Comcast Cable and Internet Service Pricing

I guess this is a normal thing for cable companies. I have Time Warner here in Austin, TX and they make the same mistakes.

Of the 3 times that I have moved, I have had 3 problems where they forget to bill me for something and it shows up later. Most of the time it had already went to collections.

Thanks Time Warner!

Careful on the assumption that keeping basic cable may be cheaper. I have no idea on how Comcast bills, but if its anything like what I've seen from Time Warner here, the service and regulatory "fees" on cable can easily double the cost of basic cable.

Comcast customer support is just about the worst I've ever dealt with. I don't have cable tv since I don't need it and my cable modem has been disconnected by overzealous techs 3 times by now.. and each time amounted to at least a week of downtime as they got their act together and hooked me back up (yah, that $1 a day of credit I got was such good compensation too).

Last time I told them to put a big ass sign on my box "cable modem customer, do not disconnect" and I guess it worked -- haven't been disconnected since.

Like Jason, I have service from Time Warner in Austin, too. When I last checked, they had pricing comparable to that in the "Rent Modem" column above. There was no option of using your own modem. It started to get interesting when I found out that Earthlink was reselling the same service for $41.95 regardless of whether you have basic cable.

As soon as I signed up for this, I was more than happy to finally be able to cancel my basic cable and fire up some satellite tv.

I'm curious, what do you pay for DSL service?

I hear none of those horror stories with Pac Bell /SBC ADSL, so for those in reach of ADSL..get it. Its good.

Might not have every bell and whistle, but SBC is great..I have nothing really bad about them to say. They even have online forum support on DSLR if you ever have tweaking or oddball issues.

Another plus is that its dirt cheap too..with it being $30ish now :-)

I had AT&T Broadband, it was about $40/mo. When Comcast took over, the prices have steadily risen to over $50/mo for Internet...today I get "the call", add basic cable for only $3 more per month. Damn, who knew, I bet if they raise my Broadband bill another $5 or $10, suddenly the digital cable will only be $3 more! Can you say MONOPOLY in the makings?

"I hear none of those horror stories with Pac Bell /SBC ADSL, so for those in reach of ADSL..get it. Its good."

yeah - and run the risk of your homegrown Postfix server being blacklisted by SpamCop.

The amount of spam i'm seeing in my logs originating from Pac Bell ADSL is STAGGERING.

"yeah - and run the risk of your homegrown Postfix server being blacklisted by SpamCop.

The amount of spam i'm seeing in my logs originating from Pac Bell ADSL is STAGGERING."

Thats true- but you shouldn't be running an MTA on there anyway. Its against the AUP for dynamic lines, and for static..well if you can afford static- and it gets b/led by some over-zealous RBL admin, take it somewhere else.

Comcast has a worser problem with spam. Go figure.

Actually the way they do internet service, it's impossible to not get basic cable with it. You may have to remove the filter they put on your line in your box outside the house. A set of long needle nose pilers works well to get around their cover.

I have comcast cable and had the exact same thing happen in the last month. We were told to take our cable modem to our new home, a tech came and hooked it up, and we thought everything was hunky dory. Then about two weeks later we recieved a letter from a collection agency demanding $270 for a stolen cable modem. I called Comcast, and they told me that they could not help me. I was then transfered to a "Technical Services" agent who again told me it was all my fault. He told me the only way to not have to pay the fee, was to drive to the local office and return the modem. I had service at the time!!!

They said they could also send a tech out to my house for a minimal $80 charge!

But a cool thing happened. I sent my wife to the office to get the situation resolved. The clerk must have felt really bad, because she gave us our cable tv service plus our internet for only $30/month for the whole year.

Some times it works out...

I'm so glad I moved into another county where Comcast doesn't service... but...

When I first got Comcast cable modem, it kept going down at 3am every night. Yeah, I knew this because I'd be right in the middle of doing something important, like downloading porn. So, I'd call their tech support and report it. They'd be like, "Uhh, it looks ok here", but it wasn't working, no sync on the cable modem. They where like, "Are you sure the modem is connected to the cable line". Umm, let me see, what are these things that look like strings or wires, are they important? /sarcasm. I mean come on folks, what do you take me for, a complete and total computer newbie? Anyway, this goes on for like 6 months, every night. After a few weeks I was bitching at them nightly saying is has to be something in their system causing it. Sometimes, it would last hours, other times not so long. Of course, they wouldn't credit me for an interruption because it didn't last 24 hours. One night, it just worked. Of course, this was just after a total 2day outage and a cable truck was in the neighborhood replacing stuff. Go figure, broken equipment? Nah, they wouldn't take my word for it... But when the stuff was really broken, they fixed it. I wonder how it finally broke beyond repair? 'Must have been that lightning storm...'

Then, I got a collection letter from a collection agency about my final bill, 3-4 months after I moved. I was like !@#$! @!@# !@!@#!!!! I called them and said "When I cancelled my service, I gave you all my updated address (they confirmed they had the correct new address), and I forwarded my mail at the post office. All you had to do was send a final bill and I would have paid it!" The customer rep was speechless, they agreed that they should have. Yeah, this is how they work.

Seriously, instead of sending people to collections, wouldn't it had made sense for Comcast to just bill me? I'd never 'not paid' my monthly bill prior to this! Oh well. So glad to be rid of them, I won't even get into how horrible their customer support techs/reps are. I pity anyone stricken to deal with Comcast, your chances are better if you just move to a new county with a new cable company.

May Comcast burn on wall street. They don't deserve customers.

Thank you Maverick, you just dissuaded me from moving from my DSL modem to Comcast cable modem. Gonzalo

It's good to see that I'm not alone. I just got finished with a 12-round rock-em, sock-em match with Comcast, a collection agency, and all three credit bureaus. Similar to other stories posted, Comcast billed me FOR MY PERSONALLY-OWNED MODEM! And again, never a warning shot--just straight to the collections agency. Nine months of pure administrative/correspondence hell to get my credit report fixed, including letters to Better Business Bureaus, the PA Commonwealth Attorney, and 8 others. You have to go in loaded for bear with these morons. In the end, I got my name cleared, but I didn't get a pretty little service credit like the other poster--but that's because I wouldn't work with them again. Let's see if my luck holds out on not having to deal with a Comcast monopoly.

I am a current subscriber to Comcast and have been for ten years. I have the basic cable and
have to say that I am very disappointed in the way they do business. My problem with them is that they have increased my rate three times in the last year but never seem to think that I need to know when they choose to do it. You would think they would inform you of an increase some other way beside looking at your monthly bill. I am seriously thinking about hooking up with Direct TV. Can anyone tell me of it's comparison with Comcast?

I used to work for an outsourcing company that provides technical support for Comcast. We used to call it "Compost". Never in my entire life seen such a disorganized mess! The procedures we had to use for sending a service technician to the customer's home were totally different in every area and the software we had to use to do it was primitive, cryptic, difficult to use, slow and unreliable. The local dispatch offices would cancel trouble call appointments and not tell anyone, including the customer, so we got the call when a customer stayed at home from work and the technician didn't show up. We would try to call the dispatch office and they would swear at us and hang up. It was an absolute nightmare. I work for a much better company now. I really felt sorry for Comcast customers. Horrible, just horrible.

I once had comcast cable. Within a years time my rates were raised 25%. After repairing the wall where the cable box ended up, I drove directly to comcasts local office. I canceled my service, returned the box, got a reciept showing everything was paid. Three months later I got a bill from a collection agency for 49.95 + 150.00 prossesing fee. Instead of sending payment I sent a copy of the reciept. One week after that I recieved a letter of apology and was told Comcast would be recieving a bill for 2 prossesing fees. I now have Dish Network Satellite and couldn't be HAPPIER.

Lucy,

I had Direct TV and cancelled it to get Comcast. Direct TV didn't offer high speed internet in my area (only Comcast did.) With the introductory rate the combination TV/Internet should cost me much less, although after getting my first bill I'm beginning to wonder. Direct TV is all digital and the picture quality is noticably better (and I have Comcast digital) The navigation menus are more intuitive and less intrusive than Comcast. More importantly, customer service and billing are more user friendly. If I keep winning my battles with Comcast I will stay with them just until I can get another high speed internet provider out in the country. If not, I'll go back to dial-up and Direct TV. Oh yea, the one positive feature of Comcast you'll miss with Direct TV is On Demand. Direct TV has a version of it but it's not the same. DTV on demand is just pay-per-view with a schedule fixed by them. You can't just sit down and watch a movie when you feel like it, no pausing or resuming, and no reruns like the Sopranos last season on demand. I'll miss that when I switch back. Hope I helped. One other thing. My sister told me Direct TV does offer high speed internet in some areas so if that's important call them to make sure.

