Dogfather
Premium
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA | Surprised?
That's what happens when you relentlessly raise prices at 3X the rate of inflation. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
 ·North State Commun..
|  DirecTV et al
It's funny, DirecTV would have you believe they are head and shoulders above the Cable Companies based on this study. All their new anti-cable commercials quote this study in the fine print at the end of the commercial. I've had both and they both have their strengths and weaknesses.
The larger trend that no one seems to notice is that customer service in EVERY industry has taken a huge nosedive in the past 5-10 years. |
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phantom6294
join:2002-02-27
Abingdon, MD
 ·Comcast
3 edits | Include me in the dissatisfied customers...
I first got Comcast barely over a year ago when I moved to Maryland. At first, I was happy -- the technician was professional, the speeds were great and the introductory price (I got the triple play) was reasonable. Only issue I initially had was trouble connecting to *.mil sites. That seemed to work itself out. Also, every now and then, I would lose dial tone on my phone service. No biggie, just reset the cable modem.
Well, that all started changing. About two months ago, my signal suddenly went to the pits. I replaced all the splitters and got it back into an acceptable range but things are still erratic. I lose dial tone about once a week though internet doesn't seem to be affected. I frequently find my cable modem getting reset. I've been accused by Comcast as being a spammer. Also, my cable modem was supposed to come with batteries but didn't... I'm fearful to ask for them or return the modem that Comcast is going to claim I stole the batteries. Ironically, all my problems seemed to start just about when my introductory triple play price expired. Go figure.
I look forward to Verizon moving along with FiOS installations here in Harford County. I'll probably jump ship as soon as I can.
EDIT: Only problem I've really had with the TV portion of my service is that the first box they gave me is slower than molasses. It literally and seriously takes more than 5 seconds to change the channel after turning on the box; even if I let it sit for minutes -- the first channel change takes forever. After that, changing channels is still a VERY slow ordeal. I've just been lazy and haven't exchanged the box yet. |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:
 ·VOIPo
·Metrocast Communic..
·AT&T DSL Service
·ViaTalk
| said by phantom6294  : I've been accused by Comcast as being spammer. Turns out, my cable modem was supposed to come with batteries but didn't... Maybe it's just me, but how are those two things related? |
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fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium
join:2005-07-01
Atlanta, GA
| Is this true????
The fanboys in the Comcast forum here repeatedly claim that "bad service" is a rare occurrence or that it never happens at all. It must be true since they wouldn't berate so thoroughly every person who dares make a complaint, right?  |
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PhoenixDown
-- Wants FIOS
Premium
join:2003-06-08
Fresh Meadows, NY
clubs:  | Fast food
Wendy's is doing better than Burger King and way better than McDonalds yet they are being bought out by Arbies which didn't make the list. Interesting! |
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phantom6294
join:2002-02-27
Abingdon, MD
·Comcast
| reply to ptrowski
Re: Include me in the dissatisfied customers...
said by ptrowski :said by phantom6294 : I've been accused by Comcast as being spammer. Turns out, my cable modem was supposed to come with batteries but didn't... Maybe it's just me, but how are those two things related? They're not... it was poor grammar on my part. I'll correct it. |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:
·VOIPo
·Metrocast Communic..
·AT&T DSL Service
·ViaTalk
| reply to phantom6294
said by phantom6294 :I first got Comcast barely over a year ago when I moved to Maryland. At first, I was happy -- the technician was professional, the speeds were great and the introductory price (I got the triple play) was reasonable. Only issue I initially had was trouble connecting to *.mil sites. That seemed to work itself out. Also, every now and then, I would lose dial tone on my phone service. No biggie, just reset the cable modem. Well, that all started changing. About two months ago, my signal suddenly went to the pits. I replaced all the splitters and got it back into an acceptable range but things are still erratic. I lose dial tone about once a week though internet doesn't seem to be affected. I frequently find my cable modem getting reset. I've been accused by Comcast as being a spammer. Also, my cable modem was supposed to come with batteries but didn't... I'm fearful to ask for them or return the modem that Comcast is going to claim I stole the batteries. Ironically, all my problems seemed to start just about when my introductory triple play price expired. Go figure. I look forward to Verizon moving along with FiOS installations here in Harford County. I'll probably jump ship as soon as I can. EDIT: Only problem I've really had with the TV portion of my service is that the first box they gave me is slower than molasses. It literally and seriously takes more than 5 seconds to change the channel after turning on the box; even if I let it sit for minutes -- the first channel change takes forever. After that, changing channels is still a VERY slow ordeal. I've just been lazy and haven't exchanged the box yet. No issues, I was just trying ot see how Comcast could make that leap!
