Comcast Customer Satisfaction At All Time LowDespite promises to make customer service a priority... ( old news - 10:02AM Wednesday May 21 2008) tags: business · cable · consumersFor years, the cable TV industry has been at the bottom of the barrel across industries when it comes to consumer satisfaction rankings. Comcast and Charter have been particular offenders, so both companies have made plenty of noise this year about how improving customer service is their priority. Yet according to the latest American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), customer service from both companies is actually getting worse. The ACSI is created by the University of Michigan, and uses random phone interviews to determine consumer satisfaction across sectors on a scale of 0 to 100. According to the latest numbers, Comcast hit a record low of 54. Charter also comes it at 54, but for them it isn't a record -- they bottomed out at 53 back in 2002. "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. I believe 9 out of 10 hammer wielding grandmothers agree. Comcast says they've hired some 15,000 new support workers in the last 18 months to handle the strain, but either it's not helping, or they haven't been given enough time to make a difference. I'm thinking the Twitter band-aids aren't cutting it. ACSI says size does matter, and smaller providers improved overall TV ratings: The reason for the industry's uptick is the large improvement among smaller cable TV providers such as Cablevision and RCN. The category of "all other" cable TV companies is up 5% to lead the industry with an all-time high of 69, well ahead of the large competitors. As is often the case, small is often better in terms of being able to provide good customer service. Cablevision, for example, with some 3 million subscribers, is barely 1/8th the size of Comcast. The survey also ranks wireless phone service, and indicates that while AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile saw consumer satisfaction gains, Sprint dropped to a record -low rating of 56. Looking at all ranked industries, the airline industry managed the worst average score at 62 (the cable & satellite TV industry came in at 64). I remember that when the ACSI used to rank the IRS, it scored around 60 -- so Charter, Comcast and Sprint clearly have some work to do.
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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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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | Re: Surprised? Just another reason to go OTA or access basic.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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Dogfather
Premium
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA
1 edit | Not in my service area it's not.
And Comcast was into 3X inflation price increases long before gas was 4 bucks. | |
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BSD24
Tier 4
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join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs:
 ·Comcast
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 ·Verizon Online DSL
1 edit | Re: Surprised? said by Dogfather  :Not in my service area it's not. And Comcast was into 3X inflation price increases long before gas was 4 bucks. Skeedatl -
You might want to check your math then. Once you have facts then let us know.
Comcast raises rates just as the other TV providers do. So then you really should be mad at every company that provides TV service! As I said before Verizon Fios and AT&T UVERSE are more expensive then Comcast currently, before they were practically neck to neck on costs.
Try taking your monthly bill before tax and divide it by 30days. Find out how much you pay per day for cable.... aswell as internet and phone (if you have them with Comcast too).
Why does Comcast charge more for channels by raising rates?? Who does Comcast pay? The broadcasters and programming companys like Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, NFL NETWORK*, etc.. What do you think happens when they charge Comcast a higher (per user/tv-watcher) rate(s)?
Just like what happened this past football season, NFL decided to get more greedy and charge cable providers an arm and a leg more than they were getting before if they wanted to continue providing their channel (*NFL NETWORK*) to a customer. So Comcast ended up putting it into a seperate package called "Sports & Ent. package" instead of raising the rates of everyone (even the people who don't watch the channel). | |
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BSD24
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Middleboro, MA
clubs:
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| Re: Surprised? said by Dogfather :My math is fine, you are the one who chooses to ignore reality along with the rest of the Comcast fanbois who desperately try to explain away Comcast's abysmal customer service ratings. You should bother to learn what Verizon's rates actually are and was programming they provide for those rates before mouthing off. Of course it wouldn't dawn on you to wonder why people like the IRS more than Comcast. skeedatl - don't get off subject, don't take this personal. | |
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BSD24
Tier 4
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs:
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1 edit | Re: Surprised? said by Dogfather :RTFA, it's about Comcast' horrid customer service rating. Meanwhile you keep repeating falsehoods about Verizon like Verizon charging for HD programming. Verizon does not charge for HD programming. It's included in the HD box rental just like Comcast. In my service area, Comcast didn't discount the first HD box. They charge $5 on top of, not instead of, the regular box rental for a total of $12.95. Verizon charges $10. So you are saying Verizon Fios charged me falsely for everything, including the $20* a month for 1 box that was multi-room dvr without HD, another $10* a month if I want HD channels in my area. $6.99 a month for standard boxes each. I don't see how something from Verizon printed on paper by them would be false. Yea Verizon itself must be false, just as much as DVR meaning Digital Video Recorder, that must be false too. What else do you believe in your world is false? | |
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Dogfather
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Laguna Hills, CA
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2 edits | Re: Surprised?
