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Comcast Fights Bad Service Reputation
Can the nation's largest cable company cure what ails it?

For years, Comcast has been at the bottom of the barrel across industries when it comes to consumer satisfaction rankings (see the ACSI rankings, JD Power, or our user reviews).

User perception hasn't been helped by Comcast subcontractors, who have been consistently in the news for falling asleep, murder, digging in the wrong yard or blowing up laptops, dishwashers or homes. In a recent interview, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts admits their customer service needs a tune up:

quote:
Click for full size
I hope that reputation is not universal, and we are working very hard to improve where we have made past mistakes. We do 250 million phone calls a year between orders and services, and, inevitably, with that many calls, you are going to have failures. We have added 11,000 technical and customer-care employees just in the past 18 months. And we are beginning to call customers before and after service appointments to make sure we did the work properly. It is a major goal to continue to improve.
Part of that improvement effort includes a ramping up of support staff. The company this month added 250 technicians and call-center employees in Michigan, and just opened a new call support center in Largo, Maryland. Comcast today announced that the new 92,000-square-foot regional call center in Largo will be staffed by 600 new, full-time employees by 2010. The new Michigan jobs were previously outsourced to Canada.

Is adding more front-line support representatives going to get the job done?
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moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned)

Member

They were overwhelmed last night....

I tried to call about heavy pixelization on channel 33 and found the problem about 20 channels up from there. Everytime I tried to call, it started off with a long ad for NFL Network. When I tried to connect to customer service, a long wait time to get connected and then disconnected because of high call volumes.

floyd007
join:2004-06-07
Glen Allen, VA

floyd007

Member

Re: They were overwhelmed last night....

Karl has some kind of mental issue. He is always bashing Comcast. He really needs to seek professional help, he needs it.

NOVA_Guy
ObamaCare Kills Americans
Premium Member
join:2002-03-05

NOVA_Guy

Premium Member

Re: They were overwhelmed last night....

said by floyd007:

Karl has some kind of mental issue. He is always bashing Comcast. He really needs to seek professional help, he needs it.
Have you stopped to think that there might be a reason for it?

High prices + bad service + slow internet != happy customers.

There's a reason why many of us in Loudoun county refer to Comcast as Comcrap.

james16
join:2001-02-26

1 edit

james16

Member

Re: They were overwhelmed last night....

said by NOVA_Guy:

There's a reason why many of us in Loudoun county refer to Comcast as Comcrap.
Does that reason involve a lack of maturity and chronic inbreeding? Or is it simply a lack of the ability to state a point with rational arguments rather than resorting to name calling?

edit: to clarify, I'm not in favour of Comcast, I agree that they are "crap". But I think that when you start using juvenile names like "Comcrap" and "Microstupid" or "Democraps" it just makes everyone on your side look like a moron.
jvanbrecht
join:2007-01-08
Bowie, MD

jvanbrecht

Member

Re: They were overwhelmed last night....

And your inbreeding reference makes you just as immature as the people you are attacking, if not worse, as the person you were attacking, was attacking a corporate entity, you on the other hand, seem to think that everyone in Virginia is inbred, thats personal, and not acceptable.
said by james16:

Does that reason involve a lack of maturity and chronic inbreeding? Or is it simply a lack of the ability to state a point with rational arguments rather than resorting to name calling?

edit: to clarify, I'm not in favour of Comcast, I agree that they are "crap". But I think that when you start using juvenile names like "Comcrap" and "Microstupid" or "Democraps" it just makes everyone on your side look like a moron.

james16
join:2001-02-26

james16

Member

Re: They were overwhelmed last night....

It was obviously a joke, but your post suggests to me that you actually do fit the inbreeding theory however. I've heard that many types of animals tend to be aggressive if they are inbred for too many generations. Also people tend to get offended by jokes when there is some truth to them, so that also supports my comment. Say hello to your Mother+Aunt+Cousin+Grandmother for me, she makes great cookies. (not really)*

*her cookies are terrible

floyd007
join:2004-06-07
Glen Allen, VA

2 edits

floyd007 to NOVA_Guy

Member

to NOVA_Guy
said by NOVA_Guy:

said by floyd007:

Karl has some kind of mental issue. He is always bashing Comcast. He really needs to seek professional help, he needs it.
Have you stopped to think that there might be a reason for it?

High prices + bad service + slow internet != happy customers.

There's a reason why many of us in Loudoun county refer to Comcast as Comcrap.
I never had an issue with Comcast in over six (6) years and I moved at least five (5) times. When I did, it was usually customer equipment issues such as routers or cat5 cables that were replaced. The majority of people on this board like me are tech geeks but Karl in my opinion is mentally ill. Now high prices I can understand. I just do not have TV because of it. Get my news from the Internet. Comcrap is that foul substances that you excrete out of your back side You just happen to call it ComCrap, most people call it feces.

Jovi
Premium Member
join:2000-02-24
Mount Joy, PA

Jovi to floyd007

Premium Member

to floyd007
said by floyd007:

Karl has some kind of mental issue. He is always bashing Comcast. He really needs to seek professional help, he needs it.
He may overly state the obvious.

phattieg
join:2001-04-29
Winter Park, FL

phattieg to moonpuppy

Member

to moonpuppy
Try your local number, if you don't know it, then here:

Baltimore (city): 410-649-9000
Baltimore (metro): 410-427-9600
Charles: 301-645-9300
Montgomery County: 301-424-4400
Prince Georges: 301-499-1980

Thats every number for your area, so pick the closest area to you, and that will be your call center. Hope that helps, because if you call the 1-800 number, you might get redirected to another call center if yours is busy. You might get redirected when you call your local on too, but it depends on call volume, and how they have the system set up...
bbtech6650
Premium Member
join:2004-10-28
Pittsburgh, PA

bbtech6650

Premium Member

Duh?

