Hating Comc@st
What I've been going through for the past month with Comc@st not only is extremely irritating, it is almost surreal. I mean, how could a company's customer service be THAT bad? Well, it takes a lot of hard work, let me tell you, and Comc@st has gotten it down to an artform.
The saga began when we were notified by our homeowner's association that June 30th would be the last day that they would be covering our cable costs. If we wanted to continue our service, we would have to set up an appointment with Comc@st to have our account transferred over. No problem. We made an appointment and the cable guy came out on July 1st to transfer our service. There were a few glitches with our TiVo, but otherwise the set-up went smoothly. When we signed the paperwork, we noticed that they had the wrong address down (it was actually our neighbor's address, and that house was currently vacant). So we changed the address on the paperwork, the cable guy wrote a brief note and we initialed it. Problem solved, right? Wrong.
A week later, a new neighbor moved in to the previously vacant house and brought over a Comc@st bill that had been delivered to him. Sure enough, it was our account, but they had the wrong address. Complicating matters further, we received another bill for a different account at our address (the previous account from the homeowner's association). We tried to fix this address and billing mix-up with Comc@st over the phone, but they recommended that we go into their regional office to straighten it out. Since we had just purchased an HD TV and needed to upgrade our service anyway, it wasn't too big of an inconvenience to drive to the office and request assistance. We talked to the service lady at the desk, and she assured us that the address and billing problem had been solved.
She was mistaken. A week later, we received another two bills, for both our address and our neighbor's address, and one of them now said we were past due (this was the homeowner's account which had been closed on June 30th). Meanwhile, our new neighbor has been unable to set up his cable service because Comc@st already has our account listed at his address! I called in again and this time spoke with a very nice lady who assured me that the problem was now cleared up and we should be receiving correct bills in the future.
Then she promptly canceled our service.
By this time, I was ready to commit mayhem. Our phones, internet and TV were down and I could only call Comc@st on my cell phone. Which gets terrible reception in the house. So I kept getting disconnected with the Comc@st guy. At one point he said, "Ma'am, I'm having trouble hearing you," which prompted me to shout into the receiver, "That's because you canceled my dang home phone!!!!" Fortunately, I had been cut off by that point and he didn't hear my outburst. After 45 minutes shivereing outside in the cold night air (the only place I could get good cell reception), the Comc@st technician had reinstated my service temporarily and scheduled a cable guy to come to our house on Friday to "verify the equipment" and correct the address.
Friday came along and Comc@st called at 12 pm to confirm the appointment. I did so and verified that they were coming to our address, and not the neighbor's. The service person assured me that it was our address and that the technician would be here within the half hour. 20 minutes later, I see a Comc@st van pull up and a technician go to the neighbor's house. "Effin-ay!!!" I yelled as I ran down the stairs asking Jeff to redirect the guy to the right place (I was not in the right mood to speak to him in a friendly manner). Jeff asked Cable guy if he should be at our address, but he just gave him a blank look and mumbled something incoherent. Then he hung out in his van for about 15 minutes and drove off. When I called Comc@st an hour later to see what had happened to our service guy, they said that the order had been closed. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!! I explained, as calmly as I could, that the guy had gone to the wrong house and that they needed to get another technician here TODAY to fix this problem. Around 3 pm, a different cable guy showed up with no idea what he was supposed to do. After Jeff explained the job to him, he verified the equipment, corrected our address and drove away.
When I spoke to a technician on Friday, she said our current balance was $54 and that she would send us a new bill with the correct address immediately. Well, today I got the bill. It is for $449 and includes a $390 one-time service fee. After a brief temper tantrum, I called Comc@st again to find out what the hell was going on. I explained to the poor technician that we have been trying to fix this problem for a month now and that instead of getting fixed, it seems to be getting more and more mixed-up!!! Then I asked her if we still had two accounts under our name and why we were being charged a $390 service fee.
An audible gulp could be heard on the other end of the phone and the woman timidly said, "Ma'am, it looks like there are now three accounts under your name."
"WHAT???!!!" I exclaimed. How could this be???!!! Apparently, the first Comc@st guy who came out on Friday set up a new account under our name at the neighbor's address. That's what he was doing as he sat in his van for 15 minutes. And apparently we were charged $390 for this service.
So today, I am ready to kick @ss and take names! I'm heading down to that Comc@st office with our three accounts in hand to get this mess straightened out once and for all. Wish me luck, because the way things have been going, I think I'm going to need it!
It's too bad I don't have a brick wall nearby. I think banging my head against it would be easier than dealing with Comc@st's "customer service."
***** UPDATE *****
Just got back from the Comc@st office, where I had to wait in a long-@ss line and was again given a blank look by the "customer service" representative. She said she could not help and that there was no supervisor on duty to assist me. She then took copies of my bills, wrote a note and told me that "Credit and Collections" would be contacting me within 48 hours to clear things up.
F@%$#%@K!!!!
The saga began when we were notified by our homeowner's association that June 30th would be the last day that they would be covering our cable costs. If we wanted to continue our service, we would have to set up an appointment with Comc@st to have our account transferred over. No problem. We made an appointment and the cable guy came out on July 1st to transfer our service. There were a few glitches with our TiVo, but otherwise the set-up went smoothly. When we signed the paperwork, we noticed that they had the wrong address down (it was actually our neighbor's address, and that house was currently vacant). So we changed the address on the paperwork, the cable guy wrote a brief note and we initialed it. Problem solved, right? Wrong.
