Comcast Cable Box Comes With Cockroach Surprise As Company is Sued For Very 'Buggy' Gear Comcast is under fire in Illinois for installing buggy hardware -- literally. An Illinois resident says the company installed a set top box that came with a free cockroach infestation, and once installed resulted in the bugs "pouring out" into his home. When the user went to complain about the used device and his new friends, Comcast took several days to address the problem, the user going so far as to bring a bag of dead roaches into the Comcast office. While normally you'd think this was an isolated incident, Chicago's being sued by nearly a dozen current and former employees who say they were forced to install the "buggy" gear: The employees claim they would find cockroaches crawling in and out of equipment, and in their lockers, trucks and equipment bags. They also claim the South Side facility had rats, a leaky ceiling and birds that flew in and out of the warehouse. The employees claim they saw cockroach eggs fall out of cable boxes that were supposed to be installed in customers’ homes. When an employee complained, the supervisor said, “just put the box in — you’re in Englewood. They’ll only have cable for a month. They won’t pay bills,” the suit said. While Comcast was busily installing bug-infested equipment in low-income Illinois homes, the company was making great political hay from a low-income broadband offer most users can't get. "Comcast adamantly denies the allegations and will vigorously defend itself in court," a Comcast spokesman insists.
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 | | I hate roaches! I had this happen to me once. A friend of a friend gave me a computer monitor to fix and I brought the thing into my house and little roaches started crawling out of it and from that point on I had a roach problem and a exterminator bill. When I worked for a computer store like 12 years ago people would bring in computers that would have bad power supplies because they were infested with roaches..
I don't see how people can live with roaches and it's really disturbing to read that Comcast is doing this. If they did this to me I would be furious! | |
|  |  misiek
join:2000-12-25
Round Lake, IL | Re: I hate roaches! This mirrors my own experience with customer's TV set back in the 90s. | |
|
 syslockPremium
join:2007-02-03
Ann Arbor, MI | Used Boxs. Just go to any of the warehouses and you will find racks
of used box's loaded with bugs from peoples houses. | |
| | Reviews:
 ·Comcast
 ·AT&T Yahoo
| Re: Used Boxs. And since I used to work in the warehouse(s), the tech is supposed to either wrap up the box or tell the warehouse personnel to wrap it up... They used to tell me, I would wrap it up and send it in for repair ( and cleaning ), but that was some years ago.... So, there was a breakdown somewhere in communication... | |
|
Reviews:
·Optimum Online
·Verizon Online DSL
| LOL When an employee complained, the supervisor said, “just put the box in — you’re in Englewood. They’ll only have cable for a month. They won’t pay bills,” the suit said.  | |
| | | | Re: LOL We have charter and their boxes come from the office wrapped in plastic. | |
| | | | | Re: LOL That keeps the roaches from escaping before the equipment is installed. | |
|
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | STB Revenue Addiction Perhaps if we could regulate the STB revenue addiction out of the cable industry, customers could buy their own equipment and this kind of crap would just go away.
I'd love to be able to go to [insert favorite discount retailer here], get an STB for every TV in my home and not have to pay a small fee to watch the same content in two different rooms.
I know there's the "cablecard" crap but they generally still want some kind of small fee for using it.
I'd probably be OK if they want to charge some kind of "activation" fee for each STB but cable modems are automatically provisioned these days. Why does the TV experience remain so "locked" down.
Of course OTT video would also cure this crap. Then we could just download software to a smart device that accesses content. | |
| | | | Re: STB Revenue Addiction in Canadian systems you can buy the box and they don't have that per box outlet / mirroring fees | |
| | | | | Re: STB Revenue Addiction In Canada, you have to pay a tax just to travel outside of the country. | |
| | | |  GonePremium
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON
kudos:1 | Re: STB Revenue Addiction said by Canadian :In Canada, you have to pay a tax just to travel outside of the country. I leave and return to Canada a few times a week and have never paid a tax. In other words, what you said is complete bullshit, but thanks for playing! | |
| | | | | | | Re: STB Revenue Addiction But Toronto Pearson International Airport does charge a lot higher taxes on flight tickets than Buffalo International airport. The higher sales (GST) taxes are nothing. | |
| | | | | | GonePremium
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON
kudos:1 | Re: STB Revenue Addiction said by chgo_man99:But Toronto Pearson International Airport does charge a lot higher taxes on flight tickets than Buffalo International airport. The higher sales (GST) taxes are nothing. Airport improvement fees aren't really taxes, but I agree they're absolutely insane. But, thankfully, people in Toronto and the surrounding area have some alternatives...