What a Comcastic idea!!!!

jester121
Premium Member
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL

1 recommendation

jester121

Premium Member

Thanks Karl...

What, slow news day? You're regurgitating a story you quoted almost a month ago. Surely you can come up with something new to bash Comcast for....

»Comcast CEO Tries To Calm Investors [61] comments

yuutomo
The Wonder Kitter
Premium Member
join:2001-08-27
Seeley Lake, MT

yuutomo

Premium Member

They've not changed in 10 years

still crappy service, still overcharging for the crappy service, and one way to start to fix that would be to fire Brian Roberts.

A Comcast Rep
@comcast.net

A Comcast Rep

Anon

Stories like this

Are so misleading.

As a rep for this company I work with many extremely hard working and talented individuals every day who do their absolute best to provide the best service we can for customers. Whatever the question or issue, we go out of our way to treat our customers as we want to be treated.

Is there a bad apple here or there? Absolutely. But they are very few and far between and the company does their absolute best to weed them out.

I can speak from personal experience and say that this companies training program is top notch and personally I went through a full 6 weeks of training before I ever even hit the floor to take calls.
It's hard to imagine many companines investing that kind of time and attention to their employees and this translates into what we deliver to our customers.

I..and my coworkers know every single day who it is that pays us..and who it is that we serve.
And..it is our CUSTOMERS.

And we treat them with respect and do our very best to make their experience the absolute best it can be.

I am PROUD..and happy..to call myself a Comcast Rep...and do my best everyday to make our customers happy to do business with us.

dadkins
Can you do Blu?
MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA

1 recommendation

dadkins

MVM

Re: Stories like this

Don't trip!
Comcast could cure cancer and people would still complain!

*MY* services(ALL OF THEM) are great!
My CDV install took less than 20 minutes from arrival to him driving off.

Yeah, Comcast is teh suck!
gaforces (banned)
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA

1 recommendation

gaforces (banned) to A Comcast Rep

Member

to A Comcast Rep
If you were really concerned with customers you would have helped moonpuppy up top of this thread instead of tooting the comcast horn and using this for more marketing BS.

Ebolla
join:2005-09-28
Dracut, MA

Ebolla

Member

Re: Stories like this

that is assuming he works in that area, if they happen to be a rep in new england or in california they cannot assist someone outside of that region as the system wont pull up accounts.
gaforces (banned)
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA

1 edit

gaforces (banned)

Member

Re: Stories like this

Yah I hear that all the time ... it not my yob ... that goes over about as well as "thats what they tol me!" or "checks in the mail"

Ebolla
join:2005-09-28
Dracut, MA

Ebolla

Member

Re: Stories like this

we are not talking about walking up to a tech on street who says that here, the way the billing systems are coded myself in MA can only pull up MA,CT,VT, NH, and ME area's, if someone in CA somehow gets routed to me I have to get them in touch with a person in CA who can actually access account. It isnt that the rep wont help the customer its that they CANT. If a tech is needed out, or information sent to field a rep in an area outside your own cannot process those w/o's.

phattieg
join:2001-04-29
Winter Park, FL

1 recommendation

phattieg

Member

Re: Stories like this

said by Ebolla:

we are not talking about walking up to a tech on street who says that here, the way the billing systems are coded myself in MA can only pull up MA,CT,VT, NH, and ME area's, if someone in CA somehow gets routed to me I have to get them in touch with a person in CA who can actually access account. It isnt that the rep wont help the customer its that they CANT. If a tech is needed out, or information sent to field a rep in an area outside your own cannot process those w/o's.
Don't worry about him, he's just another hopeless nut job, who thinks they know everything about the company, and who'd rather be miserable than to switch services. And don't tell me you don't have other options, you just don't want to use them because THEY ARE WORSE than Comcast, admit it. You have satellite, and cell phone internet service to name a couple off the top of my head, but I don't live there, so I don't know the other options. Thats the real truth. You have other options you don't want. So quit crying about the truth. If someone does not want to accept the truth, which is Comcast is operated by region, not nationally, then they aren't worth your breath. Some account numbers are 13 digits, some are 16, and that determines the billing system you're using. There is 4 different systems being used. Comcast is like a quilt, because of all the acquired properties they have bought out over the years, and those properties having exclusive agreements with certain billing system providers, equipment providers, and also the numerous franchise agreements and rules for each area, it's almost impossible to assist individuals on a national level because agreements are different for each city and state. So, if I can't pull up your account, I can't send a technician out to your house, and I can't even begin to tell you if there is a fee for a technician visit in your area, or what time frames are available for tech visits. Which would you rather have, a clueless tech, who can't pull up your account, and can't tell you a single thing about the area, or someone who takes calls from your area on a regular bases, and can assist you after you just pressed all those buttons and sat on hold?

longstreet
join:2004-11-14
Plano, TX

2 edits

longstreet

Member

Re: Stories like this

The problem is not wanting to switch because Comcast is the fastest option -- and the other provider is just as bad customer service wise -- at least in my area.

Trust me if FIOS showed up in my neighborhood, I'd drop Comcast like a bad habit.

Comcast knows this. A while back community FIOS was introducted to the city - the co-op spent a few thousand dollars promoting it, and comcast spend MILLIONS crushing it.