--
"A religious war is like children fighting over who has the strongest imaginary friend."
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage? »www.venganza.org |
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DHRacer
Fire Survivor
join:2000-10-10
Lake Arrowhead, CA
·Charter Pipeline
·Verizon west (ex G..
| Rapid growth my eye
Customer service sucks because they offshored customer service (not just tech support, but even the billing department) to some foreign country where they insult you by adopting an American first name and then barely able to speak any sort of intelligible English, and on top of all that, any deviations from their script cause hold times while they call a meeting to figure out what to do next.
As for Charter, I've totally given up on calling in. I just go to the local office now, but that's something I can really only do on weekends.
In addition, Charter seems to have oversold themselves on supporting HSI and phone, and they've been neglecting their core service: Cable TV. So you pay all this money and the service isn't as good as you think it should be (it should just work).
Now I'm sure the contingent of users on this forum will say "just switch" or "don't like it, don't have it" and to them I say drop dead. If I could, I would, but there is no competition, so I'm not going to punish myself by living like a cave man just to spite the cable company.
In short, I'd love to be in an area where the Telco can compete, or at least make Charter work harder. It would make Charter a better company, or at least I'd like to think so.
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"No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them." (R&D Supervisor, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing /3M Corp.) |
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Rob
In Deo speramus, God Bless the USA
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
| Too big..
You know the saying "too big for their own kind"? Well it applies to Comcast. Comcast is simply way too big for their own kind. They use 3-4 different (and sometimes complicated) billing systems. Many of the company policies are not passed down to agents, and that is why customers will get different answers when they call.
They have a very complicated backend system that needs massive reworks.
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www.rr.cx | YourIP.US | MySite.cx |
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Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
Premium
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO
clubs:
·Comcast
| Interesting overview, but not enough details
Personally, I trust the reviews I see here on this site a great deal more. Well, perhaps "trust" isn't the right word: I can actually read about individual experiences instead of just getting a high level overview number that may or may not tell me much about what service is actually like in my area.
I also notice that high speed internet service is not tracked separately, although phone service is (and Comcast's VoIP seems to be doing better than it's cable division, although still below average). That's a shame...those figures would be a great deal more useful.
As others have pointed out, Comcast's service is really uneven. Whether you're satisfied with your service or not seems to depend a great deal on where you live. As noted in the article, areas that were recently acquired seem to do worse than areas that have been with the company for a while. There seems to have been an awful lot of pain in areas that used to belong in to Insight for example. Too bad the survey doesn't break down the numbers by area.
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My opinions are my own. No-one else would want them! |
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Dogfather
Premium
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA
·Cox HSI
 ·Verizon FIOS
·Cox VOIP
·ViaTalk
·RoadRunner Cable
·MegaPath
·Verizon west (ex G..
·Time Warner VOIP
3 edits | reply to Matt
Re: DirecTV et al
Read it again, DirecTV hasn't taken a nosedive, and by no measure is it a "massive" nosedive. They're a tiny bit off from their insanely high ratings to just below insanely high. And more recently, their customer satifaction has increased while Comcast continues it's freefall toward 50% satisfaction.
Of course DirecTV is head and shoulders, torso, pelvis and legs above Comcast.
You Comcast fanbois can try and spin this all you want, but the numbers don't lie. People are satified with DirecTV by a ratio of better than 2:1 and it's increasing while nearly 1/2 are dissatisfied with Comcast and within another 18 months, the customers actually satisfied with Comcast will be in the minority.
That is very sad when 1/2 of their customers think they suck and they're at the bottom of the customer satisfaction index. Even sadder when people like the IRS more than Comcast by quite a wide margin.
Unfortunately Comcast's solution for this will certainly be yet another price increase. |
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CUBS_FAN
Next Year Again..
join:2005-04-28
Chicago, IL | One of the largest
The more customers the more complaints. |
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Dogfather
Premium
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA
2 edits | It's based on percentage, not total number of complainers. The IRS has way more "customers" but still rate higher than Comcast. |
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DishFan
@verizon.net
| I dumped Comacast and haven't looked back
I can attest to the customer be damned attitude at Comacast. Every year in the Spring for four years I had to call for service. They would go through their script wasting their time and mine when I knew what the problem was after the second year. Then they would send three separate "techs" insisting the problem was in the house when it was at their box. It seems that the terminals would rust each Spring and they needed to send a tech who know how to properly clean them. But they would insist on all that waste instead of just send the correct tech on the first call. I've had Dish for 10 months now and I couldn't be happier. My bill is $30 less per month and I have fantastic picture quality. You can't compare the Comacast HD to Dish Network's HD. |
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dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast
2 edits | reply to fuziwuzi
Re: Is this true????
said by fuziwuzi :The fanboys in the Comcast forum here repeatedly claim that "bad service" is a rare occurrence or that it never happens at all. It must be true since they wouldn't berate so thoroughly every person who dares make a complaint, right? Yeah!