1. Fly out of Toronto Island
2. Drive to Buffalo and fly out of there
Whenever I enter the US, it's always by car. Cost to leave Canada? Free. Cost to return? $2.70 for the bridge toll.
And we no longer have GST in Ontario, it's HST now. 13% here, versus 8.25% in Erie County, NY and 8% in Niagara County. It's really not that big of a difference in the grand scheme of things. I go over to buy gas all the time though, it's a lot cheaper over there. | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | GonePremium
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON
kudos:1 | Re: STB Revenue Addiction said by chgo_man99:Some custom officers I know can be particularly invasive and may ask a lot of question when they know someone crossed the border twice in the same day. How do you deal with that? What do you say for a reason to visit? I live in Fort Erie. No one thinks twice about it. I'd probably do it more often if there wasn't the damn toll.
said by chgo_man99:When I left Canada through Sarnia-Port Huron, I had to pay exit toll too. They charge equally in both currencies. It is $3.25. Tolls are common, especially in largely populated states in the US and most countries in Europe and Asia. They only charge entering Canada here, as it was easier to consolidate the toll barriers to one side.
And we have toll roads here. They aren't some foreign concept to us. | |
| | | | | | | | | | The tolls you're talking about are for crossing a BRIDGE, and have nothing to do with the border.
If you cross the US/Canada border by car anywhere in the west there are no tolls. Likewise if you cross into/out of Maine or Vermont. | |
|
| | | Cablevision is working on it. On long island with the samsung boxes the security is downloaded to the box. Eventually they will open it up to third parties.
Cablevision wants to get away from providing the boxes at all. | |
| | | cramer
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC
kudos:5 Reviews:
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: STB Revenue Addiction There's a system for that already.... it's called CableCARD. It's been around for over a decade. DFAST was the last attempt to delay the integration ban -- and btw, DFAST fails the seperable security requirement as the security device is built into the receiver; the fact that it gets programmed from the network doesn't change that.
Seeing how TiVo, Inc. is the *only* CE manufacturer that still bothers with CableCARD, I don't expect anyone to ever jump on the DFAST wagon. The only ones that exist are built explicitly for a cable company. When was the last NEW TV you saw with a CC slot in it? (answer: YEARS ago.) | |
| | | |  cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5
 ·Frontier FiOS
| Re: STB Revenue Addiction said by cramer:Seeing how TiVo, Inc. is the *only* CE manufacturer that still bothers with CableCARD... Moxi is another cablecard ready DVR. While a slightly different category, Ceton's InfiniTV and Silicon Dust's HDHomeRun Prime adapters for HTPCs. | |
|
| | | | I wish cablevision would get away from providing ANYTHING.
lol | |
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| | | | | Yeah and when your equipment you just bought breaks. Guess what you spend another $400. No thanks. | |
| | | cramer
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC
kudos:5 Reviews:
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: STB Revenue Addiction I still have several decade old series 1 tivos fully functional -- the drives have been replaced once or twice. I have one that was hit by lightning and it still works -- it no longer has a modem, 'tho. I have a few directv recievers even older than that still functional (they don't really like what DTV is broadcasting these days, but they still "work") {from the days before DTV said no one else could make a reciever. back when the consumer had a d*** choice...} | |
| | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Now you know that's B.S. STBs shouldn't cost any more than cable modems. | |
| | | | GonePremium
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON
kudos:1 | Re: STB Revenue Addiction said by rradina:Now you know that's B.S. STBs shouldn't cost any more than cable modems. How much do they charge for a basic STB stateside? They cost $80-$150 here. There's a lot more variation in PVRs, it ultimately depends on how much the company wants to screw. They range in price from $150 to $450. | |
| | | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: STB Revenue Addiction I'm not talking about a DVR/PVR. Yes -- those would probably get pricey but you should only need one of those per house, not one for each TV.
I just read that the new Apple TV costs a paltry $64 to manufacture. It doesn't have an RF circuit but it probably contains way more stuff in other areas that more than make up the cost of adding an RF receiver. I'd be shocked if someone couldn't make a basic STB (no DVR) for $30. After middlemen and marketing, I would think you could sell it for a fair profit at a $75 - $99 price point.