I beleive if you are paying more you should get a superior product, and superior customer service.

People that don't want to hear complaints shouldn't be in a complaint thread.

If you don't tell Comcast something is wrong, how will they fix it? By ignoring the problem because you're a techno-geek? Or how about stating 'yeah, screw those 5 million people with problems, they don't count'

That's some fuzzy reasoning if you ask me.

phattieg
join:2001-04-29
Winter Park, FL

phattieg

Member

Re: Stories like this

said by longstreet:

The problem is not wanting to switch because Comcast is the fastest option -- and the other provider is just as bad customer service wise -- at least in my area.

Trust me if FIOS showed up in my neighborhood, I'd drop Comcast like a bad habit.

Comcast knows this. A while back community FIOS was introducted to the city - the co-op spent a few thousand dollars promoting it, and comcast spend MILLIONS crushing it.

I beleive if you are paying more you should get a superior product, and superior customer service.

People that don't want to hear complaints shouldn't be in a complaint thread.

If you don't tell Comcast something is wrong, how will they fix it? By ignoring the problem because you're a techno-geek? Or how about stating 'yeah, screw those 5 million people with problems, they don't count'

That's some fuzzy reasoning if you ask me.
But THE bottom line is Comcast has more subscribers than FiOS has, by far. You won't hear as many horror stories. The truth is, percentage wise, there is a higher percentage of complaints over botched FiOS installs than Comcast installs. Sure there is more stories about Comcast installs going wrong, but how many subscribers is there compared to FiOS? No accurate figures, but guestimation would suggest about 1000 Comcast customers for every 1 FiOS customer, and thats being generous. I heard of FiOS techs causing house fires, busted water mains in Florida (to the point they were told to stop installing their service until they found competent installers), 6 hour installs on average, nearly an entire city was even sold the product, only to have it pulled because they did not have the rights to activate it in the area. So you can say "tisk tisk tisk" and "I'll switch in a heart beat" all you want, but the grass isn't ALWAYS greener for everyone. You might think because I work for them I am backing them up, but just like the other rep who was anonymously posting, I am proud to work for this company for many reasons. Sure, there is times I'd like to ring another reps neck for having a stupid moment, but in all honesty, I have had a couple myself in the 5 years I have been with them. I'd be a liar if I said otherwise. Everyone makes mistakes, only with Comcast the possibility is greater simply because of the number of customers, and the amount of areas serviced. And each area is so different that what seems ridiculous to one person might be mandatory to another persons area per the agreements there. You never know, there might be stipulations in the agreement for an area that dictates that installs take first priority, or that cable TV repair comes before 911 phone service repair. I've seen that happen. In Jacksonville, there is requirements in place that says cable TV MUST be fixed within 24 hours if it's completely out because of the emergency alert system, yet no requirements exist for CDV repair, yet Comcast makes a commitment in this market to CDV customers to try their best effort (often succeeding) to resolve them within 24 hours. Some of you might assume this should be required, but the fact is VoIP service is not regulated, so providers like Vonage and cable VoIP, even FiOS aren't required to do squat for their phone customers. I don't have any problems with people being negative about the service, because everyone is entitled to their own opinion. All I ask is that you do the math, and figure out all the things involved before you open your yap about how bad things are, when really it's clearly a "numbers" game with respect to subscriber ratios between other customers. The nail that sticks out gets hammered, no matter how you look at it.

longstreet
join:2004-11-14
Plano, TX

3 edits

longstreet

Member

Re: Stories like this

This just sounds like corporate shill drivel.

Post up some documents proving your claims or GTFO this thread.

Since Comcast has so many customers, they don't have to give good support?

Last time I checked, I payed $65 for the highest tier Internet. Comcast doesn't get the right to treat a customer like garbage when paying that much for service, no matter HOW many customers they have.

You can never make an argument without fallacy using the '100,000 crazy elvis fans' argument.

More fuzzy logic from yes-men / women

phattieg
join:2001-04-29
Winter Park, FL

phattieg

Member

Re: Stories like this

said by longstreet:

This just sounds like corporate shill drivel.

Post up some documents proving your claims or GTFO this thread.

Since Comcast has so many customers, they don't have to give good support?

Last time I checked, I payed $65 for the highest tier Internet. Comcast doesn't get the right to treat a customer like garbage when paying that much for service, no matter HOW many customers they have.

You can never make an argument without fallacy using the '100,000 crazy elvis fans' argument.

More fuzzy logic from yes-men / women
First of all, to pay $65 more or less proves that you're not bundling their service. If you don't at least have cable TV, then yes, speed tier is $65, but the average cost of HSI in most markets is between $11 and $17... But if I'm not mistaken, AT&T and Verizon do the same thing with their DSL service. They charge you extra when you don't subscribe to phone service. So it's your own fault/choice if you don't subscribe. It's a tactic that is used by all of them. Not to mention, I've never seen so much outsourcing before in my life than with the phone companies. Through my encounters with them all, they use many outsources as their primary method of contact. At least the percentage of outsourcing is less with Comcast. They keep jobs in this country, and within their own domain. Since they are much larger in subscriber base, they also have more people nation wide who deserve to complain just like everyone else. You fail to prove YOUR point. Now let me prove mine...

Well, on 10/29/07 FiOS cracked the 700,000 mark... So 17 million, thats 17,000,000 versus 700,000. You wanted the numbers, now you GTFO this thread with your lazy behind. You talk all this BS, but you don't post nothing but hate, and nonsense. All you have to do is Google it. Here, since you're too lazy to look it up, I posted the link...