Standard Programming | 
Optional Programming | 
Standard box pricing | 
DVR box pricing |
said by BSD24 :said by Dogfather :RTFA, it's about Comcast' horrid customer service rating. Meanwhile you keep repeating falsehoods about Verizon like Verizon charging for HD programming. Verizon does not charge for HD programming. It's included in the HD box rental just like Comcast. In my service area, Comcast didn't discount the first HD box. They charge $5 on top of, not instead of, the regular box rental for a total of $12.95. Verizon charges $10. So you are saying Verizon Fios charged me falsely for everything, including the $30 a month for 1 box that was multi-room dvr without HD, another $20 a month if I want HD channels in my area. $8 a month for standard boxes each. I don't see how something from Verizon printed on paper by them would be false. Yea Verizon itself must be false, just as much as DVR meaning Digital Video Recorder, that must be false too. Correct, Verizon quotes me wildly different rates than what you are quoting.
Perhaps you were misreading your bill. Can you post a copy?
Here there is no additonal charge for HD programming. The SD multiroom DVR is about 1/2 what you quote and Verizon offers 3 standard boxes for $13. | |
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BSD24
Tier 4
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs:
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| Re: Surprised? said by Dogfather :said by BSD24 :said by Dogfather :RTFA, it's about Comcast' horrid customer service rating. Meanwhile you keep repeating falsehoods about Verizon like Verizon charging for HD programming. Verizon does not charge for HD programming. It's included in the HD box rental just like Comcast. In my service area, Comcast didn't discount the first HD box. They charge $5 on top of, not instead of, the regular box rental for a total of $12.95. Verizon charges $10. So you are saying Verizon Fios charged me falsely for everything, including the $30 a month for 1 box that was multi-room dvr without HD, another $20 a month if I want HD channels in my area. $8 a month for standard boxes each. I don't see how something from Verizon printed on paper by them would be false. Yea Verizon itself must be false, just as much as DVR meaning Digital Video Recorder, that must be false too. Correct, Verizon quotes me wildly different rates than what you are quoting. Perhaps you were misreading your bill. Can you post a copy? Here there is no additonal charge for HD programming. The SD multiroom DVR is about 1/2 what you quote and Verizon offers 3 standard boxes for $13. Actually that is exactly what I said. $20 for Multi room dvr... But there is a charge in order to have access to HD channels. I will post. | |
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BSD24
Tier 4
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Middleboro, MA
clubs:
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| Re: Surprised? said by Dogfather :That's not what you said. Read your post. said by you :
including the $30 a month for 1 box that was multi-room dvr without HD
The standard multi-room SD DVR is $18, not $30, at least out here. The Hi-Def version of that DVR is $2 more at $20. You then quoted $20 for HD programming which at least here, Verizon doesn't charge for. HD programming is included with any HD box rental. My error - I've corrected what I have on my bill.. $20/mnth for Multi-Room DVR and $10 extra a month for basic HD channels, more hd content in my area is even more than that. | |
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join:2001-09-10
Fredericksburg, VA
·Verizon FIOS
2 edits | said by BSD24 :said by Dogfather :That's what happens when you relentlessly raise prices at 3X the rate of inflation. skeedatl - Umm don't you know that Verizon Fios is more expensive then Comcast Cable. Same goes for the limited use of Uverse, they raised rates above Comcast. Most providers raised rates this year, and most other providers are more expensive. For example - Comcast has had (in most areas) the $99/mnth for 1 year(1yr no contract) (or if you want for 2yrs you sign a contract) bundle since January. Verizon Fios TV for same exact bundle is $115/mnth and requires a 2 year contract. The $99 comcast bundle is for their Digital Basic right which is what 80 channels? The Verizon package does cost a little more, but it comes with a lot of channels that Comcast charges extra for. Someone on the Verizon forum just switched and commented that you would have to pay $140-$150 to get the same content on Comcast, then see the rate get jacked up after a year to levels like $141 in my area. A $41 increase!!!
