Some companies have bad reputations. Often times those reputations come as a result of a few very vocal customer’s opinions or a few poorly trained customer service reps actions and are not a reflection of the company as a whole or their values. Other times, their poor reputations are earned.
At some point, I think Comcast VPs sat around a table and wrote into their company manifesto, “Thou shall not satisfy the customer at the expense of company profit”, and made it the centerpiece of how they interact with customers. When you run a near monopoly in the markets you are in, you can often get away with that type of policy.
I wanted to share a chat transcript from a chat that I had yesterday with a Comcast rep that illustrates my point.
The Comcast On Demand Story
Late one Saturday evening (a few years ago now), I decided to watch The Wrestler (great movie, btw) with my wife through Comcast’s On Demand service. If you’re not familiar, it’s basically a way to pay to watch newer movie releases through your cable box. The rental cost $2.99 for that movie.
We press ‘buy’ to watch the movie, and 2 seconds into the opening credits the program freezes. It won’t restart, so we give up and watch something else.
One day later, we try again. Risky, I know. But, this time, it worked.
I had a hunch I might get billed twice, even though the first time didn’t work (side note: it’s kind of ridiculous that you would have to pay twice to watch the same movie one day apart).
I get my bill for that month a few days ago. I’m charged twice for the same movie. I decided to chat in to get one of the charges credited to my account.
A Few Caveats & Lessons
- This isn’t the first experience like this I’ve had with Comcast. A few months ago I upgraded my broadband speed. For some reason, the higher speeds didn’t kick in for 10 days, but I was charged for the upgraded speeds from day one (I was using a bandwidth tester daily to verify this). The rep. didn’t issue a credit until I threatened to cancel my service because, in his words: “you still had service”. Comcast also has a history of charging surprise modem rental fees and consistently raising their rates.
- I went in to the chat not looking for a fight and things started off nice and pleasant (I recommend this as the best way to initially approach customer service reps.). When it was clear a nice guy approach wouldn’t work against their customer service policy, that’s when I had to harden up a bit. Issuing a $2.99 credit doesn’t look good for a rep., but having a customer cancel their service and giving you a poor survey REALLY looks bad.
- As I mention in the chat, $2.99 wasn’t the issue. It was the principle that they would not issue a credit when their service did not work as it should have.
- You always have the power, as a customer, to leave. Don’t be afraid to use it, particularly if you are right about something and not getting what you are asking for.
- I have changed the reps name to protect their identity. I don’t like to see anyone get fired and since I’ve had similar experiences with Comcast, I believe this particular experience is a systematic Comcast issue, not a particular service rep. issue. And for that, I’ll change the rep’s name to “CR” (customer rep) to protect his anonymity (because I’m a nice guy).
The Comcast Chat
- G.E. > Hi, how are you CR?
- G.E. > CR, That’s a nice name.
- CR > I’m doing great today, G.E.. Thank you for asking.
- CR > How about you?
- G.E. > Not bad, have the day off work.
- CR > Hope you are doing fine today.
- G.E. > Question – on my latest bill, I had two charges for The Wrestler, On Demand
- CR > That’s good to know, G.E.
- G.E. > The first didn’t work, so when I went back, it charged me a second time.
- CR > My sincere apologies for the inconvenience.
- CR > No worries G.E., I will be glad take a look at your account to confirm all information and take care of your concerns regarding your Comcast bill now.
- G.E. > OK.
- CR > Thank you.
- CR > G.E., thank you for waiting.
- CR > If I may ask, were you able to contact us when the first Wrestler on Demand did not work?
- G.E. > No, I just went back in to it a second time b/c the first time didn’t work.
- G.E. > it worked the second time.
- CR > G.E., only we can consider removing the charge if you were able to contact us on the exact date that you found out that the show is not working.
- CR > G.E., are you still with me?
- G.E. > Hmm… I didn’t know about that contrived rule.
- G.E. > and I didn’t think I’d be charged in the first place since the movie never worked
- G.E. > why would I pay twice for the same movie knowingly?
- CR > I understand, G.E. however those shows were ordered on separate dates. If you were able to contact us, we can somehow consider removing the charge.
- G.E. > I am contacting you now to tell you.
- CR > I am referring on the date that the show did not work,
- CR > Since the charge is system generated.
- G.E. > The movie did not work. Your service did not deliver as promised, so I should not have to pay for it.
- G.E. > It’s only $2.99, but it’s a matter of principle.
- CR > G.E., i really understand how inconvenient it is spending out money. However, it was really not a problem considering a credit or removing the charge if it was brought to our knowledge the exact date of order and the show was not working.
- CR > If we take a look at it, today’s date is really beyond and is far from the date of the order.
- CR > Our system won’t even recognize that the show was not working since the order was successfully processed.
- G.E. > Look, I know you have the power to extend a courtesy credit. It should not matter what date this happened. This is poor customer service. If you do not extend a credit for this, I’m going to cancel my Comcast service right now. I’ll give you the choice.
- G.E. > Credit or Cancel. Up to you.
- G.E. > $2.99 credit, CR. Make it easy on yourself and do the right thing.
- CR > If this happened to be just a misapplied payment or something that is an error on Comcast side, then we’ll be gladly honor a credit on it.
- CR > But G.E., I do hope you understand that the order was made successfully and it’s already beyond or very far from the date the order was made. <G.E. Note: I had just received the monthly bill for these charges the day before I chatted in>
- G.E. > It does not matter what date this happened or when I am telling you about it.
- G.E. > OK, go ahead and cancel my service. I’m tired of Comcast’s poor customer service and I don’t want to give you guys any more of my money.