»www.multichannel.com/art ··· 162.html

Or better yet, all you have to do is simply type in Google "subscriber count FiOS national".

»www.google.com/search?hl ··· G=Search

You're worse than the idiots that argue with you about powercycling their modem, only to have it work perfectly afterwards without an apology or a thanks.

So in comparison, you do the math, thats 17,000,000 divided by 700,000, right? That would be 24.29 customers on Comcast for every 1 customer on FiOS. So 24 MORE PEOPLE per 1 customer will post a comment, or have something to say about the service. Since we live in a world today where negativity outweighs the positivity, you will, without a doubt, see more negative posts. Nobody in here is posting numbers in these articles when they make the comparison. Not to mention, this site seems to have it out for Comcast, which is why I don't even bother to buy points for my account. I am still on "Original" membership, because I was here back in the day when I worked for SBC, well let me correct that, CONVERGYS... We handled 70% of their call volume between Connecticut (SNET), Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The majority of my calls with them were very rude and hateful. The customers hated their service because it was slow, no guaranteed speed, and very rarely did people get what they paid for. As a matter of fact, I spent more time on the phone with ASI then I did with the customer because the company was too stupid to provide anyone with an SNMP tool to read signal readings. They were also too stupid to keep a Redback server, or an LDAP server running for more than a week. Once a week, the Redback authentication server would go down, and cause all 5 states to call in. Gee, I wonder why, perhaps it was because THEY OVERLOADED THE REDBACK ROUTER TO THE POINT WHERE THEY WERE RUNNING 94% MAX CAPACITY. And you say cable overcrowds the node. We're talking about 5 states, not one apartment complex worth of people (which is the average size of a node, about 100 to 300 people). There was more than 2 million people that were without internet service on a weekly bases because of their blunder. I dealt with it for 1 year, only 1 year, and left because I got so sick of their screwups. I have been with Comcast for 5, and at one time, I was taking calls from 4 states, and only about once every 2 months would we break 20 calls in queue... So from experience, not from my ass, do I compare these numbers. Get a job doing what I do, then comment, otherwise, you're just another idiot who thinks they know what they're talking about. And NO, I don't talk rudely to my customers on the phone, I take care of the issue, escalate what needs to be escalated, and handle my business, which is why I have been there 5 years. If you're rude, you get ushered out the door. I have even worked on our support desk, until I got tired of the supervisor calls, with all the yelling and cussing over something so silly as an unplugged ethernet cable. You don't realize, the majority of escalated calls end up being resolved by making the customer correct an issue with their own equipment. Even with DSL, I would have a majority of calls end up being fixed by installing a driver, or plugging in a cord, or putting a filter on a phone in the house that did not have one. Some people complain for 15 minutes before they will let you say one word. I had a call the other day where this person called in, yelled at me for 10 minutes before I could speak, when I spoke, all I could say was "do you have a router" before I was blasted with another 7 minutes of yelling about how it's a Comcast issue. The customer wanted a supervisor after powercycling the router only produced one page before it stopped again. The lead that took the call spent another 15 minutes quietly listening to the same lecture and yelling as I did, and told the customer he was resetting the EMTA (they had CDV too, and the phone worked fine, which meant the internet was ok BTW, and the customer would not listen to logic). After the modem was reset, the internet was fine. Get this, the modem was up for 79 days when he called, which means for 79 days the customer did not have to do a thing to their modem... Looking at the account, I discovered that meant that from the time of install the modem had not been reset. Sorry to be realistic, but your modem needs rebooted like your PC does once in a while. You can't tell me you don't reboot your PC either because if you have auto updates turned on, then your PC rebooted itself 3 nights ago on it's own when Microsoft installed a "Critical Update".

There's no cure for stupidity.

longstreet
join:2004-11-14
Plano, TX

4 edits

longstreet

Member

Re: Stories like this

The burden of proof lies on the claimant. How stupid is asking the opposing viewpoint to prove your assertion?

Here's why I asked you to prove what you said (because it also happens to prove my response below)

If you have 24x the users as FiOS then that means Comcast has 24x the resources(money) to handle those users. (yet they outsource their phone techs to convergys - who pays them about $8-9 an hour - no wonder they suck)

They also have a much more complete (and might I mention, exclusive) network.

If they are not handling it with all the extra money they make then there's a problem.

Any monkey can see there will be more problems, but with more subscribers comes more resources to HANDLE those problems. The issue isn't the number of problems, rather, Comcast's ability to handle the issues effectively given their greater income and resources.

