Comcast Service Rant (not related to the other Comcast rant)

[Jester]

So today I call to pay my cable bill, and the automated service tells me what my balance is, which is a bit higher than I thought it should be. So I go through the prompts to get a live representative so I can get to the bottom of this.

Live rep, who introduced herself in such a scripted and incomprehensible way that I had no idea what her name was, when told what my question was, perfunctorily went through the bill, listing all the usuals. Which still did not add up to my current balance. It took my prodding and poking her for her to finally realize that there was a pay-per-view movie that added to the bill. ("The Debt," if you were wondering. Great movie.)

The above is not the problem I had with her.

This is.

After she had read off the list of charges, but before we actually figured out the problem, she suddenly switches modes and says she noticed that we do not have any phone service with Comcast. Well, no, we don't. Why not?, she asks. Put off for a moment, and not sure why she was asking, I simply told her that since all of us have cell phones, we didn't see the need to have a landline. This was a decision we made years ago.

Well, she says, Comcast can save us all kinds of money if we try their cell phone service, and here are some of the advantages--

and I cut her right off. "Um, I have no problem with my phone service or phone bill. What I DO have a problem with is my bill, which is NOT what it usually is, and I AM trying to find out WHY."

Look, I know that many companies make their clerks give various sales spiels. I'm from an advertising and marketing family, I get it. But damn it, deal with my ACTUAL problem first, before you start trying to get me to deal with a problem that I DON'T actually have. You want to sell my on some service your company has? Fine. But first try doing your fucking JOB and help me figure out why my bill is not what I thought it should be. It's not a tough thing, but this woman treated my reason for calling as far less important than her attempt to sell some phone service.

Makes me mad that I pressed "2" before I was connected to her to indicate I would not be taking the survey afterwards, as I really would have liked to say a few things about what my "customer service experience" was.

Which was, to put it in a nutshell, fucking nauseating.

[Sonoma]

I was never so happy as the day I turned in my Comcast boxes. It got so bad that I would not call them for assistance. I'd do a live chat so I had an actual transcript of the encounter. Their scripted lines & pushing other products drove me batty.

[Heksubah]

Could be a case of her using her required pitch to cover the potential for dead air while she went through her system to find out what was wrong with your bill. Granted, as someone who has worked many call center jobs, I can say that it was the wrong thing to do for exactly the reason you listed... the problem was unsolved still so it felt wrong for the call flow.

[Chanlin]

As a former Comcast internet phone jockey I can vouch that they love them some scripts. And that was back in 2000-2001 so I can only imagine it has gotten worse/remained the same. They also had a fairly confusing billing software for us to use. We literally had an entire department dedicated to supporting employees in using it. Again, that was over 10 years ago. I can only hope it has gotten better.

[dragon_wings]

There's a reason when roomie and I moved I asked our landlady what options there were other then Comcast. We went with AT&T Uverse and seeing the names of the other wifi networks in the neighborhood I see most people did the same.

[cashierbex]

Thankfully no problems here. But we don't have cable. Just internet. But I loved living at my ex's parent's. Free everything since he works for em.

[draggar]

I've seen this more and more - support and customer service spending more time trying to sell me something than actually taking care of my issue. I don't know what it is but as much as it annoys people companies still like to do this so I think they get enough signups to make it worth annoying the rest of us.

Right now GoDaddy is the worst:

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7155...daddys-support

[Jester]

I was never so happy as the day I turned in my Comcast boxes. It got so bad that I would not call them for assistance. I'd do a live chat so I had an actual transcript of the encounter. Their scripted lines & pushing other products drove me batty.

I have to be honest--I've never really had an issue with them before, and we've been with them for years. For the most part, we are quite happy with Comcast. But this was ridiculous.

Could be a case of her using her required pitch to cover the potential for dead air while she went through her system to find out what was wrong with your bill.

Nope. She gave a perfunctory reading of the bill, then launched right into the phone pitch. Even after it was clear we were fine with our phone setup as it is, she tried arguing with me, telling me they could save us so much money with their phone setup. Even if they could, after that treatment, I doubt I would want phone service through them. It was annoying, frustrating, and exasperating. Probably a few more -ings I haven't thought of as well.