- G.E. > I’m also going to give this chat a poor rating when I’m done.
- CR > Alright, G.E. I know you are upset about this. I am glad we are able to clarify that if this thing happen again, we expect you to contact us in time.
- CR > I’m here to help you with this, G.E..
- CR > I know it is a risk for me, but, being a valued customer, I will take the risk to give you a credit this time.
- CR > How would you like it, G.E.?
- G.E. > Yes. That is what I’ve been asking for.
- CR > That’s alright, G.E. Let me do the process and I hope this would make you feel better.
- CR > G.E., thank you so much for patiently waiting online.
- CR > I have successfully processed an inconvenience credit on your account for $5.00
- G.E. > Thank you.
- CR > Just to set the right expectation, the credit will be posted on your account on the next billing cycle.
- CR > You are most welcome, G.E.,.
- CR > We always value you as our customer.
- CR > I hope this will make you feel better this time.
- CR > My sincere apologies for all the inconvenience.
- CR > G.E., I am glad we are able to clarify that if this thing happen again, we expect you to contact us in time.
- CR > Before we finish up, I’d like to just take a minute to review what we have done so far. We have resolved your concern by processing an inconvenience credit on your account to compensate with the Wrestler on Demand show which did not work on your initial order.
- CR > It was my pleasure to help you with your billing issue today, G.E.. Thank you for your patience. Do you have any other questions or concerns today?
My Message to Comcast
Comcast, I am assuming you don’t give a damn and probably won’t have someone comment here, but I wanted to extend a few points of feedback to you in hopes that this trickles up to someone who has the power to set customer service policy:
- Give your reps (even the outsourced 3rd party ones) the power to extend courtesy credits ESPECIALLY when the customer is right and <hold your breath to embrace this> even when the customer is wrong. That is how you create customer loyalty. Encourage your reps to do this – don’t make them feel threatened if they are to do so, that is bad policy. Do you really want to lose a customer who pays you over $1,000 a year for a $2.99 charge? Happy customers increase your profits and your brand value. Why is that so hard for you to figure out?
- Don’t insult your customer by telling your reps to make up B.S. excuses to not issue a credit like “you still had internet” (even though it wasn’t faster as you were paying for) or “you should have contacted us the day of” (even though it was at 9 PM on a Saturday evening and you were settling in for a bottle of wine and a movie with your wife, and even if you had contacted us, we probably wouldn’t have been able to do anything for you until your bill was issued anyways).
- Stop outsourcing your reps to third parties in other countries. CR’s real name was Russian and “i really understand how inconvenient it is spending out money” is not something compassionate Americans say. If you want your customers to have the best experience, give them the experience of talking to someone from their own country who isn’t thousands of miles away in a warehouse somewhere and bring those jobs home.
- Despite all of your TV messaging around how archaic AT&T’s service is, it no longer is. Everyone who has it raves about it and its speeds. And there are always streaming services to switch to. Even though you think people are attached to your cable wires, we are not. Now that you have competition, maybe it’s time that you tried the “happy customer” approach, no?
And another thing. Why not reward your loyal customers instead of making them do the every-6-month song and dance to negotiate a better rate? It’ll help you avoid switching costs for those customers who jump to another provider who has a nice shiny promotion like the ones you entice new customers with. And you get to keep them and their money. Something like $1 off your bill every month until you reach our new customer rate, for example. Run the numbers, factoring in lost revenue from customers who switch and come back and those who re-negotiate anyways. You might actually see improved profits BEFORE you delight your customers and have them want to spend more with you, stick around longer, and start to sing your praises and improve your brand value. A win-win with customers? Imagine the possibilities.
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I threw Comcast to the wolves a couple of months ago because of their arrogance and sheer BALLS to assume that no other choices are now available to common people beyond their rather pathetic service.
The last straw was when my prepaid phone had very few minutes left on it, the power went out and as we had put all of our eggs in Comcast’s basket? Our phone went dead also. Thus, no power, no phone service either. Living in the midwest, power goes out often during blizzards in the winter and horrendous storms in the spring and summer. Thus, we were STRANDED with no way to contact the outside world.
We finally made the switch BACK to AT&T and decided to order Direct TV. In other words, we put all of our financial eggs in AT&T’s basket and haven’t regretted it since!
One problem though, not really a problem but more a problem on the part of Comcast who somehow forgot that now FEDERAL LAW prohibits phone companies from keeping your phone number as if they own it and not the consumer!
Comcast WOULD NOT give AT&T the proper codes to use the phone number we have had for 25 years and they were just plain NASTY to me in refusing to do so in countless phone calls between Comcast’s customer service and myself.
AT&T gave us a temporary number and Comcast kept our phone number UNTIL I filed a complaint online with the FCC giving them all the gory details relating to what Comcast was doing in VIOLATION of FEDERAL LAW.
Miraculous! The FCC contacted me by phone and got more details. Comcast in Colorado called falling all over themselves apologizing for the “misunderstanding” and within a week I got my phone number BACK from Comcast with a credit for 50.00 to cover any misc charges that “may appear” on my final Comcast bill.
I will NEVER go back to Comcast again. AT&T and Direct TV have superb customer service and any skips in service are handled by polite ENGLISH SPEAKING PEOPLE who resolve any problems we’ve had PROMPTLY.
Well, I just had the lovely experience of Comcast telling my new phone provider it would take 14 days or so to release my phone number. Hmm, seems the FCC doesn’t agree.
But in the meantime, I was double billed for the month of November. It took me 3 chat sessions, about 12 emails after kicking those up to the VP of Cust. Service to untangle that. I had to go back and scan 6 months worth of bills and show them proof of payment before someone looked at a second screen on their terminals and understand they were wrong. Their excuse: The date the payment was posted. What?
