Siri's dashboard

When I call to schedule a move (CTV and Internet) for next week, I'm told that COMCAST cannot SCHEDULE a move until the current account at the new location is closed. They also cannot even estimate, once the move is schedule, how long it will take to establish service at the new house. Since I need to have internet with minimal delay, I'm forced to cancel COMCAST and go with DSL (Bellsouth can actually schedule service!). As a sidebar, even though COMCAST.com says promotional rates will transer in the local area, Customer Service (?) says it will not, that I will loose my current promotion. So last year I dropped Bellsouth and DISH, and now COMCAST Customer Service is driving me back to these providers.

My Comcast cable goes out every 3 weeks - like clockwork. I get the following message:
ONE MOMENT PLEASE, THE CHANNEL WILL BE AVAILABLE SHORTLY
This has been going on since January 2008. It is now May 2008.

When I go into the Main Menu -> Cable Setup -> Display, it shows Disconnected - Not Connected. I tried to explain this to Comcast and was told my cable is out because the box was physically disconnected and I needed to re-connect the box. What ?!?! If the box was disconnected, how am I able to go inside the Cable Main Menu and read this to them ?? This proved that Comcast knows NOTHING about their equipment or how it's works.

I have called Comcast easily over a dozen times and what do/did I get:
1) Hung-up on.
2) Techs no-call, no-show.
3) Lied to - Repeatedly by Comcast about the scheduled day/time when the tech was "suppose" to arrive. This part is really really bad and apparently legendary. Countless times I was told that a tech will to arrive between 8 & noon or between 1 & 5PM and like an idiot, I waited - and waited - and waited - and waited. Called Comcast, like every hour to check on my scheduled appointment: no clue, I mean totally clueless - hugh waste of time. I was told they have no control over dispatches. And yet, you have to contact them to schedule a dispatch. What the HELL !?!?
4) Techs, if and/or when they do show up, have absolutely no clue on what is the problem and apparently why they were dispatched - I guess they are told to just show up.
5) And most importantly, tech not fixing the problem as my cable went out Tuesday, May 06 and is still out.

The few and I do mean few techs that did show up told me the following:
the problem is with the signal - the problem is not with the signal - the problem is outside - the problem is inside - when this happens, to call Comcast and have them send an INT signal to the boxes. This is like wiping out and re-sending the cable box configs. Any Favorite Cable Channels settings are gone. But you have to beg and plead with Comcast to do this and this is a TEMPORARY FIX. A few weeks later, cable goes out.

Another tech told me directly to -my -face to call Comcast and cancel the service as this would get their attention to fix the problem. I could not believe a Comcast tech was telling me to do this.

At others times I was told that the tech would come out and replace both HD cable boxes. Techs, again the few that did show up, were empty-handed - no replacement cable boxes. Techs did not know what I was talking about when I asked where were the new boxes. Comcast told me that they were sending out a tech to replace the boxes. Their reply was they were not sent to replace anything - and then asked, once again, "what is the problem ??" It is as if for the past 5 months, I have been talking to an empty phone in an empty room. Again, tech shows up with no clue on the reason they were dispatched - they just show up - and even that's a maybe - they may show up or they may not. No one knows.

I chatted via their chatroom last night about this 5-month-old trouble to Francis. This one stated that their Engineering Department is aware of the "issue" and are working on it right now. Sure they are !!!! When asked was exactly was the "issue", she replied I needed to contact some local office, as she " could not " tell me directly. I again pressed about this mysterious " issue ", only to be told information about it cannot be given out. Huh ??? I replied that it sounds like they already knew there was some kind of trouble and failed to notify the customer. Also, this " issue " is only affecting me. I live in a building with 90+ units, yet this " issue " is only affecting me - only ME. This was sounding like some kind of BS, big time.

I have been in the customer support field over 10 years with many different companies and have NEVER seen such BAD service. It is as if they are deaf, dumb and blind to the ability of providing SERVICE to their CUSTOMER. Isn't that what they are suppose to do ?? Customer Service means giving Service to the Customer.

Where is the follow-up call to the customer to confirm that they are back up and working ?? Where is the call to the customer to let them know the tech is running a little late ?? Or cannot make the scheduled appointment ?? Why do I, the customer have to call the provider to find out what is going on ?? Common courtesy dictates a call TO the customer would be nice, instead of a pissed-off call FROM the customer.

What is needed is another cable provider in Chicago. I will take ANYONE/ANYTHING over Comcast, I wish I could get satellite service, but I live in a condo that faces East. For satellite service, like Direct TV, I need to have an unobstructed view of the southwest sky.

Apparently I am left with no choice but to cancel service as the cable goes out at will with no fix and no cares/concerns from Comcast. None at all.

I pray to God in Heaven to please let Verizon FIOS, RCN, WOW-Wide Open West, or ANYONE get in my area and provide cable television service - and FAST !!!

Disgusted Customer,
I have to apologize for the trouble. Please send us an email and we will make sure this is address. We will also review the experience to make sure we learn from it.

Thank you for the feedback!

Frank Eliason
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com – ComcastCares, on April 26, 2008 15:42

I've had terrible service with Comcast in Memphis, TN ever since they took over from Time Warner.

