More Abusive Behavior From Comcast
By Greg L | 3 May 2008 | Local Economy | 30 Comments
Michael at “The Write Side Of My Brain” describes yet another example of Comcast’s legendary abuse of their customers in a story today, detailing his own experience with unreliable service, poor customer service, and ultimately blackmail against those who decide to cease their relationship with this corporate atrocity. It amazes me that Comcast retains any customers whatsoever given these consistent reports of abusive practices.
Somewhere around the first week or so of April, I got what I presumed was to be the final bill. I was gone to New Orleans for week and got back just in time for National Democrats’ Day on April 15. So, since we had to buy another federal employee this year, I put the bill aside and determined to pay it on or about May 1st, less than a month after I received it.
Yesterday in the mail, I receive a notice from a collection agency that said the original bill was dated March 3. 2008. That is simply, a lie.
And I am furious. Right now I’m just angry enough to not pay it. But I don’t need a ding on my credit report and I’m not sure I’m willing to fight the forces of hell to keep it off.
But I’ll be sending a scathing letter. As soon as I can find a recipient. Problem is, you can never get through to anyone at Comcast.
It was only after Michael fruitlessly attempted to resolve this and wrote about it on his blog that a Comcast employee noticed his post, and wants to “earn back” his trust. You’d think that if Comcast actually “cares”, it would be resolving these problems when they occur rather than apologize only after a complaint becomes a public relations concern.
ComcastCares says:
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:59 pm Michael,
I am sorry we lost you as a Customer. I would also like to look into this further to ensure it does not happen to another valued Customer. I do not want any Customer to leave and have this experience. Send me the email and I will have it all looked into and see what I can do to make it up to you.I hope we can earn your trust back.
Frank Eliason
frank_eliason@cable.comcast.com
I seem to have heard this same rhetoric about “looking into this so this won’t happen to another valued customer” before, subsequent to their abuse of Melyssa Webb and Mona Shaw, the grandmother who became so frustrated with Comcast’s abusive practices she attacked one of their customer service centers with a hammer. Somehow, that review failed to resolve the problem, which is hardly surprising. I’m sure the actual review of Comcast’s business practices undertaken in these instances involves an evaluation of how they might even more effectively blackmail their current and former customers so as to discourage them from telling the public how torturous it is to be a Comcast customer.
Should any readers voluntarily enter into a contractual relationship with Comcast, I would caution them to carefully review the document so they don’t inadvertently commit themselves to an obligation with the forces of evil. That sure seems to be what ends up happening.
The opinions expressed here are solely the views of the author, and not representative of the position of any organization, political party, doughnut shop, knitting guild, or waste recycling facility, but may be correctly attributed to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. If anything in the above article has offended you, please click here to receive an immediate apology.
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Not like we have any other choice. FIOS is still MIA in the park after repeated promises of service. Comcast cable is pretty terrible in this area. I always remember Comcast being very reliable when I lived in Alexandria, but anything in the park is always sub-par compared to other localities so not a shock. Once Verizon gets off their a$$es and starts offering FIOS with internet and TV for 2/3 the cost of Comcast then I think you will see a MASS exodus from Comcast and then maybe they will get their $h1t together…just maybe.
Verizon is tearing up Westgate and Sudley installing FIOS. You should have seen the mess they made in South Riding about 2 and a half years ago. They disposed of the excess dirt, concrete and rocks down the sewer system. My brother had 6 inches of sewage from the neighborhood in his basement. Everyone in this area needs to keep an eye on them while they are tearing up the yards around here. It was truly a horror show. they refused to assume responsibility for it. Contractor, you know.
If you NEVER want to resolve a billing issue, go with old Cingular. Good Grief. I have a horror story there no one would believe. I have been coveting an iphone since they first came out. Why don’t I have one? The unholy alliance between ATT and Cingular. I don’t ever want to do business with Cingular again.
Wasn’t Verizon the one caught hiring just-doing-what-Americans-won’t-do- illegals to install fios? From the pictures of the southern border, I guess throwing rubbage down the sewers is some sort of “improvement”.