Time warner austin is so damn expensive... but at least it works. I had a nightmare with SBC.

I was also thinking of getting Comcast. I think I'll stick with DSL. Thanks for the words of wisdom.

I've had Comcast over a year now.. the service for the first year was great.. no outages(or at least very minimal) then a couple months ago I moved to another city and from day one I've had nothin but problems.*sigh* I would truly like to know how they can check your 'Modem' and tell you everything is ok, from an office most likely in another state..WITHOUT ANY SIGNAL WHATSOEVER TO THE MODEM.. Must be that built in Diagnostics Satellite Uplink built into the modem. But seriously I called Customer Service about a week ago because it was out. I don't think i understood one word that lady said.. Must have been that high pitched voice with the Indian accent speaking in a whisper? But I've gotta say the service (When it does work) is very good compared to my brothers who lives one city over from me in Cebridge Cable area. my 'Standard' service is almost 3x faster than his 'Upgraded' service.. poor guy, anyways hope this sheds some light on things for people looking to switch or moving to a Comcast area.

that is no joke about comcast, if you only get the internet it will cost you 5-10 dollars a month more than if you had basic cable tv along with the internet. I do not understand it either, I guess it is a marketing ploy........meaning since the basic channels are not so good they hope that you will upgrade your cable tv service to include premium channels. so even if you do not watch tv and only use the internet, get both services because it is cheaper per month than stand alone cable internet.

I have Comcast high speed only as well. Got the first few months at the reduced rate and they threatened to raise my bill to $57/ month if I did not order cable. Called tthe cancellation department and now am getting service for $30 for the entire year. They do not want you to leave!

Comcast is a work of art. They messed up billing one thing after the other for me. Billed me for my internet and also for someone else's cable tv, insisted I had cable TV when I never did, wanted MY modem back or pay them for it, etc, etc. What a nightmare! Finally had to go through the state's attorney to have Comcast agree never to contact me again! Aughhhhhhh!!!!

does anyone know what filter i need to remove to get standard cable over basic...I currently have basic and internet...there are 3 filters together in the box

I have been waiting for 9 days to get my Comcast internet cable activated. I already had Comcast cable going and expected this to be a simple removal of the filter. Well, apparently something needs to be done at the telephone pole with a bucket truck. I've known for a week, but just found out today that the work order was incorrect!

In the meantime, I am without internet having been advised by the Comcast tech that I could stop my SBC DSL service... >

I have not had any problems in a move. But the last several months I have been having problems with Comcast internet going down. I am not talking an hour oir so I am talking a week at a time. And when you call to tell them it is at least 5 or 6 days before a Tech comes out. Now get this. The day the tech is to arrive my son was in the bathroom when said tech called....my son and I both left messages on the techs cell ohone (love caller ID) never heard back, called Comcast that evening after I got off work and low and behold a tech calls, no answer, they assume no one is home. Are we not supposed to go to the bathroom while we in the 4 hour waiting window? The customer service guy hung up on me too..geesh..cancelled service that same day hate dial up and I cant get DSL where I am but I would rather have a slower connection then have to deal with so many outages and Comcast's BS.

I have not had any problems in a move. But the last several months I have been having problems with Comcast internet going down. I am not talking an hour oir so I am talking a week at a time. And when you call to tell them it is at least 5 or 6 days before a Tech comes out. Now get this. The day the tech is to arrive my son was in the bathroom when said tech called....my son and I both left messages on the techs cell ohone (love caller ID) never heard back, called Comcast that evening after I got off work and low and behold a tech calls, no answer, they assume no one is home. Are we not supposed to go to the bathroom while we are in the 4 hour waiting window? The customer service guy hung up on me too..geesh..cancelled service that same day hate dial up and I cant get DSL where I am but I would rather have a slower connection then have to deal with so many outages and Comcast's BS.

I have not had any problems in a move. But the last several months I have been having problems with Comcast internet going down. I am not talking an hour oir so I am talking a week at a time. And when you call to tell them it is at least 5 or 6 days before a Tech comes out. Now get this. The day the tech is to arrive my son was in the bathroom when said tech called....my son and I both left messages on the techs cell ohone (love caller ID) never heard back, called Comcast that evening after I got off work and low and behold a tech calls, no answer, they assume no one is home. Are we not supposed to go to the bathroom while we are in the 4 hour waiting window? The customer service guy hung up on me too..geesh..cancelled service that same day hate dial up and I cant get DSL where I am but I would rather have a slower connection then have to deal with so many outages and Comcast's BS.

I have not had any problems in a move. But the last several months I have been having problems with Comcast internet going down. I am not talking an hour oir so I am talking a week at a time. And when you call to tell them it is at least 5 or 6 days before a Tech comes out. Now get this. The day the tech is to arrive my son was in the bathroom when said tech called....my son and I both left messages on the techs cell ohone (love caller ID) never heard back, called Comcast that evening after I got off work and low and behold a tech calls, no answer, they assume no one is home. Are we not supposed to go to the bathroom while we are in the 4 hour waiting window? The customer service guy hung up on me too..geesh..cancelled service that same day hate dial up and I cant get DSL where I am but I would rather have a slower connection then have to deal with so many outages and Comcast's BS.

Comcast is to Television what Al-Queda is to
mainstream Arabs. Where I am in Southern New Hampshire, they are the only Cable TV in town, and their fees are insane. Close to 90 bucks a month for a basic package. I just paid off a back bill of $200 and today I got another bill of 178.00. At this point, I am going to let the cable
disconnect as no one needs to watch "Lost" this badly.

I wish I had seen this earlier... I just switched from MSN DSL to Comcast High Speed Internet. I'm not a math guru, but 30KB/s is not three times faster than DSL.

The tech came in to set up my modem (bought my own, and after reading this will file my reciept!) and get me started. After testing it out on my wife's laptop, he downloaded and installed the Comcast software! You don't need software to hook up to a network, and if you do, you should drop the ISP. I would have loved a "would you like me to install this" question.

Funny enough, after we unplugged the modem so we could put it up properly, instead of on the floor halfway across the room so it could reach the laptop, service did not come back on until noon the next day! Even then, instead of the 350KB/s I was getting when it was first hooked up, I was getting 30KB/s. Of course at about 9PM the service went out, and it hasn't come back on yet.

The funny part about the initiall install was when the technician showed me how to log into comcast's website, it wouldn't work! Once you tried to manage your account, all you would get is server errors.... needless to say, this does not make me feel comfortable.

We'll see what happens tomorrow when the service tech comes.

I've had Comcast for the last 8 months with no problem. Fast service and those 3AM drops as someone else mentioned. I think they do that on purpose to reduce network usesage by programs that can't reset themselves after a network outage.

But yesterday I lost the little cable light on my modem. It comes back intermittantly every hour or two for about five minutes. At least that's what I've noticed when I've been working and happened to glance at the cable modem.

So the tech support guy tells me that it might be my router and that I should try it without that. And I asked how would that make a difference if the cable light on the modem is off? He then apologized. They tell you anything to try to make you think it is your fault.

Then, he tells me that a service tech can't come out until March 3! That's 5 days without internet service. How am I going to order my groceries?

I have a disabled adult son who enjoys watching family/children/nature programs. We speak English. I've noticed out of the 31 basic channels, only 14 are worth the cost. What does Comcast plan on doing to give us our money's worth??? Thanks.

Hmmm... Well, I originally got AT&T Broadband Internet access for $45.95/mo (including modem rental for $3/mo). Then Comcast took over and raised the prices by $10/mo to $55.95/mo (including modem rental). BUT if I got their cable television service I would get a $10/mo discount on my internet service bringing it back down to $45.95/mo.

So how much do I have to pay for basic cable TV??? Well, only $8/mo it turns out. So, I'm thinking, "I SAVE $2 by signing up for cable television??" (costs $8/mo but I save $10/mo on my internet service) That's sounds pretty stupid. Sign me up! Well, with taxes and fees on the cable TV service my total cable TV cost ends up being about 9 and a half bucks. Oh well, I'm still saving 50 cents a month to have television added. Go figure.....

I'm STILL not happy, however, because I'm paying about $9.50 per month more than I did under AT&T broadband. (I could care less about the TV service)

Oh well....