Then you have Comcast squeezing too many HD channels into a QAM and compressing the heck out of them as was pointed out here a couple months ago. | |
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BSD24
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join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs:
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1 edit | Re: Surprised? said by mglunt :said by BSD24 :said by Dogfather :That's what happens when you relentlessly raise prices at 3X the rate of inflation. skeedatl - Umm don't you know that Verizon Fios is more expensive then Comcast Cable. Same goes for the limited use of Uverse, they raised rates above Comcast. Most providers raised rates this year, and most other providers are more expensive. For example - Comcast has had (in most areas) the $99/mnth for 1 year(1yr no contract) (or if you want for 2yrs you sign a contract) bundle since January. Verizon Fios TV for same exact bundle is $115/mnth and requires a 2 year contract. The $99 comcast bundle is for their Digital Basic right which is what 80 channels? The Verizon package does cost a little more, but it comes with a lot of channels that Comcast charges extra for. Someone on the Verizon forum just switched and commented that you would have to pay $140-$150 to get the same content on Comcast, then see the rate get jacked up after a year. Nope, you get more than 80 channels, (I believe it comes with 105 channels total but may depend on your area cause locals etc..) unless your area is behind the times. Plus it includes the first cable box at no extra cost HD BOX is extra, but thats it, no seperate charge for HD programming (HD Channels) is no extra cost. Verizon charges you for every box in my area, they start out with $115 and then add equipment, they don't have the local government access channels in most areas currently and they charge you extra costs if you want to get a HDBOX + not only that they charge you a seperate fee to have access to the HD CHANNELS!!! | |
| | | | | | | | | | mglunt
join:2001-09-10
Fredericksburg, VA
·Verizon FIOS
2 edits | said by BSD24 :Nope, you get more than 80 channels, (I believe it comes with 105 channels total but may depend on your area cause locals etc..) unless your area is behind the times. Plus it includes the first cable box at no extra cost HD is no extra cost. Verizon charges you for every box in my area, they start out with $115 and then add equipment, they don't have the local government access channels in most areas currently and they charge you extra costs if you want to get a HDBOX + not only that they charge you a seperate fee to have access to the HD CHANNELS!!! Nope, no extra fee for HD. You just pay for the HD receiver. The basic lineup on Verizon offers more channels. The only thing they have that you pay for is a sports pack with some off the wall sports channels (like Tennis, horse racing, black belt channel, etc.) and their movie packages. There is no basic, preferred, etc. Verizon is also not jamming in 3 HD channels per QAM greatly reducing quality ( »www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre···=1008271 ).
The $115 is for more channels (every one digital), better HD quality, real landline unlimited phone, better internet. Plus, they are not going to jump the bill 41% when the 1 year deal is up. Locally, the Comcast basic triple play goes to $141 after 1 year. | |
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BSD24
Tier 4
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs:
·Comcast
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1 edit | Re: Surprised? said by mglunt :said by BSD24 :Nope, you get more than 80 channels, (I believe it comes with 105 channels total but may depend on your area cause locals etc..) unless your area is behind the times. Plus it includes the first cable box at no extra cost HD is no extra cost. Verizon charges you for every box in my area, they start out with $115 and then add equipment, they don't have the local government access channels in most areas currently and they charge you extra costs if you want to get a HDBOX + not only that they charge you a seperate fee to have access to the HD CHANNELS!!! Nope, no extra fee for HD. You just pay for the HD receiver. The basic lineup on Verizon offers more channels. The only thing they have that you pay for is a sports pack with some off the wall sports channels (like Tennis, horse racing, black belt channel, etc.) and their movie packages. There is no basic, preferred, etc. Verizon is also not jamming in 3 HD channels per QAM greatly reducing quality ( » www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre···=1008271 ). The $115 is for more channels (every one digital), better HD quality, real landline unlimited phone, better internet. Plus, they are not going to jump the bill 41% when the 1 year deal is up. Locally, the Comcast basic triple play goes to $141 after 1 year. LOL Real landline phone, I assume you are meaning copper phone line... Umm actually Verizon and Comcast use same technology. Just the Fiber line ends at your house instead of a Node that converts to Coaxial Cables. Both actually use IP technology for their phone service.
