beware of comcast, part 2

In an earlier post beware of Comcast I railed on about the poor TV reception we were getting from Comcast. It got so bad that we didn't want to sit down and watch TV for fear that it would end in frustration, because the picture continually froze, or disappeared completely. On off on off, all evening long.
During the month of June I called Comcast at least 10 times trying to get someone to fix the &^&%^& service.
One of the Comcast customer service reps that I spoke with, on the 4th or 7th call, offered that he had lived in 4 or 5 different houses, all with Comcast service, and had never had a problem. Huh, imagine that. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought he was accusing me of making this all up. Do you think. Despite that, they sent 4 different tech service guys here, 4 different times to fix the problem. And all of them were very nice, and seemed concerned, and did their best to solve the problem.

Nevertheless, after the first three tries, we were still having the same crappy service. But then the fourth guy finally got it.
Thank goodness.
This was beginning to feel like one of those hobbies that you take up, and are now committed to, and now really dread.
Comcast, my new hobby.
It took about three weeks, but everything's fine now.
And there was no great technical hurdle for Comcast to leap either. The fourth service guy simply replaced the cable from the main box outside our house to the TV's inside our house. That was it. Presto!

What an ordeal. 3rd world tv service, and then you've got to hang around and wait for the tech guys to show up each time.
4 different times. 'someone will be there between 2 and 4'

So I was very surprised when the Comcast bill arrived for June, and they hadn't deducted a penny. Not a cent.

I was curious, and I had to get Comcast's thinking on this.
So I gave them a call and spoke with Crystal, and explained the entire situation. And to add insult to injury, Crystal, who is a supervisor at Comcast, offered to deduct the princely sum of $27.00 from our bill. She explained that since I had called Comcast 10 times in June, they would pro rate my bill and deduct the appropriate amount, $2.70, for each time I called. Do you believe that. I suggested that Crystal keep the 27 bucks.

If they're going to be that miserly, it might at least make a bit of sense to look at the number of days from the first time I called about the problem, to the day that the problem was finally solved, and then compute their $2.70/day based on that number of days. Which was probably 23 to 25 days. Whatever!

I'm sure the Comcast people aren't ignorant, they just don't give a damn. They don't have to. They're a monopoly in the markets they're supposed to serve. (When I refer to Comcast, I refer to the corporation, and the corporate mentality that's been cultivated- that just maybe has something to do with their being a monopoly- and not to the individual employees, including Crystal)
Comcast is the only choice where I live, and that's true for most consumers. And that stinks, just like their attitude.
Beware of Comcast.

Update
Very soon after posting this rant about Comcast, I was contacted by a Comcast representative, and she agreed that Comcast had not handled this well, nor deducted enough from my bill, given the problems I've had.  Comcast then deducted a suitable amount, and all ended amicably.
The money was not the issue for me. Comcast's attitude was.
And while I do not intend for this blog to be my personal bully pulpit,
I felt that the issues that I've experienced with Comcast deserved to be heard, because so many of us here in the Foothills are Comcast customers. Like it or not. 

Comments

[John D. Hurbon]

John,
I have read your Comcast article and I think you are really upset with Comcast, understandably so. However, you are a true professional and I really enjoy your real estate research, since I'm so new at it. May I suggest you send an apology to Comcast and invite their employees and management to view your apology online, at your website. You could be losing leads from your negative vibes you are sending the public about hard-working people like you and I, who just happen to wear a Comcast uniform. I agree with a type of monopoly set-up it appears they have in parts of Arizona, but that needs to be addressed by consumers contacting competitors for the TV markets they want.
John Schneider ... there is crap on TV anyhow. See some real estate and tell those stories LOUDLY...

[John Schneider]

John, I wasn't criticizing the hard working Comcast people. I said, 'they sent 4 different tech service guys here, 4 different times to fix the problem. And all of them were very nice, and seemed concerned, and did their best to solve the problem'
I'm criticizing the corporate mind set at Comcast, which proliferates because they have no competition in many markets.
I'm the customer who was very poorly served, why would I owe Comcast an apology.
bah-humbug!

[rebecca]

looks like comcast will be sanctioned by the FCC -- over internet blocking practices -- but nonetheless, a victory against the giant.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/technology/12comcast.html