I have had the unfortunate luck of having to deal with Comcast here in Michigan. I have had problems with Comcast since they became Comcast in my area. The latest incident was just recently. A Comcast telemarketer called me offering a promotion for digital cable. I told him I was already on a promotion and I asked him if it would effect the existing promotion. He didn't know, so I called my local call center. The woman I talked to offered me an awesome promotion, I questioned her about it extensively and she kept reassuring me that was what the promotion was. I just got my first bill nder te new promotion 2 to 3 days ago. Imagine my surprise when I opened the bill and it was double what I thought it was going to be. I called the billing center and the first person I talked to insinuted that I was being dishonest. I then pulled out my invoice that stated the decrease in my monthly charges in one spot and the amount that was sup[posed to be waived for 1 year. I was then told the invoice was irrelevent. I hung up and called back and the next person laughed at me when I told them the promotion I was offerred. I then asked to speak to a supervisor and he informed me that he could gfind the voice recording of the conversation I had when I ordered the promotion. I said ok, he then later called me back and saidhe couldn't retreive the call, I said what a surprise. He then transferred me to the retention department. The woman I talked to there informed me that they record every single incoming call and that they would find that call and that when she listens to that call and what I told her didn't match that she would make me listen to that call. I said bring it on. I told her I wanted to talk to her manager. She said he would definately call me. The next morning she calls me and tells me they can't retreive that call and offered me a free month service. That wasn't satisfactory to me and she withdrew the free month. Again I told her I wanter her manager to call me, she said he definately would, I still haven't heard from him. I called corporate office yesterday and said they would have it looked into. They still refuse to give me a decent promotion. I think it might be time for satellite here. I guess the fell like they can treat us like trash because there is no other cable company in my area.

I have had the unfortunate luck of having to deal with Comcast here in Michigan. I have had problems with Comcast since they became Comcast in my area. The latest incident was just recently. A Comcast telemarketer called me offering a promotion for digital cable. I told him I was already on a promotion and I asked him if it would effect the existing promotion. He didn't know, so I called my local call center. The woman I talked to offered me an awesome promotion, I questioned her about it extensively and she kept reassuring me that was what the promotion was. I just got my first bill nder te new promotion 2 to 3 days ago. Imagine my surprise when I opened the bill and it was double what I thought it was going to be. I called the billing center and the first person I talked to insinuted that I was being dishonest. I then pulled out my invoice that stated the decrease in my monthly charges in one spot and the amount that was sup[posed to be waived for 1 year. I was then told the invoice was irrelevent. I hung up and called back and the next person laughed at me when I told them the promotion I was offerred. I then asked to speak to a supervisor and he informed me that he could gfind the voice recording of the conversation I had when I ordered the promotion. I said ok, he then later called me back and saidhe couldn't retreive the call, I said what a surprise. He then transferred me to the retention department. The woman I talked to there informed me that they record every single incoming call and that they would find that call and that when she listens to that call and what I told her didn't match that she would make me listen to that call. I said bring it on. I told her I wanted to talk to her manager. She said he would definately call me. The next morning she calls me and tells me they can't retreive that call and offered me a free month service. That wasn't satisfactory to me and she withdrew the free month. Again I told her I wanter her manager to call me, she said he definately would, I still haven't heard from him. I called corporate office yesterday and said they would have it looked into. They still refuse to give me a decent promotion. I think it might be time for satellite here. I guess the fell like they can treat us like trash because there is no other cable company in my area.

I have comcast cable and I must say that I love it.I have only had a problem one time with the internet.I called and got this hot babe who sent a tech out the next day.He found the problem and fixed it.I have all the cable services that comcast offers and love them.I dont know why all you people are crying,I had direct tv and you want to talk about nightmare,ahhhhh,direct tv sucks,I had just got direct tv,there was wind storm and it knocked the dish and part of my roof of my house.What had happend the installer of the dish put it up wrong.I called and 7 days later a tech came out who said "sorry about the roof,you better call a roofer because it isnt are fault,he put the dish back up.Two weeks later got a bill for 99.00 saying service call fee.I called and got yelled at by a dish rep.In the end i had to pay the 99 dollars and had to pay to get my roof fixed...

I MUST SAY THAT I HAVE HAD COMCAST INTERNET FOR ABOUT 5 MONTHS OR SO.IT HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT SUPER.I HAD DSL VERIZON AND IT MAKES VERIZON LOOK LIKE A PEICE OF CRAP.THE SPEEDS WITH COMCAST ARE SUPER.YOU JUST CLICK A BUTTON AND MAN YOU ARE THERE WITHIN SECONDS.THE COST MAYBE A LITTE MORE THAN DSL BY ONLY 13 DOLLARS,I DONT CARE IF IT WAS BY 50 DOLLARS MORE THE SEVICE IS GREAT.....

Speaking of Cable Modems. Seven month ago, I moved, and they told me to take my modem with me. I did. Now, the Comcast people, in a differnt city, took my old modem and give me one they have inventoried locally. The Comcast in the city that I left, charged me $ 99.00 for an unrecoverd modem, which they took off of a credit that they owed me. They are acting like they are a different company and cannot even get their own policies straight. Morons, all of them, good bye Comcast.

Comcast really sucks

2 ugly experiences with Comcast (I can get you more):
- I had basic service with Comcast. They called me and asked me to upgrade to digital cable for a special introductory rate. I said yes. After the introductory offer was up. I returned the box and told Comcast to revert me back to basic service which they did. 3 months later, I started receiving 2 bills (same address)! Called them and they told me to discard the second bill as it was mistake. 3 months later I get a collection for that amount. Tried to call them for 3 days in a row to resolve the issue and every time I enter my phone number for service I get redirected to voice mail service! I tried with my friend's phone number and it worked!!! I think they put a block on my phone number. I ended up going back to the office to resolve the matter by double paying for the same service, same address and the same period!!!! Go figure.

- Internet service: got service and asked not to send me the cable modem as I have one. After a nightmare installation with the tech service (another story) I was up and running. I got the bill and it included rent for the modem. I called them and they said they will give me credit for $5. Next month, no credit and again I was billed for the modem! This went on for 3 more months. After I called them and started bitching at them, the customer service rep hangs up on me!!!!!!! Finally I was able to remove the rent fee from my next bill. But guess what NO REFUND. I am still stuck with the damn #$%^### since I don't have a DSL option and I need high speed internet for my work.
Steer away from the idiots if you have any other option.

I bet you that the comments about how comcast is great: either these people are comcast employees or they just use the service while their parents deal with all the mess comcast has to offer.

I have had Comcast for the past three years and really enjoy the products and the price that I pay for both Digital and HSI is a little higher then the Dish, but the service I receive from Comcast has been worth the couple of bucks more per month.
I just purchased a new iMac and had issues with getting it to work with my HSI. I called the local call center and after trying to work it out over the phone they set-up a service call for the next day. The Comcast Tech was very good and changed "something in my config" and I was up and running in no time.
My service charge fee....$0....Wow, I couldn't believe it!!!

I had DirectV for the longest time when I moved to an apartment and could not find the signal for the satellite (turned out I had a bad cable). I ordered Comcast and was quoted from a customer service person the bill for the channels that I wanted was $25/ month. The guy came to install it and before he left the bill had jumped to over $65/ month!! I got charged for everything from the low quality digital cable (side note, only half the channels were even digital) to the useless remote control (30 cents per month). The cable went out for at least three hours four times in the six months I had it. Once for three days and I had to be home for the service guy. NEVER happened with the satellite.
I got mad and found the satellite signal and canceled the cable. I had to be home for three hours during the week to wait for the guy to turn off the cable and pick up the box. He turned off the cable and never came to the door to get the box. I then had to drive an hour to the Comcast office to return it.
Forget cable it is a waist of money. Buy DirectV for $24/ month cheaper for the same channels at 100% digital and higher quality digital.

hey guys i have been having problems with this stupid comcast crap i keep losing my signal i really dont know WHY? anyone else has the same problem? :(and if you know how to fix it please let me know.. :(

You know, I work at a call centre in Canada contracted for Comcast. I troubleshoot for people with internet problems. 90% of the people I speak with are very kind and are willing to try just about anything to get back online and when they realize we have done everything over the phone that we possibly can, they are frustrated understandably, but accept the technician and I love those customers, at least they grasp the fact that the person they are speaking with did not come to their house and cut the wires for shits and giggles, we WANT your internet to work. It feels a lot better to help someone then to not help someone!!! For the other 10% that come on the phone being ignorant and swearing....we get it. Your internet doesn't work, yes you are frustrated and have every right to be, but that doesn't give YOU the right to insult us and swear at us. You called US....we ARE trying to help you, but we aren't magic and there are only so many things we can do. And when you call in, and you swear at us and call us stupid with grade 3 educations could you try to keep in mind that we are just trying to HELP people and feed our families at the same time???? Did you ever think to pick up a freakin' book??? Maybe take your kid to the park??? Oh wait, maybe you could actually get off your ass and walk to the store instead of ordering everything offline?!?! Remember 15 years ago??? Noone had the internet and we used to have to do things for ourselves??? Heaven forbid!!!! Oh and one more thing I feel the need to get out...we are all human, treat people the way you want to be treated. (That goes back to being in kindergarten, or did the internet wipe out the Golden Rule?)