Dolph,
that’s pretty messed up about FIOS, I’ve been waiting for them to come to my neighborhood, I need reliable internet access. I’ve actually had to switch back to comcast (yep, back) because my earthlink service was actually more horrible than comcast. at least with comcast when I have an issue I can get someone who speaks english. XM Radio is just as bad, they outsource all their tech support to india, it’s horrible.
Comcast is about 6 times as fast as my earthlink connection, and will probably be more reliable since it’s running on cable. my DSL connection shut off for no reason about 2 a month, takes earthlink about 2 days to fix it each time. I’ve had cingular for a long time (now ATT) and have no issues with them, as long as my bill does not change each month I dont even look at it. I just got a couple IPHONES for my wife and I, rockin’ pieces of gear!! if you dont want the phone and just the ipod part look into the IPOD touch.
Josh
Park’d, we are getting our FIOS service next week (we are on your side of town), though getting it set up is proving problematic. Verizon’s hoops leave something to be desired and Comcast is being wonky on releasing our phone number. We will be paying more, but right now our Comcast is going down every other week. Since we are the only one on our side of the street actually paying for it (they leave their hubs unsecured and everyone runs their free cable and internet off, no matter how many times I tell Comcast that people are stealing cable), they don’t exactly hurry to repair our service.
park’d said on 3 May 2008 at 1:40 pm:
Not like we have any other choice.
Try DIRECT TV for a start. I have had them since their start and and believe me, they are great and cheaper than cable for what you get. I had the predacessor to COMCAST (CABELVISION) when they first started and they were nothing but a bunch of liars. I had poor service, picture etc and for over a year they told be the problem was with a cable in MP. Finally one day a tech arrived and re-told him about my poor service and asked when they were going to replace that cable in MP (supposedly permit problems was the cause of delay) and he said they don’t have any problem with the cable in MP and there is no plans to replace it. That day I cancelled cablevision and went to DIRECT TV and have not regretted it in the least. Will never subscribe to another cable system.
Further to above. I live in Sudley and they told me the cable at 28 and Manassas Drive was the one that was going to be replaced. Should of caught on at that time MP cable = troubles in Sudley????? They got me on that one.
anon don’t know how you’re getting fios when verizon says its not available here yet? Please shed more info on this! 999 directtv does not offer Internet service. I need Internet service that is fast and reliable and its either cable or DSL and we can’t get DSL in the park. Once fios is here then I plan to dump comcast most ricky tick. I’m typing this post on my iPhone and never had any problems with Cingular/AT&T. I even got full signal in the desert of Arizona with them. Info on fios for the park would be greatly appreciated since verizon themselves doesn’t even seem to know.
When returning all of Comcast’s equipment and settling the final bill in person at the Manassas office, I received a receipt showing my bill paid in full and all equipment returned. Of course, several months later, I received a “final notice” letter claiming that I had failed to return a converter box and owed several hundred dollars in lost equipment fees. After sending copies of my receipt to three different customer service reps, (they wanted the original, I refused to send it) I finally got a manager who accepted a fax copy. I received a letter from her a few days later that spewed apologies like molten lava. This is why Ma Bell was demolished. Monopolies should be illegal.
Johnson - That situation was definitely crappy. Every time I get into a similar one, I keep hoping that I’ll run across a rational actor. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. I gotta tell you, I’m not sure that the presence or lack of parallel agencies (monopoly -vs- competition) has much bearing on any particular customer service situation. But, in the long run, competition tends to lead to better customer service.
Of course, in the long run, we’re all dead, and don’t get to enjoy the improved customer service. Life’s funny like that!
Comcast used to be good, then they bought Adelphia and turned into the same crap Adelphia was.
I’ve noticed that Comcast does not secure their “hubs” (actually taps) very well, I guess they’re not concerned about cable theft. From a technical standpoint, this is bad because those who steal cable often don’t do a very good job of it which can cause problems with the system (signal leakage into and out of the cable system. Too much leakage…egress…will get Comcast in hot water with the FCC. Excessive ingress–external signals leaking into the cable–can cause problems with cable modems and cable telephony).
park’d,
I love those Iphones, I dont go anywhere without mine. I’m a relatively new owner, I scoffed when they initially came out but I’m sold after I’ve had one for a couple weeks.
i’m still waiting for FIOS in my neighboorhood, they are coming. They did about half of my development already, but I have not seen them digging lately. usually you can tell because they’ll start trenching from the street in. I do see the lines still marked though so hopefully they’ll start back up soon.
luckily I live within close distance of a verizon central office so DSL signal is great, however earthlink is horrible and I dont recommend them. I should have gone with verizon, at least their customer service reps speak understandable english for the most part!
j
“Excessive ingress–external signals leaking into the cable–can cause problems with cable modems and cable telephony).”