phattieg
join:2001-04-29
Winter Park, FL

phattieg

Member

Re: Stories like this

The point you have tried to make just now is not the case. Verizon has been at their money making before they were even named Verizon. Comcast, however, has grown by purchasing other companies who were down and out, almost out of business, and has turned them around. Maybe you can point out a situation where a franchise agreement was lost due to this so called "customer dissatisfaction" level, because you know the FCC and the BBB will not tolerate customers being stuck with the short end of the stick when it comes to service. Now I have heard of Verizon getting in trouble with the FCC for numerous reasons, one of them being just that, customer service. It has been a while, but you know, at this point, bickering back and forth is pointless, and tiresome. I showed you the numbers, and you aren't budging. Even if I went through the figures with you on net income per company, you'd find another thing to make me dig for. I am not a PR person, so I honestly don't care enough about the situation to keep arguing with someone who obviously has their own issues. I just know from experience that the telco is dirty, and low down, blatantly, yet they manage not to get in the hot seat. I know the real deal, having worked for both telco's and cable companies. I have found more "lets dance around the red tape" issues with the telco than with the cable company (except the disgraceful Adelphia, for which I've had to take calls from those poor folks and discover how low down that company was, even to the point where the FCC AND Comcast told them to notify customers that EFT payments will stop after XX/XX/2007, and they lied to us and told us it was sent, yet none were ever received by the customer. I was hired when my area wasn't called "Comcast" it was called "AT&T Broadband". Now there's an ironic situation, because AT&T Broadband had the worse reputation EVERYWHERE, and in my city, they were about to have their franchise agreement pulled (Jacksonville, by square mile is the largest city in America). The City was ready to pull the plug and force the company to cease operations, but Comcast took over, paid close to $10 million in fines that AT&T was suppose to pay, and within one year, they went from 40% digital and high speed internet ready, to 80%, 3 months later they had HDTV, and then 6 months later deployed VOD. After that party of a time, 8 months passed, and VoIP was being used, which reduced the MAJORITY of the peoples bills. The other people who are griping about the changes (about 4% of the left over customers) griped about the change, were told they could still port their number away from our network, yet they hung on, and were very pleased about the new service evidentally, because they still use the service. The problem here is that has nothing to do with "customer service", but still, the numbers show they are the 2nd largest ISP, why? Because Kevin Martin is just as ridiculously biased as this site can be sometimes, and said "sure, you can buy Bell South". Fact is, people dropped their land lines by the millions because of price, service, and satisfaction. I honestly lost respect for some of these rating firms, like JD Powers and Associates, etc... I say this because they are the ones that chose what is good and bad, yet their information contradicts the big picture... At any rate, I no longer care enough to keep arguing with you. It's to the point where you're defensive, and think I'm trying to change your mind. You even got pissy/rude with me with the GTFO comment, but you didn't post anything I lacked. You should have known right there that I didn't care to "knit pick". But you, instead, asked for proof, and I did, and now you're saying "money should make everything better". Well, smart guy, explain why Bush has paid over 10 trillion of our money, and yet the war situation in Iraq is still going on? That should tell you that money has nothing to do with the satisfaction of customers (who are citizens in this analogy). So post away now, because nobody else has bothered to chime in to agree with your "point", yet I seem to have a thumbs up from another member in this forum about the points I've made even before we got down to the numbers. It was the comment about "nut job who has nothing better to do but be a Comcast customer, still have alternative ISP's, and still sticks with Comcast. I hope you have a different provider, because if not, you need to SHOW the company you're dissatisfied with them. Simply cancel if you don't like it. I have canceled services I didn't like, and even took the big hit of "early termination fee" when I got rid of Verizon Wireless, AND AT&T. I now have Sprint, which is ANOTHER company who people seem to hate, yet I love everything about my service. It's more reliable than AT&T has ever been to me, and VERY MUCH cheaper than Verizon. Ironically, their roaming buddy is Verizon, so I get the same awesome coverage as I did with Verizon anyway, only I pay half the price. Unfortunately, I've never dealt with so many foreign countries who have no idea what CDMA, or EVDO is, due to them outsourcing to countries who don't have CDMA available. So thats my only complaint, and only because they are less knowledged, but even more importantly is they are not anywhere my service area, so they take jobs away from the USA and send them to places that don't have towers to support CDMA. Now THAT'S not good. I don't agree with that one bit, which is why I am glad the majority of Comcast customers talk to inhouse, corporately hired represenatives. At least I can report complaints direcly to the reps supervisor when I get them. Anyway, how about you do ME a favor this time, post net earnings of both companies as a whole, and tell me who is worth more, instead of assuming that 24 to 1 means a company has more money. Because if I have to prove you incorrect again, then I am going to really think you're the biggest load of hot air. And please leave the Google linkk you used to find this info. Thanks.

-Rob

longstreet
join:2004-11-14
Plano, TX

longstreet

Member

Re: Stories like this

I don't know what you're talking about, imo go back to your phone support.

Annabella87
join:2007-01-13
Tornado, WV

Annabella87 to A Comcast Rep

Member

to A Comcast Rep
Spoken like a true PR, gees I thought Suddenlink was bad.

anyways, when you have a service come in to your house the person should be at least certified in the things he/she is doing not "hey lets jut close my eyes and the place my drill hits is the hole I stick the cable through" and when they do that things like BOOM!!!!!!! (hit a gas line) can happen.

Further more why do these company's risk having catastrophes like these when they have an over abundance of people wanting to work for them that actually know what they are doing.

Chuckles0
Premium Member
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN

Chuckles0 to A Comcast Rep

Premium Member

to A Comcast Rep
If the training is so good why does it seem like my job (also a comcast rep) is correcting the mistakes of other reps. Second is calls with service problems, first is incompetent reps lying and not knowing what to do which causes people to call back.

Training wasnt all that great. I'd say 30% of what you need to know comes from training, you learn the rest while you're on the phone.

longstreet
join:2004-11-14
Plano, TX

longstreet to A Comcast Rep

Member

to A Comcast Rep
said by A Comcast Rep :

Are so misleading.

As a rep for this company I work with many extremely hard working and talented individuals every day who do their absolute best to provide the best service we can for customers. Whatever the question or issue, we go out of our way to treat our customers as we want to be treated.

Is there a bad apple here or there? Absolutely. But they are very few and far between and the company does their absolute best to weed them out.

