Comcast... I hate them, and here's why
Ok, I just moved into a house, my first home. One of the first things, I do, of course, is want to get my connection to the internet connected so I can be online again... So I call comcast to come out and hook me up. The state of the 'connection' at that point was there's an overhead line coming in from the back of my property to my house, where it's connected to a filter that's screwed into my siding, which then goes into the house at a single point.
So I wait... and wait... and finally comcast techs come out and take a look at the whole thing and say "Ok, let's get to work." Before they started, however, I told them I didn't want a box installed, and they said "It's required, it's the law!", so I kindly told them that if that's the case, and they simply MUST install a box, they're allowed to plant a pole and mount the box to the pole, or bolt the box to my foundation, but I DO NOT want a box installed on the side of my house. They agreed then got started. Then, when they were done, they had me sign the paper, then got out of there pretty fast, and that got me thinking... so I went around and looked, and sure enough, the jerks mounted a box RIGHT TO THE SIDE OF MY HOUSE! CONTRARY to my instructions. I'm upset, no I'm beyond upset, I'm livid. So I call comcast and tell them what happened, and the rude little girl I spoke with told me that's not something that she can do anything about and said she was going to transfer me, and put me on hold and then... of course... the line disconnected. So I decided to simmer down.
Well, my connection was fine.. kind of... aside from the random disconnects throughout the day (only happens during daylight hours), everything works as it did before I moved. I take that back, everything was exactly the same except now we have less than half the channels we had before we moved... Same 'basic cable' rate, but half the channels. That includes the incessant 'noise' on the comcast WAN (ask me to see my firewall logs, and you'll see what I mean). Well, I decide to just live with the disconnects, and while it's a real annoyance, it's not something I should really get twisted up about... I mean come on... you know how tough it is to get Comcast to get anything fixed? But my wife was upset that she didn't have some of her favorite channels, and so I called Comcast, who told me that the channels I have now are what I'm supposed to have, and whatever I had before was not part of basic cable, and oh well, I just must deal with it.
But, I'm still really upset. A week after the crappy installation, I called Comcast again, and I tell them that I'm not paying my bill until they fix the problem that they caused (mounting the box to my house) and I casually mentioned the random disconnects and the loss of all the channels. I also referred to my previous call and ask him to check the notes and he said there was no previous call, so the idiot girl I spoke with before FAILED to note my account regarding that call. Suffice it to say, I'm pretty steaming mad by this point. He told me that he doesn't know what to do about the channels, but that on basic cable I should have these channels (and mentioned a list), which matched what I had BEFORE, and that I'll have to talk with billing to get everything sorted out, so I say, fine... and he transfers me to billing, who says there's nothing they can do, and they're unwilling to do anything until my bill is paid. Well, damn you, I'm not paying my bill until you do something about this mess you made. They casually passed the buck, like they do best, and then disconnected the call.
Well, I've been getting all these past due notices in the mail, and then finally today, I get a nice automated call saying that my service will be disconnected and I need to call comcast as soon as possible. So I call them... ugh...
The First Guy I speak with first asks me for my name and address, and I give him my name and tell him he doesn't need my address... and he tells me that there's multiple accounts associated with my phone number. GREAT, some jack-off out there is stealing my information and Comcast doesn't think it's important to notify me. Then he tells me that there's nothing wrong with my account and it doesn't look like I'll be disconnected like the message stated. I told him everything: I want to get the box off my house, and Comcast needs to pay for repairs to the holes they made in my house; I want the random disconnect issue fixed; I don't want to deal with the unsolicited incoming connection attempts to my network any more, and I want all those channels I had before back. He first starts out by saying my modem is online and the status is good (funny that he says that, since I know my IP address and it's TIMING OUT, thank you). Then, the guy says to me that in order to get the box off my house I need to talk to a damage claims center and have them send out an assessor, and in order to get the disconnect issue fixed, I'd need to have a tech sent out, and for the network noise, I'd need to talk to someone on some networking support team, and for the channels, I'd need to talk to someone that supports cable tv. I'm like "What? Why don't you guys just take responsibility for your customers and help me, after all that's what I'm paying for right?" And of course, he gives me some excuse... so I completely understand that all he wants to do is frustrate me by killing my brain with the transfer game, so I give in.. and he says he's gonna transfer me to ~mumblemumble~ and then I get the on-hold music.
