using this pic again because it’s my favorite
Back in June I wrote a post about my Comcast woes. Basically, for most of 2012 I’ve had ongoing issues with my internet connection. No matter what I do or how many times I call, Comcast seems unwilling to fix the problem. So I get to pay $60 a month for an intermittent connection with download speeds that are so ridiculously slow I can’t even transfer files half the time.
Since June, I have logged about eleventy billion calls to customer service. Each time, we begin with a rundown of all the dumbass questions they have to ask, like whether my home has electricity and which cord might be loose on the modem. Then they schedule a tech to come to my home and waste my time troubleshoot the issue.
Tech Visits are Fun!
My July tech immediately recognized that the issue is in the lines and has nothing to do with my equipment. He scheduled a maintenance escalation visit, which he said would occur within 48 hours and would lead to an actual solution. Except the maintenance person never came. And, as a bonus, the maintenance supervisor (who I know personally) marked the ticket as closed because “customer was not home.” Um, I’m pretty sure I never leave my house, dude.
The tech who came out in August was probably my favorite ever. He was sent to bring one of Comcast’s modems because clearly the one I purchased myself is the problem. He came in the house, unhooked my modem and plugged up his (identical) modem, ran a speed test, and decided he needed to test a different type of modem because my download speeds were still terrible. I pulled out the other 3 modems I’ve bought in an effort to solve the issue and told him to take his pick. He sighed, told me there was nothing he could do because it’s a problem with the lines, and suggested that I move. Yes. That was his answer. Thanks, Comcast!
This month’s tech visit came the day before I left for the Financial Blogger Conference. You know, because I didn’t need to pack or anything. This guy was a contractor and not a Comcast employee, so he was a little more forthcoming. According to him, the infrastructure here is extremely outdated and important people at Comcast are aware, but it’s a small town in the middle of nowhere so no one cares. My best bet is to call every week and bug the piss out of them until something happens. He also referred the issue to maintenance, and the ticket was closed again without a resolution.
I’m Sick of This Crap
Last night I attempted to stream Happy Gilmore since my son is finally old enough to understand why it’s the best movie ever. We waited about 30 minutes for the movie to start, then made it to 4:21 before the movie stopped. (Funny enough, that’s the part where Adam Sandler’s character is going through the list of all the jobs he’s had and says he was a plumber. We got to spend 25 minutes staring at Adam Sandler’s bare ass frozen on the screen.)
The movie finally started again, went to about 12:05, and stopped again. After an hour it still wouldn’t play and hadn’t loaded at all. I pulled out my phone to run a test on my transfer speeds. I was getting 0.68 Mpbs down and 0.87 Mbps up. For reference, those numbers should be around 15 and 3, respectively.
So I called Comcast and, through some fluke in the system, got a competent support person who actually took five seconds to look through my history. “You’ve been dealing with this for way too long,” he told me. Really? No shit!
After looking through months and months of phone calls and notes, the guy decided to escalate my issue to a supervisor. By doing so, he promised that someone would call me back and that something would happen. Yeah, I’ve heard that one before. But I humored him and gave him all the information he needed.
This morning a supervisor actually called. I had just dropped Jayden off at school and nearly ran off the road in shock. “I see that your issue is ongoing,” she said. “Your area is in a Stage Two outage right now, though, so that’s why your speeds are so slow.”
“Let me ask you something,” I responded. “Can you tell me when there’s NOT a Stage Two outage in my area? Because I hear that every single time I call.”
She exhaled and started typing away. A few seconds later she said, “Holy crap, you’re right.”
So now she’s off to “do some research” and is supposed to call me back. I’m not very optimistic that she will, nor do I hold out a lot of hope for a resolution. In the meantime, I get to do fun things like drive to McDonald’s or my parents’ house to transfer files for work. I can’t stream movies over my slow connection. Jayden gets kicked off Minecraft every five minutes when the connection decides to drop.
This post really has no point other than to reiterate the fact that Comcast sucks and allow me to keep track of the (lack of) progress. My goal is to become so annoying that someone does something about this, but I’m not holding my breath. Moving is starting to sound like a really good idea – not a realistic idea, but a nice fantasy nonetheless.
Did I mention when you last complained about Comcast about the Better Business Bureau? Seriously. Filing a complaint with them online is easy and fast. THEY GET RESULTS WITHIN DAYS. They really really do! My sister called them for a Comcast problem of her own and got called from a freaking manager at Comcast THE NEXT DAY, and her issue was fixed WITHIN TWO DAYS. I HIGHLY recommend the BBB, especially for companies like Comcast that actually are not BBB certified becuase they suck so freaking bad.
