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del ftl
@algx.net

del ftl

Anon

Comcast has problem too

Comcast has this perpetual issue with somehow claiming customer owned modems are theirs and sending customers to collections unless they produce a receipt. Often this is from a modem that's 5+ years old where the customer no longer has records of purchase.

All this trouble with poor customer service because some checkbox in comcast's system says rented modem when it's not.

I had an issue where comcast sent me to collections over a modem that was theirs that I was using on an active account and had been for 7 years. Yes that means they sent a modem in for collections that was correctly provisioned and used by the same customer. And ok, sometimes things happen. But in my case I called comcast who initially said they couldn't help me because it was up to the collection agency now. Finally after hours on the phone and some effort I got it cleared up. Then 6 weeks later, it got sent to collections again. Called comcast, same runaround, tons of effort, finally fixed. 8 weeks later it got sent to collections again. And a whole other round of dealing with it. It's been a couple years now but I still have a sour taste in my mouth.

All this for a modem used by a customer for years correctly provisioned and rented on an active non-delinquent account. Literally mind blowing.

SteveLV702
Premium Member
join:2004-04-22
Las Vegas, NV

SteveLV702

Premium Member

Hence reason why I have a program called "Paperless" that scan and stores ALL my Receipts...
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2 to del ftl

Premium Member

to del ftl
"Being charged a rental fee for an owned modem (which we've also seen with Comcast) is usually a case of..."

That was addressed in Karl's original post as well.

There is also another easy way to fix this issue... all modems, company owned even, should have a max rental-life that they charge on it before it's considered 'purchased'.. meaning, that if the modem has been rented out for, say, 3 years, then that modem is/should no longer be considered available for "collections"..

Modems are SO dirt cheap these days anyway, and cable operators obviously buy them at a MUCH lower cost than retail.. I figure it takes 10 months or less of rental to just break even. I believe they should even be able to make profit on them as well since they carry the expense of purchasing them as well, but there has to be a limit in my opinion. Simply put, I just think they should get out of the modem rental business, just sell them, and make their profit at the time of sale.

SLD
Premium Member
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA

SLD to del ftl

Premium Member

to del ftl
Weird - I've just had the opposite experience. I finally got around to buying my own, and I noticed that after activating it, my bill shows a partial charge for modem fee - indicating that they've removed the fee from my account. I still haven't returned the rented modem to them.

Flibbetigibb
@lmco.com

Flibbetigibb to del ftl

Anon

to del ftl
Sue them. Go to your local small claims court and get a judgement. They're 100% in the wrong and harassing you illegally.

EG
The wings of love
Premium Member
join:2006-11-18
Union, NJ

EG to fiberguy2

Premium Member

to fiberguy2
said by fiberguy2:

I just think they should get out of the modem rental business, just sell them, and make their profit at the time of sale.
Then they wouldn't have to support them ? I think that some subscribers like the idea of their ISP supporting them.
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2

Premium Member

No.. they wouldn't have to support them. I have a Linksys cable modem, and when I need support, I call linksys, not my ISP - in this case, would be Mediacom for that account.

The telephone companies don't seem to have this problem with modems - they simply sell them to the customer, for the large part, and they're pretty much done. They still honor the warranty, etc. But, the modems are really a sale to the customer. They're also cheap enough that the customer can afford to replace it on their own if they have to. Also, it's not a HUGE deal either.. it's not like the cable or phone companies won't give you one and bill you for it on your next bill either.

It's funny... if you think the subscriber likes the idea of their ISP supporting it, do you think the customer feels the same way about cable converters for their TVs?

Anonymous_
Anonymous
Premium Member
join:2004-06-21
127.0.0.1

Anonymous_ to del ftl

Premium Member

to del ftl
said by del ftl :

Comcast has this perpetual issue with somehow claiming customer owned modems are theirs and sending customers to collections unless they produce a receipt. Often this is from a modem that's 5+ years old where the customer no longer has records of purchase.

All this trouble with poor customer service because some checkbox in comcast's system says rented modem when it's not.

I had an issue where comcast sent me to collections over a modem that was theirs that I was using on an active account and had been for 7 years. Yes that means they sent a modem in for collections that was correctly provisioned and used by the same customer. And ok, sometimes things happen. But in my case I called comcast who initially said they couldn't help me because it was up to the collection agency now. Finally after hours on the phone and some effort I got it cleared up. Then 6 weeks later, it got sent to collections again. Called comcast, same runaround, tons of effort, finally fixed. 8 weeks later it got sent to collections again. And a whole other round of dealing with it. It's been a couple years now but I still have a sour taste in my mouth.

All this for a modem used by a customer for years correctly provisioned and rented on an active non-delinquent account. Literally mind blowing.
why not just sue them

syslock
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
La La Land

syslock to del ftl

Premium Member

to del ftl
Here is the reason why customers with their own modems
end up having to fight with Comcast.

Every time Comcast changes billing areas around (Merging Corps)
they NEVER check the field in the oracle DB that flags the modem
Comcast or Customer owned.

This messes up rate codes when data is merged.
All modems rate codes are added to the new corp number with rental rate codes as well.
The merge never checks the data to see if the modem is a customer modem or not.
You get the rental fee no matter what when data is merged.

Their own employees have told them over and over about this
thu many many corp merges.... they never listen.

Save your receipt when you buy your own modem because sooner or later, the boxfile
data will be corrupted after a corp merge. The billing system shows it as a rental
modem so it must be true for boxfile.
The warehouse will go in and set the flag as a Comcast modem when they do inventory if
they see the rental fee on there.

You will need to show your paperwork to the billing CSRs in order to get the entire mess fixed!

Very bad data handling all around messes this up and it
ends up falling on the customers hands to show that
they really did buy their modem.

PhoenixDown
FIOS is Awesome
Premium Member
join:2003-06-08
Fresh Meadows, NY

PhoenixDown to fiberguy2

Premium Member

to fiberguy2
I rent my cable modem from TimeWarner and it seems whenever I have an issue their first response is to replace the modem.

I must have had 3 dozens modems replaced. One or two went bad but the rest were repeated dispatched on a PLANT issue (not even a line drop or modem issue).

That's 90% of the issue and the reason for so many truck rolls right there if you ask me.

dathing
join:2002-01-09
Sykesville, MD

dathing to syslock

Member

to syslock
...exactly what happened to me when Comcast bought Adelphia. It repeated several times again over the years.

runnoft
Premium Member
join:2003-10-14
Nags Head, NC

runnoft to SLD

Premium Member

to SLD
said by SLD:

Weird - I've just had the opposite experience. I finally got around to buying my own, and I noticed that after activating it, my bill shows a partial charge for modem fee - indicating that they've removed the fee from my account. I still haven't returned the rented modem to them.
This happened with me as well with Comcast, when I bought a DOCSIS 3.0 to replace the DOCSIS 2.0 modem I was leasing from them. This was several months ago, and they stopped and have not resumed billing me for the leased modem. I suspect they don't really care if we return the old leased modems, because they're not going to use them again by giving them out to another customer in any event. For now, I'm keeping mine as a backup, but if they start billing me or contact me and ask for it, I will return it. I recommend you either return it to a local Comcast office and get a return receipt, or hold on to it for now; I wouldn't toss it or sell it on eBay.

EG
The wings of love
Premium Member
join:2006-11-18
Union, NJ

EG to fiberguy2

Premium Member

to fiberguy2
Yes.