Comcast XFINITY → Re: [Rant] [LONG]A Tale of Three Truck Rolls

They're not stories, they are reality. I have just come to accept that whenever I have some sort of issue with Comcast, that cannot be fixed straight away, it will involve lots and lots of calls and possibly take months to fix. Heck, it took 6 months to have a billing issue resolved.

One day I was at their call center, early in the morning, so I saw who (what) was walking in. After seeing the employees, it all made sense. Basically, they are hiring people that not even the dollar tree would hire. Straight out of the ghetto, so they clearly couldn't care less, let alone have the slightest clue (skills) about how to fix anything.

This is what you get when you have monopolies.

Thanks Telco , nice to know I am a ghetto dweller and useless. I have been with the company for 15 years and take pride in my work. But that doesn't matter because I suck just like every other person YOU speak of. Why don't you randomly ask the thousands of customers I have helped and never heard from again after being there .. Oh thats right , this is flame board, nobody ever comes here to state anything positive.
To the op , it dose sound like an ingress issue from somewhere other than your house. It will get tracked down it just takes time. I had one person in a town taking down over 200 others .... because he had a live cable jack (not connected to any tv or box) touching a metal lamp. That took a couple weeks to track down. House by house person by person.

Are you an actual "Callcenter rep"? By the way you responded about how bad this board is and there are NEVER any positive things said, then you are falling right in to the category that Telco is talking about.

But, I also do agree about the ingress, but from what has been posted, it doesn't evn sound like Comcast is even going down the path of possible ingress. So when the Comcast folks don't even start in the right direction, just how long should the customer have to wait?

Phugg -- I hope you didn't take any of my comments as such! I know there are good folks along with the not-so-good in *any* organization. And truthfully, that can even vary greatly from office-to-office or region-to-region. I do genuinely appreciate those that actually do help. I've run into good folks from Comcast but unfortunately they're just not the ones in a position to actually do something with the present issues at hand. True there tends to be a negative bias on most online forums when it comes to discussions about any company's product or services. The most disgruntled folks tend to be the loudest and most frequent posters! I'll give credit where and when its due. Read my other posts and reviews over the course of my ~12 year history on DSLR for proof.

But yeah, ingress can be a real pain from what I've heard. Basically the entire plant becomes a huge noise funnel, no? And knowing a little about RF, there's a LOT of radio/broadcasted garbage in the 20-44Mhz frequency range around here so a tight plant is essential. I dont envy anyone having to troubleshoot issues like this especially when they can also be somewhat intermittent.

My gripe isn't merely that things have been effectively broken for several weeks but rather not being kept informed as to what, if anything, is being done to address it. Just a simple phone call saying "we see it, acknowledge the trouble, and are working the matter, here's what you can expect next" would do wonders.

TY Dmk , it wasnt pointed at you. I am well aware of comm breakdowns in all forms of business lately. I just took what was said by someone else on the personal side , so I ranted back. I know in our market we take ownership of an issue and see it through to the end. If that means I call and check up on my days off so be it. If I can squeeze in the time I will. But the techs look like they have done what they can , and now its over thier heads and in the maint. dept's.

Phugg, you said earlier that you would call the customers EVEN ON YOUR DAYS OFF. I commend you for your extra effort, but don't you think the company should provide you with the time and resources to deal with your customers WHEN YOU ARE ON THE CLOCK...and have someone reliable on the other shift to follow-up with anything while you are gone for your much-deserved days off?

I`ve been in your shoes. I`ve done it too, even come in on my days off for hours to clean my vehicle out for the next week...but you are breaking labor laws by working on your days off, and you SHOULD NOT be conducting yourself as a company representative when you are not working. CONcast is also breaking the law by turning a blind eye to the techs that are working off the clock.

I cannot tell you very many details, but I can tell you that there is a multimillion-dollar class action lawsuit filed against CONcast on behalf of all Washington State workers over wage theft because of this stuff.

GET PAID FOR YOUR TIME.

STOP BREAKING LABOR LAWS.

STOP ALLOWING CONCAST TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR GOOD NATURE.

