SpicyLemon's dashboard

Whenever I had to call customer service, it as always on a cell phone as I didn't have a land line. I was never sure if the call was dropped (they were always long calls, more than 30 minutes) or if I was hung up on. I never seemed to have a problem with dropped calls otherwise but I could never say for certain that they hung up on me. Weather on purpose or not, it's something that could probably use a good looking into. It'd be nice to have a way to not have to wait on hold for 20 more minutes when a call gets interrupted.

Maybe comcast needs a trouble ticket system so that at the very beginning of a call they can say, "blah blah blah comcast greeting. In case we get disconnected, your trouble ticket number is xxx." Then in the phone system, have an option to input your trouble ticket. I've seen other companies (big and small) that do that with success.

I'm just throwing that idea out there because you really need help comcast and it doesn't seem like it's really coming from the inside. Of course, I've tossed you other ideas that were ignored..... like not letting the phone system put people into a holding queue that has no-one to answer it. Call 1-800 comcast and direct yourself to sales at midnight.

Glad to here you got it fixed, I am on my 4th attempt to get cable cards. Same experience as you, installers never have them in stock, I get a call at the end of theappointment window telling me that there was no stock (no idea why they cant tell me before and save me a day off).

Various escalations and promisses and no followup. Getting used to not having digital cable now. 4 weeks and counting. Did get a $50 credit on my bill... and got to watch the olympics in standard definition.

Submitted an email to comcast_cares...

Dreamhouselee,

I sincerely apologize for the unacceptable experience. Please be assured that I will do my best to get this resolved for you as soon as possible.

If you don't mind, please send me your best contact number and the phone number on the account so that we can expedite the resolution.

Best Regards,

Mark C.
Comcast Corp.
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com

I've had comcast service set up at two houses. The first one took 3 nights of 3-4 hours on the phone with the tech; having to convince him that i had a cOMCAST account,. That i called cOMCAST to get my cable. A cOMCAST van came out to hook it up but that it's hooked up to the Adelphia pedestal. We checked all the channels, all of which were wrong. I even found the TV guide channel and it said "Adelphia." I had the cable modem hooked up and when I opened a browser it said I needed to register with Adelphia. This all happened on the first day. It took two more days of arguing to get them to come out and hook the cable up to the other (comcasts) pedestal.

In a word: FAIL!

Round 2. I moved. They got the TV hooked up just fine but couldn't seem to handle the fact that the modem was moving. It was another 3 days of calling. It was only 2-3 hours a day the second time though.

comcast service is great when you don't have problems. If the smalles thing goes wrong though, you're screwed.

Moving is a great excuse to go elsewhere. If you don't, you'll have more problems. Then the problems will go away for a short time and you'll be happy. Then you'll have more problems. Welcome to the roller-comcast-er.

First off, your caps lock hurts me. Second off, I'd like to point out the stupidity of your response (besides the unnecessary capital letters).

"This company is cable company in the country, if not the world." Wow. You win. How did you forget to type the most important word in that sentence?

"... I can wait to get verizon..." Then why the FURY?

Look, I had terrible service when I had comcast and I will never use them again. I hate them for wasting so much of my time.

But seriously, rule #1: Think before you submit. – SpicyLemon, on August 28, 2008 14:51

I GUEST I'LL BE WAITING FOR 3 DAYS TOO. MY SERVICE CRAPPED OUT ABOUT 2 HOURS AGO.THERE YOU GO AGAIN SOME CRAP FROM A CRAPPY COMPANY C R A P C A S T. – TONY, on August 28, 2008 04:48

I just recently moved to Houston and decided to go with Comcact because I had them a few years back in Pennsylvania with no problems ever!! I ordered the triple play package that comes with the free WII which will be mailed out at a later date (HOPEFULLY).

Service was installed on Thursday and problems started on Thursday! The main TV is only able to receive channels 95, 96, 97, 98, and 99. The technician left before making sure all the channels worked. We called comcast back (same day as the installation) and were not able to get an appointment until 2 weeks out! WOW. We tried troubleshooting over the phone with severals different reps. I kept calling because I really want to use the DVR Box and my service that I still have to pay for! I figured some reps would be more experienced than others. Nope I was wrong! Everyone tried to help but nothing help! I can now walk myself thru all the steps without a reps help! I have a neighbor that lives across the street that has a Comcast van and you would think they would contact and give him the ticket! NOPE! All of the reps were nice but not very helpful. No hope until the tech comes out this Saturday! O I forgot to mention that one rep mislead me to think the box was bad so I took the box to a CS center and same issue! BTW I found this blog while googling the issue I have with only viewing the channels 95 -99! I wish the techs were this resourceful at fixing the issue!

If anybody knows the issue or a fix, please share!

keeleekyles@hotmail.com

I used to have internet outages all the time. I would notice right away because I was either online, one of my roomates was online, or I'd get a text message from one of my outside servers about it. I was told that in order to actually declare an outage, three people on the same street had to call in and make appointments for service techs to come out. The representatives' abilities to test the signals in an entire neighborhood was irrelevant. I was told, several times, that even though they could look at the signals and see that there isn't a single one working, they couldn't declare an outage until they had 3 calls about it.