[Jay 2K Winger]

From all the things I've read about Comcast over the years, the only thing good I have to say about them is that they bought Lenfest Communications from Gerry Lenfest, which enabled him to donate $35 million to the Mercersburg Academy, which I attended the year he donated the money. (And yet, we were still eating chicken after that. )

[Dreamstalker]

Last night we saw an ad for cell phone service through Comcast. Our current cell carrier is the lesser of two evils methinks; the Comcast thing looks like they want to tether internet to the cell phone which is ridiculously expensive (and DSL speeds are better).

[morgana]

It's not just Comcast. Round here, the only major provider of internet/cable service is Cox Communications. (Spare me the puns, okay? I've already heard all of them.) They have this "bundle" offer . . .

I have had Verizon service since before I had cable. Perfectly happy with it, don't see the need for a landline. So, when I signed up for cable/internet service with Cox, I declined the phone service.

You'd have thought I was telling them I used ground puppy in my spaghetti and meatballs.

I was getting calls about every other week. They'd noticed I had their cable and internet service, but not their phone service, did I want to sign up? They could save me lots of money, and, and, and . . . And I'd tell them every time, I'm happy with what I have, stop calling.

This went on for months. If there was ANY other viable alternative for cable/internet, I'd have switched, it was so bad. (I hate Topeka. Have I mentioned that recently?)

Finally, and no I'm not proud of this, I just LOST MY SHIT all over a phone rep. He called to 'just ask me about my service with them, and . . .' And I went off. I yelled at him. I told him that if it was about their damn phone service, I was going to hurt someone. I told him that if Cox wanted to lose my service with them, they were going about it exactly the right way, because I was getting just about to the point of going to the library for internet access, and sodomizing someone at their office with my TV set if they didn't get off my case about the f*cking phone service.

No, I'm not proud of it. But the guy back-pedalled really fast, and said something about 'just calling to make sure I was satisfied with their service' in a voice like the scarecrow talking to the wicked witch. And I growled at him. And replied that as long as nobody ever called me again about their phone bundle, I was quite satisfied with their service, thank you.

And nobody did. Ever. That was, hmmm, seven years ago now.

So, yeah. It's not just Comcast.

Wow, that must have been festering just a little. Turned out long . . .

[Andara Bledin]

Long, long ago I had to tell an AT&T rep, in no uncertain terms, that if they ever called me for anything that wasn't related to a bill I had incurred that I would be suing them for harassment.

Then they bought the Bell that did my local phone and I didn't realize it when they called, and re-iterated my threat.

I haven't actually heard from an AT&T rep for over a decade, and that's the way I like it.

^-.-^

[Jay 2K Winger]

Granted, I live with my folks, and the only real bill of that nature I have to deal with is my Verizon Wireless account for my phone. I think they did try to upsell me on a bundle pack when I switched my account from my parents to myself, but I told them "Don't bother. I live with my folks, who pay the cable/internet bill."

I'm sure when I move out, I'll get some of that, but that's for a later date.

Back in the days when long distance phone providers were still the telecommunications thing du jour, we would get various offers from AT&T to switch providers. If she had the time to spare, Mom would string them along as they tried to persuade her to drop MCI in favor of AT&T. Finally, they would ask her why she was so reluctant to switch. "Well," Mom would say, "my husband works for MCI..." Whereupon the AT&T rep would apologize for wasting her time (ha, as if it were her time being wasted) and politely end the call.

[telecom_goddess]

Soooooooo let me see if I have this right...Comcast is doing CELL phone service now? Along with internet, cable tv, land line, and home security crap?

OMG

[ArcticChicken]

My Ex just moved out to California with his girlfriend (actually, they're not in CA yet, they're still driving), and they had internet with comcast. When he called to cancel the account he was told that 'there is no one on the account with the authority to do that.'

He got it worked out in the end, but he was only half joking when he suggested lobbing their router through the window of the local office.