Another horrible Comcast experience

[asta]

Grrrr! Just got a call from my daughter and the cable to one of her TV sets stopped working tonight. After all of those hours spent on Monday night, the cable only worked for less than two days. She tried calling the number put up on the screen but they gave her a run around, did not restore the signal and then the phone line disconnected. This incredible level of poor service should be criminal.

This worthless piece of equipment that is supposed to deliver a signal is a UDTA box. Anyone know how to make this thing work? I figure random people on the internet will know more about how to make it work than the incompetents at Comcast.

 

[mandy200587]

Asta did it say it stopped responding all of a sudden? We had that issue tonight with one of ours.

 

[scrapquitler]

When my MIL passed my SIL had to take her death certificate in to an office to show them because they wouldn't cancel service otherwise. And they wanted to keep the certificate, she said NO. They have the worst customer service of any company around. Unfortunately they don't care cause they are the only game in most peoples towns. I would switch to Verizon in a minute if it was available here.

I hate Comcast, but I have to say that when my Mom passed away, they were really nice about it and easy to deal with. She passed away, and I kept the service on while I was cleaning out her house so that my son could watch TV, I could use the internet and the phone would still work while I was working on the mountain of stuff in her attic. The cable was on for almost two months after she passed away, and I was unable to pay the bill because I had no access to her $$ at first, so the bill went unpaid for almost two months. I felt bad about that, but it is what it is.

When I had access to the money, I brought the equipment to the office along with the death certificate, and told them what happened. I expected to pay for those two months of service and was hoping that they wouldn't charge a fee for breaking the 'contract' she had for the one year. After about 10 minutes of the guy typing on the computer, he said "Okay, you are all set. I backdated the end of service to the day she passed away, and because service is billed ahead, there is a $2.11 credit on the account, which we will send you as a check within 15 days."

I was surprised, and happy. I never heard a good customer service story about Comcast before, but there it was.

In my case, they copied the death certificate and gave it back to me. A lot of other places kept the death certificate that I provided to them, and I expected that. Some took a copy but most kept a certified original. I think I used about 6 of the 10 the funeral home provided.

 

[java]

Add me to the I hate comcast list. right now they are the only game in town for internet. And just internet is a fortune out here.

I am waiting for Google to figure it out and povide internt service. I would srll my soul to Ggogle to get Rid of Comcast.

 

[mnrose]

I don't think Comcast is alone in poor customer service. At my lake home, we have Charter for internet, and their service is just as abysmal. First, they came out and installed it leaving a bright orange cable laying across my yard (from the box near the street to our house). Lovely. They said it would be buried in 7-10 days. They call later that day and say they will bury it on July 4. I say "Really, you are coming on July 4th...a national holiday....to bury my cable?" They assured me they would.

So, my DH mows around the stupid thing for two weeks (which he complains mightily about each time). Does Charter come on July 4th? No. Do they call to reschedule? No. We wait for another 10 days....then I call them. Of course, it takes close to 30 minutes to get a live person on the phone...the phone chain at customer service is appalling at Charter. They clearly have NO interest in you actually speaking to customer service.

Meanwhile, during that same time period, for four nights in a row...at 10:30 at night...I get sales calls from them. The first two times, I got out of bed and answered the calls as one assumes that a late night call tends to be an emergency. After the second night, I learned the number and stopped answering it. Very angering though to have to get up and check to see who might be calling late at night. 10:30?!?!?! Who does that?

When I finally spoke to customer service about their stupid cable sitting in my yard (now nearly a month after installation), they said "well, mam, it can take 30 days for a cable to be buried." I said "it's been nearly a month, and over a week since my appointment, which wasn't kept for some reason."

They eventually sent someone (about a week later), but the guy just showed up out of the blue...no appointment, no phone call, nothing.

