Existing Comcast customers get nothing!

Well it has been a few days since I passed along my phone number to my account, and nothing! Surprise surprise. I should't have expected any resolution to my problems, as there never is. I keep paying super high bills while others get their promotions extended or new ones that are even better applied to their accounts. If I had more options in the area I live, I would highly consider cancelling my service. Perhaps I will start investigating my options with Satellite providers to get out of the escalating bill trap I am currently in.

Thanks for not helping me, comcast!

Here is an update to my story Mark (and anyone else who is following). A regional office did contact me, only to tell me there are (yet again) no offers for me and to try back daily. Daily, are you serious? Who has time for that. But nonetheless, the following Monday I see a commercial on my COMCAST!! cable advertising high-speed internet for $19.99 per month for 6 months. There is no mention of a new customer only promotion on the commercial, so by default it should apply to any customer. My irritation level rises, and the next day I give the eChat another go. The rep Oscar gladly adjusts my account to the new rate, but tells me I must call 1-866-565-4863 in 24 hours to verify the changes, security feature. Ok fine, I can do that. Well the plot thickens...

I call the number the following morning, and guess what, they tell me I can't have the offer and sound incredibly confused as to why I am calling them in the first place. I have written documentation from Comcast stating they have already applied the rate to my account! He transfers me to a second rep, who was the most professional woman I've ever encountered on the phone (miracle occurs). She tells me she sees the notation that I was given the rate the previous day and contacts her supervisor to see what the problem is.

The supervisor gets on the phone, tells me no and that they never offer promotions to anyone but new customers (which I know is not true). I explain to her that I have written proof of the eChat and invite her to look at the transcript for herself. Of course, she doesn't want to hear anything of it and tells me she will forward it on to the online eChat supervisor to contact me, yet she can't tell me the person's name or a direct line to the department. Why not just transfer me to the person?? So now I am left waiting for some imaginary person to call me and attempt to explain away my offer which I have confirmed in writing.

This situation is beyond ridiculous. If comcast really does care, they will stop jerking me around and let me speak to someone that actually wants to resolve my problem! Perhaps a complaint to the BBB is in order if nobody wants to fix the problem amicably.

And before you reply asking me to send my information somewhere that won't help me again, here is the chat ID of my conversation with eChat: c37c4cb5-38f2-4720-894e-27cf6e34875b. You can look it up yourself and give me the correct person to talk with. Better yet, stand behind your word, fix my rates on my account, and let everyone get on with their lives!

I feel your pain. I just got a flyer in the mail for DirecTV, $39.99 a month for 12 mos for all the channels I get now w Comcast digital, plus a few more ($59.99 a mo thereafter)-- only Comcast charges $93 a month.

So I called Comcast and canceled--a pity, since I had no real problems with them--but a $50 a mo difference on cable is huge.

Now I'm seriously considering 86ing their high speed internet as well, since dropping the cable means the price shoots up from $48 a month to nearly $60, and I can get high speed from Verizon for $30 a month.

I'd have stuck w Comcast, but the difference between a $140 a mo Comcast bill and a $70 a month bill to DirecTV and Verizon is just too big for me.

I have been upset with Comcast for a long time now. I have had them for more years than I care to remember. I am trying to reduce my bill and all of a sudden they tell me that there is an economy package for high speed internet for around $27.00. This is when I was going to disconnect. The speed is 1M. I am on it now and don't mind it at all. Actually I see no difference. I feel like going around with a sign telling these people DON'T SIGN UP WITH COMCAST. Any offers they have are a big SECRET. And now I see that if you sign up you get a free modem. That really makes me mad. Here I sit like a total idiot paying $5.00 a month to "rent" a modem I will never own. Comcast is not open about any promotions they have or any way they can help you out. You have to dig DEEP. I was on that stupid chat twice today and neither of those people knew about this. I was lucky enough to have one honest representative. I know this much. If any other cable company becomes available I will kiss Comcast goodbye.

Also their Cable TV. I am looking for some sort of promotion on that and of course cannot find one. I used to think it was a decent company but not anymore.

I hope that I helped someone out somewhat. I know everyone is into speed today but I am working on this "economy" thing and it is fine.

Alice

They offered me ten dollars off my bill if I subscribed to telephone service.
This offer was made to me while I was calling about my internet service being out AGAIN. The guy put more attention into trying to sell me phone when all I wanted to know is IF THEY were having technical issues in my area because my Internet has been experiencing outages...FOR HOURS AT A TIME....for the past few days.
If they are having problems...just tell me...so at least I know what is going on.
Don't make me restart, and disconnect cables and crawl under table to see if coax connection at wall is OK etc etc.

antmanbee in Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle

I can definitely relate. Their answer to everything is unplug modem, shut down computer, wait 30 seconds, plug modem in, start computer. I have been lucky though because lately there haven't been outages.