I'm with you all the way BH. I do Comcast internet tech support for the MD area. If people only knew how many morons I have to talk to all day. It's horrible. "I keep typing AT (not @) and my email wont sent", "My internet wont work AGAIN (modem is on standby)". It's retarded. If 2% of the people that called me had half a brain it would be concidered a good day! I dont mind morons either, it's the angry morons I hate. Most people dont realize all that Comcast does for the consumer and the community either. Call any one of us and ask how much community service Comcast does. Or try to grasp he concept that once we install the wiring in your homes, those wires belong to YOU! and Comcast comes out when you have a problem and corrects them with out ANY cost to the consumer. If anyone isnt paying extra for a in home wiring protection plan from your telephone company, call them up and tell them you have a problem with a phone in your house. They will straight up laugh at you. And since it is FREE to you... it does take a few extra days to get a tech out to you. Other than this, realize, Spyware is YOUR responcibilty. Protect your own damn computers. Realize that 98% of the time, if we say your modem is fine and it's your PC thats having problems, your E-machine POS computer IS at fault. And finally realize that the Comcast residental service is for Entertainment purposes ONLY, and is not gaurenteed to be 100% reliable. So we DO NOT care when you bitch about your buisness will suffer, and how much money you will lose.

And to the 1% of you that are nice and inteligent, None of this pertains to you. What goes around, comes around. And when your constantly nice and it shows, they are the people I go above and beyond for. The rest and wait in line and burn for all I care.

P.S.-> Nela, your one of the morons I was talking about. If the modem keeps cutting out, (and its not a faulty power cord), chances are the signal is probably weak comming into the modem, and needs to be adjusted some where in your home or at the box outside. So hide your marijuana stash, and call Comcast to schedule a tech to come at look at it for you for FREE!

Oh... and one more thing. I can only speak for the CHSI department. Cable TV, billing, 90% of subcontractors, and 30% of Comcast service techs that come to your house....... all I can do is apoligize for them, cause I see your frustration. But then dont go calling around to everyone at Comcast and think the next person you speak to will be a moron too. Even though I only speak to intelligent people on 1% of my calls, I still take every call thinking that You'll be the smart one! You have to prove to me that your not smart.

OH! Last thing =)
When I am helping you with your computer, and we are going through prompts, and you have a choice of "back", "next", or "cancel"... think before you say "should I hit next?" every 10 seconds. Do back or cancel sound like logical choices?

ait listen you imamoronATcomcast.net i tried everythin every possible thing comcast techs were at my house 50 billion tinmes this month. and they didnt do anything im not saying its their fault or something they jsut send stupid workers ower and wtf u have to call me a moran for i didnt even talk 2 u !!!

Wow, great board to air comcast complaints. 1 year ago I moved. Upon returning my cable box, i asked if there was any outstanding balance on account. They said no, I was paid in full and would not get another bill. Well, 6 months later a friendly collection notice shows up. Apparently, I did owe one month and the clerk was wrong when I returned the box. Even worse, my new location is under the same phone number as my old location. Funny how Comcast could not forward the bill to the right address but the collection agency had no problem finding me. I paid immediately, and have had no luck with traction at Comcast. Since, my credit score has been rocked from top 10% to bottom 20%. Now I need to put down a $75 deposit for a HD/DVR box. If anyone has gone through similar situation and has guidance on attaining resolution, shoot me an email at peterose@gmail.com

Wow. I have two things to say. 1) I am amazed that the original post on this thread was posted in april of 2004, and the discussion has been raging here for well over a year since then. It just goes to show how messed up this company is.

2) Their customer service really does suck. I'm sure that the people there want to do a good job, but they can't because the whole system is broken. I am not a Comcast customer. I never have been. But the other day I noticed a charge on my bank statement of $144 to Comcast cable. I called their 1-800-Comcast number, told them about the charge, gave them all the information, and the said there was nothing they could do. Even though the charge showed a number that the technician said was a comcast account number, he said he couldn't tell which account it went to because "it was in another region." Insane. You would think that an identity thief would never be so brazen as to order cable TV with someone else's credit card, because it should be easy to connect the bogus charges to the thief's Comcast account. ID thieves know something we don't, however. They know that Comcast is so completely incompetent that they'll never get caught.

I got to this page after doing a Google search for "comcat customer services address."

Comcast certainly varies by region...ridiculously so.

Just last year, they won the "Best Business" award in Washington DC (handed out by the Chamber of Commerce, so it is legitimate). If they have the capacity to do so well in DC, why not elsewhere?

May I just give a few comments.
Firstly, I am a wife of a comcast technician. I do believe it depends on what region you live in that determines the quality level of service.

I've heard nightmare stories and I've heard of customers who are very satisfied (mainly due to the quality of tech services provided by my husband)
All I can say is do not be so harsh on the tech. They have families and believe it or not some are very cordial and intelligent.

I do agree that Comcast needs to work on their infrastructure and customer service. Even my husband has told me crazy stories.
The only thing I can suggest is to document every transaction. If necessary threathen to change services will hopefully keep them on their toes.

I would also send complaint letters to the corporate office along with supporting documentation. Hopefully this will help them correct their errors.

Well I have to go along with another bad Comcast experience. A week ago, in Montgomery County MD, Comcast had a node problem that wiped out a lot of service for many in my area. The problem was fixed but now many people cannot connect to the service. Comcast's solution - send techs to every home to check out what is the problem on the customer's end. Ok, I do networking infrastructure work for a living, and when you have a problem that pervasive, it just amazes me that the company assumes it must be on the customer's end....

Beware of SBC offers over the phone. I called in once to ask a question about my phone bill and after the salesgirl begged and offered every deal in the book I finally accepted her offer of DSL service. I took notes on the offer and even went through a confirmation process with a diff. person after her. Lo and behold, once my bills started arriving, they were all wrong. I had problems with the service, too. Bottom line - the girl said even though I had signed up for 6 mo., if at any time I was unhappy with the service for legitimate reasons, I could cancel. When I did, (I sent back all the equipment in the original box & everything) they tried to slap a $300 cancellation fee on me and denied the whole original offer the girl had given me over the phone. I had her name & the date of the call but it didn't matter to them. They sent me to collections. My advice - get all offers in writing. I can understand what some of you are saying about Comcast. Personally, I have had technical problems with them, but at least they have a local office where I can come down & talk to a human face-to-face. You'd be surprised what that can accomplish. I received more than fair credits for any problems I had. I wish I could say the same for SBC who had to qualms about tarnishing my perfect credit history.

To: Steve

The only node problems that Montgomery County MD has had recently is either due to the storms we have been having, or if they took down the node for maintaince. In either case, when all is said and done, its Comcast's call. If there is any trend to the people still having issues... they still think of it as an outage and dispatch techs. If its a large ammount of people that are out, or people grouped up in one location, then it's an outage. But if there are 5 to 20 or so people still out, and they are no where near each other, and all the neighbors are up and running... then of course its something with the way your set up, and you need individual attention. When you need individual attention, you set up this little thing called an appointment!

To: Steve

The only node problems that Montgomery County MD has had recently is either due to the storms we have been having, or if they took down the node for maintaince. In either case, when all is said and done, its Comcast's call. If there is any trend to the people still having issues... they still think of it as an outage and dispatch techs. If its a large ammount of people that are out, or people grouped up in one location, then it's an outage. But if there are 5 to 20 or so people still out, and they are no where near each other, and all the neighbors are up and running... then of course its something with the way your set up, and you need individual attention. When you need individual attention, you set up this little thing called an appointment!

Comcast service is a bit outragious price wise. Charter offers same service, or a bit slower service for 30 bucks a month.

Im constantly getting Connection intrupts when playig online games.

News service is attrocious. Comcast service is a dismal 4 out of 10, IMHO. Its too bad that its the only thing available here, except dial up.

Comcast service is a bit outragious price wise. Charter offers same service, or a bit slower service for 30 bucks a month.

Im constantly getting Connection intrupts when playig online games.

News service is attrocious. Comcast service is a dismal 4 out of 10, IMHO. Its too bad that its the only thing available here, except dial up.

Verizon has recently installed DSL in our area and has an introductory offer of $19.95 for the first 3 months, $29.95 for mos 4-12, and who knows after that. I am currently paying Comcast $45.95 for high speed internet. I notice they are also offering NEW customers $19.99 for the first year, which pisses me off since we have been Comcast customers for years. Sure, make your loyal, long-time customers pay through the nose.

Anyway, does anyone out there have experience with Verizon DSL?

You just need to refer to comcast.com to see how messed up comcast is.