Next person. She is high speed support, so I tell her the problem, and bitch a little about all the other problems, and she says, well, let's get a tech out to help you with the random disconnect issue... she begins by baby stepping me through all the bullshit excuses they usually give, like check your computer, check your router, etc etc etc, you know, the lame crap they tell you just to get you off the phone. I tell her I'm a networking professional and know how to troubleshoot and my modem disconnects even if there's nothing plugged into it's ethernet port, and since my incoming cable is overhead and comes through some trees I'm pretty sure the problem is with that line, so how about just sending out a tech to troubleshoot that line? So she schedules a tech then I ask her if she can help me with any of the other issues. Of course, she says NO, and says she can't transfer me cause she's not on the comcast phone system (wtf is that anyways), but that she noted my account with all of my complaints, so if I call back I should be able to get some help. Great.
So I call back. Cause I'm really pissed about having that damn box on my house, and I'm told that the claims department doesn't take incoming calls and I retort with "So how can they help the customer?" to which I'm told that a case can be opened in my name and they'll call me back. So I say, go ahead open a case.... so after being on hold for 5 minutes the guy comes back and says "Ok, I've opened a case, and someone will call me shortly to set up a time when they can come out and assess the damage to my property. I asked for a case number, and the stupid moron actually says to me "The claims department doesn't use case numbers, if you need to call back, just refer to your phone number." Awesome... I don't even think the bonehead actually opened a case. So I tell him that if I don't hear back from someone by next Friday, I'll just file a claim with my home insurance company and I'll notify the BBB that Comcast is pissing on me, and he says "Hey, whatever makes you happy, man..." So anyways, I ask him about the channel lineup. And he says to me "Tell me each and every channel that you have..." Like I'm supposed to remember?!? I'm NOT EVEN HOME! Like MOST people, I WORK for a living! I tell him I don't know since I'm not home and as an estimate I get the basic local stations, Discovery, History, and a bunch of lame spanish tv and 3 shopping channels. He actually says to me that I should be getting TNT and TBS and a few others with basic cable, and I tell him that I've heard 3 different stories regarding what I should and shouldn't be getting, and by this time I'm willing to stop giving comcast any money at all until they figure out what the REAL story is. So I asked him what I should do, and he said that he can have a tech sent out... I told him I ALREADY have a tech coming and he said it doesn't matter, they'd have to schedule another tech... sheesh... I tell him to forget it, that I'll just live with it until I get sick of it and cancel service and go with a competitor. So he hangs up on me. Thanks.
Addendum: During one of the previous calls I made to comcast, a tech told me that in basic cable I should have channels 1-20 and 60-100. Interestingly enough, HBO is listed as channel 6. Does this mean HBO is part of basic cable? Why can't they just get their stories straight?
So I wait... and wait... and finally comcast techs come out and take a look at the whole thing and say "Ok, let's get to work." Before they started, however, I told them I didn't want a box installed, and they said "It's required, it's the law!", so I kindly told them that if that's the case, and they simply MUST install a box, they're allowed to plant a pole and mount the box to the pole, or bolt the box to my foundation, but I DO NOT want a box installed on the side of my house. They agreed then got started. Then, when they were done, they had me sign the paper, then got out of there pretty fast, and that got me thinking... so I went around and looked, and sure enough, the jerks mounted a box RIGHT TO THE SIDE OF MY HOUSE! CONTRARY to my instructions. I'm upset, no I'm beyond upset, I'm livid. So I call comcast and tell them what happened, and the rude little girl I spoke with told me that's not something that she can do anything about and said she was going to transfer me, and put me on hold and then... of course... the line disconnected. So I decided to simmer down.
Well, my connection was fine.. kind of... aside from the random disconnects throughout the day (only happens during daylight hours), everything works as it did before I moved. I take that back, everything was exactly the same except now we have less than half the channels we had before we moved... Same 'basic cable' rate, but half the channels. That includes the incessant 'noise' on the comcast WAN (ask me to see my firewall logs, and you'll see what I mean). Well, I decide to just live with the disconnects, and while it's a real annoyance, it's not something I should really get twisted up about... I mean come on... you know how tough it is to get Comcast to get anything fixed? But my wife was upset that she didn't have some of her favorite channels, and so I called Comcast, who told me that the channels I have now are what I'm supposed to have, and whatever I had before was not part of basic cable, and oh well, I just must deal with it.
But, I'm still really upset. A week after the crappy installation, I called Comcast again, and I tell them that I'm not paying my bill until they fix the problem that they caused (mounting the box to my house) and I casually mentioned the random disconnects and the loss of all the channels. I also referred to my previous call and ask him to check the notes and he said there was no previous call, so the idiot girl I spoke with before FAILED to note my account regarding that call. Suffice it to say, I'm pretty steaming mad by this point. He told me that he doesn't know what to do about the channels, but that on basic cable I should have these channels (and mentioned a list), which matched what I had BEFORE, and that I'll have to talk with billing to get everything sorted out, so I say, fine... and he transfers me to billing, who says there's nothing they can do, and they're unwilling to do anything until my bill is paid. Well, damn you, I'm not paying my bill until you do something about this mess you made. They casually passed the buck, like they do best, and then disconnected the call.