I went through this at my last apartment, but the ISP wasn't Comcast. It was actually a smaller ISP, and I ended up hacking my way into finding the CEO's email address. I emailed the entire story to the CEO, VP of Customer Service and a couple other places after having ongoing issues for months and at least 6 visits from technicians. Same problem, old equipment outside of my apartment – but I was in a major city.
Once the CEO got involved, I had the cell phone number of a local customer service rep and the problem was fixed within a day or two. I say publicize the heck out of this post and shame them into fixing it. Or at the minimum, ask for credits on your bill every time you call. (I didn't pay for service for about 5 months because I had so many credits on my bill!)
I second getting the CEO involved or someone higher up. I worked for a company that dealt with T.V., not saying which, and that was the way to go, after doing exactly what you are doing.l
I had a similar problem with my internet in an apartment, in which they said it was "the lines" after I PAID for the service call. I ended up moving and saying F that, but thank goodness I was able to move. I wouldn't put up with that crap at my current home.
I know you say you live in a small town, but is there another way to get internet? Through your phone company or satellite provider? I get mine through a land-line phone company for cheap even though I don't have a land-line. 🙂
I'm curious to see if anything will happen this time, keep us posted!
Hello there!
I work for Comcast and I just wanted to apologize for the trouble and for the poor experience. I can reach out to my local contacts to ensure that this is fixed for you.
If you are interested in my help, please feel free to contact me, provide the phone number and a link to this page.
Thanks in advance,
Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
We_can_help@cable.comcast.com
We have Cox for our internet provider and would love to ditch them but there is no other competitor in the market. They have tiered pricing but I tried the cheapest package and it was ridiculous how slow the speed was. I'm also convinced they are throttling our speed.
I seriously think you should move to movie script wring Adam Sandler's base ass being frozen for few minutes in front of Jayden's eyes was priceless.
Wow! I can't believe that even if you call them almost everyday, they still can't find a solution to your problem. Even though that the problem is with their lines, they should do something about it because you are paying for their services. I also agree with some of the comments that you should try to contact their CEO so that they would be able to provide you with a solid solution. Wait.. what is this Comcast you speak of 🙂 I thought it was Xfinity now.
I just want to reiterate that Comcast is far and away the worst company I've ever dealt with. They are totally incompetent on all levels.
Obviously I got behind on my blog reading…….I would never purposely leave a post that includes a reference to Happy Gilmore without a personal comment. It's all fun and games until someone gets kicked off a minecraft server. But seriously, just one question for you…..have you told any Comcast employee that you eat pieces of sh*t like them for breakfast? Just saying, it may help.
You're right, Comcast does suck and Happy Gilmore is a great movie. I quote it constantly!
I thought about this blog today, when I read on Twitter about a hurricane Sandy victim that was told "We just want our box back", even though the house was under quarantine due to gas leaks and such. It was through the Huffington Post called "Comcast Demanded Cable Box Back In Wake Of Hurricane Sandy, Victim Claims". At least the victim did get an apology from Comcast, but seriously why does it take a hurricane to get an apology from them!
You poor, poor girl. It's really sad that you have very few options to even switch to, from what you said. Is Verizon an option? They seem to have great coverage everywhere for phones, perhaps they would for internet as well? Anyway, I wish you luck and hope you don't have to move. I also find it sadly ironic that a Comcast ad was at the bottom of the page of this blog advertising the Business Internet package with Internet 66x Faster than T1!
Comcast is the devil.
Nope, no Verizon service where I live. Just AT&T, but I'm so far out in the boondocks that I don't get a cell signal in my house. So that's not an option either. 🙁
What a running around bunch of BS customer service that they provide. NONE.
A simple thing… A few years ago I got the box from Comcast at the turn of digital age. Now I try to activate it to put in my kitchen. I call customer services to activate it and what a BS customer service I got. The company have the records that I own that box and yet someone took it off my account. NOW after 5 phone calls and 3 hours and a bunch of BSing, no one can help put it back on the account and activate. Request to talk to a supervisor and I got circulating among the reps. Their job is to piss customers of instead of helping.
I have heard many times in conversation that Al-qaeda had hit the wrong buildings back on 9/11. Dealing with Comcast customer reps today and reading all the BS people go through, I am starting to believe that Al-qaeda had the wrong aim too.
I currently have Brighthouse where I live now…they are a monopoly as it’s the only cable service I can get here… they are just as bad as Comcast… too little competition in this arena!