So I cancelled them on 12/12/11. Next thing I know, I have a bill charging me up through end of January 2012. I started my email writing campaign again. After a week or two, I got a letter from one of their VPs of whatever, telling me he had reduced my bill (that is removed the bogus charges). I called him back, left voice mail — never heard from him again.
My next email demanded they send me a correct bill, remove the time period after I terminated Comcast, explain to me how they could get away with taking 2 weeks to release my number when the FCC clearly disagrees — no response from them. Shocker, eh?
So today, I get a dun from a collection agency. WTH? Seems now they want to charge me for their equipment which I had explained in every communication would be returned promptly upon my receipt of a corrected bill. I was frankly annoyed they couldn’t ship me an RMA tag to return their equipment since I had a broken right foot at the time and driving was out. Seems the CSR didn’t find much sympathy in his soul and simply said, they don’t do that anymore; I need to return the stuff.
Back to the collection — of course, I picked up the phone and called them one more flipping time. I had pulled up my bill online and was looking at the total while speaking to the guy. Now, he has a different total than is staring me in the face online and he didn’t have much explanation for the disparity in the two figures. But funny thing — after mentioning the “L” word (lawyer), my RMA tag is on its way to me.
But at this point, I am still considering the “L” word since they violated FCC rules, for one, and I’m not so sure they can just keep on treating customers in this manner. Any suggestions before I resort to the “L” word?
Thanks,
Tess
Nothing will change until you cancel Comcast. So cancel Comcast. Get another service or do without. Conquer the addiction. I mean everyone, just just G.E.
Have you ever been to your local Comcast office? It is like a methadone clinic. People are handing over their last pennies when they obviously don’t have enough money to get by.
Rick, unfortunately, I have been there. And you’re right… if there was a hell on earth, I’d imagine this would be it. They actually had bulletproof plastic windows that the customer reps were working from behind. Can you believe that?
Painfully funny stuff. Thanks for sharing!
I am a current Comcast user. This company provided very good service to me in CT, however I recently moved to AR. The service has been okay to say the least. My cable/internet/phone went out on Christmas Day, my service still has not been restored. We had a mild storm here and power was lost, however the power has been restored. I am currently staying at a well known hotel, I need internet service for my job. It was very interesting that the same hotel I am staying at has Comcast. The service went out here at the hotel last night, within 15-20 minutes of the service going out, the comcast repairmen were on onsight. The service was restored here at the hotel within 2 hours. I have checked my home yesterday and this morning and my service is still not working. I called Comcast and got some song and dance that they are working on my area. How is it that a major hotel gets service and results within 15-20 minutes, and residental customers are ignored. I would not recommend Comcast to anyone. They are terrible and unethical. You cannot tell me it takes 5 days to restore service. Would they wait 5 days for for their money?
I do not like comcast as I never had to use a modem box for the phone but since I got wireless internet and asked if I could get rid of the modem box if I cancelled my wireless internet and the guy that set it up told me if I got rid of the wireless internet I could give the modem box back and now they are telling me that I need it for the phone and I do not like that because my modem box keeps going off so I am fed up with comcast.
Comcast keeps sending me letters saying how horrible the other company’s service is, and telling me that I should switch…but I’ve been with Comcast for almost 2 years. It’s bad enough that I have to call every 4-6 months and threaten to leave so I can keep my lower rate extended to new customers, but couldn’t they take a 5 seconds to cross reference their customer database before sending me mail meant for non-customers? Way to make me feel special Comcast!
At least pretend like you care about your customers Comcast…er…Xfinity?
Yes, what is this Xfinity thing anyways?
If only it were that easy. I live in an area where service only exists from either Comcast or Frontier Communications. Believe it or not, Comcast is the better of the two, but I still wish I had more choices.
One time I didn’t negotiate a better rate after the end of the 6 month promo period for 2 months and I had to pay $100 for each month instead of $60 each. It’s ridiculous that they don’t reward your loyalty but instead try to raise your rates after the end of the promo period. I never did get refunded the difference despite trying a call to do so. B@stards!
I wish I could get them out of my life forever. I hate having to go through this circus every 6 months.
AT&T u-verse really is better than comcast. Yes I work for at&t but I have had both and would rather go without than go back to comcast. BTW if anyone wants to order an AT&T service call 877-u-ask-att (877-827-5288) and provide the referral code “ts4696”. This is a referral line and a customer service line in one.
Hi there, G.E.
I apologize for the trouble here and the poor experience we created for you. Please email our team with a link to this post and your account phone number. I would like to review your matter with leadership. Thank you for your feedback and allowing us the opportunity to check into this.
Regarding your points above, I would like to provide some answers for you.
1 – Our agents do have the ability to extend credit, even 3-rd party agents. While there are limits, depending on your capacity within the company, there should not have been an issue regarding $2.99 refund for a duplicate PPV within the same few days. I would like to check into that specifically as I agree, this was not the best way to assist.
2 – This should not have happened either. While we do encourage customers to report issues while they are happening, that should have only been a suggestion as an alternate way to report a problem.
3 – I apologize for the language barrier. We strive to provide the best customer service. I can see how this enhanced your frustration.
4 – Thank you again for your feedback. Please email our team at the address below. I would really like the opportunity to review your concerns and your feedback with the leadership team. I would also like the opportunity to show you a better side of Comcast.