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As far as the problem at hand, though, with the ingress. The line techs should be able to pinpoint the ingress in a matter of days to a certain node (or certain neighborhood). If repairs cannot be done right immediately, the maintenance person would then be required to pad that node (install an upstream attenuator) to effectively sort of "quarantine" the problem so the ingress doesn't get amplified/leaked out into other areas. It should take no longer than a couple days to figure out which node the ingress is coming from. If it is taking longer, then they already know what the problem is and they aren't telling you because it is a significant repair (cracked distribution cable, perhaps, that would require taking a lot of customers offline for a potentially long time to repair. They are not giving you the full story.
The maintenance technician's job performance is based partially on a "TIME TO REPAIR" metric so they have probably "closed" the job tickets already, but haven't actually fixed it (just one of the many ways they skew their metrics to get those quarterly bonuses.)

If this issue is still not resolved, Email me and I will get you your area's Maintenance Supervisor. I am no longer with CONcast but I have good connections and can put you in touch with someone directly...at least offer you some ACCOUNTABILITY!

Good Luck.

Seattle , I am WELL aware of what you speak of , been there done that a few times now. Our crews have great communication between them, just one a professional note I would want to know when it is resolved. Its not a common occurence.

Phugg, I totally get where you are coming from. I have done the same things for YEARS until I smartened up. Following-up with the customers is great and all, but regardless of how high a level of customer service one wishes to provide, they have to do it on company time and LEGALLY.

You can't be working off the clock. I know it feels like it is your right to work off the clock if you want to, and I know you do it to show the customer that you really do care and want to help them. You can still show them you want to help by following proper company channels and only conducting yourself as a CONcast employee only during work hours. If you cannot do that then the CONcast system is BROKEN and they need to figure out a way in your shop to address customer concerns in a more efficient and professional manner.

I feel kinda bad scolding you, but please take no offense as I am only trying to help you understand the BIG picture. You are setting a standard for other techs to have to do the same thing. If your measured metrics are awesome because you work for free then good for you...lets see how far that gets your career. I`VE BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, AND I NO LONGER WORK FOR THEM. I HAVE TREATED MY CUSTOMERS LIKE GOLD BUT IN THE END THE COMPANY DOES NOT CARE. THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT "POWER" AND "CONTROL" (SURPRISINGLY, NOT "MONEY"...THAT COMES WITH POWER AND CONTROL SO THEY REALLY DON'T WORRY ABOUT MONEY TOO MUCH AT OUR LEVEL.)

Call your customers when you are AT WORK. You are not a salary employee. At very least, CHARGE THE COMPANY OVERTIME (even just a few minutes) if you absolutely HAVE to take customer calls on your days off. And let the customer know it is not typical for techs to call on their weekends, so they don't EXPECT it from the next tech they deal with down the road!

Phew, I sound like a grumpy old man. Sorry dude!

I hate sounding like this.

I have a lot of respect for you after 15 years in the business, but PLEASE stop enabling CONcast and allowing them to take advantage of you.

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Oh, and as far as having good communication between departments at your shop...that must be nice!!! I`m jealous!!!

Our shop is using every anti-union tactic in the book (9 out of 11 of the most common ones, actually) to keep the union out. We are in an active election campaign in Seattle, and one of the first things they did was break up the shop (move dispatch out of house, no more all-employee meetings unless it was to shove anti-union propaganda down our throats), no more tech assists unless its an aerial drop, get everyone out of the shop in 15 minutes in the morning so nobody can have time to talk to each other, and they told us we are no longer able to call the call center on behalf of the customer if dispatch can't help (billing inquiries mostly). In addition to all this, the supervisors will no longer email responses to tech`s questions (eliminate paper trails) and they will not provide answers to tech's questions in real-time...they have to run everything past local Management and their Lawyers first. Seattle is a mess, and if you havn't been through a union campaign with CONcast then you havn't seen the real CONcast yet, sadly.

The one threat to CONcast's "POWER" and "CONTROL" is UNIONS!!! Once one tries to exercise their legal right to organize at CONcast, they meet the true monster that CONcast is.

Ok, I`m done. Struck a nerve.