For example)

look at the possible cable packages
1) Digital Plus
2) Digital Classic
3) Basic Cable
4) Prefered Service

hmm?? what does each package offer?? what exact channel lineups do each package offer?? Good luck finding out!

quote from comcast.com
"View the Channel Lineup for your area. Select "View By Package" to see what channels you get with our different packages."

Oh how nice.. i can finally see what each package contains... but NOPE! no luck!

the packages you can view are
1) Foreign Language
2) Limited Basic --- is this suppose to refer to basic cable?
3) Expanded Basic --- is this suppose to refer to expanded cable? why change the names of the package, ugh!
4) Digital Sports Package
5) Premium Channels
6) HDTV
7) Digital Classic -- yes! information, but what about digital plus?

wtf! I can choose between Digital Plus, Digital Classic, Basic Cable, Prefered Service.. but the channel line ups do not correlate with the packages.. there is no channel line up for Digital plus, basic cable, or expanded cable.. but there are lineups for limited basic and expanded basic... they changed the names of the packages and totally neglected half of them on their very own corporate webpage.

Even worse, the package line ups only show channels that "unique to the package" rather then all the channels in the package. I want to see exactly all the channels I get for an EXACT specific package (ie, digital plus, basic cable, etc).

I have looked at every nook and cranny of comcast.com and have not found out the difference between Digital Classic and Digital Plus. Every page about "classic" has the same info about "plus".. is there a difference? . internet is about information, give us some freaking information comcast!

I wonder if many out there get billed on modems that they own outright! Then add insult to injury tax you on a rental fee.

I have had comcast cable for two years now. During that entire time I had some connection problems during the month of January 2005. In all fairness if you do not play games via the internet it doesnt matter. I was experiencing packet loss and it took comcast about two weeks to finally fix the problem. during this period my net was fine for surfing the web and doing anything else. the games I play check for packet loss every 5 seconds and the host computer kicks anybody who has more than 5% packet loss.

my bill hasnt gone up a lot since I first got comcast cable. when I had problems the cable company was usually out the same day or the next day and they always came when they said they would.

friends of mine pay the same amount for DSL as I do for my cable and they have less than half the up load and less than half the down load as I do and it is usually 1/3rd of what I have. very criticle for somebody who plays a lot of games to have high up load and high down load.

My sister has Verizon DSL and everytime there is an electrical storm she loses service.

I have no experience with cable tv channels other than basic service. I do not watch tv.

comcast cable has provided me with excellent internet service at a competetive price

25 miles north west of harrisburg pennsylvania.

imamoronATcomcast.net, I also work for comcast tech support and I could not have said it better myself...sure there are some people who are having problems with their connection, and I truly feel bad for those people, but I am sure that you will agree, most of the calls you take, the modem is online and it turns out to be a problem either with their computer or their router, but oh no, it is always our service that is bad, or my personal favorite, they call bitching that their service out and they spend 10 minutes complaining all along you are looking at the little mouse in the billing system and their is a line through it, you are waiting to tell them they are in soft disco and they need to pay a delinquent amount to get online...and then they say comcast should have called them to let them know they were going to get cut off, hello, isn't that what we send out bills for, and then you have the ones that say, I did not receive a bill, well, I would like to know where all those missing bills are, I guess they are in a bin somewhere in ups located next to all the letters to santa and God, Working this job always makes for good conversation.
There are calls that make you laugh, there are calls that make you just want to scream at the customer, but over all the majority of the calls end with the customer thanking you for getting them online.

comcast doesn't 'threaten' to raise service prices, when your promotion is over it is over. then it goes to regular price. comcast doesn't keep the fees and taxes, they are government fees and taxes, same as your cell phone, fcc.

amen to the tech that said when people call bitching about their service being out 9 times out of 10 it's because they haven't paid their bill in 60 days. of course they never got their bill. and of course we should have told them they were being disconnected. we did. we send 2 notices and make 3 phone calls before you get disconnected.

once in a blue moon you come across a customer that really didn't get their bill, there is a separate billing address entered but not marked as use this address for all correspondence. we work with those customers. we are very experienced in weeding out the bullshit when it comes to not paying your bill, so when you get an agent that knows what they are doing don't try to bullshit us!

comcast lets you go for 60 days (3 bills) without paying before you go into disconnect. does your utility company do that?

oh, and if your service is out for 3 days, you get three days worth of credit, not a month. if your internet is down 3 days it goes like this -

internet at 42.95/30 days = $1.43 per day
$1.43 per day x 3 days = $4.29 credit
you still pay for the days you did have service.

Comcast rates are 45.95 per month for bradband, *BUT* if you call their business office and ask to speak with the disconnect clerk, you can get a *discounted* rate. When you get the agent on the phone, explain that you're getting bombarded with BellSouth offers (BellSouth provides basic phone service in my area, substitute your carrier as appropriate) for special DSL rates of $14.95 - $19.95 per month. Ask the agent for a monthly credit or you may be forced to change to DSL. They will issue a monthly credit for usually 6-9 months. So far, it's been 24+ months and my bill averages 19-24.95 per month. At the end of each 6-9 month special credit, I'll get one month regular bill (now 45.95/mo), I'll call the business office asking to speak with someone about my broadband rates and the special offers I'm getting from BellSouth, I'll talk to a manager and get another 6-9 months of credits. Hey, the worst they can say is NO, but you won't get anything if you don't at least ASK.
..........BTW............Comcast now has a $9.95 per month Broadband offer for cable TV clients.

all that is very true pete. and i must also add that if you are nice to us we will transfer you over to them. if you are a jerk and you happen to be talking to me then i will say oh, you want to cancel, okay sir that will be fine, you will need to turn in your modem to your local office however as we cannot cancel your service until the equipment is returned.

if you are nice then i will be nice.

also, that 9.95/mo promo is correct also, but only for NEW internet customers, not existing customers. this is my one complaint. the one thing i find myself siding with customers on. we offer a lot of discounts to new customers, but nothing along the lines of thanks for being a loyal customer discounts to current customers. that is one thing i wish we could do.

After reading all this, there's no way in hell I will sign up for Comcast high speed. I have had AOL dial up believe it or not, and compared to the horror stories with signal outages, billing, customer service and tech hassles, I say AOL isn't as bad as I thought!

no matter what any customer says about how much they hate comcast, once they have had our internet service they will not go back to dial up. the difference in speeds is staggering. outages are pretty rare where i live and half the time i think the people calling in all the time have got to be doing unnecessary wierd stuff to their modems & digital boxes because i live in the same city as the customers i service and have never had one bit of the problems they have. only one outage in the 5 years i have had service and that was when the nationwide dns server crash thing happened.

Well of course you would say that. Duh, sold your soul to the company store. The fact is we are paying for a service which is supposed to be broadband to our house. Reading that completely restrictive AUP, User Agreement, and everything else they change whenever they feel is stupid. Ever try to shoot a nat? Give us broadband and let us do what we want. There are many of us little people who know how to handle networking. We want to run anything we want not what Comcast says we can. How would you like FORD to tell you were to drive. If they can't handle the virii out there then get out of the biz. Oh and when they go down shhhhhh... don't tell anyone. Call ins recieve the same old thing, no problem in your area!

if you are told there is no problem in your area then there is no problem in your area. and no one says you HAVE to use comcast's gateway, if you want to set up your own then fine do that, i did. but i also fully know that comcast does not support my router and if i have any issues they will only trouble shoot and repair my modem, not any router issues.

the problem when you call in for tech is that so many customers have experience with computer set up and internet and html and coding etc. that they don't want to listen to the simple trouble shooting the tech tells you to start with. but they do that for a reason. they have to start at the basics and work their way up to the problem.

and if any of you are calling in going off about how you run your business from your residential line then in all reality you should be on a business account and we are within our rights to move your account from residential to business.

no, not sold my soul there are some things at comcast that could be improved, but i also know from experience that most customers call for help then don't want to let you help them. and many of the problems people experience are user error. and when we have outages we dispatch techs immediately. if it is not an outage then you are put on a code 1 and we have a tech there within 24/48 hours which is within government and fcc requirements and regulations. if you have a signal but still a problem then you are scheduled the first available appointment. also within requirements and regulations. the cable company is not out to get you.

we try to help. you should accept the help we try to give and also try to understand there are certain things we have to do within policy and whether you think it is necessary or not, we still have to follow policy.

have a nice day.