Kind Regards,
Melissa Mendoza
Social Media Specialist
National Customer Operations
We_Can_Help@comcast.com
@ComcastMelissa
Hi Melissa – thanks for stopping by and representing Comcast. You can reach me directly via the contact form on this site if you wish, but I don’t know that I have much more feedback than I’ve already given. You can forward my post in its entirety to the leadership team if you think they would be interested. I’ll also echo what other readers have said here:
G.E., be very careful. They overbilled me and when I complained, they said I will get a credit the following month which never materialised. But I have been too busy to fight them a second time for $8…
Customer Service is real bad…
P.S. (In the early part of your blog post, it should say “Thou shall…” and not “Though shall…”
Cheers!
Good catch. And yes, I will be keeping a close eye on my next bill.
I get the feeling that Melissa was just here for drive-by damage control, but in case this does trickle up, I have one more piece of feedback to Comcast, that I added into the post:
Why not reward your loyal customers instead of making them do the every-6-month song and dance to negotiate a better rate? It’ll help you avoid switching costs for those customers who jump to another provider who has a nice shiny promotion like the ones you entice new customers with. And you get to keep them and their money. Something like $1 off your bill every month until you reach our new customer rate, for example. Run the numbers, factoring in lost revenue from customers who switch and come back and those who re-negotiate anyways. You might actually see improved profits BEFORE you delight your customers and have them want to spend more with you, stick around longer, and start to sing your praises and improve your brand value. A win-win with customers? Imagine the possibilities.
Wow! Is was in a similar situation 3 weeks ago when I rented a movie for the first time from Redbox. I mistakenly checked out a movie and forgot to enter a promo code (which I had on me). So as the movie was dispensed, I immediately returned it back into the machine, and checked it out again (but now with the proper promo code).
Lo and behold, when I got the bill yesterday, it had multiple charges. I immediately called up Redbox and they gave me a credit without any fight……as the representative was able to see the exact times the same movie was dispensed (in my case twice).
G.E. let me preface this by saying that comcast does have a reputation for poor customer service and incidents like this don’t happen in a vacuum, but I think there’s something to be said for comcast here. I think they have a reasonable expectation to be notified when their service isn’t working.
Now the last thing any of us want to do on a saturday evening is spend it on the phone with customer service. However, come monday morning sending them an email and notifying them that there was a problem when you ordered the movie and you expect to not be charged or a refund on the charge itself as just compensation would go a long way in resolving an issue like this. First it provides documentation for yourself and second it brings forward problems with your service close to the time of occurance rather than a month later.
I would like to hear your thoughts on the duties of comcast to their subscribers as well as the subscribers responsibility to comcast in the event of a breakdown in service. While you are justly entitled to a refund for deffective service, isn’t it your due dilligence to notify comcast of deffective service in a timely manner? Now that also brings up what do you consider to be the correct timeframe for this?
Oh that comment sounded like a Ward Cleaver “responsibility” lecture to the Beav now didn’t it?
The customer’s “responsibility” to Comcast or any other service is to pay his or her bill every month and enjoy the product offered as advertised.
Period. Stop. End of lecture Ward……
If a customer who is in good standing screws up and doesn’t “perform” as expected by Comcast the last thing they should do is argue over 2.99 for a movie that indeed appears on the customer’s bill twice on consecutive days don’t ya think?
Since when does a company have the “right” to lecture their customers as if they are serfs in some kingdom ruled by King Comcast????
I suppose it should be noted that I don’t work for comcast, and in a field so far removed from telecommunications it’s laughable.
You are correct, if you pay your monthly bill you should get the service you pay for, but my question stands. As a participant in a contract with comcast for cable services, what is your responsibility to comcast when the service doesn’t work? and what is an acceptable timeline for communication?
Comcast was in the wrong and G.E. deserved restitution for the services he was charged for but did not receive. It seems to me that notification closer to the time when this happened could have saved significant time and headache as well.
Hi Dayle,
Due to the hideous recession that just won’t end, I was forced to take a job with Comcast. I would say being lectured like a serf is much better than being forced by Comcast to endure being called a f**king c**t and other assorted delightful names without being able to, under ANY circumstance, disconnect the lovely customer. Due to the survey, I find myself constantly giving tyrants free service and credits they do not deserve. I cannot even tell a customer who has written five bad checks in one month that they need to start paying their bills with real money. You don’t get real service and help because the reps are scared sh**less of the power some of the worst customers yield-you can lose your job even if you were polite, professional, and did your job correctly if one jerk gives you a zero because you refused to reconnnect an account that is 120 days past due. Yes, Comcast does suck.
Yes Dayle. Comcast does suck but it sounds as if being a customer who is too nice or shy to talk w/ Comcast, sucks more.
In this world it seems like the nice ones or the middle class gets screwed the most. Apparently no more evident than w/ Comcast.
I’m so sorry to hear you’re subjected to such foul abuse Fiona . . . It’s disturbing to hear that Comcast will not back their reps when customers get ugly. They should have you immediately forward the call to a senior rep (not that anyone should have to listen to a foul-mouthed abuser).
I’m so glad that Melissa from Comcast is so concerned! Perhaps she’d like to invite the rest of us to share our Comcast customer service horror stories so they can all be discussed with leadership, too. Oh wait, I don’t have a popular blog to publish my experiences on so they probably don’t care.
For the record, I never received a follow up email. So, we’re in the same boat.
Wouldn’t it be funny if they never got back to you? Proving your point for you! :)
Boo hoo, Mary. If you’re not valuable, nobody cares. Welcome to how the world works.
Comcast is exactly the commercial where customer service is mentioned and the whole table of executives starts laughing
uncontrollably. Verizon hires nasty tempered slow thinking
(mostly black women because they think they are more intimidating)
customer service reps to frustrate their customers into giving
up and not calling to complain. This is after they run you around
for 10-15 minutes on hold listening to their recorded BS.
