Problems With Comcast

Comcast Cable & Internet has been the go to company in my family's household ever since it took over for Adelphia. We were never satisfied with Adelphia, nor have we ever been completely satisfied with Comcast. I have moved twice in the past 6 months, and have dealt with two separate cable companies, one of which is Comcast.

Currently, I am a subscriber to Comcast Internet and Cable. It is bundled together in one "low" price for my convenience. Granted, it is easiest to have one company for both Internet, cable and even your home phone if you choose to have one, but the customer service and experience I have received has been atrocious.

Less than enthused, I called to order my service. I had looked it up online and knew exactly what I wanted. I didn't want to be up-sold or any add-ons, yet when I told them that, they still tried to do so! That was their first mistake. Second, they told me it would be two weeks before they could come out to set up my connection. Now, I am a renter. The tenants, who left one week earlier had cable and Internet in this apartment. The entire house is already wired, so it is simply a matter of flicking a few switches to allow the service to come through the wires. Why a five minute job has to wait two weeks is beyond me!

I was pleasantly surprised when a nice representative of the company showed up in his van to hook up my cable and Internet service. He was friendly, outgoing, and was very detailed in his description of my services. He made small talk as we waited to verify that both services were on, and was just a good guy to have helping me out. I thought that maybe I was too hasty in casting Comcast as a bad company, but that soon passed. The last thing he asked me before leaving was whether or not I planned on having additional TV's in other rooms of the house. I told him, "Yes, I do not have another TV right, but I will in a week or so."

To which he replied, "Okay, you should be all set to go with that. All of the rooms are connected." That was all I needed to hear, because without a television in my bedroom, I can't sleep! Completely satisfied, I thanked him and sent him on his way.

Well, two weeks later, I had another TV to put in my bedroom. I hoisted it up on top of the bureau and plugged in the cable. Much to my surprise, all I saw was snow. I've had this problem before, and all it needed was a little programming, so that is what I tried. After several tries, I realized the problem was not on my end. I promptly called Comcast to inform them that my cable was not working in my bedroom, and that I would like it to be fixed as soon as possible.

The customer service rep I spoke with pulled up my account info and proceeded to inform me that the call log was for one room only. I explained to her, that I ordered cable and Internet for my home, and that is what I should have received. She argued that is not what I ordered, and that if I would like to have more rooms connected, it would cost me $16 for someone to come out to my house, and an additional $5 to have each room connected! I couldn't believe my ears.

I argued my point with her for a few minutes, telling her that the technician assured me I was all set up, and I should not have to pay for the rest of my house to be connected. She wouldn't budge, so I asked for her manager. In a snarky tone, she told me to hold. It was then that I heard this, "Jared, this guy wants to talk to you. He doesn't understand that he only paid for one port to be open...No, he just doesn't get it. He wants to talk to you." I was pissed. How dare she speak so arrogantly without allowing me to listen to the sweet elevator music, or at least cover the receiver with her hand!

The manager finally got on the line and explained to me that they would waive the fee for a technician to come out, but that I would still be charged the connection fee for each port. I decided this was better than nothing, and I should just accept the offer rather than spend the rest of my night on the phone with Comcast. So I set my appointment for the following week, and patiently waited for the day to come.

And come it did, and I was yet again pleasantly surprised by the nice guy that showed up at my door. He walked around the side of the house, popped open the box, flicked the switch, and came inside to check the connection. Much to both our dismay it switched on only one room, and it was not the right one! He checked and rechecked the connection, until he finally decided to look for an alternative connection outlet. He found it near the electrical box in my bedroom, but the cable that he suspected was the perpetrator was out of reach.

After struggling with a wire hanger to drag the cable back up to daylight, he gave up and went home and told me I would have to reschedule! I'm not positive, but I'm fairly sure these guys should have a tool to reach cables in their massive tool filled vans! I had it, and decided it wasn't worth the hassle. I would just have to learn to deal with not having a TV in my bedroom. Not a huge sacrifice really. BUT, the kicker to this technician's trip from Comcast is this...Instead of leaving the already connected extra room in my home, he disconnected it before he left! He did MORE work for no pay, and all it accomplished was twisting the dagger that Comcast had already jabbed in my back!

That is just piss poor customer service from every angle. From the technician's lying, giving up, and idiocy, to the customer service rep's pompous attitude, to the manager who should have handled the situation with much more tact. Any which way you look at it, Comcast failed in providing me with satisfaction as a customer.

I have had very few problems with Comcast's Internet, other than their blatant violation of net neutrality. But Comcast's cable and On Demand service has been nothing short of quirky.

First of all, when I want to watch something On Demand, I shouldn't have to wait five minutes for the screen to show me my options. After the welcome screen finally pops up, I shouldn't have to wait additional minutes for each screen I want to view. It is 2009. The technology is there, and this should be seamless.

On more than one occasion I have had several channels at one time, black out. It would come back very pixelated for a second or two, but would remain in blackout for the majority of the day. I have called to get this fixed, which sends me to an automated voice messaging system. The system allows me to send a digital signal to reset my Comcast cable box. I tried this twice with zero result, before I finally ignored the automation until I received a live person. She did end up helping me find a solution, but the hassle is the annoyance.

Being the good little bill payer that I am, I tried to pay my bill online via Comcast's online payment option. Of course...this didn't work either. I submitted payment and as I checked my balance a few days later, the bill was not paid. So my solution to this was to call again and pay via the obnoxious automated system, and what do you know? It didn't work! It finally connected me to another live person who told me that I would have to pay $4 to pay my bill over the phone. You have got to me kidding me! I told her no freakin' way, and eventually argued my way out of the fee since I tried every which way to pay my bill in the first place.

There are alternatives to Comcast, which I will be discussing in a future Hub. There are also more stories and additional issues that need to be addressed, which will be included in the following Hub or Hubs. If you have ever been a Comcast customer, please share your negative or positive stories with me!