Here is where you can access your channel lineup.
http://www.comcast.com/Support/Corp1/FAQ/FaqDetail_205.html

Here are the channels that Digital Plus has that Digital Classic does not:

FIT TV
Discovery Times
Military Channel
Discovery Home & Leisure
Biography Channel
History International
DIY
Fine Living
Nick Too
WAM!
Toon Disney
MTV Hits
MTV Jams
VH-1 Soul
Encore
Encore Action East
Encore Mystery East
Encore Love East
Encore Drama East
Encore Westerns East
Sundance West
Oxygen
NFL Network
Outdoor Channel
Inspirational Life

Mike

Yep, I'm one of those people who the morons who work for Comcast are coming to hate...because I call at least once a day, every time my internet service goes out. If Comcast could figure out WHY my service keeps going out, then my calls would stop, but that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

No, I don't have a router, yes, I've unplugged the power cord & the coaxe cable, turned off the computer, and recycled the modem, no, next Sunday is not satisfactory for a tech to come out...today is Monday and a tech was JUST out here 2 days ago. By the time tech #6 this month gets out here, my service will be back up (duh), and believe me, I will be sending in the lengthy detailed log of every minute (in hours) that I have been without internet service in the past month so your billing department can attempt to give me credit.

But all that isn't the point...the point is that in the corporate world, when a vendor cannot provide satisfactory continuous service, their contract is cancelled. Unfortunately with the cable companies' monopolies on regional service, this isn't possible. But believe me when I say that the Georgia Public Services Commission, Clark Howard, and the Channel 5 Investigation Team will be contacted in the next week and Comcast's incompetence will be taken public -- to all of metro Atlanta. It ain't gonna be pretty!

maybe you should let them trouble shoot and schedule a tech. if they offered a tech and you declined they are totally within regulations and requirements. it is not their fault you declined a tech call. sounds like you might need an amplifier for the signal or if you have a splitter that may need to be checked. at any rate, it's hard to help someone that doesn't accept any of the help you try to offer. there is only so much they can do from the call center and if a tech has to come out a second time then so be it. if the help is offered it is then up to you to accept or decline the help.

Reading is fundamental, but obviously intelligence isn't a requirement for comcast reps.

You ignored my comment: "By the time tech #6 this month gets out here,"...I wasn't being facetious. 5 techs HAVE been out here in the past month, and the most recent was this past Saturday (as I also stated). Believe it or not, I finally got a supervisor to listen to me and 2 higher level techs were out here this afternoon (as opposed to the appointment 1 week from now I was originally offered for tech #6). And finally somebody ran the signal diagnostics not only from the street, but all the way into the house. Naturally the signal was running fine, but they did pay attention to the fact that service had been down another 6 hours last night & a total of 4 hours since 5:30 this morning. They will be back out with a new modem in the morning to see if this could be the problem (even though a brand new modem was installed in April).

Finally some action other than, "we're sorry, the signal is fine now, there's nothing we can do." I'll keep y'all posted...

doesn't sound like a modem problem. but if the signal strength is even all the way from the pole to the house then maybe so. if that is true then how would you have intermittent drops in speed? seems strange.

It seems to me like the techs dont know what they are doing. If it has taken 7-8 tech visits to fix something they dont know what they are doing and need to be retrained. I mean anyone can read out of a book and know to plug the cord into the wall and the such. I have switched areas and now use RoadRunner as my ISP and its is by far better than Comcast in my opinion. And on top of that 80% of the time Bright House's reps are early and it doesnt take a week for them to see you. Bad customer service on the part of Comcast if you ask me.

they need to send out senior techs if this is an ongoing issue. that should become clear when they keep having the same trouble call for the same issue on the same account. it needs to be escalated to a senior tech.

Comcast high speed internet...
Well, it is not even high speed any more. It was some time ago because people found out about it and started using it, which is a good thing, however, Comcast is too cheap to add more nodes(a type of local computer that you connect to). It should not be more than 12 users per node for you to get the speed that they advertise and promise. In 2005 so far, it has been 18 to 24 people. As a matter affect, you get about 1.5 mega bits per second (mbps) instead what they advertise and promise (6 mbps). If a user switched to them from dial up, even this low speed is very fast for them so think they are getting what they were promised. Everybody please WAKE UP. Test your connecion speed; just type free internet speed test in google. If you have Comcast you have the most expensive internet service in the country (for household), dont you think you should get your money's worth?
In addition, Comcast is not number one in anything but hiring technicians who are nothing more than your average user; all they would know is how to power cycle your modem (fancy words for unplug and replug), restart your computer and ping your connection (ping is nothing more than sending test 4 test packages to your computer in DOS and see if they arrive or get lost and time average) In other words, if you have a problem, dont call them unless you want to waste your time. Search it on the internet and do it yourself. It will be faster and better.
Finally, until Comcast stops misleading consumers and overcharging them, and starts delivering what they promised to deliver, do not get COmcast high speed internet. If you are going to pay almost $50 a month (if you have comcast TV, without Comcast TV it will cost you almost $65 a month) for about 1.5 mbps, think again; get dsl for $29 for the same speed (1.5 mbps)

yes sure get dsl. we will see you back at comcast in a few months.

I had a Comcast sales representative come to my door at the beginning of June 2005. He convinced me to switch both my phone lines to Comcast and that I would save around $50 per month. I went ahead with the deal and I had service by the end of June.

The lines were loud, but I just lowered the volume on my phones and that was fine. My lines were supposed to be private, but when I called someone I would be caller id'd. I got my first bill and there was a setup fee of $30. On my contract, the salesman wrote right on it, "No setup fee". These were not big issues that I could get past. The big problem is that on July 3rd, my phone service was completely dead for over 24 hours. It then died again for 4 hours on August the 8th. By that time I was done with Comcast and I had called Verizon to take back my line. But they couldn't get that scheduled until August 16th.

I'm writing this today because yes, my phone lines are dead again on August the 11th. When you call them, they can't tell you really anything. They have no clue as to what is or isn’t working. They get a technician to call you back and schedule an appointment for the next day. Sometimes they call and sometimes they don’t. I've asked to talk to a supervisor three times now and it takes them 24-48 hours to call you back if they ever do. The last time I asked for a call back, I got a call back two days later. I was checking out at the grocery store and asked them to call me back in 5 minutes. It took them 10 minutes and I was not in a covered cell area so I missed the call. They left me a voice mail and the message was, "Please call the 800 number if you have any more questions". This company is a joke. They are so over loaded with service calls because they're phone technology is just like their Internet service... It SUCKS! You never know when you'll be without service, but it's just a matter of time before it goes out.

I put up with their Internet service for 5 years because they were the only Broadband company in my neighborhood. For the last 3 months I now have Verizon FIOS Internet Service and it hasn’t been down yet. I should have known better to switch my phones to Comcast. Knowing what I know today, if they were the only company providing phone service in my neighborhood, I wouldn’t have home phones. I would just simply switch to cell phones.

Comcast’s service is so unacceptable and so frustrating. I run a business out of my home, and I know for a fact that I've lost at least a couple of orders because I didn't answer my phone. Anyway, DON'T SWITCH TO COMCAST EVER or you'll be very sorry.

Please feel free to share your story with me. I’m making a new career of letting the public know about this. danvelez@verizon.net

1) if you are running a business out of your home you should be on business rate not residential rate, i know you were NOT on business rate because you were dealing with residential superviser/call center issues when a business customer has a marketing rep, plus you don't get business rate from a door to door, so from the beginning YOU were cheap and dishonest.

2) the supervisor called you twice, if it was so pressing and so important and so imperative you talk with a superviser then you would have taken the original call even though it may have been inconvenient, just how many times did you expect the sup to keep calling you? You got two chances to bitch and moan, you blew it.

3) if you talked to me and started that junk about your business losing money i would have IMMEDIATELY put you on a business rate. thank you and have a nice day. i also would have backdated it to the start of service and you would have been charged for the difference.

4) funny, you want us to play fair but you are dishonest. everyone always tries to get over.

5) the original issue with being charged the install fee, if you had a copy of the work order you could have driven to your local office, shown that to them, and guess what, that charge would have been taken off your bill.

Hey, if you are actual Comcast reps and techs on here, you need to know that your conduct on this board is completely unprofessional. I've worked in IT for years, as well as customer service in a previous life, and you don't slag on the customers or blame them for your problems, at least not publically. You can bitch about the customer over a beer with your coworker, but doing it here makes you look bad. I'm a customer of your service, and I pay your wages. If you talked to me like that, you'd be looking for another job, guarantee it.

Incidentally, the general level of customer service and technical competence at Comcast is the worst I've ever experienced in the business, hands down. I've never encountered such incompetence accompanied with a sense of nastiness from the employees. You can take that to heart, comcast rep and the rest, because it's your reputation, and you've earned it. Want people to say glowing things about your service? Then make some improvements, and stop blaming the customer.