Verizon and Comcast have no customer service.It is called “Customer Disservice” Hear me laughing? They are the two worst in the world with AOL very close behind. AOL service is somewhere in India and they talk to you by repeating what you say to them about ten times. They know nothing. Do nothing.
None of the above know apple butter from animal crackers about
customer service. I have gotten to where I like to drive them
crazy with logic and sarcasim until they scream at me. The Indians
won’t hang up. They just go silent. I once waited 5 minutes before
saying well Shasi it’s your turn to speak!
I can understand your frustration with customer service, but what is with all racial comments?
Sure is fun being a while man, eh? Grow up and save the bigotry for your softball team.
Uh…I agree about the racial comments and all, but your assuming that Tony is a WHITE man is stereotyping too. An Asian or Hispanic man could have said the exact same things that he said, and yes, – there are Asian and Hispanic men named “Tony”.
MY NAME IS MARGIE MARTINEZ FROM CLOVIS CA. AND ON FEB OF 2011 I STARTED SERVICE WITH COMCAST. MY HUSBAND LUIS MOJICA STARTED SERVICE ONLINE. ONE OF THE FIRST PROBLEM THAT HAPPEND WAS THERE WAS NOT TO BE NO ACTIVATION OR INSTALATION FEE FOR 3 ROOM, WHEN THEY CAME TO MY HOME THEY WHERE CHARGING ME 19.95 PER ROOM,. I SAID HELL NO!!! THE SERVICE TECH STATED WE COULD GO DOWN TOO OUR LOCAL OFFICE AND PICK UP THE 2 EXTRA BOX WITH NO PROBLEM. AND RUN THE CABLE OURSELF. IN THE FRESNO AREA THE HAVE A VERY LIMITED CITY WIDE BUS SERVICE AND SINCE WE DONT HAVE A CAR WE HAVE TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR A RIDE. AND SINCE COMCAST ALWAYES HAS PROBLEM THE LINES TO MAKE PAYMENTES FOR PICK UP EQUIPEMENT IS ALWAYS OUT THE DOOR. SO I MY HUSBAND WAITS IN LINE FOR ABOUT 45 MIN, AT THE SAME TIME I TRY TO USE THE KIOSK TO MAKE A 100 DOLLAR PAYMENT AND IT WOULD NOT WORK. ABOUT MY 8TH DALL TO CUSTOMER SERVICE A YOUNGE LADY FOUND OUT THAT SOMEONE PUT IN THE PHONE NUMBER WRONG SO EVERY TIME I CALLED CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAD S LONGER WAIT BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT FIND MY ACCT DUE TOO THE FACT THE [HONE NUMBER WAS WRONG. WHEN IT WAS LUIS TURN ALL THE SPENT IN LINE WAS IN VAIN. THE CSR WOULD NOT GIVE US THE 2 OTHER BOXES.
WE GO HOME AND MADE ANOTHER APPT. AT NO CHARGE THEY COME OUT THE NEXT DAY AND TRUED TO CHARGE NOW 15.99 PER ROOM. NO WAY I SAID I CAN NOT AFFORD THAT COST. AGAIN THE TECH STATED THAT WE COULD PICKU[ THE BOXES AT THE OFFICE. SURE YOU CAN I REPLYED I’M NOT FALLNG FOR THAT ONE AGAIN. SO THS TIME LUIS CALLED AND A REP SENT USE 2 BOXES AT NO CHARGE NEXT DAY AIR. TOOK 3 DAYS TOO RECEIVE THEN ON MY BILL THE CHARGED ME NEXT DAY AIR. IT TOOK ME 4 MONTHES TO RECEIVE A WIRELESS MON. THAT ONLY WORKED 1 WEEK, COMCAST MADE A APPT. WITH USE DID NOT SHOW UP, I CALL THEM 2 DAYS LATTER AND THE REP FIRST STATED THAT THE TECH WAS TIRED AND CANCEL THE APPT. BY THE END ON THE CALL HE TURNED THING AROUND AND SAID I CALLED IN AND CANCEL THE APPT. WHEN I ASKED FOR THE 20 DOLLARES FOR MISSING A APPT. CALLED ME A LAIR AND ONLY GAVE ME 10 DOLLARS CRT. WE WERE WAITING FOR A MODEM AND ONLY RECEIVED A EMPTY BOX WITH A RETURN LABEL IN IT. ONE TIME I MADE A PAYMENT ON THE PHONE BY CC AND RECEIVED A CONFERMATION NUMBER FOR MY PAYMENT THEN RECEIVE A LETTER SAYING MY SERVICE WAS GOING TO BE TURNED OFF CALLED IN TOO COMCAST AND THEY HAD TO RECORD OF A PAYMENT THEN GAVE THE CSR ALL MY INFORMATION ABOUT MY CC PAYMENT CC NUMBER AND MADE A REPORT ON THAT CALL I ASKED CSR ABOUT THE GIFT CARD AND I COULD MAKE A NOTHER PAYMENT SO I COULD RECEIVE THE GIRT CARD WITHOUT NO PROBLEM. JUST TO FIND OUT THE WE DID NOT HAVE A CONTRACT FOR THE 3 BUNDLE SERVICE AND COULD NOT RECEIVE THE GIFT CARD. I HAD TO FIND OUT THE COMCAST NEVER PULLED OUT MY MONEY FROM MY CCARD. SO THIS MADE ME TOO MONTHS BEFIND I CALL CSR TO NOT ACCT ABOUT I WOULD MAKE A PAYMENT ON THE FIRST OF THE MONTH. CSR NEVER NOTED ACCT AND STATED WE WOULD NOT RECEIVE AND GIFT CARD AND COULD NOT SIGN ME UP FOR THE BUNBLE PACK SO I COULD GET THEM SHE SAID THERE WERE NO PROMOS AND THAT THERE WERE NONE COMING OUT AT THIS TIME. SORRY BUST GET THIS MY HUSBARD CALLED THE NEXT DAY I SIGNED UP FOR A PROMO. NOW IM WRITING THE LETTER BECAUSE MY SERVICE IS GOING TOO BE TURN OFF. I NOT SURE IF I AM GOING TO PAY MY BILL OR JUST RECEIVE SERVICE FROM AT@T GOOD LUCK WITH YOU COMPANY.