A week later, a new neighbor moved in to the previously vacant house and brought over a Comc@st bill that had been delivered to him. Sure enough, it was our account, but they had the wrong address. Complicating matters further, we received another bill for a different account at our address (the previous account from the homeowner's association). We tried to fix this address and billing mix-up with Comc@st over the phone, but they recommended that we go into their regional office to straighten it out. Since we had just purchased an HD TV and needed to upgrade our service anyway, it wasn't too big of an inconvenience to drive to the office and request assistance. We talked to the service lady at the desk, and she assured us that the address and billing problem had been solved.
She was mistaken. A week later, we received another two bills, for both our address and our neighbor's address, and one of them now said we were past due (this was the homeowner's account which had been closed on June 30th). Meanwhile, our new neighbor has been unable to set up his cable service because Comc@st already has our account listed at his address! I called in again and this time spoke with a very nice lady who assured me that the problem was now cleared up and we should be receiving correct bills in the future.
Then she promptly canceled our service.
By this time, I was ready to commit mayhem. Our phones, internet and TV were down and I could only call Comc@st on my cell phone. Which gets terrible reception in the house. So I kept getting disconnected with the Comc@st guy. At one point he said, "Ma'am, I'm having trouble hearing you," which prompted me to shout into the receiver, "That's because you canceled my dang home phone!!!!" Fortunately, I had been cut off by that point and he didn't hear my outburst. After 45 minutes shivereing outside in the cold night air (the only place I could get good cell reception), the Comc@st technician had reinstated my service temporarily and scheduled a cable guy to come to our house on Friday to "verify the equipment" and correct the address.
Friday came along and Comc@st called at 12 pm to confirm the appointment. I did so and verified that they were coming to our address, and not the neighbor's. The service person assured me that it was our address and that the technician would be here within the half hour. 20 minutes later, I see a Comc@st van pull up and a technician go to the neighbor's house. "Effin-ay!!!" I yelled as I ran down the stairs asking Jeff to redirect the guy to the right place (I was not in the right mood to speak to him in a friendly manner). Jeff asked Cable guy if he should be at our address, but he just gave him a blank look and mumbled something incoherent. Then he hung out in his van for about 15 minutes and drove off. When I called Comc@st an hour later to see what had happened to our service guy, they said that the order had been closed. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!! I explained, as calmly as I could, that the guy had gone to the wrong house and that they needed to get another technician here TODAY to fix this problem. Around 3 pm, a different cable guy showed up with no idea what he was supposed to do. After Jeff explained the job to him, he verified the equipment, corrected our address and drove away.
When I spoke to a technician on Friday, she said our current balance was $54 and that she would send us a new bill with the correct address immediately. Well, today I got the bill. It is for $449 and includes a $390 one-time service fee. After a brief temper tantrum, I called Comc@st again to find out what the hell was going on. I explained to the poor technician that we have been trying to fix this problem for a month now and that instead of getting fixed, it seems to be getting more and more mixed-up!!! Then I asked her if we still had two accounts under our name and why we were being charged a $390 service fee.
An audible gulp could be heard on the other end of the phone and the woman timidly said, "Ma'am, it looks like there are now three accounts under your name."
"WHAT???!!!" I exclaimed. How could this be???!!! Apparently, the first Comc@st guy who came out on Friday set up a new account under our name at the neighbor's address. That's what he was doing as he sat in his van for 15 minutes. And apparently we were charged $390 for this service.
So today, I am ready to kick @ss and take names! I'm heading down to that Comc@st office with our three accounts in hand to get this mess straightened out once and for all. Wish me luck, because the way things have been going, I think I'm going to need it!
It's too bad I don't have a brick wall nearby. I think banging my head against it would be easier than dealing with Comc@st's "customer service."
***** UPDATE *****
Just got back from the Comc@st office, where I had to wait in a long-@ss line and was again given a blank look by the "customer service" representative. She said she could not help and that there was no supervisor on duty to assist me. She then took copies of my bills, wrote a note and told me that "Credit and Collections" would be contacting me within 48 hours to clear things up.
F@%$#%@K!!!!
This sounds like my saga with MCI after I switched from Qwest because of a similar issue.
We have cable through the City of Tacoma and I luuurve it. I'm so sorry you have to deal with those a-holes. My mother would totally go with you to give them a piece of her mind too.
Oh wow. That is terrible! You should print out your blog post, or put it's content in a letter and send it to the Comcast big-wigs. Maybe they have no idea how clueless their underlings are.
Wow, that's horrible! Not even kinda something you could make up. I agree, in escalating this to the regional manager or another higher up. This is a whole new level of special.
It's time for you to talk to a manager or supervisor. This is nuts! And get this info out everywhere. Since they're pretty much the only game in town, competent customer service obviously takes a back seat.
What a huge pain in the patoot! Did you bang out that blog post in your anger? I'm fired up thinking about it!
I hate when you really only have one choice for cable service-you're screwed! I agree with Rachael that you should mail this post to Comcast or something.
Good luck!
I apologize for all the troubles we caused. I work for Comcast and I would like to help. Please send me an email including the phone number on the account. I will make sure that my regional contacts are involved to get this straightened out for you ASAP.
Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com