With regard to my problem someone from Comcast called me and I laid in bed listening to him leave a message on my answering maching because I had just woke up and did not feel like talking. He was an arrogant sob and I could easily pick that up in his tone and what he said. Also, I could tell he was about as interested as a fly.

If only there were other companies around me. Unfortunately, Comcast has a monopoly where I live. They would have to pay ME for the phone. I do not need my phone out when my modem goes down. Also, I emailed them about a free new modem, which is a special going on in my area for NEW CUSTOMERS ONLY and was told I could always purchase one on my own. DUH. It is terrible that we pay the prices we do and get nothing but aggravation.

Alice

I am so sorry for everyone that does not have competition. I did not either for 13 years with Comcast, until recently. I repeatedly called and did Comcast chat to ask for a break because my internet (bottom of the barrel speed 4Mbps) is (soon to be was) $60.95 a month! Comcast would not budge on the price because they are used to being a monopoly in my area, even when I told them AT&T U-Verse came to my area!

AT&T U-Verse Internet 6Mbps = $35.00 per month WITHOUT any other services from them in my area. (Now my service as of 4/15)

Comcast Internet 4Mbps = $60.95 per month (including a $3.00 per month modem fee)
By the way, I used to have Comcast's big cable package w/ my internet that I had to cancel in 2007 because no one wanted to come fix my fuzzy reception and non reception of paid for channels.

Then, Comcast increased it to 6Mbps and raised the price to $62.95. The weak speed increase was them trying to justify the price I guess, in my area. Now again in the beginning of April they send another letter saying, O.K., now everyone will get 12Mbps "All this at no extra charge to you!"

I never once called or chatted about our speed, I could care less about getting a higher speed than what I had! It has always been about the prices! They are unbelievable!

I emailed my last ridiculous chat with Comcast to We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com, and to their credit, they did call me the next day. Unfortunately, once again, I got nowhere except $10 off for the 5 days I have left with Comcast until I cancel on Thursday.

They are truly silly to not try and keep their customers happy (13 Yr customers none the less) because they know they have lots of monopolies across the nation. Shame, Shame, Shame on you Comcast!

All I can say to all Comcast's unappreciated customers that are feeling the pain of their indifference and those trapped in the monopoly of Comcast is.........Don't give up hope!

- Email and call every competitor and urge them to come to your area

- Email and call your township, city hall, etc. and demand they seek other
providers/competition to lower outrageous pricing practicing

- Encourage your friends, family and community to do the same

Sorry for the rant, I seriously never ever signed up for anything like this before. I just feel that this is soooo wrong!

To Comcast: Competition is coming EVERYWHERE! Your gravy train will come to a long predicted halt and you are burning ALOT of bridges. Why don't ya stop sending the shiny, expensive postcards pushing your other overpriced services to the people you are leaving behind (aka your current customers) and give us a break once and awhile!

SO glad I'm done with you!

WOW!!!!!!!!

By the way I am in a south suburb of Chicago (surrounded 3 sides) for my fellow comcast monopolized people

Me, too, in spades. Yesterday, after hours and hours on the phone with these criminals (who nearly doubled my bill over 3 months with no added services) and after getting brain-freeze from listening to same old crap, I decided to downgrade my internet speed and my cable box. And even so, the bill is still draconian...but my services are bare bones. Then I called a neighbor a few blocks away, who has identical services to my own and for the same period of time and I ask him what he pays. And he pays $90/mo for what they were charging me $144/mo for!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I'm right there with you all comcast has been f**** me for years too....will be glad when other companies get to my area too...I'll be first to stop being raped monthly then maybe my a** hole will finally be able to heal!

It makes no sense to give a stranger on the street a promotional price, but a loyal paying customer can not get that price. I asked so many times, but to no avail. I then tried a different approach.

What I did is threaten to cancel and set up new account all in the same go.. I asked if the person that came to cancel service could also set me up. The rep asked why, and i explained to her that it did not make sense for me to pay full price [for a full year] when it was cheaper for me to pay a one time activation fee on the first month and get a promotion for the rest of the year.

she understood where i was going and decided to go ahead and give me the promotional rate for a full year.

try it!

Here's an update on how things worked out. I finally got so fed up that I reported them to the BBB. When you file a complaint, it's impossible for comcast to ignore you. I got a phone call within a day or two from some woman in a special department of comcast that deals with BBB complaints. She still tried to argue with me that the company would never offer me that deal, so I faxed her all the documentation I had from comcast telling me I definitely qualified for the deal. The proof is on paper, there was no getting around it, and they had to credit me with the promotion. When my 6 months is up, I'll be back at it again trying to get a decent price. Hopefully I will move soon and have more options so I don't have to deal with the hassle every 6 months.
If anyone else is having the problem where the online echat tells you that you're eligible, print it out and keep that ammo for when the phone idiots tell you no. I highly recommend the BBB if you don't make progress, it worked like a charm for me.

Great idea, Melanie.

I have extensive notes, names, ID#s with what office these people I speak to are in, and I have bills that would make an account drink the hemlock trying to decipher them.