THANK YOU
MARGIE MARTINEZ
CLOVIS CA
Oh my! I read all of the posts here for this site. I do apologize for all of the inconvenience that you guys had experience with Comcast. I tell you, it is not with Comcast that is at fault here but it is the CSR themselves scared for the metrics of the work that they have.
The surveys do mean a lot for the CSR however, they are too limited to have these “requests” be fulfilled. All of which they are able to do is submit a request that is subject to a review by their supervisors at hand.
It is not Comcast’s fault but it is with the CSR people.
Comcast has gotten so bad for the last few years, it is hard to describe. Customers service is not only “not too bright”, they are stupid. Apparently, Comcast runs customer service from another country, and people who answer are totally not trained to do their job. They can’t comprehend more then what is on the paper in front of them. They barely speak English and often misunderstand things.
Comcast Customer service is horrible. My Internet is not working I had a technician scheduled to come to my house between 1 PM and 3 PM and it’s 6:30 PM and no one at Comcast can tell me if they’re coming or not. All they can do is transfer my call to a supervisor and after waiting on hold for 45 minutes line disconnects. It happened to me twice today. Waited on hold for 45 minutes and nothing. I don’t know what to do at this point. I hate Comcast.
This was an awful experience. My Mac was having problems connecting to the NET. A Comcast technician came out and could not fix it. Two techies from the University I work for came out and could not find why PCs could connect to my modem and their Macs could not. We called Comcast WiFi support and were told we only had a remote techie to help. There is an incompatibility with their modem. They need so send a person who can deal with problems between compatibility with new macs and their modem. I DO NOT appreciate a rude customer service rep.
I enjoyed reading about your hassle over a $2.99 pay per view charge. It is amazing. I bet they are hoping you won’t ever call them again. I think that is why they hassled you. It saves them money if you never call them so they make it painful to you.
I understand what you went trough, but there is no need to go against the Cust Rep just because of poor comcast cusgtomer guarantees. I work at a call center for Comcast, and sometimes the customers are mad with us (Customer Representatives) because of Comcast policies, like if we were able to change them. And now you should at least say thank you and good bye, because probably this guy lost his job because of quality policies.
Customer service is still poor. Comcast installed all new cable boxes for the apartment complex I live in. Shortly after, I noticed interruptions in my phone and Internet, but they would last for only a minute or so at a time. Modem resets appeared to work, and working in the tech field I know sometimes modems just freak out. However, the problem got progressively worse until I was losing service every 10-15 minutes for 5+ minutes at a time. I called Comcast on a weekend and through a considerable language barrier with an Indian gentleman I managed to explain the problem and that it had started with the installation of the new cable boxes outside the complex. The rep insisted I reset my modem, which I assured him I had already been doing, then when service came back on he said the problem was resolved and closed the ticket. Five minutes later the phone and Internet went out again. As it was past 9p by then, I resolved to call them the next day.
I called bright and early the following morning (7a) and re-explained the problem and the likely cause. The rep set up an appointment that day and the repairman showed on time. After me explaining AGAIN the probable cause to him, he assured me the outside boxes are fine, knocked around my apartment for 15 minutes then told me the wires to the modem needed to be tightened. I don’t think so. I checked them the night before and they were fine. However, since the service was back on again and he seemed in a rush to go, I let him leave. Aaannnddd…my service went out again within 10 minutes. I called Comcast once more, explaining their technician did not fix the problem and someone needed to come back ASAP and fix the issue: the outside cable boxes. I was told no one could get there again that day. I politely told the rep I had missed enough work that day and could not miss another day waiting for another tech, especially when the first one had failed to fix the problem. I was finally told they would have someone out within the hour.
Two hours later I received a call from Comcast; the repair guy was running “very late” and they didn’t know if they could get anyone to me that day. I reiterated–this time a little more firmly–that someone needed to fix the problem THAT DAY or send me a check for my normal salary for the days I was missing work waiting for someone to fix my service. I was told someone would show up…she hoped. Then she hung up.
I called back immediately and was told the repairmen were on the property as I spoke. I looked out to see 2 Comcast trucks and 3 repairmen. What were they doing? Fixing the service problems with the newly installed cable box outside. Service came back on and stayed on after they left, but “I tightened the wires” guy had already made me so angry I was fit to be tied. I have yet to call them today (and they never called me back to ask if my service was restored, etc.), but I definitely need to follow up and ask them when my refund for their faulty wiring is coming. I don’t curse reps and I don’t call them names, but I do expect the service I pay for to be available 24/7 unless there is a published reason for it to be out. I also expect good customer service; obviously that is a dying art form. Since I work for lawyers, I shouldn’t have to push much to get someone to listen. Comcast is infuriating.
