no matter what my response was, he had to tell me how great the deal was or die? If all the words come out of his mouth he gets paid some pittance? It makes no sense to me. Who came up with such a moronic way to make a sale?

It is how they get paid. They get a bonus at a certain percentage of sales. If they are 0.1% less than the threshold for the bonus they get zero bonus.

"Linelle

I just had a call from AT&T (my landline and cell carrier) that ended with me telling the guy to eff himself. I try not to let it come to that, but I lost it."

Like I said, they're all the same. the state rep I called about Comcast being a monopoly in my area told me that there is an investigation underway into these companies colluding.

Gee. Maybe they should also start an investigation into whether bears bleep in the woods.

Ya think?

Vith, but a centipede has the IQ to recognize that I wasn't going to make a sale. Not even close, in fact the opposite. I was telling him to take me off his list, and then he continued to try to make a sale. Why would someone do that to themselves? He got zero pennies either way. What a God-awful way to try to make a buck.

I agree

I loved it when FIOS came to town and we could drop Comcast. We have had them for 5 years now and love them. My daughter switched a year ago and has the same opinion! We are a Verizon-loving family! Unfortunately, in our Florida condo, we have comcast thru the condo association. If not, I would change to U-Verse (AT&T) I understand FIOS is NOT adding any more areas to their network.

We have DirecTV at home -- only problem is repeated attempts to just add stuff we have not ordered to our service -- then see if we notice the bill is higher! Really, this has happened three times in the last few years. Then they issue a credit...eventually. They are very responsive and polite when we call, but... WTH?

At least there are few outages, unlike the Oceanic/Times Warner cable that is part of our association fee at the Maui condo. I'm grateful to the fellow owner who warned me off taking the Oceanic broadband; happy with the HawaiianTel internet.

The unburied wires reminds me of the ridiculous stories we got from AT&T when we built our house. In October I asked why the wires are were just strung along on top of the ground across our lawn from the house to our side fence and out the back fence. Nobody had an answer until I got to the third call transfer. He tells me they can't bury them "until the college kids are available to do the work over the summer". Oh...I don't THINK SO! "Connect me to your supervisor." Done.

Lukkiirish, I did send you an email....Hope it comes through and helps....Let me know.....

Thank you Sunny!!!! I will!