Given the typical second-STB fee from the cable sharks is ~$5/month, it doesn't take long to recover those costs.
And let's not forget that if it only costs $30 for a stand-alone unit, it could be stuffed inside every flat panel for $20 and we'd go Back To The Future in terms of "cable ready" TVs.
Read in a Christopher Lloyd (Doc Emmet Brown) voice: Marty, let me get this straight... I buy a TV, take it home and plug it in. Then I tell it I have something called cable. It asks for an account number. I use something called the world wide web to activate the device. Using .000000122 gigawatts of power, the TV downloads something called software and presto...I can watch 500 different channels! Great Scott Marty! Who would have the time!
Marty: Well doc, everything you said is correct except the channels aren't all different. Do you remember the movie The Truman Show...a lot of channels are like that...oh, I forgot, you don't know what that is...Sorry Doc. 99% of the channels are reruns. Oh, yeah...you don't know what this is either. Well, it's not really 500 channels. It's about 20 good ones. The rest are crap unless you are a sports fan or you like watching poker tournaments on ESPN.
Doc: Marty! Are you telling me people pay to watch other people play cards?
Marty: Yeah doc. There are even channels that show Congress.
Doc: What? Now isn't that kind of like watching flies @#$@% !?
Of course there's the opportunity for pirating if I give my TV to a relative or friend or sell it but they could put a max device cap on the household that would keep that stuff to a minimum.
No more cockroach infested STBs! | |
| | | | | | cramer
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC
kudos:5 Reviews:
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: STB Revenue Addiction Technically, they already have. It's called a "digital converter box", but it doesn't have any analog tuning gear, or any CC interfacing logic. Those things are required for a cable system STB -- and they add a fair bit to the bill-of-materials. And thanks to the cable companies constantly changing their minds on "standards" and plugging hundreds of bits of proprietary, we-aren't-telling-anyone-anything technologies... and we get to where we are today: consumer electronics manufacturers won't f'ing touch cableCARD. (they only build what a cableco contracts them to build.)
(And yes, CableLabs certification *requires* analog tuning abilities. Stupid, but there are still hundreds of cable systems still wasting spectrum on analog channels.) | |
| | | | | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: STB Revenue Addiction Most flat-panels are already "analog cable ready", right? Doesn't that satisfy cable labs requirement? They can also deal cable's unencrypted digital channels. The only thing they need to add is a flexible decryption circuit and a way to securely provision the TV to engage it. They also need a program guide and VOD capabilities. I'm assuming VOD is already some kind of OTT, packet stream and not a "channel" selection like PPV. That may add some components to the TV but most of what's needed is ALREADY part of an existing flat-panel TV's circuitry. All we need is the FCC to provide a standard and we're Back To The Future.
The big question is, why wouldn't the cable companies want this? For years their competitive battle cry with the satellite industry was additional outlets are free and you don't need an STB for every TV. Now satellite and U-Verse (and possibly FIOS..but I don't have any experience with it) have inverted the equation since they offer the free, four-room DVR solution. Granted there's still an STB but most offer it as a package and it's cheaper than cable's add an STB, fork over more monthly cash approach.
Charter is experimenting with a multi-room DVR. Right now I have a DVR and one STB. The STB is able to watch DVR programs but it cannot pause live TV and it doesn't have it's own ability to control the DVR's recording. (I can press record on the STB, it says its recording but I can't find it anywhere!)
What I have now is a half-ass solution and I have to pay, I think, $4.50 for the STB. It's f*cking madness. I pay for the damn content and I should be able to watch it in any room I want without any additional fees and hassles. | |
| | | | | | | | cramer
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC
kudos:5 Reviews:
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: STB Revenue Addiction Well, no. Many (most?) of the current generation "TVs" either have no tuner in them at all (somewhat rare) or have no NTSC ("analog") logic in them at all. As they don't have a CC in them, they don't have to follow an of those dumbass rules.
And it takes a whole lot more than just a crypto package. Switched Digital Video (SDV) is everywhere these days. That means the TV would have to have an RF transmitter in it as well to communicate with the headend to even find the channels to decode. (This is the number one reason nobody bothers with CC anymore.) SDV is not part of any openly documented standard. Every cable system has it's own proprietary system, that noone is willing to disclose. So a TV maker would have to get an SDV client for each flavor, test it, and get CableLabs to ok their hardware and software.