Yes I never said you didn't get more channels, I was telling him Comcast provides more than the 80 he says. Comcast has more Video On-Demand and more HD Video On-Demand. Verizon Fios charges for the first box, and an extra fee for HD. Umm yes they are going to jump, the 1year deal is exactly what it is a 1year deal. I had Fios for 4 years before switching back, all these hidden fees they didn't tell me about - every cable box is more then Comcast's charge for equipment, besides the fact that Comcast gives you your first Digital Box (Not hd) for free (no extra charge). And if you do get an HDbox, first one is discounted + Comcast doesn't charge you a fee to access HD programming (channels) like Verizon Fios does. AT&T does the same!
You might want to check out the Verizon website on pricing before posting, mglunt. | |
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BSD24
Tier 4
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Middleboro, MA
clubs:
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| Re: Surprised? Forgot to mention with Verizon Fios, you have to have a cable box for every tv, primarily because of the IPTV technology which is awesome. But I doubt Comcast would just sit here keeping technology they have the way it is. They can't, they have to go above Fios at some point.
Currently with Comcast you can hook up your TV without a cable box, but as technology is getting better, Comcast should eliminate the analog stations which will free up a tremendous amount of bandwidth to use for more digital and hd channels plus with Comcast releasing 6000 new OnDemand movies a month (3000 just in HD) which far exceeds Verizon who is trying to catch up to previous Records of On Demand content that Comcast has had years ago.
But don't forget. Verizon is getting there feet wet, they know phone technology, but are new to TV technology. Their on-demand menu in my opinion stinks and isn't user friendly. But althought I had to pay Verizon $30 amonth for 1 Multi-Room Main DVR (doesn't include cost per std boxes for all the rest of the tv's), it was awesome to be able to watch a program that I recorded on my main DVR down stairs, from my own room at the same time as someone else watching it in another. And I loved the MP3 player that was on the dvr, getting the mp3s right from my computer. Competition is good, and I can't wait to see some of the new devices and services coming soon to Comcast. | |
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vrette
Premium
join:2000-07-22
Lombard, IL | No surprise here... Love the big new building, glad I helped pay for it. 
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| Re: DirecTV et al said by Dogfather :Of course DirecTV is head and shoulders, torso, pelvis and legs above Comcast. You Comcast fanbois can try and spin this all you want, The problem is comparing apples and oranges. DirecTV is TV only, while the cable company ratings are also based on internet service as well. And I believe that is where Comcast gets a black eye. I find their TV service near bulletproof over the last 10 years. But I have had occasional internet outages while TV was still working without a problem.
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Dogfather
Premium
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA | Re: DirecTV et al Looking at the statistics, they broke down the industries. For example, Comcast telephony and Comcast television are rated separately. | |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| Re: DirecTV et al said by Dogfather :Looking at the statistics, they broke down the industries. For example, Comcast telephony and Comcast television are rated separately. So which did they lump Comcast Internet Service? | |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| Re: DirecTV et al said by TKJunkMail :said by Dogfather :Looking at the statistics, they broke down the industries. For example, Comcast telephony and Comcast television are rated separately. But they didn't break out internet service. I suspect that is in the television category. As do I.