Well, I've been getting all these past due notices in the mail, and then finally today, I get a nice automated call saying that my service will be disconnected and I need to call comcast as soon as possible. So I call them... ugh...
The First Guy I speak with first asks me for my name and address, and I give him my name and tell him he doesn't need my address... and he tells me that there's multiple accounts associated with my phone number. GREAT, some jack-off out there is stealing my information and Comcast doesn't think it's important to notify me. Then he tells me that there's nothing wrong with my account and it doesn't look like I'll be disconnected like the message stated. I told him everything: I want to get the box off my house, and Comcast needs to pay for repairs to the holes they made in my house; I want the random disconnect issue fixed; I don't want to deal with the unsolicited incoming connection attempts to my network any more, and I want all those channels I had before back. He first starts out by saying my modem is online and the status is good (funny that he says that, since I know my IP address and it's TIMING OUT, thank you). Then, the guy says to me that in order to get the box off my house I need to talk to a damage claims center and have them send out an assessor, and in order to get the disconnect issue fixed, I'd need to have a tech sent out, and for the network noise, I'd need to talk to someone on some networking support team, and for the channels, I'd need to talk to someone that supports cable tv. I'm like "What? Why don't you guys just take responsibility for your customers and help me, after all that's what I'm paying for right?" And of course, he gives me some excuse... so I completely understand that all he wants to do is frustrate me by killing my brain with the transfer game, so I give in.. and he says he's gonna transfer me to ~mumblemumble~ and then I get the on-hold music.
Next person. She is high speed support, so I tell her the problem, and bitch a little about all the other problems, and she says, well, let's get a tech out to help you with the random disconnect issue... she begins by baby stepping me through all the bullshit excuses they usually give, like check your computer, check your router, etc etc etc, you know, the lame crap they tell you just to get you off the phone. I tell her I'm a networking professional and know how to troubleshoot and my modem disconnects even if there's nothing plugged into it's ethernet port, and since my incoming cable is overhead and comes through some trees I'm pretty sure the problem is with that line, so how about just sending out a tech to troubleshoot that line? So she schedules a tech then I ask her if she can help me with any of the other issues. Of course, she says NO, and says she can't transfer me cause she's not on the comcast phone system (wtf is that anyways), but that she noted my account with all of my complaints, so if I call back I should be able to get some help. Great.
So I call back. Cause I'm really pissed about having that damn box on my house, and I'm told that the claims department doesn't take incoming calls and I retort with "So how can they help the customer?" to which I'm told that a case can be opened in my name and they'll call me back. So I say, go ahead open a case.... so after being on hold for 5 minutes the guy comes back and says "Ok, I've opened a case, and someone will call me shortly to set up a time when they can come out and assess the damage to my property. I asked for a case number, and the stupid moron actually says to me "The claims department doesn't use case numbers, if you need to call back, just refer to your phone number." Awesome... I don't even think the bonehead actually opened a case. So I tell him that if I don't hear back from someone by next Friday, I'll just file a claim with my home insurance company and I'll notify the BBB that Comcast is pissing on me, and he says "Hey, whatever makes you happy, man..." So anyways, I ask him about the channel lineup. And he says to me "Tell me each and every channel that you have..." Like I'm supposed to remember?!? I'm NOT EVEN HOME! Like MOST people, I WORK for a living! I tell him I don't know since I'm not home and as an estimate I get the basic local stations, Discovery, History, and a bunch of lame spanish tv and 3 shopping channels. He actually says to me that I should be getting TNT and TBS and a few others with basic cable, and I tell him that I've heard 3 different stories regarding what I should and shouldn't be getting, and by this time I'm willing to stop giving comcast any money at all until they figure out what the REAL story is. So I asked him what I should do, and he said that he can have a tech sent out... I told him I ALREADY have a tech coming and he said it doesn't matter, they'd have to schedule another tech... sheesh... I tell him to forget it, that I'll just live with it until I get sick of it and cancel service and go with a competitor. So he hangs up on me. Thanks.
Addendum: During one of the previous calls I made to comcast, a tech told me that in basic cable I should have channels 1-20 and 60-100. Interestingly enough, HBO is listed as channel 6. Does this mean HBO is part of basic cable? Why can't they just get their stories straight?
posted by Justin @ 16:18
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