December 2007, my cable internet service would go out for hours at a time, for several times a day, without warning. After countless phone calls, and even a few trouble calls from techs, nobody could figure out why. I actually had a tech tell me I should switch to DSL!!! (Which I did, later.)

Since then, I have dropped the internet service, as well as the digital telephone service. Yet they still keep charging me for it!!! They seem to not have a clue how to remove the service off my account, and stop freakin charging me... I have made several trips to their customer service center, and several phone calls, and get nowhere. The people are complete idiots.

Comcast, if you are listening, you customer service system SUCKS. If you don't wish to go bankrupt, FIX IT.

On behalf of Comcast I am sorry for these difficulties. Please contact me at the email address below and my team will work with you to make it right. Please include your account information and a contact number.

Thank you for being a Comcast Customer!

Frank Eliason
Comcast Executive Offices
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com

call my store and we can help over the phone: 540-635-7064 weekdays 9am-6pm
Royal Oak Computers
131 East Main St
Front Royal, VA 22630

You still have a virus / spyware probably. I had the same thing, where the screen would be black, grey or I think even red but you could tell it was running in the background. I ran Zone, Housecall, AdAware and a few others. It eventually went away.

FYI mine happened when I got back from a trip to Asica which I'm mentioning in case you happened to have used a USB on a public computer which you then stuck in your laptop.

Miraculously it was letting Dell support access my laptop remotely that helped me determine this was the issue.

keep pressing F8 on boot and if you get to a screen that asks about:

safemode
safemode with networking
..
...
...

last known good configuration
start windows normally

you want last known good configuration if possible

you could try re-seating the ram, booting off your windows cd and see if you can do a repair install of xp.....

Hey Siri,

I think Tim's suggestion is a good one. If that doesn't work you should probably just steal Dad's Macbook Pro ;)

You might want to get a Ubuntu CD-- you can have a friend download the image from http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download and make a CD for you. It is what is called a Live CD -- you can boot your computer from it into Ubuntu, a user friendly version of Linux.

If your computer loads Ubuntu just fine, then you have a windows problem, and need to work on that. If it doesn't boot Ubuntu, then you probably have a hardware problem, and need to weigh the cost of getting it fixed vs the cost of a new one.

Good luck.

It does have an LCD screen, but I'm not sure that's the problem. I can see the dell logo during the boot up sequence, and when the screen goes blank, its not completely dark like it is when the computer's off. At this point, I think it's toast. Is there anyway for me to retrieve my files?

Does it have an LCD screen? You may need a backlight replacement. If you have access to another monitor, perhaps you can plug it in and see if it is the screen or your computer.

I recently had a similar problem with Comcast (which still isn't resolved). My boyfriend and I moved a few weeks ago. Long story short, the guy that lived here before us suggested we simply transfer the name and phone number of his Comcast account, so we wouldn't be charged for the box or have to set up an install time, etc. Great idea, right? Wrong. After spending about 45 minutes on hold the customer service rep explains that in order to do this simple transfer we would have to go into a Comcast store. So the next day we do just that. Only to have the extremely rude lady at the counter tell us we can't transfer an account. When we asked to speak to a manager she tells us there is no manager working and tries to dismiss us by calling for the next person in line. We refuse to move until we speak to a manager, (this part really heated me) a guy that was in earshot the entire time finally comes over and introduces himself as the manager. In other words, he was fully aware we were asking for him and blatantly ignored us. He tells us the account transfer can be done and the lady finally sets up our account. Keep in mind the only thing changing is the name on the account and the phone number. We were told we would have service by 6pm. About 8pm we call back to find out why our service isn't on yet, only to be told someone made a mistake and disconnected our service (the account was frozen for the transfer and not shut off) instead of turning it on. Now, in order to have our service turned on we would have to schedule an appointment to have someone come by. When we try to make the appointment the rep tells my boyfriend that we would have to do it through his manager (what?! why?! are you kidding me?!!!!) and she would have to call us back (her name was Sherry I believe). We wait 2 days and never received her call. So again we call back and finally get someone with a grasp on how customer server is suppose to work. He politely informs me that our appointment has been set, apologizes for other peoples carelessness and informs us we will be receiving a year of free Stars and HBO (we have the HBO plan). I was impressed with him and felt things were finally resolved.

Until the night the technician came. He quickly got our cable running (yay!), but when we asked about the net and phone he simply said oh they should be on now too and left. We tried the net... no luck. We tried the phone... do I even need to type this. I said I would make this story short (okay so maybe its not so short but I needed to vent), so I'm just going to say we still haven't gotten our phone service up and running and its been about 2 weeks. Oh, and we aren't getting Stars and I'm sure we are being charged for the HBO(we aren't even bothering to call at this point).

That sounds like a nightmare, sorry you had to experience it. Where are you located? Seems like your area has some serious customer service issues...

If you have to interact with them again or want to try to find out if they can give you something for your pain, try contacting customer service and once you get to a representative, escalate to their manager. Escalate until they give you what you want.

There is no reason for you to be treated like that - in my experience this is totally variable per customer service call centre. Some are outstanding and others suck, like the one where you live...