Internet customers are much more demanding than TV customers. | |
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Dogfather
Premium
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA
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2 edits | According to the statistics description, it doesn't include internet service. It's only cable TV and DBS TV.
quote:
cable & satellite TV, cellular telephones*, computer software, fixed line telephone service, motion pictures, network/cable TV news, newspapers, wireless telephone service
No internet.
There is no evidence that they included internet in their rankings, especially considering the explicitly excluded other cable services like telephony.
The only thing mentioned was possible spill-over for AOL's portal from AOL being an ISP. But that implies that they weren't rating AOL as an ISP but people hate AOL ISP so some possibly hated AOL as a portal.
But there is no similar commentary about spill-over for Comcast or horrid numbers coming for people hating Comcast's HSI service. From my experience it's the other way around; people are happier with HSI than TV which is why Comcast has the $15 how dare you not want our crappy CATV fee. | |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
1 edit | said by Dogfather :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. Comcast isn't even available in my area, so I'm far form a Comcast fanboy. I misread the blurb at the bottom that lumped the cable and satellite industries together.
Regardless, I have had TW Cable and now I have DirecTV. I am waiting for my contract to end so I can go back to TW as the DTV savings just aren't there and their overall product isn't any better. | |
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MysticGogeta
The Robot Devil
Premium
join:2005-03-14
League City, TX
clubs: | I don't like Comcast (in fact dropping the TV service in a few days) but you sounding like a fan boy your self, so you shouldn't be such a hypocrite.
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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. | |
| | | | | phantom6294
join:2002-02-27
Abingdon, MD
·Comcast
| 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
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| 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!
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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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xxA4Hxx
@comcast.net
| Re: Fast food Wendys staff is pretty retard in my area. They are slow as snail , and seem to get more things wrong then others. It amazes me how wendys and McDonalds are next to each other and McDonalds can progress even if alot of their staff doesn't speak english they move more volume threw line vs Wendys just has you sit there until they have done two cars before even taking your order. Goes to show there are many flaws in way Wendys operates. There are a few places that take more time then others like Steak N Shake , Long John Silvers but this is not one of them. | |
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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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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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| Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
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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! | |
| 
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 | Re: One of the largest It's based on percentage, not total number of complainers. The IRS has way more "customers" but still rate higher than Comcast. | |
|
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. | |
| 
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. | |
| | iampedro
join:2005-02-12
Houston, TX |  Re: The solution is easy, spend more money
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ib50MbSoon
Formerly TwoKDialup
Premium
join:2002-06-07
Coloma, MI
| What's not to like? Paying for 8000/768 and NEVER see it slower. Today I'm seeing peak gusts to +32,000.
Digital Voice is crystal clear, OnDemand performs flawlessly, and all the TV channels I watch are delivered in HD.
I really can't comment about Comcast's customer service since I haven't had to use it.
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Comcast has spoiled me rotten! | |
| | qworster
join:2001-11-25
Los Angeles, CA
·DSL EXTREME
·Brand X Internet
·RoadRunner Cable
·Vonage
| Re: What's not to like? said by ib50MbSoon :Paying for 8000/768 and NEVER see it slower. Today I'm seeing peak gusts to +32,000. Digital Voice is crystal clear, OnDemand performs flawlessly, and all the TV channels I watch are delivered in HD. I really can't comment about Comcast's customer service since I haven't had to use it. Wait until Sandvine comes to your area...you'll be lucky to get 15 kbps on torrents (2x dial up spreeds) | |
| | 
dlconkey
join:2003-01-19
Chicago, IL
clubs:
1 edit | Try a "real" speed test. I can get incredible rates from my cache too!
And BTW, "peak" speeds are great for surfing (subtract DNS lookups!!!), but try a large file d/l.... No way you'll get the same speed... Not even close.
Note the comparison to RCN???! 
I see ComCRAP trucks all over here, along with RCN's.
I pay $5 for bulk cable, digital, 100 channels, 40 or so CD quality music channels, and then pay $45/mo for 10,000/800 kbps data...
Beat that Comcast! They're trying to sneak into the area but BZZZT, they'll bury themselves...