To top it off, the internet service randomly went out for the first two weeks we had the service. It would just "poof" go out. The first few times, I was able to get it to reset by turning off the modem and letting it reset. Eventually, that stopped working and it stayed off. So, I call customer service. They tell me (guess what) to turn off the modem and let it reset. Hey, idjits, I DID that...I am not some technophobe. I know how to do basic troubleshooting. I say, nicely, "Been there, done that." I say "it's almost certainly a bad modem." They say "highly unlikely...we will send a technician." Which they do...a few days later. And, guess what? He insists (at first) that it can't possibly be a modem problem and gives me a patronizing smile....poor dumb lady. Of course, I was RIGHT and the modem was bad. LOL! Sometimes, your customer knows as much as you do about technology.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

What a difference a few years makes. My wife andI moved into our house from our apartment 7 years ago. Not a day goes by that I don't miss my Comcast because I now have Optimum Cablevision. In 8 years with Comcast, I had zero service disruptions. With Optimum my Internet drops multiple times daily (Been through a half dozen routers) and my TV box resets itself about twice weekly mid-recording which knocks out about 10 minutes of a DVR'd program. Sounds like the big beef with Comcast is customer service. I'd gladly sacrifice that for functioning Internet.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

DH and I loathe Comcast and hope that we never have to deal with it again. Our internet was sporadic at best. And they kept removing channels from the lineup, but our bill would go up at least $10 each time.

A few weeks ago we went to the service center to cancel service and return equipment, as we moved out of the area. Comcast is not available in our new home (we have Cox now). We had no issues with the return, the young man was very nice and said we'd be getting a credit for $36 and change since we didn't use an entire month of service. We have a receipt for everything that was returned.

However...I sit here now looking at the receipt for the equipment, dated 7/26/14 at 9:04 a.m...and a bill dated 8/1/14 for service dates 8/3/14 through 9/2/14. We called and they said the service is still active and they never received any equipment. We faxed them a copy of the receipt and have heard nothing. Oh, and they will only speak to DH, since I'm not on the account.

I had a problem when I lived on my own and canceled with them in 2007. They canceled over the phone, but a technician came out to the apartment and took the boxes with him. He also gave me a receipt. 2 weeks later, I received a bill for almost $300 for "non-returned equipment." After numerous phone calls and faxes, they admitted that they did have the boxes, but they were "in our warehouse and had not been scanned as returned because we have a backup and haven't been able to get to it" (no, I will never forget those words. Unbelievable).

The husband of a very close friend of mine works in their customer call center here. I try so hard not to tell them how much I hate Comcast...

 

[Pea's Mom]

I live in a neighborhood that has very strict covenants and does not allow dishes. I know that covenants can be challenged but I feel like I chose to live here knowing the restrictions so I should respect them.

Actually, per the Telecommunications Act of 1996, an HOA can only prohibit satellite dishes if:
1. the diameter of the dish is greater than 39 inches
2. the dish is in/on a common area
3. you live in an historic district.

My HOA sent me a notice of violation when we had ours installed. I sent them a letter quoting the above. Never heard from them again.

 

[asta]

Asta did it say it stopped responding all of a sudden? We had that issue tonight with one of ours.

I don't have the exact message that was on the screen. I will have to try and help later, she has a huge day today - first day of orientation for her fellowship. She needs to devote her time to this, not figuring out why Comcast can't provide cable service. (This snide comment is directed at Comcast, not you. I appreciate the help.) I will have to get more details and try and help her later.

I have been using Google to try and diagnose the problem. There might be a problem with the uDTA Comcast box working with Samsung TV sets. That is just great if that is the case! The cable company holding the monopoly has equipment that might not work with one of the major brands of TV sets.

 

[ICF]

I live in a neighborhood that has very strict covenants and does not allow dishes. I know that covenants can be challenged but I feel like I chose to live here knowing the restrictions so I should respect them.

In 99% of cases they can't stop you from putting in a normal size sat dish on your property.

I've never had an issue like that, but know it's generally illegal for HOA or apartment buildings to prohibit them.

If you are interested in fighting it....you will likely win.

 

[asta]

In 99% of cases they can't stop you from putting in a normal size sat dish on your property.

I've never had an issue like that, but know it's generally illegal for HOA or apartment buildings to prohibit them.

If you are interested in fighting it....you will likely win.

