Comcast Cable

Comcast has THE longest lines and the worst service EVER.

So my struggles with Comcast began about a month ago when we got cable installed in our condo in downtown Seattle. Big mistake. At first, things were going reasonably well. That is, until we began losing our cable signal spontaneously and without warning. It got so annoying that it would happen at least 2-3 times a day.

We had a different cable guy (yea, right) come out a second time and had him switch out the receiver box, but to no avail. The signal even went out on us when he was there, but he couldn't figure it out, so he just left without diagnosing or fixing the problem. We couldn't believe it.

Since we told him we wanted to cancel our service with them, he told us we would have to personally call the 1-800 number ourselves and turn in the cable box ourselves in order to complete the transaction. So we finally got DirectTV and CondoInternet installed and called Comcast to cancel our services. We waited about 10-15 minutes to speak with a representative who told us that he would have to transfer us to their "customer retention" department in order to cancel any service. The kicker was that they were closed and I had to call back during the work week to start the process all over again just to cancel our cable and Internet services. WTH?!?

It turns out that what they were saying was total BS. I asked to speak to their supervisor, and after another 15 minute wait, I told the supervisor to cancel my services immediately, or else. Although he was able to cancel the internet service, he told me that I would have to turn in the cable box myself in order to complete the cable cancellation. These guys were unbelievable!

So finally, I take the box into the Redmond store to literally find 30 customers being serviced by 3 reps. It took me about half an hour to get to the Redmond service center, and another half hour just to drop off a freaking cable box.

I am now thoroughly disgusted with everything about Comcast. I guess that's what happens when you become a cable monopoly. Comcast, you guys suck!!!

Comcast is a disaster, I doubt that is something new for most people. I just never was annoyed enough to take the time and write a bad review about them. Everyone knows they are crap, but there is no other choice if you can't have a satellite dish on your property.

We have tried to fix several problems for almost three months and once you have fixed on thing, the next problem comes up. We just switched to this new and definitely cool X1 box, but took 2 afternoons off work and several calls, chats and 2 visits to the store to finally get this to work. There are no apologies or anything offered to compensate for the time off, the many calls and the time we had to put in to get this finally fixed. Every time you were talking to someone else, no matter if it was in the store, online or on the phone, so no one had an idea what is going on and they all only said they will "escalate" the issue. Escalate to the trash can I guess.. not even asking for a supervisor was of any help. He is trained to say the same lame excuses the other reps do.

Now to make things worse, the last rep who finally got the box booked in the right way so we could have it installed, made changes to our account and SURPRISE added on $15 per month to our bill. Even though ALL including him said that the new box won't cost more!!! Again, we are in the middle of a huge hassle to get this figured out, a visit to the store, 3 calls and one chat later and we are at the same point. Nothing get's done and we are now sitting on the second bill that is $15 too much. No apologies for the delay, no answer on what is going on and the same excuse of, we are escalating it, but it will take a couple of days. It is now 4+ weeks and counting and no answer or information on what is going on.

All this hassle, pain and work for the extortionate price of $125 not even including triple play... only the bare bones Internet and a middle of the range TV program. I just hope for the sake of all of us, that some other company get's our pain and offers better and cheaper service soon.

This place is a huge rip off, people are not trained, informed and customer service is the worst I have seen overall. If you have a choice, DO NOT SIGN UP!

Comcast is what happens, when you deregulate to the point of a corporate monopoly.

We can complain all we want, but since there is not a solid cable/internet provider to compete with them, it's pretty much pointless.

With that said, the Redmond store services a large area and tends to always be busy. I have never received rude service from Comcast at the store or on the phone. And I have to mention, it seems they have made a legitimate effort to step it up in the Customer Service department. Did they forget to sell me an HD upgrade? Yes. Did I have to waste 1.5 hours out of my day to go to the store and grab an HD box? Of course.

Would I switch to another provider that offered the same services? Probably. But for now, Comcast will have to do.

I just earned the Maverick Yelp badge for making a visit to Comcast. Let's just say that was a badge I would preferred not to have earned.

I had to return a HD cable box that was no longer needed, so I headed over to the Comcast Store in Redmond. The location is very seclusive. Make sure you have the address or you might have trouble finding it. Even though I had the address, I found it confusing as I could not see it driving down the street. It was only when I saw a Comcast truck did I find it.

The best way to find it is to look for Willows Deli. Once you spot it, turn into the business park it is located in and drive past the deli. You will find Comcast on the left hand side in the building behind.

I was not sure what to expect in regards to a wait. I was expecting the worse. Initially, it really did seem it was going to be rough. The line barely moved for 20 minutes and I was holding the cable box the whole time. It was not really heavy, but my arms started to get tired from the waiting.

The lineup holdup seem to be with potential customers talking about service packages with the reps. I am more perturbed at these customers rather than with Comcast. Don't they know you can talk about service plans over the phone? Waiting for them to decide did severely slow down the line. I did see other people in line returning equipment and those customers were able to get in and out quickly once they reached the front. This was the situation that I encountered too. Once I got to the front, the return process was quickly completed.

I think Comcast should consider having separate lines for equipment return/changes and sales. It might make the lines go a little quicker. At least it would make me feel less perturbed if I knew the lines were full of people in my same situation.

What can I say about Comcast?

If you have either Frontier FIOS or Century Link Fiber I highly recommend that you order that instead of Comcast/Xfinity HSI.

I am located in the Totem Lake/Juanita area of Kirkland and have had chronic service issues for the past 2 years that effect my service weekly (some cases daily).

The only thing that Comcast keeps doing is either remote resets of the modem or to dispatch a technician after the problem has self corrected. In either case they can never see a problem with my service and about all the technicians do is cut off and replace coax connectors.