Thus my service problems. And thanks for the hot tip, Johnson, on being wary when I turn Comcast’s crap in. Park’d… I will check with my spouse (who has been setting up Verizon) on getting you a good number to call later this morning. I can tell you that they don’t make contact easy. But I will get something back to you today.
http://promo.verizon.com/FiOSBundleBuyvA/
That website will take you to the page that checks your location for service. Let me know what you find. I know that we started with an online order and then went to a bunch of phone calls. Getting it set up is hardly a seemless process (which is hugely disappointing), but is likely worth it. I am personally tired of having my service go out all the time, especially on my phone.
Hey, MP Resident, how do you make a complaint to the FCC? I would love to go down swinging.
That’s just one of their generic web pages and my address always says service not available. It’s been 8 or 9 months since the MP city council meeting where Verizon said they were going to offer service to us but still nothing. I’ll be at the mercy of incompetent Comcast until then. What else can you do when there is no competition and monopolies reign supreme?
As I said, I will try to get a number for you. I don’t understand why some streets on this side of the tracks have it and others don’t. Like I said, if installation is indicative of the rest, I am not sure Verizon will be any more competent. At this point, I will take “working” over any additional adjective.
Josh,
My comcast is getting sorrier and sorrier. The tv part is ok but the internet comes and goes. I am not so sure FIOS is a bit better. I will wait until the first wave of new subscribers has a chance to try it out. All will depend on their dvr support for me.
My problem with cingular was signal at my house. Every place else was fine. I did many things to improve it including buying a new phone at out of pocket cost rather than the gimmick with the new contract.
That didn’t work and so after giving it a few months, I switched out completely. I hadn’t been under contract with them for years. That unleashed the hounds of hell. They SAID I was under contract. They turned me over to collections and I got a barrage of calls from the abusive meat handlers. I finally got it resolved months later after I packaged up all my unanswered correspondence and mailed it to the president of Cingular. No one should have to go through all that though. It would have been much simpler to pay the $75 bucks but it was a matter of principle at that point.
They were ok until I quit them. Hell hath no fury like a cell phone company scorned.
dolph,
they have some serious fine print, if you upgrade a phone or do just about anything to modify their contract they extend you for 2 years, and the dont tell you about it. you probably have issues with your signal for your cable internet. check out a two-way signal booster from motorola
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-484095-001-00-Signal-Booster/dp/B000066E6Y
this will boost your signal like a champ and you should notice less or no drop outs. dont get any of the cheap boosters, this one is tried and true. I use this personally at my home, it also helps out with cable too, especially if you have HDTV channels. you may be able to get comcast to come out and check your line level and give you a booster, but if you want to check it for yourself you can buy one locally and return it if it does not work.
Josh
Josh,
Thanks for the information. I will order one because I am tired of the drops all the time. This is fairly new behavior on the part of comcast…last 6 months anyway. I am all routered up and have 4 computers hooked up but that doesn’t seem to make it work better or worse.
As for cingular, I was not on a contract with them. I deliberately paid like $150 for the stupid phone rather than $29 that included a contract. They were just scum bags. One of the big issues that I ran in to ….the complaints mail was not the same as the billing address. I think the 9 letters I sent just got thrown in the trash. Also, there was very little individuality. Their service people didn’t operate will with a variant of any sort.
Thanks again for the information.
part of the hang-up with FiOS is the ridiculous hoops the company has to jump through to provide service in Virginia. There are certain laws that don’t allow it to get a state-wide approval like in other states, so they have to go to each individual little local franchise (Manassas Park, Manassas City, Haymarket, Prince William County–to service the unincorporated areas that aren’t fed off of COs in Haymarket, MP, or the city). Add in the fun that even though Verizon is providing Internet and Video service, the FCC still treats it strictly like a telephone provider if it attempts to go in new areas. They have to prove that there is a current provider to compete with…however, even though Comcast now provides phone, it is still not treated like a phone company. If you want to find a public construction schedule, you can find it at: http://www.verizon.com/virginia right about in the middle of the page is the title FTTP Deployment and there should be a link below it with the current month’s construction schedule (although it is still showing April instead of May).