I can speak from personal experience and say that this companies training program is top notch and personally I went through a full 6 weeks of training before I ever even hit the floor to take calls.
It's hard to imagine many companines investing that kind of time and attention to their employees and this translates into what we deliver to our customers.

I..and my coworkers know every single day who it is that pays us..and who it is that we serve.
And..it is our CUSTOMERS.

And we treat them with respect and do our very best to make their experience the absolute best it can be.

I am PROUD..and happy..to call myself a Comcast Rep...and do my best everyday to make our customers happy to do business with us.
That's great. The problem is, the majority of the people comcast has aren't doing good things.

supergirl
join:2007-03-20
Pensacola, FL

1 recommendation

supergirl to A Comcast Rep

Member

to A Comcast Rep
Karl said, "Comcast Fights Bad Service Reputation
Can the nation's largest cable company cure what ails it?"

Does he actually have proof they have all these "ails" that other companies don't? How many customers with Comcast, know quite a few, are happy that NEVER VISIT this BIASED WEBSITE so their experience is not factored in?

I've seen articles praising Sunrocket by Karl that went bankrupt and left customers stranded (before they did so) as well as praising other small companies but, God forbid, he gives AT&T, Comcast, etc. ANY SLACK.

In fact, if I was AT&T and Comcast, I'd stop giving this website, DSLReports.com, ANY INFORMATION. This site is a blog of mostly techies that could find a problem with a supercomputer and a 100gbps HSI connection. "Gee, well that website hosted by that dude on dial-up is really slow to load."

This site is nothing more than a big business bashing blog. Nothing more, nothing less. If Karl is going to "report" news, how about some balanced perspective?

If Karl doesn't stop bashing AT&T and Comcast, eventually they just will stop talking to the "biased corporate bashing blogger" and not allow people to get information.

longstreet
join:2004-11-14
Plano, TX

1 edit

longstreet

Member

Re: Stories like this

Fair and balanced like fox news?

Have you checked the comcast forums and seen the amount of complaints from people?

People are not happy, the site reports it, and suddenly it's not balanced?

Does your brand of scale say 'comcast' on it?

••••••••••••••••••

Shill Patrol
@embarqhsd.net

Shill Patrol to A Comcast Rep

Anon

to A Comcast Rep
Busted. Step off please.

longstreet
join:2004-11-14
Plano, TX

1 edit

longstreet to A Comcast Rep

Member

to A Comcast Rep
Would anyone care to comment on how 'ignoring complaints' is a good for Comcast business?

How about telling posters 'you don't matter'

or

'it's regional'

You technicians and *giggle* phone-reps need to realize we're not complaining at you, we're complaining at the company you work for because they have treated us poorly.

Get the chip off your shoulder and realize they have messed up. Yeah, maybe you're one of the good ones - realize there's alot more unhappy people that good technicians.

Expand your moderator at work
gar8182
Premium Member
join:2004-02-18
Seattle, WA

gar8182 to A Comcast Rep

Premium Member

to A Comcast Rep
Actually, I don't disagree with you. I think in many ways you people are being thrown under the bus.
What's the point of me calling you and asking why my channel will just freeze and when it finally starts working it jumps about 5 channels past where I meant to go only to hear from your people that there are too many people on the system and to please be patient.
So, in typical Comcast fashion, lets throw more bodies at this instead of correcting the real problem...OVERSELLING THEIR FRICKIN' NETWORK!!! I have no problems with you as whomever I call is usually very pleasant but Comcast as a company seriously has their heads up their a$$es....

/rant

Ihatetrolls to A Comcast Rep

Anon

to A Comcast Rep
Wow that took only a matter of hrs for comcrap to dispatch the "Save our Image" trolls to this site, Bravo Comcrap, thats craptastic!

JakCrow
join:2001-12-06
Palo Alto, CA

JakCrow to A Comcast Rep

Member

to A Comcast Rep
A comcast support supervisor accused me of stealing the cable modem I had bought new a month previous. I will never again allow that company to insult me.

jimbo48
join:2000-11-17
Asheville, NC

jimbo48 to A Comcast Rep

Member

to A Comcast Rep
I don't think its the people on the front lines as much as it is the business practices that Comcast employs. I dropped Comcast several years ago after yet another rate hike which they said was to improve service and expand services and failure to repair their faulty cable line. Comcast hasn't improved anything in my neighborhood. They're still using the lines that were strung up too many years ago. Maybe THATS why we can't get high speed Cable Service or the heavily advertised digital High Dev TV etc.
I called Comcast to have the Cable line re-strung-raised because it sagged so low(we had been cable customers for at "least" 15 years) a passing truck actually snagged it and pulled the line off the wall of my home. They never came out and I ended up having to jury rig it myself after waiting all day with my cable line in the street. No explanations no callbacks from services nothing. So much for their customer service and support. Isolated incident- probably but add that to continual rate hikes and I quit comcast.
mlundin
join:2001-03-27
Lawrence, KS

mlundin

Member

The first step...

to solving a problem is admitting that you have one. Now that they've done that, perhaps they can work on making things better.

yep101
@northropgrumman.com

yep101

Anon

SERVICE

I have been having issues for years, I just placed another service call. And asked that the service tech just come out
and not to call we have VOIP (NO phone) on two different visit the call came to the cell phone, see it rolls to the cell when VOIP is down and we have poor cell signal.
I asked if there were notes not to call and to just come
no was the reply both times. I am just waiting for the next time I need to call. My signal is to high and goes to cut off. I has fluxed up clipping signal. I was at +15 db down.