I too have a Comcast story. I have had Comcast hdtv and cable internet since it was offered in Montgomery Co., MD. However, I have now been over 4 weeks without either. In mid July my internet went down, but still had cable. The following day, my cable box went down, but still had cable feed on the tv's without a box. I called for service and 3 days later someone came out (within the time promised) and replaced the box and fixed the issue with the signal to the modem. I'm not a techie, so I'm not even going to pretend to use the technical terms. Basically, he took the modem out, went up the pole, and somehow got a signal. Just as we were confirming that we could get on line and he was about to have the new box activated, all cable went out. He went out to the truck (I thought to make a call to find out if it was area wide or my line) and came back to say that they were working on the lines in the area. He left. The following day, there was still no cable. My neighbors all had signals. I again called for an appointment. The following week, another rep came out, tested something and said I needed a new drop line and to call to schedule an appointment. I did so, but one was not available for another two weeks (this past Monday). Now -- three days later, no one has shown up nor called. When I call the service desk, the reps tell me that we are on a list and that the tech has 30 days to appear and they can not give me an estimate of when that might occur. I have talked to some very rude and some very professional service reps; none have been able to help. Today I cancelled my service. They are able to come out tomorrow evening to pick up the box and modem. Having read this discussion, I'll make sure I get receipts and will be prepared to fight about my outage credits and final billing.

Like somebody else in this chain of posts, I find it hilarious that this post is from April of 2004 and here we are talking about the same ole shite a year and a half later.

Personally, I have never had any problems with CHSI. That's a good thing for me because I don't have another high speed option.

For TV, I'd always been a satisfied and loyal DirecTV customer. The one thing that bothers me about DirecTV is that their HD equipment, especially the DVR, is not affordable. So one day back in May, I get a brochure in my mailbox from a Comcast sales Rep... get digital cable, HD/DVR, 3 rooms, Free HBO, CHSI, $79.99 a month for the first year, $99.99 the second year. My combined bill for DirecTV and CHSI at the time was $120... so obviously I'm intrigued. That's $500 a year the first year and $250 the second year saved... $750 in my pocket.

Being a good DirecTV customer, I call them up and give them the lowdown. They try to keep me but they just can't match the offer. The guy at DTV actually told me that I would be sorry for switching... I passed it off as desperation from a retention person.

So I call up the salesman and get him to fax me a signed quote. It's all good, so I set it up.

That's when the fun started.

The installer comes out. I show him the layout and where all the DirecTV stuff converges in the middle of the house. He piddles around for an hour or so hooking everything up and running a new line to my daughter's room. We hook all the equipment up and... nothing. No TV signal. He says there is a line problem in the neighborhood... he makes a phone call... we get some reception, but it's snowy. No HD channels will come in. OnDemand doesn't work.

He makes another phone call and tells me that somebody will come out and fix the line on the next day.

Nobody ever showed up the next day, which was Sunday. Nobody shows up on Monday. I call Monday afternoon and talk to the only intelligent person I've ever talked to at Comcast TV... he credits my account for the balance that was on there and sets up a service call for the next day.

Tech comes out the next day and finds a problem in the line. He "fixes" it and leaves. I come home from work... no change.

By this time, I'm starting to get pissed. My wife tells me that I just need to forget it and tell them to hook the DirecTV back up. Not me. I will win. I start making phone calls on Wednesday and finally get a supervisor out. Turns out there was a bad splitter, a bad receiver, and a bad amplifier in the main cable line. So at 5 PM on Wednesday, 64 full hours after I was supposed to be up and running, I'm up and running.

So everything is cool, right?

Wrong.

My first bill seemed to be OK... it was well over $100 but it included a prorated first month and the full second month. I didnt' do the math... I just paid it.

I get my second bill... it's $12 too much. I call, they credit the $12, no problem. I had to talk to 2 supervisors to get it corrected, but it's no problem.

Then one night I am sitting around with my wife, two of my sisters in law (one is 15 years old) and my 13 year old niece. My kids (5 and 2) had been watching an OnDemand program that had ended. For those of you not familiar with OnDemand, the menu screen will sit there for 15 minutes before it times out and returns you to the program that you had been watching on Live TV. So 15 minutes after the program ended, it kicks off and goes back to live TV. We had been watching CMT before the OnDemand, so that's what we expected to see.

What we saw instead was....

PORN!

Yep, that's right... PPV quality porn. Now, I'm like any other red blooded male... a little porn isn't necessarily a bad thing... but not in front of my extended family, not in front of my teenaged relatives, and most definitely not in front of my children. I was mortified. I grabbed the remote and hit "info" and it tells me that I am watching CMT and "The Dukes of Hazzard". I try to change the channel... nothing. I had to turn the receiver off and turn it back on.

I immediately call customer service and explain this situation to the CSR that answers.

He actually asks me (and I kid you not), "Sir... do you expect me to believe this?"

My response: "Why in the world would I make this up?"

He promises me a call from a supervisor.

I get the call 8 days later.

EIGHT DAYS.

He tells me I need to swap out my DVR because it is defective. I ask him if they are going to give me any $$$$ consideration for my trouble. I get a big fat no. I tell him that I am seriously considering returning to DirecTV. He apologizes and says that he cant' do anything for me.

So I begin to consider a return to DirecTV. Then, last week, I get my bill.

It is $14 (not $12... $14!) more than it should be.

I call the billing department and they tell me that they cannot honor the salesperson's deal because they don't know how he came up with the price. I tell them that I have the fax right in front of me and that I will gladly fax it to them. They tell me that that isn't the issue. I call the salesperson. He isn't with Comcast anymore. I call billing back and talk to 2 supervisors. They offer to match it for the next 2 months but that's all.

I take the markdown and pay the bill. Today, I called DirecTV up and they told me they would be glad to reconnect me. They are coming in 10 days.

Thank God.

I have had AOL dial up for 8 years. So I thought I'd take a chance and join the 21st century and go high speed. Despite all the negative feedback I hear about Comcast, I'd thought I would try em since I already have them for cable TV. On August 25, tech # 1 comes out (a total ghetto thug type)spends 2 hours hooking us up for high speed. Wanders around outside our condo building, in and out, in and out, doesnt seem to know what he's doing. At last says our outside cables that he needs to get to are underground. August 27th, tech #2 comes out, hooks it all up again, modem still not working properly (only the "internet" light comes on and blinks) the tech lies by saying theres a problem with the cable lines and that the village has to look into it, but should be ok by Monday and that I should go ahead and install the software myself (even though I paid for the 'premium installation') It's Monday, I go to install the software and get error message saying cant get an internet connection. I wonder what lazy ghetto thug tech they're sending out tomorrow?

I had a Comcast high speed internet. The customer service sucks. It is the worst one I have ever dealt with. They keep increasing price without informing you. When you have a problem with the billing, they put you on wait and having round trips around for no resolution.

I am planning to move away from Comcast. Maybe moving to SBC DSL instead.

This is an actual letter I'm sending out today (9/1/2005)