I can concur after spending two days and on long car trip for naught when trying to hook up the new Comcast cable modem. I have an existing Mac airport network and it is necessary to use a network with repeaters in adobe buildings as they block the signal. After spending 3 hours on the phone trying to connect, no luck. They were nice and polite but entirely unhelpful. I call today and a service rep says, oh that modem won’t work with an airport network. Go down to the service center (24 miles away) and get a different modem. When I got the the service center, the woman behind the desk laughed and said, we haven’t had that modem for 6 months. She said I could go buy a modem that did not have built in wifi. Great but how do I get the 2 day back? And trying to call them to get to Xfinity is a nightmare of dropped calls, rerouting through their computer system and having to give the same information over and over again. We have no other service provider in the state of New Mexico other than satellite that none of my neighbors can get to work properly. I would use any other provider.
comcast service sucks, comcast technicians they do unprofessional work just worrying about getting to people’s house and do shitty job and get out, because simply they don’t get paid enough .
It took me over a month with 5 different so called installers came and left without doing a dam thing and i had to stay out of work waiting for them 5 different days to show up and either had not enough time for the job or irresponsible, being lazy .
i have been so aggravated with comcast service in the past 4-5 weeks.
spoke with customer no service many times, and every time start from the beginning and being promissed that the next installers will do the job.
shame on you comcast and truly shame on you .
I just spent 18 minutes on hold to end up talking to someone in Mexico with a thick accent who refused to go off script. I am having continuous problems with the “new” modem Comcast talked me into. It constantly pops up the Comcast setup window when I open a new tab, or just drops connection altogether. I end up having to unplug and power up the modem, which cycles in about 15 minutes, to get a connection. I’m done with Comcast. They charge us almost $250 for what I consider basic cable channels (we don’t even get BBC!) and phone service. I don’t need a land line, so I’m throwing Comcast out! I have DirecTV on my boat, in my RV, and at my cabin. I’ll just add our home to my DirecTV account, and use my AT&T cellular data card for internet. Comcast, take your “XFinity” and shove it!
Loving it! To the point, in black & white, without the (in between) to ponder and nothing left out. So why are their still so many dissatisfied customers singing the same tune? Comcast, hasn’t this gone on to long?
***Pray to God for not having you in condition when you have to call them.
Till the time your service is working fin, you are happy once you trapped in their customer care, your life become hell.
they always provide you wrong information and your problem never get resolved with them. I HAVE TO CALL 20 TIMES EVEN THEY COULDN’T RESOLVE MY BILLING QUESTION.
after 5 request their SUPERVISOR never gave me call.
it started my move to new location.
1) they shipped all the equipment, while i had my nodem and setup box.
2) my online acc was closed; while some one told me to setup payment for new location in the old acc.
3) i have to call again to resolve this issue spending hours.
4) i was asked to use new one, including their modem while i had my own.
5) i started using their modem then after 3 month while i gifted my modem and router to someone, they send me a letter that we are now going to charge you, while no one told me that earlier. and asked me to use their modem.
6) to resolve thsi bill issue i have to call them atleast 5 times.
7) i requested supervisor to call me but it didn’t happen after on hold 3-4 times.
8) they can morph the online feedback option, if they couldn’t resolve the issue you will never get automated call even after choosing that option.
9) today i am again tried but result is, i have to buy new modem and router and drop off their…… let see it will be resolve the issue or not.
Comcast customer service is terrible. They should save the money and stop even trying to provide customer support. It’s outsourced anyway and they’re terrible, so save stockholders money and admit you don’t care.
My Internet service droops every Saturday. When I call to complain and request they log an outage, they try and get me to reboot my modem and power cycle everything and they go out of their way to try and convince me its my fault. They are awful.
If I didn’t need the bandwidth and higher throughout speeds, I’d drop them in a minute.
I came across this post by chance. Because the date is very recent I felt compelled to reply. First, i wanted to say that I am a Comcast employee and have been there for about a year and six months. Second, I would be happy to fix anyone that reads this post that is located in the West division (California, Colorado, Texas, Washington, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona). I work in the loyalty dept and take pride in fixing customer issues that are within reason. Now, paying for a service that does “NOT” work is a no brainer and should of been credited immediately. I cannot speak for everyone at Comcast, but i can speak for myself and my team. We always try our best to do whats best for the customer. To me there is no grey area between right and wrong. It’s clear cut. If anyone reading this lives in a state listed above and has not had there issue resolved i would be more than happy to address those issues to improve the overall service with my company. Please let me know if you have any issues going forward G.E. and I’ll be happy to help.
Thank you,
David Spiker
Comcast Loyalty Dept.
I have had one of the worst customer service experiences with Comcast. I have a new construction home on a brand new block. I had three technicians visit, I spoke with 2 supervisors, and a handful of customer service representatives. Each one told me a different story and assured me I was scheduled for the proper work to be done. Each technician promised they would relay the issues to dispatch and their managers. Not one person followed up. I was even lied two three times when an appointment was scheduled for the work and then no one showed up. When I called to inquire, they would tell me the appointment was the following day. The customer reps did this to me three time. I spent a total of 4 hours in a span of a week trying to get service hooked up to my home. I told everyone I spoke with exactly what was needed and not one person could schedule the proper department at Comcast to come service my house. I needed Comcast construction to create an underground box so that our block would have somewhere for your installation technician to pull a signal from. All three technicians gave me the same feedback and then told me that customer service does not know what they are doing. Not one person was accountable. My service was never completed because I could not get a customer service rep to connect with the technician who was accurately assessing what needed to be done. I was at a loss for what to do to get someone to understand and follow through. I cancelled my Comcast account service and scheduled Verizon to install internet next week. They should be ashamed of their internal procedures that allow customers to be treated so poorly. Comcast is by far one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with.
