Monday, August 18, 2008

Comcast is the Devil...and...It's Not My Fault


K…this latest gap in writing really isn’t my fault, I swear. It has been bizzaro world around here lately. Do you remember when my hard drive failed? Well, apparently that was just the beginning of our hardware and networking problems.

A short time ago R’s hard drive crashed as well, and yes, we lost what was on his drive too. I’m over it people; I just don’t care anymore. Perhaps it’s fate calling and telling me that what I write is not intended to be forever. Maybe I need to work on accepting the thought of revision more, or maybe I just need to, oh I don’t know, back things up!

What was really the kicker, though? Comcast! Can you say, “Oh My God! What an Unethical company”? Seriously, I have never dealt with a company who is so terrible with its customer service and so very unethical, if not outright, illegal. Folks, if you have a choice, stay away from them. Here’s what happened.

Around six months ago we switched to Comcast for our Internet and phone service. The idea was that we would have better connectivity so that R and sons could play their MMOs together. Well, we had one problem after another. We were constantly losing our connection; I’m talking at least two times a week. This would require our entire home network to be shut down and rebooted a tedious task, and one that under the proper administration of Comcast should have been unnecessary. So, we ended up having a tech come out twice to try and correct the problem, without success. We finally decided that we should purchase a new router, so we went with a D-Link. Comcast doesn’t support this type of router via their tech support. That in itself would have been ok, but…we were having difficulty getting through to the net. The router was showing that it was working ok, everything seemed to be running and connected, the network showed an established Internet connection, but we couldn’t access the Internet. So, we called Comcast.

Here’s where it gets good folks. The first time we called we were put on hold for 40 minutes just to have the tech get shitty with us and hang up on us. R was trying to explain what was going on, what we had done, but the tech kept interrupting him so R finally said to him, “look, I’m trying to explain to you what’s going on so will you please stop talking?” The tech replied, “sure” and then hung up. Next tech please….we call back, another marathon hold session. When we get through the tech says, “Oh, the problem is that your modem isn’t set up for Internet access, we have it set to phone access only. Let me just flip a switch here on this end and you should be fine. Now, we’ll be disconnected when this happens so I’ll call you right back, ok?” R says, fine and he hangs up. Well, we wait for about 30 minutes, no phone call. R checks the Internet and the connection is completely gone, vanished, so we call back. R gets a hold of yet another tech and tells this one what happened. He explains that the tech was supposed to switch something over on that end and call us back, and that not only did we not hear from him our service was completely disrupted now. (I need to clarify that prior to this, because the D-Link wasn’t working we had at least reconnected the original router and had Internet access again). Anyway, here we are without any Internet now and guess what? The tech says that the last tech cleared our account. “What does that I mean?” R asked. She said it meant that our account was no longer valid and we wouldn’t have any service until a tech came out and set us up as if we were a new account. Of course, we were livid and not understanding why she couldn’t just simply flip the switch in the other direction and turn us back on. So…yes, they screwed us and left us with no service what so ever. That’s when R said, F*** this and a few other choice phrases and asked me to call AT&T. So I did and we switched over.

The story doesn’t end there, though. Here comes the unethical (illegal) stuff. I called to discontinue our service with Comcast. When I got through I stated that I wished to end the service, I was put on hold for 30 minutes while I was “transferred” to a different department. At that point, I was finally able to speak to someone and when I told her that I wanted to disconnect the service and why I was so unhappy with them, guess what…she hung up on me…yes…oh yes she did…and BTW I was not rude with her. So…I have to go through the whole process again. When I finally get through I’m told that it is Comcast “policy” not to end service until the bill is paid in full. So I said, “Well. R doesn’t get paid until the 15th and it’s only the 6th, am to understand that not only are we being billed for the days where we had no service due to Comcast’s inadequacy, we are also going to be billed for a service we no longer want or are receiving because our pay cycle doesn’t coincide with our desire to end this service?” She replied, “Well, we won’t turn the service off until the bill is paid, so technically you will still be receiving the service. We’ll disconnect the service only after we have received payment.” And folks, that was pretty much the end of it. She wouldn’t budge and even though we had AT&T set up and running they refused to disconnect our service and are charging us for it.

My advice…stay away…far away from Comcast!!!

R’s hard drive is still not fixed, my hard drive is still not fixed, but we do have Internet access again. Although, the speed is really not what we need. Anyway, I’m currently using R’s laptop to Blog and such, but it’s not very convenient. Hopefully my system will be up and running again before too long. Until then, though, posts may be a bit intermittent. Bear with me please. And stay away from the Devil Corporation!!!!

6 comments:

ComcastCares1 said...

This is ridiculous. I apologize for the unacceptable experience we have created for you.

I would really like to investigate your experience so that we may address the issues with the appropriate individuals.

Most importantly, I would also like to assist in bringing resolution to this. If you don't mind will you please send me your best contacts number?

Quite honestly, I don't blame you for advising your readers to stay away from our company considering your experience.

Looking forward to your reply,

Mark C.
Comcast Corp.
We_Can_Help@cable.comcats.com

maeve63 said...

So...let me see if I have this straight. Comcast damage control found my blog within hours of my post and have offered to correct the problem because...you're not the devil?
Comcast hasn't by chance been known as, oh say something like, Wolfram & Hart in another lifetime or dimension, has it?
Sorry dude, but as you know; if you play with fire you're apt to get burned.

ScottishGuard said...

Is "comcats.com" even a legit address?
It's a shame you had such a terrible experience. I cannot believe they are holding your account hostage like that!
That HAS to be criminal. I know loansharks that are more forgiving.
But, par for the course... I have heard Nothing good about these guys for over a decade. Bad service, terrible connectivity, exorbitant prices for half the services you can get with other media companies or internet providers. Bottom-of-the-barrel equipment, such as the substandard netgear routers they give customers.
And now this? They have to hold accounts hostage in order to make a profit... instead of just giving the customer what they paid for.
Is this what America has become? No longer is the customer right... now the customer is simply a means to profit margin, or a fractional stock price increase?
Capitalism is a failed experiment people. And companies like Comcast, Enron, Exxon, Countrywide, and Wells Fargo are the reason why. Corporate greed surpassing the standard of good service and satisfied client-base.

Aside from that... Comcast... Grow up. Holding accounts hostage for money?
Perhaps if you kept YOUR end of the deal and provided this customer what YOU agreed to (like good service... or hell... SERVICE at ALL), then this customer would not be angry and trying to warn the world of the dark, sinister machine that is... Comcast.

I'll bet your parents are damned proud of all of you.

Charmi said...

Darn it, we were just thinking of switching everything to Comcast. I guess we'll keep looking. I'm already completely pissed at Verizon. They're out the door the second our contract expires.

maeve63 said...

I don't understand why it's so difficult to find a decent provider out there these days. We really should have better connectivity than ever, and as for customer service...well perhaps that's just a topic for another day. People don't care like they used to.

Busstogate said...

Embarq, formerly Sprint, has been wonderful. Only probs in four years have been perhaps 3 outages and a modem that burnt out, which they replaced for free.