Buh bye Comcrap... (And the ex ATT...)
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Dave, Chicago - Edgewater/Uptown, @ the lakefront | |
|
justme111
@comcast.net
| plenty of excuses for terrible service The Twin Cities is one of their "better" for technology, internet, HDTV, etc.
Prices are nuts. Three price increases in one year.
I believe they hire most of their CSRs from the same neighborHOOD.
I won't even start on most of the techs - scary, very scary.
Junction Cable boxes held together with tape or no cover at all.
Certain HD channels, occasionally, have the resolution of an Atari 2600, but with sound dropouts.
All good.
Can't wait 'til I live in a house with a southern view. | |
| raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN
| Comcast Service I can give you a prime example of the problem.
Yesterday in my area there was a large outage affecting several blocks. I had neighbors calling me to ask if my cable was out which it indeed was. I tried calling Comcast but could not get through because the lines were busy. I figured that large an area and Comcast would know about the outage.
Today I called to get credit for the lost service. I was told there was no record of a call on my account. I explained that I could not get through on the phones. The agent checked and said there was no outage in the area. WTF?
Anyway, the agent was rude and somewhat condescending before finally agreeing to "courtesy" credit this one time only. Next time I would have to have information on my account that there was an outage.
Finally Comcast tried to sell me their phone service. If I had that service than I most assuredly would not be able to call to report an outage.
Comcast service sucks, their reps suck, the programming sucks. But I have no viable alternative. When you are the only option quality goes out the window and the price goes through the roof. | |
| | 
Squirrelly
join:2000-10-24
Harrisburg, PA | Re: Comcast Service Dish is so much better and cheaper | |
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indianafanatic
Premium
join:2001-10-14
Noblesville, IN
·Insight Communicat..
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: Comcast Service Comcast's lack of concern for my account is exactly the reason I'm switching back to AT&T/Dish. When I moved last December, I couldn't sign up for AT&T's triple pack because I was currently a Dish customer and had to wait 6 months before I was eligible. So, I signed up with, what was then, Insight.
When our sod was installed this past March, the cable was cut and a technician came out and repaired it. I called Comcast to schedule the line to be buried and they said it would happen within two weeks. Now it's May and after many Comcast lies and heated discussions, they tell me that they can't come out to bury it until July. Bullsh*t!
Good-bye Comcrap. Hello AT&T/Dish!
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We cannot change the direction of the wind... but we can adjust our sails. | |
| | | raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN
| said by Squirrelly :Dish is so much better and cheaper For a single TV. We have 5 TVs, a DVR, and a VCR. With dish you need a box for each device. With cable I only need a HD box for the TV and no boxes for the other TV's and devices. When I looked at Dish services I would have need to rent 7 boxes to get what I have now. That really pushed up the price. | |
| moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| It doesn't matter how many agents you hire.... quote:
Comcast says they've hired some 15,000 new support workers in the last 18 months to handle the strain, but either it's not helping, or they haven't been given enough time to make a difference. I'm thinking the Twitter band-aids aren't cutting it.
You can hire 15 million support workers and have each one here in the USA but it means NOTHING if you do not fix the issues. Problems occur and that is a fact. However, taking your good old time fixing it and denying their is a problem is not going to make your customer satisfaction ratings go up. | |
| | | EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA | Re: The sat ratings did show an interesting look at cell service Wow- Sprint is dragging down the entire wireless industry with their rankings. | |
| 
Morac
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ
·Comcast
| Comcast's support system needs to be completely overhauled Adding more phone reps won't help when the overall support system is broken. The issue is the three tiered support (phone, techs, line techs).
1. Phone support cannot do anything but schedule a local tech. Even if a phone support can see evidence of an issue affecting more than one person, s/he can only schedule a local tech. If enough people call from one area, it triggers an "outage", but most people are lazy and don't call (my neighbor's Internet access was out for a week before she called). So it doesn't matter if the phone support person is competent or not (not that I enjoy talking to incompetent phone support). On a related note, the local techs cannot read the support logs from phone support so when a phone rep "makes a detailed log of your problem", the local techs never see that. The local techs see a short description of problem (eg: "packet loss") instead of the details (eg: "packet loss caused by an upstream signal issue affecting everyone in a 3 block radius").