Attention: Escalation Manager

In September of 2004 my family and I moved into our new home located at
1100 Rio Verde Dr. in Desoto Texas. This was a new subdivision in Desoto at the time and when we got settled in, I called Comcast for service only to find out that there was no service available since this was a new area. I understood perfectly. My alternative was to go with Satellite TV (much to my dismay).
As the time passed, I noticed workers in my area laying cable down. I then knew that the service would soon be available.
In March, June, and July of this year (2005) I got visits from 3 different salespeople attempting to sign me up for Comcast Digital Cable. Each time I informed them that I was under contract with Dish Network until September 2005 and I was unable to do anything until my contract was up. I admired and appreciated the zeal at which Comcast had to acquire new customers. I figured it would serve me well in the future when I did decide to get the service.
So, on August 11 (or around about), I logged on to the Comcast website and singed up for the digital service. (I was extremely excited to finally get the NFL Network, TV One, and The Dallas Cowboy Station. Something Dish didn’t offer). During the email communication exchange between a customer service agent and myself, we had come up with an installation date of August 17 between 8am and 11am. I took off work that day to be home. I waited and waited and no one ever showed up. When I got to work later that day, I called your customer service number (972-445-5555) and spoke to Sean at extension __________. Sean apologized for the inconvenience and offered a great deal for the trouble. The deal went as follows: 29.99 for the first 6 months, the 1st month for free, three rooms wired at no charge, and an addition cable box at no charge. This, to me, more than made up for the missed appointment by your installation Tech. Sean set the appointment for 8/29/2005 between 2pm and 5pm.
The installation Tech arrived at my home at 3:50pm to do his work. He started on the rooms that had no cable outlets. As stated before Sean set me up with three rooms free. When he got to the third room, he had trouble with the wiring. He then said to me (no joke) “I couldn’t get the third room, they’ll have to send someone else out better than me”. He then went on to tell me that the work order blew away in the wind so he had to generate a hand written order. WOW! Unbelievable! But that’s not the kicker. He showed up with nothing. Just basic cable. No digital boxes. Nothing. I didn’t switch from Dish for basic cable.
I came to the conclusion that because of the special price of 29.99 given from Sean there was some confusion on your part as to what was really offered. Because this price resembles basic cable, it was assumed that, that’s what I was getting.
So, I called back and spoke to Renyta at extension __________. I explained to her what happened and that I had left Sean 5 voicemails (non of which were returned). She appeared to be very concerned and again apologetic for the mix up. Because of the trouble I’d experienced thus far, she had an even better deal for me in the form of your “Dish by back” program. This consists of the Digital Gold package, 29.99 for the first year + two digital boxes (I found out later that only one box is included), and an HDTV box at no charge. This sounded great! Renyta then went on to explain that since the work order was still open she would try to get approval from her supervisor (who, by the way is never available to speak to. I question if they exist) to authorize what she called an “installation turn-a-round” (or something like that). This is where a technician is called back out to a residence to fix a problem. She said that her supervisor was in a “meeting” but she was there until 7pm and would be sure to get this matter resolved and call me back before she left. This was Tuesday at 3pm. Today is Thursday. I still have not heard from her. I’ve left her countless messages to no avail. Maybe she’s stuck in a time warp and doesn’t realize it’s two days later.
So, yesterday (8/31/2005) I called again and spoke to an unknown agent. I asked for a supervisor and once again was told that a supervisor was not available to talk to. I swear, you guys have agents on the phone with no supervision. That’s scary. Anyway, I explained to her what’s been going on and she had no answers for me. She asked me whom I spoke to and I told her Renyta at extension ________. She put me on hold to see if Renyta was available to speak to me. When she got back on the line she asked me to hold on and she would transfer me to Renyta. Not only did she not transfer me to right extension, but it was an extension without an identifying agent name. It was just an automated message by “Autex”.
So, I had to hang up, again, and call back.
This time, I spoke to another agent (who’s name escapes me at the moment). Once again I go through my spill. She then tells me that Renyta is good at what she does and apologizes for the inconvenience. She tells me that I was set for September 21st for a tech to come back out. So, Renyta set up a date without me knowing it. What if I had to work and was unable to take off. I didn’t even authorize a time.
So, this agent I’m speaking now says, “Hey Mr. Simpson, you don’t have to wait for tech to come out, you can go pick up your equipment and install it yourself”. I said “really”? She said “yes. Just go down to Dalton street in Desoto and tell them your there to pick up your stuff”. She said that she would give them notice that I would be coming. I got up and drove to Dalton Street (only 3 miles from my home). When I got there a very nonchalant individual informed me that I could not pick up anything because this was a “Dish By Back”. She said that the equipment had to be delivered to ensure that I was in good standing with the dish company.
So, I drove back home and called once again. This time I spoke to ___________. Once again she… you’re right! SHE APOLOGIZED. She said that the best she could do was an additional month free with an installation date of September 15 between 2 and 5. She said that she would be off the next couple of days and would return Sunday. She said she’d keep my info on her desk and call me Sunday when she returns to let me know if there was a cancellation.

This has been the worst experience I’ve had with a product/service company. I have a hard time believing that out of all your customers, I’m the only one that has experienced such gross negligence.

Maybe I can help you with your training and customer relations. There has been a serious breakdown in these areas with your company. I’ve been a call center consultant for the past 10 years and am currently a Manager at Brinks.

Because of my experience, I need immediate resolution. September 15th is just not good enough.

I would appreciate a call back regarding this matter although I don’t expect one.

Thank you for your attention

Troy Simpson

Cc. Becky Oliver
Fox 4News

P.S. This whole thing started on August 11, 2005. Are you telling me that the quickest I can get service is September 15, 2005 a month later? What about the two months free? When does that start? I hope you are as confused as I am.

Whew!!

I've been a comcast Digital Cable and Internet subscriber for the past 4 years, here in Seattle.

Have been EXTREMELY pleased with them the entire time.

Whenever I have an outage (which is very rare), I call them up, run through the quick "unplug the power from modem, reboot modem" and ask them for a bill credit for the day. They have never objected to doing so. And they have never required the outage to be @ a minimum of any amount of time (ie 24 hours). I have been 2 hours into an outage, and still been credited.

Some of you need to understand that the Support Rep on the other end of the phone is not paid to know everything about the technology. These 1st-tier reps are there primarily to weed out the 1,000's of idiot customers who call in for idiot-support issues. "I been done tried going to this webpage, but it ain't not workin - all I see is a black screen" --(turns out the monitor is switched off)

I have never experienced such horrible customer service. Four promised call-backs, none of which were ever made. Typos in their database (my modem's MAC address) caused my modem to miss their connection file update and the service to cease. Had to explain this to four different techs who didn't understand that my ability to ping my DHCP server indicates that I do not have a break in the cable connection (I doubt any of them had even an A+ or Network+ certification).

All this in addition to enormous billing screw-ups which took me four additional phone calls to resolve (finally receiving several months for free).

I hate Comcast. I am now using Verizon DSL and love it.

The comments by the Comcast employees prove my point! Unprofessional people who've probably never held a serious IT job in their lives. Anyhow, they should have understood when being hired that their jobs involved working with angry customers. If they don't like it, they should find new jobs.a

Cameron, what you fail to realize is that these people who are complaining are not idiots, nor do they expect phone reps to solve technical problems. What they are is frustrated people who have endless and useless service calls, or service people who simply don't show up, incorrect charges on their accounts, and many conversations with ill-mannered phone "technicians." They are fed up with the ongoing, neverending drama that they can't avoid, because this company has no competition. Not everyone can benefit from satellite, and are stuck with this situation. I deal with other large companies who do provide excellent customer service, and they are rewarded with my loyalty, because they know they have competition I could go to if they sucked this much.

Comcast technicicians are worthless. Maybe not every single one, but every one I have every met. I have been called out to peoples homes WHILE the Comcast tech was on-site and could not figure out how to setup the cable modem. For instance the otherday, I got a call for a customer that said "Comcast is at my house and cannot find the MAC address for my modem." Fair enough it should be on the bottom but the sticker was removed, So I informed him and the tech on the phone to simply plug the modem in anyway and then open IE and type the following 192.168.100.1 to access the Cable Modems gui.

Not to hard, but when a company is sending "Technicians" into peoples homes to mess with their computers you would hope that the people they send are Trained.

Today I spoke with a Comcast tech for my own issue of my speeds being at ISDN rates, I posted the results from my cable modem to the tech and I was told that those results were from my router. I again posted the results and then preceded to say "Wait, those are from my blender."

I agree that people do not treat resources fairly in all situations, BUT, when you have people working on issues that they have the least clue about you must think to yourself.. Do I really need to be a customer?
As I recently moved and had my Comcast transfered, a bill for 1week exceeded 115.00 due to another setup of 99.99!!!

I am cancelling the service and going to DSL, atleast with the local telco here you can expect shotty service and poor quality and not to mention they don't use the smoke and mirror tactics that some Cable Companies I know of.

One more thing, About the "Comcast Reps/CSR's" that have posted here.. Do you think people are calling you because they are happy?

Wrong, I had a similar position with a much better company handling the escalations, and let me give you a hint... THEY DIDN'T CALL US BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO SAY HELLO!

If you are in the biz of dealing with people and representing a company, may I suggest you fully understand your position and the ramifications of your rants and bad mouthing the end user here..

Do you really think that your logs are annon? Wrong, and I am sure that the owner of this blog could at anytime send in your comments and IP addys and MUCH more identifying info to support the customers claims of the service that they are infact having to deal with.

Want to get Comcast's attention? Mention FIOS. It's their worst nightmare. Just waiting for the fiber to be run in my area - should be in the next few months, as the surrounding areas are already getting get up.

HA i work for comcast aswell and i agree with both the customers and the employee's. comcast does what it can to provide you with service, and free re-wiring so dont be ungrateful! i mean when we are trying to trouble shoot with you on your computer, or powe cycling your modem, DO IT! dont tell us you did when you havnt, we CAN see how long your modem has been online, so to the people who leave it on for 300 days then tell me that you havnt had service for over a week! YOUR A LIAR! just do what we ask and you will most likly get online. true not everything works but we do what we can to help you out so dont call in and yell at us for being stupid when your the one who doesnt know how to hit your standby button.
but for the customers, i understand that your frustrated when you go to get online in the morning and your service is down. and im sorry that when you call in there may not be a same day appointment, just please take the next day and be happy with that. it wont kill you to be without service for a day. and we DO have a little thing called credit... i say little because it is kind of small, but at least its somthing.
as for our company programs! THEY SUCK! on a good day they are awesome because we go through the day helping EVERYONE the best we can. but on a when there are people in outages, our service slows down and systems crash. so please dont call in every 5 min to find out how far along its going, WE DONT REALLY KNOW! the only people who really know are the technici