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Bob and I did the first radio call in on Comcast on a cold December night two years ago. We had an all star line up on the show including Mona “The Hammer Lady” Shaw, My Damn Channel’s Harry Shearer, In January, I think it’s time to see just how much progress Comcast has made. Are they COMCASTIC? Is your Dish service DISHriffic? Let’s find out.
I am proposing we invite a few Comcast Executives to be on the radio show, which will give some of you a chance to call in and ask them questions about your Cable service, your Triple Play Package, or just to vent or rant about how good or bad you’ve been treated, over-promised or lied to.
Please blog your comments below and let me know some of the questions you want me to ask on the next radio show.
I’ll email everybody a few times in advance to let you know of the call in date for the radio show.
Remember; If you’re Fed Up with Crappy Customer Service, if it’s Smelling a lot like Customer Circus… then Talk Back until you hear back.
– bart
January 21st, 2012 at 10:56 pm
I have been trying to get internet for over one month. I called on Monday and spoke with someone who barely spoke English. (I don’t have her name) She told me that she would order a modem and a router. I waited a week, the router came in, the modem did not. I called the following Monday to be told by Shemar that the modem was never ordered, that he wasn’t sure why she ordered me both when they have the all-in-one, so that’s what he ordered me. I waited til Friday to call back to see what the tracking info was on the package and was told that it would be there that day. At 6pm on Friday, I called YET AGAIN, and was told by Charlie that he wasn’t sure why I was told that, because the all-in-ones were on backorder, and no one knew when they would be in, he also told me that they had been on backorder for at least two weeks, so the first woman AND Shemar should’ve known and told me that. I was told to call back in a few days to see if they had gotten any info on when they would be shipped. I called back Monday, no new info. I called back Friday, no new info. I finally called back today, and spoke with a woman who told me that they had the all-in-ones, and that they were ready to ship out to my zipcode. I told her that on Friday I was told that they were on backorder, so she then proceeded to tell me that she would have to get with the techs to make sure her info was correct, and that she would call me back. She then asked if I was ever offered just a modem, and I explained the whole ordeal. She told me that she could order me a modem for $10. She also told me that the routers were being discontinued, so I asked her if it would be better to get the all-in-one because if the router broke, what would happen? She said she would have to direct me to someone in that department to tell me which would be better (the all-in-one vs. the router/modem combo). I THEN spoke with Rayleen, who told me that the all-in-one would be better, but since I already had the router, she could send me the modem. I told her that I wanted the all-in-one, and she told me that the all-in-ones were not available to existing customers, just NEW ONES. I was upset, because I could’ve picked up the modem a month ago, but agreed to pick up the modem instead of paying the $10. I drove 30min to the Largo center, and was helped by Laura. I told Laura about my trials and tribulations, and she told me that she had never heard about the restrictions for the all-in-ones, that they did have them in stock, and gave me one. So I could’ve been using the internet for THE PAST MONTH, instead of dealing with the 1-800-COMCAST people. They need to give Laura a plaque, a raise, letter of commendation or SOMETHING for relieving me of the monster of a headache. ALL OF THE 1-800-COMCAST PEOPLE NEED TO BE RETRAINED.
January 7th, 2012 at 4:36 pm
So I read a lot of the complaints here. I guess I don’t have the same problems everyone else seems to have. I have called, gotten misinformation, but never to the extent of having huge billing problems.
I guess you have to go into a business relationship with comcast knowing that:
#1. Promotional prices don’t last forever. That’s why its called a promo. I don’t think I have ever seen a true bait and switch from them. A true bait and switch is when you sign up for a pricepoint, and when you get charged, you get charged something completely different. Yes, there are fees and taxes. Yes, there are additional equipment rental fees. If you read the fine print, you see that they refer to those things. That’s a buyer beware thing, not a bait and switch.
#2. Customer service hold times have improved. I remember the days of 45-60 minute hold times. Those don’t happen as often, unless the call center is handling a huge volume of traffic. One CS rep that ii spoke to said they like to answer a call within 8 minutes of you calling during peak times, and that they could be fired for hanging up on a customer.
#3. Equipment. This has drastically improved in the last few months it would seem. I have been given new equipment 3 times in my last 4 visits to the Comcast stores, and the 1 time it wasn’t new, it was just a modem I was getting and it works great.
#4. Less contracted work. They’ve really stepped this up. Contractors cause nothing but problems IMHO. Every time I hade one, they screwed something up. The last 2 service calls I have had, they had a Comcast Employee out, and he was quick, nice, and accurate.
#5. Prices. Yeah, I get it. It ain’t cheap, but for what you pay for, when it works, its awesome! When it doesn’t , it sucks, but that’s technology I suppse. But then again, they are a for-profit business, and they have shareholders (I have some in a portfolio) to be responsiblle to.