2. Comcast should monitor its own network for problems. I shouldn't have to spend weeks getting an upstream line issue fixed when a simple automated monitoring system could detect signal problems and automatically notify the line tech department. If I can see problems running a smokeping test, Comcast should be able to automatically monitor the headends for problems.
For completeness, here's my last major Comcast problem which demonstrates the flaws in the system.
A month or two ago, I started noticing dropped pings, slow download and errors on my modem so I called Comcast support. The person ran tests and said that yes there was a problem so she scheduled a local tech. Before the tech came out the problem went away so I canceled the call. The problem came back so I got phone support to schedule another tech and when the person showed up the problem went away. This went on for a few weeks with a total of 4 tech visits; each time the problem wasn't occurring when the tech showed up. A couple of times I had the phone person check the upstream values (which were way off), but the phone person could only schedule a local tech.
Frustrated I decided to call the number of a lead tech that I knew from a previous issue I had (and amazingly he answered). Since I was having the problem at that time, he could easily see from looking at the headend data, that there was an upstream problem in the area (everyone's upstream values were fluctuating wildly). He sent the information to the line tech department.
I had one more local tech come out and all he did was tell me that the problem had now been escalated to the line tech department and would be fixed soon (it was within a few days). I asked him if there was software that monitors the upstream values in the headend automatically (so I wouldn't need to go through this) and he said that would be a good idea, but there isn't any.
So in my case I'd still be having problems if I hadn't had the office number of a local tech.
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The Comcast Disney Avatar has been retired. | |
| JerryTongue
join:2003-04-01
Auburn, WA
| Nothing has changed We had a power outage a couple days ago, call Comcast because connection is real poor, get a recording they know of issue in my area and are working on it. Day 2, have recycled my modem 3 times and connection is still poor, call Comcast again and am told line was fixed. She checks my line and has me disconnect everything and recycle again. Looks better. While talking to her I lose connection again to XBox live. She asks me if I have a splitter? Ha Ha Hello I have Cable TV and internet of course I have a splitter, a new one "They" replaced about 4 months maybe longer ago. It is NOT my splitter. I pay extra because I'm a gamer period. Anything slightly not right I will notice it before a PC user does being a gamer. The answers from them are always the same. I know it could be a million and one things it could be, when I say I have done all the steps already you try and talk me through then lets explore something else could we, instead of wasting my time? You get paid by the hour so no waist to you, in fact I along with many others are paying for your time wasting my time and money. Sorry but it just gets me angry more and more to the point I'm about to give up gaming and just go back to dial up. | |
| |
StoppushingCDV
@comcast.net
| Stop being so naggy with sales! I hate calling Tech support.
Customer numbers blow because every time I call they want to try and sell me something.
When I'm ready to order something 'I' will let you know!
Sorry about your outage and by the way would you like to save money by subscribing to our phone service?
No!
I use cell phones on the road all day and when
I'm home I use my magicjack phone service.
$40.00 for home phone for the entire year!
Same features as CDV but without the monthly cost!
Saving a lot more money using somone else! | |
| |
DHRacer
Fire Survivor
join:2000-10-10
Lake Arrowhead, CA
·Charter Pipeline
·Verizon west (ex G..
| Re: Stop being so naggy with sales! Actually, I just experienced that myself. I called Charter to ask about a billing question, and the first thing the lady said is "let me take care of your issue, then I will tell you about the "Charter Bundle".
As I already have TV, HSI and phone through Charter, I guess when the lady pulled up my account and saw that, the second part of the conversation never happened.
But still, after being on hold for as long as callers must hold for these days, to take up another slice of our time by trying to tell us about some package crap that if we had wanted it we would have asked for it, is another slap in the face to customers. Apparently the company thinks their not making enough money off you as they already are.
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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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DirecTV et al