I have replaced my drop in the house
I have replaced my modem
I have replaced my router
I have reloaded over ... over
I have multi PC all affected
I have replaced a Cat5 too Cat6 still. I have connectivity issues and tell my story over and over like a broken record. To the service people.

JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium Member
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD

1 edit

JTRockville

Premium Member

Comcast needs to stop deflecting blame

As Bob Garfield put it:
said by Comcast Must Die blog, »comcastmustdie.blogspot. ··· lpa.html :
...

Just to make a point that should be obvious to everyone, Comcast included: when you are getting it wrong millions of times a year, nobody gives a shit how often you're getting it right. You can't win in court telling the judge how many 7-Elevens you didn't rob.

...

Sure, sometimes Comcast gets it right. But that's no justification for the times when they get it wrong.

btw, HORRIFIC, not bad, was the term used in the interview with Roberts.

•••
dsless
join:2001-05-16
Pittsburgh, PA

dsless

Member

Comcast Service is like rolling dice

Sometimes you roll craps other times you win. The phone support and service calls have been varied. They show up or don't. The support center sometimes know what they are doing and sometimes they don't. Most of the time my experience dealing with the phone support has been negative. The people are nice but are clueless how the technology works. The last call resulted in a truck roll for a bad remote they gave me. A long story short Comcast wanted to replace 3 dvr's when the remote they gave me didn't work. Then they had the balls to charge me for a truck roll. The tech guy that showed up was nice and said it was his last day working for Comcast!

IT Guy
Ow, My Balls
Premium Member
join:2004-07-29
Las Cruces, NM
Cisco ASA 5505
Cisco Meraki MX64

IT Guy

Premium Member

Re: Comcast Service is like rolling dice

I couldn't agree with you more. My experience at home was when I requested my service to be transfered to a new location. Twice, within 6 months of each other, instead of TRANSFERRING my service, they suspended my account. I communicated clearly to the service rep. that I needed both cable and Internet service transfered, and that the last time I had requested a transfer of service, they suspended my account. Despite my insistence that they not suspend my account, it happened anyway. I spent about 45 minutes with tech support to get my account activated again. As far as reliability and quality go, I have no complaints. The price however... It keeps increasing and they have yanked channels off of the expanded basic. Don't get me started on our Comcast Business Class service. Sheesh!
dak70
join:2007-05-01
Warminster, PA

dak70

Member

Adding bodies will do nothing

The problem with Comcast's service is only slightly due to under staffing. The bad service is systemic.
Comcast is a pseudo monopoly in most areas and does not care to invest in service.
Adding 600 do nothing, know nothing, front line call takers means nothing.

Try getting a manager on the phone! Can't be done. Try asking for the director of customer service’s email. Doesn't exist. If you want to voice a concern with anyone other than the call taker, they tell you to write a letter to the complaint center's PO box in Delaware. Or you have the option of contacting your local franchise official who is in Comcast’s back pocket.
Head count won’t fix bad service. Accountability and a mechanism for customer feed back will. Fix the system.

Plus a little competition never hurts either.
raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN

raythompsontn

Member

My Comcast Service

One time I had to call Comcast because my data service was down. The modem did not have a connectivity light. Somehow the tech on the other end could still see the modem and determine the problem was not on their end.

OK, fine. I disconnected the power to the modem. Amazingly, simply amazingly, the tech said they could still diagnose the modem and there was no problem so it had to be my system. I explained to the tech that the modem was not powered up to which the tech explained how there was a battery in the modem that still allowed diagnostics to be run.

OK, fine. I then unplugged the modem from the cable. Amazingly, amazingly, the tech could still diagnose the mode when the mode was clearly sitting on my desk with nothing connected. Had Comcast taken wireless to an entirely new level? The tech said my signal levels were within specifications and the problems was clearly in my system. I then explained to the tech the modem was unplugged from the power and cable. At the point the tech unplugged and hung up.

I called again after reconnecting the modem. There was still no signal and the tech said that they could not connect to the modem and would roll a truck. Should be at the house about 1:00 PM the next day (Saturday).

The next day at 12:59 the fella arrived. He had been at the house before on the initial installation and a couple of service calls. He recognized me and said he did not need to enter the house as the problem was outside my dwelling. He replaced the drop to the house and there was still a problem. He then worked his way up the line. About an hour later he came back and said he found a bad amplifier and replaced so I should be good to go. Indeed it was all working now.

While at the house he asked to see the modem so I showed him the modem. He said there was a newer model that I could receive. I said OK and he went to his truck got a new modem, and replaced the modem. He noticed the router and said that is not an issue as he understands my network requirements. Within 5 minutes the new modem was registered and working.

He finally left at 3:00 PM, total time to repair was two hours and that included replacing the drop to the house. While doing the drop he also replaced the splitter on the inside of the house just to be certain.

So yes, there are some idiot techs that need to be terminated. There are also some excellent field service techs that know what they are doing and take pride in their work.

I asked for the guys name and employee number so I could send his manager a compliment. This would also allow me to specifically request his services again should they be needed. I did contact his manager and expressed my pleasure in the field service reps service. The manager replied that he was pleased as mostly what he hears is complaints, not compliments.

