Be Honest
Has anyone ever had a positive experience with ComCast? I don’t see how it would be possible. Any time I’ve ever needed ComCast to do something, they have required at least two attempts before being able to help me. And it’s not like I’m asking for complicated shit either.
Me: I would like transfer my service and equipment from North Bumblefuck, GA to Snobville, GA.
ComCast: Make yourself a drink, you’re going to need one*.
Yesterday was no exception. As of now my CableCards don’t work which means I get no HD and no HBO which means no cheerleader in pretty last night. Sad.
This is what happens when there is a single provider of a service or product. There is no competition. There is no reason to excel at customer service (Hell, excel? I would be satisfied with mere competence at this point..). You don’t have to worry about your customers leaving you for the other guy, there is no other guy! This is exactly what our healthcare will be like if the socialists get there way and institute government healthcare. Actually, that would probably still be worse. I mean, the government in control of just about anything is always worse.
You may say comparing cable service to healthcare is a stretch but it really is not. Regardless of the service or product being offered, whenever there is only one person providing it, the consumer loses. I hope you all remember that next November.
* Loose translation from what they said, to what they should say.
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November 13th, 2007 at 9:14 am
One positive experience… I didn’t get any grief when I downgraded my service online. But yeah, whenever a tech has had to come out to the house, service has been pretty crappy.
Side note… I don’t even think the cheerleader was in last night’s episode.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:24 am
True, it’s only when a tech has needed to come out that there has been a problem. Of course the online chat guy was completely rude last night, too. Grr….
I haven’t watched it yet. I was too disgusted. I had a beer and was in bed by 8:30p.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:20 am
i had no problems once i finally got a tech to come out to the house. the problem was the month i had to wait to get someone.
and their online chat thing is annoying and useless. the support people on there are completely clueless. damn, i’m angry now.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Agreed on the chat thing, there is absolutely NO sense of customer service from them. Once the guy last night told me I needed (another) tech to come out to the house, I said, “So I will be unable to view HD until then?” His response was a simple, “No”. Not an, “Unfortunately not.” or “I’m sorry but blah blah…” Fuckwads.
I’m still angry.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:45 am
you can tell they’re just copying and pasting from a script too. asshats.
November 13th, 2007 at 11:06 am
I tried 3 times to get Comcast to hookup cable and tv at my place. It was 6 week wait each time. Didn’t show up the frist time, got the date wrong the second time and they didn’t show up the third time either. I gave up. I’m rocking the bunny ears now.
November 13th, 2007 at 11:37 am
But Dave… It’s ComCASTIC! Or is it Craptastic? I think we all know which one it is.
I don’t know a single soul who’s had a positive experience with Comcast.
And you’ve just stirred up all sorts of delightful memories of when we first moved to our house. I searched my hard drive just now in hopes I would locate the “letter of adoration” I wrote to Comcast 2 years ago. Sadly, i think it vanished. If I ever find it, I’ll send it your way… (think about the letter you and Brad wrote to Hampton Apts?). I promise it will make you feel better about the experience you had.
I did, however, locate the bullet point list I used to formulate said letter.
A little back story… the first contact I ever had with this technician was when he called for directions. (I thought the company is supposed to get directions for their technicians, but whatever). He said he was over by Six Flags… so, I start to give him turn by turn directions… “Well… first, you need to get back over to 285 and head South.” I paused, assuming he was writing this down… and then he copped an attitude with me, *sucked his teeth* and then said “Mmmmm hmmmm. 285 South? DAT’S ALL YOU GOT FOR ME?! WE’LL SEE IF I GET THERE!” Click. He showed up at my door 45 minutes later (and several hours late to begin with).
While in my home… this is how his visit went down. Keep in mind, I typed this list at the exact moment the technician was here. I was documenting everything, as it was happening, and I really couldn’t type fast enough to keep up with this jerk’s every move. Here are a few highlights:
* Tech screamed HELLO HELLO several times instead of using my name, or “ma’am”, to get my attention. Sometimes when i was even in the same room… “hellooooo!!!”
* When the tech arrived, i let him sit at my computer, and he pointed to the modem (all lights were on) and looked at me like “what’s the problem?”… then pulled up Yahoo.com and looked at me again like i was crazy. Then, the modem rebooted while he was sitting there and i pointed saying “See, i told you it was rebooting itself.” He didn’t believe there was an issue when he arrived.
* Tech violently shook modem in my face demonstrating something was loose and also to insinuate we had “broken it” during our move. He did not speak at all while he was doing this. He just stared right through me. This was a particularly creepy moment during his visit.
* Tech used my personal cell phone to make calls to Comcast. Ironically, when he called Comcast to get our Account Number, he had to call several different people to get the info he needed, and was really frustrated on the calls he was making to his own company.
* Tech was not computer savvy at all. I had to show him how to eject a disk, reboot my laptop, etc.
* Tech had to call someone at Comcast to ask them how to install our new modem.
* Tech was sniffling and blowing his nose into a disgusting shop towel the whole time he was here… getting his germs all over my keyboard and mouse.
* When he left….. I asked him for a receipt, and he claimed he didn’t have one. Plus, he refused to tell me his name or technician ID #.
Of course, nothing was resolved… and we began having issues again the following day. Reluctantly, I had to call Comcast and ask that they send out a technician to fix the problem. I specifically requested that they NOT send the same technician. Well, of course they sent the same guy… and I refused to let him in my house. After all this, I wrote a letter, documenting everything, and sent it to management at Comcast… and never heard a peep from the company.
We desperately tried to have DSL installed so we wouldn’t have to deal with cable anymore, and found out it was impossible to get a phone line in our house (thanks to our builder) unless we let them dig a trench in our yard, among other complications… so, we are still stuck dealing w/ cable and Comcraptic.
Hold me.
November 13th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Bunny ears? Yack. I would gladly switch to DirecTV if I hadn’t already shelled out $300 for the TiVo HD (and now I can’t since my new place doesn’t face the satellites… damn satellites being all in weird places and shit.)
November 13th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Amanda (I totally was wondering who the fuck Amanda S was before I saw your email addy … I’m dumb),
You win. That’s one hellistic story but I’m not surprised one bit. I hate ComCast.
November 13th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Here is a website for ya!
comcastmustdieblogspot.com
November 13th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
You didnt miss the cheerleader last night, she wasn’t even in it…
November 14th, 2007 at 7:33 am
Well at least they are consistent…we have our cable modem through them up here (Directv for TV - cable sucks), and my experience with them sounds something like Amanda’s. I waited all day for an installation and it took a month to get a day. The guy didn’t show up, called me at 8:30pm and said “yeah, I’m not coming…too far…” in come indecipherable accent. Calling the company to complain was only more frustrating, blah blah blah. We finally got someone here on a Saturday afternoon that was nice and gave us a free modem, but we were so violent at that point that we barely noticed and just wanted him out of my house. Calling Customer Service was equally frustrating and full of idiots. They basically didn’t care, and then tried to charge me a monthly fee for the modem. Etc…many details have been left out but I too wrote a frienly letter. Right after I wrote an equally “friendly” letter to Directv for their “intallation.” Now thats a story…that guy will burn in hell.
November 14th, 2007 at 11:21 am
[...] another technician out to my house today. What fun!? My friend Amanda gave me a great idea with her comment yesterday, I think I’ll live blog today’s experience. Check to this post around 11a as [...]