Comcast stinks because it’s not true digital the last mile, so the quality is deplorable, unreliable and has a champagne price tag.
Verizon’s FIOS is having major DNS problems and even when told, they’re too stupid to figure it out, or they just don’t care. Either way…more bad news.
Look on your Comcast and Verizon bill and you will see a fee charged to subscribers –$1. and change that pays for the county I-Net. The county paid Comcast to install two fiber optic networks for local government, schools and libraries.
There aint even a sign or a thought about them offering that service in Manassas Park according to that construction website. MP is the place that time forgot. We get the worst of everything here for the most amount of money. I’m probably just going to stick with Comcast internet and go to Directv HD. I’ll be dead before these clowns offer FIOS in this rat town.
“you probably have issues with your signal for your cable internet. check out a two-way signal booster from motorola”
Before doing that, it might be worthwhile to figure out what your splitter configuration is and try to make it work better.
A common thing I see being done is, for example, using a 4-way splitter where a 2-way would work.
That 4-way causes more signal loss than a 2-way even if you are only using two of the outputs. So replacing it with a 2-way will increase the signal levels.
Another common thing is when using a 3-way splitter, not connecting the cablemodem to the 3.5dB output, but instead connecting it to a 7dB output. (In this case the dB labels are referring to the amount of signal loss…therefore the 7dB output loses more signal than the 3.5dB output).
If you need splitters the Comcast bill payment office on Manassas Drive has them. I’ve only asked for a couple but they’ve given them to me without any hassle.
Incidentally, some of the splitters I’ve seen for sale are just plain crap. If you have any gold-plated splitters chances are they’re crap. Replace them.
As far as making a complaint to the FCC, a licensed radio user who gets interference from Comcast’s system could make a complaint.
Park’d - The number I have is 1-888-553-1555. Our install is tentatively scheduled for Friday. I am sorry that you can’t seem to get service, but we are definitely on the same side of the tracks and I should have it by this time next week.
Let me know how that works out for you. If I had a dollar for every time someone at verizon said i could get DSL and then on install day it didn’t work I would have about 3 dollars!
Seriously though keep me informed as to whether it works or not. You can email me at astroguy77@comcast.net with any specifics about who you talked to and where you live that would be great. I live in the new TH development off Cabbel and they built fiber to our house I know so I should be the first to get it I would think, but knowing politics, someone else owns that fiber….
I will keep you posted, Park’d…
Park’d,
Not sure which side of the tracks you live on. I’m on the far west end and I’ve had FiOS for about three months now. I signed up via the website. Originally set for 2/13, but was bumped to 2/14 (I had to check my status on the website, as I received no phone call). On installation day though, the tech came out, and did a great professional install. Very friendly and courteous. Haven’t missed Comcast since.
Has anybody considered the remote possibility that Comcast is intentionally sabotaging FIOS in some parts of our area?
We just got our FIOS (about two weeks ago) and have already had two issues with it, apparently related to the lines. Our lines are on the telephone poles, not underground, and both times coincided with a great deal of Comcast activity on our street…their connections are also on the poles. Frankly, I’m such a great fan of Comcast (it’s a dirty word in our house) that I wouldn’t put it past them.
Comcast asserts the same sort of blame here, saying that repeated service problems are a result of the FIOS installs. It is a load of crap, because these repeated outages have been going on for over three years.
“We just got our FIOS (about two weeks ago) and have already had two issues with it, apparently related to the lines. Our lines are on the telephone poles, not underground, and both times coincided with a great deal of Comcast activity on our street…their connections are also on the poles. Frankly, I’m such a great fan of Comcast (it’s a dirty word in our house) that I wouldn’t put it past them.”
That would be a dumb game for Comcast to play since Verizon can damage Comcast lines just as easily as Comcast can damage Verizon’s lines.
In fact, in some places, like on Rt 28, Comcast lines are overlashed with Verizon lines (or so it appears from the ground).