Hi PlainsNM
@qwest.net

Hi PlainsNM

Anon

No regulation

The problem is cable is not regulated like DSL is. My qwest dsl may be slower but its reliable.. not one outage in over a year. Dsl is by plan more stable.. it more regulated and the telcos have to do more to keep it that way. When I had comcast, I had plenty of outages for both internet and tv. At this point, CC prices have exceeded the price/value for me. Plain and simple, comcast services are not worth what you pay for.

scrummie02
Bentley
Premium Member
join:2004-04-16
Arlington, VA

scrummie02

Premium Member

Re: No regulation

regulation shmegulation...
Cable does not need more government interference. Almost everything the government does it fouls up...not everything, but lots of times.

Besides if they are forced to adhere to all these stupid regulations that will no doubt be written by non-technical nincompoops, it will more than likely mean extra costs will be passed off on us in the form of government surcharges, like your DSL service.

I'd rather have more players in the game and let the market take care of it. The UK deregulated their industry and now they have more options and better competition. Having more competitors will certainly bring services up to par because if it doesn't, people can speak with their wallets. Right now I can tell Comcast I'm leaving and they can call my bluff because they're the only game in town, besides Verizon DSL. I've had Verizon telephone service before and they sucked.
jjeffeory
jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
Bloomington, IN

jjeffeory

Member

Re: No regulation

The government has already had its hand in the cookie with franchises. This allowed cable companies time to get big and monopolistic.

I don't think this was the case in the UK, so that comparison doesn't quite match.
hazezilla
join:2006-02-19

hazezilla

Member

Bad Rep

The problem is the heavy use of contractors.

Contractor are paid by the job so more jobs completed
bigger pay check.

Employees can take the time to fix it right the first
time. Taking time takes money out of contractors pockets

Contractors are cheaper than employees so they are used.

•••

billthecat
@pacbell.net

billthecat

Anon

helpful

A few comments:
- I am trying to install comcast small business Internet serice; I have a helpful rep now, but it took four days to speak to a human; not a great sales experience;

- In researching small business ISPs, I talked to a friend who had comcast disconnect their residential internet service, due to "excessive bandwidth usage." He was frustrated, first of all, because it seems unusual for a service provider to cut off service to their best customers, but also because the comcast rep would not share the bandwidth thresholds. He asked to upgrade to business service, but was told that he would not be permitted to buy the commercial service for at least a year. He's now on AT&T DSL. So, for my business, I am concerned about customer-hostile policies, and also about the possibility that comcast may cut our business off!

- From the current thread, it's clear that comcast has a less-than-stellar track record.

So, I called and canceled my comcast install this morning, and signed up for speakeasy DSL. Wish me well!
81399672 (banned)
join:2006-05-17
Los Angeles, CA

81399672 (banned)

Member

They should first change thier spokesman

The first thing they should really do is change their unofficial spokesman, the person is not helping when he is defending anything and everything comcast does

Scatcatpdx
Fur It Up
join:2007-06-22
Portland, OR

Scatcatpdx

Member

Big Deal

The best cable service is the one I do not need to call. If the cable system is reliable and simple to instill the service is a moot point. I had only need to call service one a year or less. Enough said.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

State PSC/PUC..

State public service / utility commissions should crack down on bad service experiences. In addition, there should be a new class action lawsuit about the bad service. Comcast should NOT be allowed to rake in profits for providing bad service. Every time your service is "out", every missed appointment, every unsuccessful repair, every single property damage incident should be part of class a lawsuit so that Comcast gets the message. They can fix these things.. but will they if not forced to by lawsuits or regulation enforcement? Probably not.

For many corporations, it's cheaper to leave things broken or in poor condition... as long as the cash continues to roll in. So, your last option: cancel the account.

fEeD mE mOrE
@embarqhsd.net

fEeD mE mOrE

Anon

Just what any TS dept needs: a ->

" ... new call support center in Largo, Maryland."

BWWWWWAAAAAAA!!!!!

that'll solve some problems

scrummie02
Bentley
Premium Member
join:2004-04-16
Arlington, VA

scrummie02

Premium Member

Customer Service is Spotty

I've had Comcast for a couple of years now. I have their workplace account for internet and I'll say one thing, it's much better than residential as far as CSR's go. There is barely a wait time and most of the time they get the problem resolved on their end. They're polite and knowledgeable. However I understand not everyone wants or needs to pay for Workplace. I have only had downtime once in two years. I can honestly say I have nothing to complain about on that end. Oh...they FUBAR'd my billing a while back, but it was fixed..

For TV I have residential however, and it sucks. I get pixelation on digital cable all of the time, my picture freezes, my HD-DVR skips (I even got it replaced), I had installers miss dates and state I wasn't there at the residence when I was...etc..etc.
My friends have Direct and have 3 times as many HD channels and the NFL Ticket. Direct carries Setanta sports (for soccer/rugby) and the had the Rugby World Cup (I had to pay to watch it on-line, third biggest sporting event ever in the world and Comcast didn't have it). I'd like to get Direct TV but alas, there is a huge effin' tree blocking the signal and it's not in my yard or I'd cut it down...sigh...

Unless I get FIOS (which I hear is coming to my neighborhood soon) I'll stick with their internet. My wife wants to move to CO., so there isn't any hope of getting FIOS there so when we move I guess I'll take Comcast with me..

jbrodsky
@comcast.net

jbrodsky

Anon

comcast

Sometimes Comcast service is really bad. Sometimes it's really good. Pretty uneven.

I think their prices are the killer. They have continually raised prices the last few years and I'm sitting here paying my also wildly overpriced Verizon bill and really holding off dropping Verizon so I can get FiOS when it shows up. As overpriced as my Verizon phone service is, a lot of it is taxes and govt fees so I give them a bit of a pass.

Comcast is going to lose a lot of customers to Verizon. A lot.
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