Even though it does sound like I could challenge the covenants I don't want to go that route. When we bought here we we liked the strict controls. I don't want to get into picking and choosing what rules I won't follow.

 

[mandy200587]

I don't have the exact message that was on the screen. I will have to try and help later, she has a huge day today - first day of orientation for her fellowship. She needs to devote her time to this, not figuring out why Comcast can't provide cable service. (This snide comment is directed at Comcast, not you. I appreciate the help.) I will have to get more details and try and help her later.

I have been using Google to try and diagnose the problem. There might be a problem with the uDTA Comcast box working with Samsung TV sets. That is just great if that is the case! The cable company holding the monopoly has equipment that might not work with one of the major brands of TV sets.

Good luck! She does need to focus on that and good luck to her as well!

We have an hd box we can Dvr on connected to a samsung without any issues yet.

 

[manning]

When they were upgrading modems they send me three, only need one, and got charged for them. On top of that they said the old modem need not be returned. They were combo modem/router. I don't need a combo. Good thing I kept it(old one). I get another letter advising to pay for it or return it. I took everything back and bought a Motorola modem.

 

[AnAmericanInDisney]

That is so funny. I woke up this morning and there was no picture on my Samsung with my HD box. The input was right. The other tv was working fine. I called Comcast, and they just told me to switch channels with my cable remote, then all was okay. The lady on the phone was very nice. We have been losing internet service intermittently. She said our modem needs to be upgraded, but I was wondering, do they throttle through the modem or through the line?

 

[asta]

That is so funny. I woke up this morning and there was no picture on my Samsung with my HD box. The input was right. The other tv was working fine. I called Comcast, and they just told me to switch channels with my cable remote, then all was okay. The lady on the phone was very nice. We have been losing internet service intermittently. She said our modem needs to be upgraded, but I was wondering, do they throttle through the modem or through the line?

From what I read online there is trouble with Comcast's UDTA box switching between 720p and 1080p resolution. Forgive me if I have the details wrong, I barely understand it. Some Samsung models have trouble understanding thus and you have to do some kind of reset every time you turn the set on. Curiously several people mentioned that if you pay for an upgraded DVR box it solves the problem. The UDTA box is free plus she really doesn't need or want the bigger DVR box on this small tv.

 

[mom2rtk]

We fight over who has to call Comcast when anything comes up.

"I called them last time!"

"No, I called them last time!"

"My doctor said it's bad for my blood pressure!"

"I'll give you $50 if you'll do it!"

We usually just let the problems go for an extended period of time because nobody ever wants to call. I'm starting to think they do that on purpose.........

 

[sam_gordon]

Even though it does sound like I could challenge the covenants I don't want to go that route. When we bought here we we liked the strict controls. I don't want to get into picking and choosing what rules I won't follow.

Just keep in mind the rule you are following is illegal. If it was me, I'd put up the dish and wait for the HOA to complain and then show them the law.

If I wanted to "keep the piece", I'd show the HOA the law and let them know they're violating it and then put up the dish.

 

[Gina]

I love my Comcast service -- the HD is crystal clear, cable never goes out, internet is blazing... But I have no mortal words I can think of to describe how truly, utterly horrible Comcast's customer service is. Seriously, when you have no other option but to speak to them, after a few minutes you begin to wonder if you're on some audio edition of "Punk'd" or something, because it's hard to believe a company can be so consistently awful.

But if you game at all, as my son and I both do, Comcast internet is it. No one else can even come remotely close to touching their speeds, and we get very few lag spikes. It's just incredibly fast.

But heaven help Comcast if The Purge is ever a thing -- I'm heading there first!!

 

[AnAmericanInDisney]

I was so sickly sweet to the Comcast lady this morning just because of all the nightmare stories I've heard here and in the press. I felt sorry for the poor girl, and she did help. At the end of the call, she tried to get my husband on the phone because he's the account holder (maybe she was supposed to sell something), but he wasn't around.

 

[asta]

. But I have no mortal words I can think of to describe how truly, utterly horrible Comcast's customer service is.

Great description!