#6. Legitimate gripe. The service centers are way too packed. The locations are alright, I mean I have two within 8 miles of my place. They’re always busy, but severely understaffed. Some moron designed the things to have only 4 desks, but only 2 people were working. I asked for a manager, and when I got one, he explained that they have open positions and a person out on leave. I feel for those poor people working the counter. My person was great! Fun and friendly in spite of the 40 people waiting in the store and the one lady who bitched her out about the 1 hr wait. Its not her fault, but she handled it very well, very professionally.
In closing, I don’t understand people who think that its okay to ignore their bills.. one of the guys next to me in the store said he was their to dispute his bill because Comcast had made a mistake, and that they had shut off his service and he was goign to make them turn it on. I asked him what the over the phone CS said, and he said he hadn’t called, he just paid what he thought he owed, and then he ws upset that the mistake hadn’t been corrected. Excuse me, but if you don’t give them a chance to talk you through it, you’re not going to fix it, and letting it go until they’ve disconnected you is letting it go too long. Some people get bent out of shape too easily. Like the guy who complained about having to drive 3 miles to get to the store. Three miles! I wanted to cockpunch the dude for being such an arrogant prick. Like Comcast should put a store on his street or something. I don’t know. I just don’t get what all the fuss is about.
December 31st, 2011 at 3:59 am
W4EJH3 jgaytadynnsz
December 30th, 2011 at 8:01 pm
i am currently on hold for 20 minutes and there recording says that due to severe wheater conditions may experience longer than usual wait time( it is a crystal clear night in jacksonville, florida wwhat a bunch of liars, SORRY, SORRY , SORRY CUSTOMER SERVIC WHAT A RIP OFF
December 30th, 2011 at 1:46 pm
In the compciltaed world we live in, it’s good to find simple solutions.
December 22nd, 2011 at 6:45 am
Plain and simple, Customers need to form a class action against Comcast(now Xfinity)for,
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A- Price gouging.
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B- Unfair business practices.
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C- Lying to customers (Bait & Switch tactics).
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D- Fraudulent Billing Practices.
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E- Changing customers packages and rates without notifying customers in advance.
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F- Forcing customers to rent equipment that they don’t really need or want just to raise the customers monthly bill for service.
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G- Forcing customers to upgrade to a higher prices service and threatening to cut service or take away features if they refuse to upgrade.
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H- False advertising.
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There you have it folks, 8 good and valid reasons for a class action against Comcast.
The problem is for some reason people are afraid of forming a class action against this company…
December 19th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Perhaps a good question would be about their system of “closing” a service ticket when they just can’t figure out what’s wrong. They don’t let the customer know it’s closed, they just simply shitcan it and hope you’ll go away. I spent 4 days trying to get them to resolve an email issue and they couldn’t figure it out. Turns out that they just decided my password wasn’t secure enough and locked me out. 4 days with the idiots at customer circus who simply closed the ticket when they couldn’t deal with it. Turned out I wasn’t alone of course and some googling lead me to the correct answer. Try as they might to be pleasant, it is a testament to the adage “you can’t fix stupid”.
December 19th, 2011 at 10:11 am
I will try to make this as short as possible.
1. I am a longtime Comcast customer, who works from home and keeps her
grandchildren.
2. They arrived two hours late (during my grandson’s naptime) to repair my
television reception, which interrupted my work web conference.
3. When they left, I had television reception, but soon realized I no longer had
Internet access, which meant I could no longer work from home.
4. I called to advise them of the mistake and was told someone would come back out
that evening to amend the mistake.
5. I called a couple of hours later to inform them that no one had come back, nor
had anyone called to say they would be coming back.
6. I was basically told, “Too bad for you. No one is coming out to fix the
problem Comcast caused, until sometime next week.
November 25th, 2011 at 9:48 am
I have had dropped calls for 6 months on my Comcast land-based line. I have a bundled package with Comcast that includes my phone, high-speed internet and television. I called Comcast and they have sent 8– EIGHT repairmen to “FIX” the problem. They repairmen are cordial and nice, but have been inefficient at fixing the problem. They never know what the last repairman did, they ask me to explain the problem again each time, they work outside and inside and they have never stopped the dropped calls. I was on Embark for the first 4 years I lived in Florida and I NEVER had dropped calls. When I bundled the service, I had trouble with internet, tv, etc. These dropped calls have been a nightmare and Comcast will not compensate more than $20 for the total nerve-wracking inconvenience.
November 19th, 2011 at 3:23 am
Comcast may just be the only company on earth who still has yet to make their site compatible with browsers other than Internet Exploder. Just tried to pay my bill on their site in Firefox (Mac), but no can do. Not in Safari either. Had to move to a pc with IE9 before it would work. Stone ages Comcast lives in.
Still, paying the bill online is 100 times better than having to call their gawdawful customer service line where I am guaranteed to be treated like garbage.