It would be great if every comment was dated . . . if everyone would add the date it would be easier to track. We’ve been considering Comcast but these stories are horrendous and have had us staying with AT&T.
I am also having a very poor and slow internet service (supposed to be 25 mb) for the past 3 years with Comcast but the problem is Comcast is the ONLY internet service provider in my town.
I own my modem (Arris SBG6580), is there a way to get Comcast to fix this?
Good to know that not only is Comcast customer service less than desired but that you’re not getting the 25 mbs you’re supposed to be getting. I think I’ll sit tight with AT&T . . . thanks 8/21/17
Comcast. Ha! before coming here I went to their website for information. Not helpful. For example, it says that our two local Comcast offices are CLOSED and open at 9 a.m. Guess what Comcast? It’s 11:15 a.m.! Then I tried using the online chat option. “What are you contacting us about?” answer: Xfinity television. “Please choose from the following problems: “picture, sound, funny smell”. Okay, I made the last bit up, but my point is that the “chat” option severely limits what the discussion can be about. Then I called and waited….waited….waited….
This is why I am trying to contact you Comcast/Xfinity/Black Hole: I called you over a month ago to complain. We pay for movie channels and increasingly, have to sit through FIFTEEN TO TWENTY COMMERCIALS at a time watching some of them. The nice rep who spoke with me said she felt my pain and that SHE WOULD ISSUE US A CREDIT! Great! What a nice thing to do! Except….Uh….when?
I just called because my rate jumped $30 a month. “Tiffany in Retention was quite RUDE. I am still looking for an alternative. Will replace my docsis 3.0 next.
Now Comcast service does have some issues but would you call a steak house 2 months later saying your tone was over cooked and want your money back? Movies bill when you hit buy not at final credits. You never gave them a chance to fix problem that night and assumed you were in the right. This one is on you!
posted 05-19-2018:
My sister had Xfinity for awhile. She’d ordered a “free TV package bundle” for a month with her contract free internet. She noticed that they didn’t add the TV package when they hooked up her internet. She called and told them that the promised “Free TV package” hadn’t come.
Somehow, during this conversation, the agent she spoke with signed her up for a 2 year contract. (She never did get the free TV package.) When she had to move out a year later, she disconnected her service and got a bill for $90 for breaking the contract.
After calling a number of times, they eventually they told her that if she mailed back their equipment, they’d credit her back the $90. So she did, paying the shipping to send it back, since it would be cheaper than $90. She never got the credit. She called again. They said they had a recording of her conversation about the non-existence “free TV package” and could verify if she agreed to a contract or not. Again, more promises to get back to her and nothing ever came of it. Finally, she relented and paid the $90 for fear they would send it to collections.
It’s clear Comcast has structured its customer service badly. Do NOT teach your representatives to give in only to customers who are nasty. Don’t fire customer services representatives for not selling enough products. Only hire those who can speak and pronounce English properly. And make sure you have supervisors on hand who are problem solvers. A good company would rather take a small hit here and there than lose loyal customers. Comcast is structured poorly, and they are one of the most hated companies out there because of that. But instead of actually improving their policy, they’ve just funneled money into expensive ads and PR. No. Make your employees happy. Give them a reason to do a good job, an actual good job where they can solve problems and make customers happy without getting punished for it. Offer good service that is mostly problem free, and people will not be jumping at the bit to leave once they have an opportunity. I’m putting up with slow DSL because I refuse to ever do business with Comcast again.
Thanks for continuing this thread … businesses like Comcast need to realize Customer Service DOES MATTER! People that cannot communicate should not be hired in the first place. Comcast would do well to hire someone like me for a rundown of what DOES work and hire for those skills. Tough to run a business the size of Comcast and do well but they might take a gander at Zappos for example … among many other giants that are making it work.
I opened a business and it was going great. I became very ill and had to close the busy. I called all my different services that I was paying for and was able to let me exit out of the agreements at reduced prices or no price that I had for the business. I was not going to be able to continue the busy at ever or for me never work again. I wish comcast realized that things are not always rosy. I have been in bed for roughly 10 months now and I still get the daily wake up call from comcast asking for payment. I think it just hurts that they wouldn’t even talk about a settlement for the services that I can no longer use in my bed. If I ever get to do anything again not sure I would ever use this company based on the customer support.
I remember when Comcast was blocking valid traffic because they didn’t want to have to update their network infrastructure to support modern data loads. Yeah, they had devices in the middle of their network infrastructure that would send TCP RESET packets to *both* sides, including to non-Comcast end points, if they felt you were using too much of the bandwidth that you paid for and were promised. Bad news. They got caught and told to cut that out by the FCC.
Couple that with the litany of horror stories that I’ve heard about and read, I would stay far, far away from anything Comcast-related. I see why people are going with wireless Internet, in light of these issues.
Yes it sucks !
I have been with them for years for the only reason that there is no other options in my area. I have only Internet (no TV channels, phone, …)
Particularly when there is outage, their agents don’t seem to know what is going on, or may be they do, but will deny there is one.
I have been without service for several hours. Using an Ellipsis Hotspot I connected to the Internet and looked up Xfinity outage map. I showed there is one in my area and several others.
The next day, there still no service, recycling the PC, the modem and the router few times did not help. I called Xfinity, an agent denied there was an outage, he could not help troubleshooting the problem, but tried hard to sell me a newer modem.
He waist over 30 min repeating non sense, then when he discovered the outage map, he said he was sorry, and promised to call back within 15 minutes to tell me when the outage will be resolved.
He never called back,
Xfinity sucks !!
Comcast will go under. Mark my words. They have no customer service. So calling is a waste of time.