Two months ago (ish) I spent forever on the phone with a customer account supervisor (who actually had a full name and extension!) who supposedly sorted out all my stuff, explained all the screw-ups, guaranteed me a monthly price, told me to call if they messed it up again. (BTW, the monthly price sux, but better than before). Sure enough, comes the next bill, completely wrong and utterly ginormous. And I didn't get credited for the downgrades, and they tried to charge me for the downgrade visit, which I was told would be free. They also wrote down NOT that they downgraded by DVR, but that they added a second one, so I got charged for two HD DVRs when I only have one non-HD. And they disallowed the credit for the mistake THEY made for which the supervisor promised to credit me for the past year of overcharging. No surprise at all here: I left voicemail for the supervisor for days with no reply. Finally I spoke with something called a "Lead" and he sorted it out, credited me for their mistakes (but not the retroactive mistake, which was supposed to be a $104 credit), and guaranteed me the same monthly price the other woman had.

My new bill just came. And (shock and awe) it IS the price they promised. BUT, the credits and charges listed on this bill are incredibly convoluted and I am absolutely sure this amount will double next month based on the way they seem to have credited things as one-time credits. I will wait and see. Even as-is the price is an horrible compromise. I can never understand why they don't just get into their computer and correctly input the services I actually have left and be clear about what the charges are.

I think I'll try the 'cancel and start over' thing. And also I will report them to the BBB, which I hadn't even thought of! Thanks for the idea. If none of that works maybe I'll buy a punching bag and deduct it from my next erroneous bill.

PS> The neighbor mentioned in my previous post has now canceled his Comcast TV service entirely and watches television online. Problem solved, he now only pays them for internet and his bills are unambiguous. When I get a better telly I might do the same thing - practically everything is online now anyway.

haha...man i understand all of you guys...Same ol problem..here they don't take care of their exsisting customers. Online chat was okay they helped a bit. But Im so fed up with comcast. I'm going to be cancelling them too.
Dishnetwork and direct tv. are 2 companies im interested in.. Comcast needs to work on taking care of their existing customers. Now they have this deal 29.99 a month with hbo for a whole year.!!!! iTS OBSURD. I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired. We have a family business too..and im canceling them out..so everyone needs to just leave that company!!!

having a nation wide boycott, would be the ONLY thing that might get their attention. comcast is so huge though worldwide, they do not care about anyone anymore. they are one of the biggest giants in our nation. by using the internet though, a lot of these 7-11 stores that are owned by our enemies, got their gas boycotted by nationwide truckers, & now they are changing the name of their stores & stations in the hope that us americans will not know any better. If we could stage a nationwide boycott of comcast, that would be our only chance of taking any $$$ out of their pockets that they raped us for. in my area, collier county, fla. we tried to get other competitors in here, & comcast was too powerful here & competition got shot down , & laws were curiously enacted to PREVENT any other competition in here, so lots of luck my fellow friends. Beware of the sattelite companies as well, the 3 that are in my area made comcast look like MARY POPPINS. I had to sue all 3 of them for my $$$ back. I did win eventually, but it still cost me more, to win, & then i was without ANY SERVICES for 4 months as comcast did not want to let me have service with them again, as they knew the case history on me! IT WAS me getting disabled to be able to FORCE COMCAST to even sell services to me, after suing their competitors, so beware of dish people, please. cindy

You are all so ridiculous. What do you expect from a company that is trying to make a profit. The reason that a company offers promotions to new customers is to suck them in and hope that they get even more services to add to their pocket. It is business plain and simple. If Comcast would keep giving every person a promotion as soon as their old one expired they would not make nearly as much money. Almost every company, not just Comcast, offer introductory rates to new customers. It happens with cable companies, credit cards, loans, and so many others. And about Comcast being a monopoly in your area, it is far from it. You always have the option to go to a satelite company and get their "great" introductory rate but will be stuck in a 2 year contract even though your promotion is only for 6 months to a year.

I agree with Melanie.
Every month I call Comcast to argue over my bill. Some months it just goes up by a 75 cents or a dollar for no reason (one or two line items are suddenly higher), but then other times they just change the billing amount. I argue with them. They give me a credit and tell me that they have fixed it, but the next month its the same thing. (And the first thing that they argue with me is that my rate was cheaper last month because I had a credit applied which wasn't applied this month.)
I am suppose to be paying $130/month. Four months ago it went to $170 month for no reason and they haven't refunded anything. Now my "deal" expired and they jacked my rate to $270 month (which I received in my mail the day before it was due, so can you also say nickel and dime on late charges!)
Comcast is rediculous to deal with. I've been holding out for Verizon FiOS, but it just taking to long to get to my neighborhood. I'll just switch to Verizon and DirectTV rather than give Comcast one more penny.

(Oh, did I mention that the internet speeds stink and that they have sent out technicians at least four times to swap out their modems and things to repair the internet problem.)