What does Comcast offer for these issues and wasting my time because of their failing infrastructure (20-30 year old cables & hardware)? A measly $20 credit!!

So save yourself the headaches of having to call them constantly for technical issues and just go with a more reliable fiber optic service if it is available, if it is not then petition Frontier or Century Link to provide the service to your area .... and get as many of your neighbors to do the same.

Yes the other two companies do not have stellar customer service either, but at least their fiber optic networks (and copper based DSL) are essentially bullet proof compared to Comcast coax service.

Besides network service issues, I can tell you that if you have even the most basic understanding of how to setup network equipment to opt for self install rather than paying to have one of their technicians perform the installation.

I am called regularly by friends who need me to fix problems with improper installations, primarily installing extra WiFi routers ahead of their existing wireless equipment that is not set up or programmed to operate in a dual NAT format.

** Aug 2013 Update**

Well the chronic services issues continue with no way to rectify them with Comcast.

Their telephone support is an absolute joke (call center located in the Philippines), was placed on hold (15+ minutes each time) and disconnected once before I was finally able to speak with a supervisor-clueless and idiotic would be best way to put my impression of this individual.

5 days of constant signal drops, bouncing and high latency that cause all of my services to require reboots finally broker the camel's back.

For far less money I am going to switch to Frontier DSL (6 Mbs), yes it is slower than my Comcrap service but from past experience with ADSL, it is usually "bullet proof" compared to cable. My last DSL services only had 1 issues in 24 months of service which was due to a technician having left alligator clips on my contacts in the RT down the street.

Along with the internet issues, our video service has been acting up again as well and for a significantly less amount I can switch to Dish Network.

** Second Update **

Due to the continued service issues and poor (or nonexistent) customer service, we are switching to Frontier/Dish Network.

See my review of Frontier (Lynnwood, WA) - FYI, as a former telecom professional, I found Frontier to be a joy to work with.

Comcast sucks so bad it's not even funny. We are forced to use Comcast (for now) after years of Directv service, which was always stellar.

To start off, they service people are nice, yet incompetent. The installer didn't show up the first time around. I call to reschedule and they can get me in a week later. I show up that day to my new house and no installer. I call and ask "WTF" and they say "Whoever set up your appointment set it up for next week". I say "OK well you either get someone out here by Monday (our move in date) or I will go elsewhere (bluff).

Installer shows up on Monday and installs everything. A week later everything goes fuzzy and our phone isn't working. They send a tech out and it's fixed....for a month.

Then we start having flickering screens on the digital channels and lots of digitizing on the HD channels. Our internet sucks ass as well as we can't stream Netflix or Hulu without constant "buffering". I call them again, they send out a tech. He says the outside wiring is old and water may be the culprit. He changes everything out.

The next day, same shit different day. So I'm on my 5th service call in 2 months. I FUCKING LOATHE COMCAST. I hope it dies in a fire.

Their website is from the stone age, their packages are overpriced, their customer service (while friendly) are completely incompetent. If you can get Directv or Dish, I guarantee you will be happier. Fuck off and die, Comcast.

Renting me a modem that your tech support staff will not support is a real problem. I spoke with someone there and they helped me diagnose that the slow speeds I was experiencing were only through WIFI and that when connected via an ethernet cabel it was fine. OK, but the modem has wireless built in and it's not working properly in a 1000sf apartment. She said the slowdowns on wireless can happen and that they only support the cabled connection. Really? WIFI can slow from 25mbs to 0.02mbs? LOL - Anyway I had a little luck after I changed the channel it was operating on myself, and finally just hooked up my old wireless router and things are great.

Seriously Comcast you need to train your techs to escalate issues they cannot handle themselves and/or don't rent a product you cannot support.

************UPDATE well I got the equip, but it doesn treally work. They are sorry.

they sold out to some messed up system..
rep is from India and cant think
my cable will not work without equipment which they forgot to send

WOW, you think a company as large as Comcast would have the courtesy to treat you like you were a customer in one of the greatest economies the world has ever seen wouldn't you? Oh Nooooooo!!!!!!! I tried getting some clarification and adjustments on a recent bill via their online chat. After about 20 minutes, yes... TWENTY MINUTES of waiting and responding for whomever it was typing with me, "she" came up with the following proposal:

Marianne: How about we meet half way. I can credit half of the $15.72 which is a valid charge. I credit the $7.86 and you pay the $7.86.

Marianne: Would that be fine?

Marianne: If you agree, you can deduct $7.86 from the total amount due of $117.97 and pay $110.11 only.

Where am I? in some Tijuana chat room bartering for a donkey show??? I think NOT! Be a good customer service rep and resolve the issue, get higher customer satisfaction ratings, impress shareholders and get that gold pin at the end of the year with your review! But I suppose that is too much to ask.

Now, granted it's only $16 dollars but the principal of the whole transaction of haggling over a bill from a large company. Basically what I hear is that as a customer, I'm not worth that extra $8 to keep around. That totally makes sense doesn't it? Unfortunatly it appears there are very limited options in the area for tv and broadband and the alternatives don't seem that much better.

What's a boy to do?

While I am absolutely NOT at fan of Comcast the company, I found that this service center was well run and I had way better service than I have ever had over the phone.
Pros:
- The line moved quickly. Even though it was crowded (I was 10th in line), I was out the door with my business concluded in 15 minutes.
- The staff was polite, friendly and efficient even though the customers they were dealing with were clearly not the most tech-savvy (the rep was explaining the difference between HD and HDMI to a guy who I wouldn't be surprised if he had trouble operating his TV).

Cons:
- This service center does not appear on the Comcast site. Period. The main call center has no information on it. I found it by googling while on hold with their call center.
- It is Comcast
- They tried to upsell me (I caved and got faster internet for $10 more per month but got rid of all my premium TV so I save $30+ / month net).