Because techs were out at my house so often, it was well documented that everything inside the house was functioning properly. Whenever things went out, I always called and scheduled a tech for the next available slot and let them know that I wouldn't be able to make it. Sometimes I'd call and cancel the tech but often I didn't. I figured (hoped) that eventually Comcast would get tired of waisting money on worthlessly sending out techs for them to point out that the problem is off of my property. You'd think that it would only take one tech saying that to initiate fixes. I can't even count how many it took for me; mostly because I gave up before it actually got fixed.

OK, for those who are interested here is the official explanation of what the sales tax is for that I got from Brenda Rowe, an I.S. manager with Comcast.

"Sales Tax 4.31 - This is the Sales tax on your Standard Cable Service, HDTV Equipment and the Franchise Fee of $3.53...The internet service is not being taxed in any manner by any state or federal authority."

I asked her if Comcast had ever considered (or would now consider) including this detailed information about all the taxes & fees they charge on customer statements. As it currently stands there isn't any explanation of what they're for or why customers started being charged for them. Until July '03 the only extra charge on my bill was state sales tax. She replied that Comcast is currently exploring a redesign of the statement to provide more detail and she'd pass my suggestion along to the appropriate parties.

If the channels were moved to the digital tier, then you will need a digital converter.

We do offer 1 year free rental for the digital converter and I believe the expiration date of the promotion was extended.

The channels that migrated were mostly the same in all areas but I want to double check the actual channels in your area and the availability of the promotion. If you don't mind, will you please send me the phone number on the account so that I can check for you?

Thanks!

Mark C.
Comcast Corp.
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com – ComcastCares1, on August 18, 2008 14:02

As far as I have learned, we have all lost some 10 to 15 channels from analog (direct line no box) they were replaced with a handful (I think maybe 5) HD channels. They feel this is an "upgrade" and I was told they "reserve the right to upgrade" at anytime. So yes we could lose more, but they are not saying when or what channels. As for the concern about the cost of the digital box, if you call and complain, they were offering one at a reduced rate (but they said that expired August 15) although it was never advertised anywhere, where I saw it. I for one am looking into which satellite package I like best and in the meantime warning everyone I talk to, to stay away from comcast - which comes across as odd from someone who sits on their local cable access board of directors. – Micster, on August 18, 2008 12:58

So did I read this right? We have several tv's in our home, of which only 1 has a cable box attached. Does that mean that all tv's that don't have a cable box will no longer be able to see channels like Bravo, Sci-Fi, & Food Network? Also, will I be able to see network channels like Fox, ABC, & CBS? Please help. In my area (New England) I believe the extra cable boxes are very expensive.

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU AND WHAT COMCAST DID -I HOPE THEY LOSE MANY CUSTOMERS. – wendie, on August 16, 2008 22:06

YOU ARE CORRECT-WHAT A TERRIBLE THING TO DO TO CUSTOMERS AFTER THE fact WHEN WE GOT CABLE WE NOW HAVE TO PAY MORE FOR LESS-I AM SWITCHING TO DIRECT-I HOPE THEY LOSE MANY CUSTOMERS! – wendie, on August 16, 2008 21:59

i am a customer of camcast extended basic as they called it when i ordered it yaers ago and i started paying$38.00 about that much, now i apy $68.00 and they take off channels and WE have to pay to rent a box to be able to watch those programs is a complete rip-off, i can't wait to order DIRECT and get away from comcast-i know quite a few people who feel the same way whom will change also to DIRECT-keep up the good work comcast – wendie, on August 16, 2008 21:53

Thanks for that SpicyLemon. I actually found a way to contact Comcast's senior VP of customer operations through a comment in the customer service topic of this forum. I emailed him yesterday and received 3 calls & an email from a woman named Faye who works for the department that handles corporate complaints here in Nashville. She said she looked over my account and doesn’t show that I'm being charged any taxes for my online services. I asked her to explain exactly what the sales tax that I'm being charged each month is for then & she said she'd have to get her IS manager to send a breakdown of what that's for by email. We'll see how this plays out.

I've had pretty good luck getting questions answered via the corporate office. It's been a while but here's the contact information that I last used.

Comcast Corporation
1 Comcast Center
Philadelphia, PA 19103
PA Tel. 215-286-1700
Toll Free 800-266-2278

Well here we are another week later and still there doesn't seem to be anyone at Comcast who will touch my question. What's really going on? If nothing else can an employee who monitors this discussion at least fine me the contact info for someone within the company who might have a clue how to address this issue? Maybe someone who was involved in the refund arrangement back in 2004?

I apologize but we would not be able to release information regarding account notes. In terms of training, when it is stated for training purpose it is for coaching the particular representative. We would not coninuously retain a call for that purpose.

Frank Eliason
Comcast

Nothing's going to be said here either? It's now been 8 business days & 11 calendar days since I emailed Comcast about this issue. Still waiting for a response. Mark? Scott? livlab?