It can't be that Comcast is taking over crap systems(yeah I said crap) and trying to get them all up to what the rest of the Comcast footprint is doing.
We seen it with the TW/Comcast buyout and swap meet of areas with Adelphia and now with Insight.
Problems? Trying to replace neglected HW and lines?
Getting infrastructure to acceptable levels with hodge-podge equipment?
The hell you say! 
Yes! Issues *DO* happen - everyday!
"Comcast served 24.1 million cable customers in 39 states, 13.2 million high-speed Internet customers, 15.2 million digital cable customers, and 4.4 million voice (phone) customers at the end of 2007."
With numbers like that(currently higher BTW) you mean that there are going to be problems somewhere?
No fucking way!   
____________________________________________________________
WARNING! Common Sense Ahead!!!
Higher overall numbers dictate that a higher number of complaints will arise.
____________________________________________________________
""Rapid growth may have contributed to difficulties in operations as Comcast continues to add cable subscribers, often through acquisitions of companies in smaller markets," proclaims ACSI analyst Claes Fornell."
Ya Think?
Oh! Shit!
I'm sorry dude! You didn't want reality posted in response to your rant... My Bad!
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Think outside the Fox... Opera |
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JPuppy
Java Heathen
Premium
join:2002-11-24
Honesdale, PA
clubs:
| The solution is easy, spend more money
Drop the outsourced support, and create regional call centers. Treat call techs fairly and create an environment that encourages techs use their expertise rather than force them to stick to the script. Of course, hiring techs that posses expertise is required. Nothing is cheap. My cable bill certainly isn't
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Only through the criticizing of others can we learn to love ourselves. |
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pfsmith
join:2006-11-16
Lafayette, IN
2 edits | reply to dadkins
Re: Is this true????
said by dadkins :said by fuziwuzi :The fanboys in the Comcast forum here repeatedly claim that "bad service" is a rare occurrence or that it never happens at all. It must be true since they wouldn't berate so thoroughly every person who dares make a complaint, right? Yeah! It can't be that Comcast is taking over crap systems(yeah I said crap) and trying to get them all up to what the rest of the Comcast footprint is doing. Comcast took over Insight in IN and IL which was running *wonderfully*. I had great speeds, great pings, no packet loss.
THE VERY DAY OF THE CHANGE OVER MY SPEEDS WENT TO SLOWER THAN DSL. We were promised by Comcast that we would keep our 10/1 Insight speeds. But, that hasn't happened. I'm on 8/768 and THEY KEEP LYING ABOUT IT. They tell me to my face that I'm on 10/1 but MY VERY OWN MODEM'S STATUS SCREEN SAYS THAT I'M PROVISIONED FOR 8/768. When they escalate the problem the upper level techs CONTINUE TO LIE TO MY FACE AND CLAIM THAT I'M ON 10/1.
They even forced me to get a new modem because they wouldn't properly support the modem I had with Insight that had worked flawlessly for several years... said they couldn't provision it properly (what a load of crap - Insight could do it just fine).
So, Comcast has taken over a nicely run Insight system with great local customer service and turned it into garbage with sometimes less than DSL speeds and shit for customer service. |
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iampedro
join:2005-02-12
Houston, TX |  reply to JPuppy
Re: The solution is easy, spend more money
I am on comcast and I am just waiting to move to att when U-verse available in my location. I mean the download is fine but upload really stinks... |
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dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast
| reply to pfsmith
Re: Is this true????
One last time Pal...
YES! Problems *DO* happen!
NO ISP is problem free!
I believe you that you are having issues with Comcast...
Just as I said, there will most likely be issues when Comcast has to get ALL AQUIRED network segments set to what the rest of Comcast's footprint is at.
What part of that can't you understand?
Hate to tell you friend, 10/1 will be going away - like it or not!
*No offense to any phone reps intended...*
I don't care what some phone monkey told you!
Comcast does not have 10/1 service! It *WILL* go away!
Get over it!
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Think outside the Fox... Opera |
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