Cable operators don't want 3rd party STBs. Anything that eats away at their allmighty STB revenues (which are HUGE) is bad. DISH and DTV are even worse about it, as they con the consumer into *buying* a box they then don't own. ("lease upgrade fee") | |
| | | | | | | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: STB Revenue Addiction I have four HDTVs in my house (30, 40, 40, 55) all purchased within the last three years. They all have built-in analog and digital capabilities. Two of them have an STB and two of them are just configured for cable ready. My local company, Charter in St. Louis, still offers about ~60 analog channels and ~20 digital channels that can be viewed without an STB.
Over last Summer, I visited my parents in the country and helped them setup a new ~50"/60" Sanyo HDTV from Wal-Mart. It also had analog and digital tuners. (They are in the country with Dish so the analog was absolutely of no use but the TV had it.)
Since 3 years and even "last summer" might be considered the "last generation" of TVs, I browsed to several TV manufacturer sites to review the specs of the first link on which my eyes focused that looked like it was a TV (not necessarily random -- probably the model they wanted to promote) and here are the results:
LG: still has analog tuner
Sony: still has analog tuner
Panasonic: Unknown -- not enough detailed specs
Toshiba: still has analog tuner
Samsung: still has analog tuner but I checked a second that did not
Now that analog video only exists inside closed systems, it may go away soon but from personal experience and a sampling of "current generation" TVs, I cannot agree with your statement that most TVs no longer have analog tuners.
Regarding cable being addicted to STB revenue -- well, that's the title of my original post. The FCC should step in with standards and force the issue. What's surprising is without regulation, I think, cable operators rallied to create a cable modem standard. Of course IP/Windows/Linux might have forced their hand since they entered a world where network standards/routing and PAT already existed. In other words, faced with the fact that folks would never need multiple cable modems to share service among multiple PCs, they quickly realized there wasn't BIG money there and it made more sense to let consumers buy their own devices and simply authorize them for service. | |
| | | | | | | | | | GonePremium
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON
kudos:1 | Re: STB Revenue Addiction said by rradina:Now that analog video only exists inside closed systems, it may go away soon but from personal experience and a sampling of "current generation" TVs, I cannot agree with your statement that most TVs no longer have analog tuners. No it won't, and saying analog only exists in closed systems is completely false. First off, there are all sorts of LPs across the US that are still broadcasting in analog NTSC, and many of them have no plans to convert to digital until forced to by the FCC in 2015. Second, there are all sorts of full-power broadcasters across Mexico and rural Canada that also broadcast in analog. Mexico's transition deadline isn't until 2016, and I have no idea when the CRTC here is forcing the smaller market and thousand of rural super low power LPs to convert to digital as well. You're not going to see analog tuners removed from televisions for this reason for a long long time, not until there is no one single analog broadcast transmitter left anywhere in North America.
Interestingly enough, our cable system around here has almost entirely removed analog. There's ~20 basic channels left, the rest have all been moved exclusively to digital. They give you these little basic converter boxes for your TVs that very much remind me of the days when cable companies gave you analog tuners for when televisions didn't come cable ready. A whole slew of the channels also run on SDV, but that's a different topic in itself. | |
| | | | | | | | | | cramer
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC
kudos:5 Reviews:
·AT&T Southeast
| The FCC should step in with standards and force the issue. What's surprising is without regulation, I think, cable operators rallied to create a cable modem standard.
And no, the cable industry will not and did not adopt any standard without FCC mandate. You might not have heard about cableCARD until a few years ago, but it's actually VERY old, like over a decade. The FCC demanded a "seperable security model" and tasked CableLabs to come up with a standard. As soon as there was a standard, the FCC said "now use it". The cable companies immediately cried for an extension to finish version 2.0. Can you see a tend? They tried the same crap with CC 2.0 -- DFAST, DCAS, OCAP, ... But the FCC had rented a pair of balls by then and made them start using CC 2.0 (about 5 years ago???) Like clockwork, as soon as the FCC said no to another extension, an internal memo from TWC is leaked that outlined their plan to move the entire lineup to SDV -- making 3rd party CC devices completely useless.
To avoid further ire from the FCC, they cooperated in creating the Tuning Adapter. And the specs and the years it took to create shows their general level of hatred of 3rd party receivers. The CE industry learned the lesson and now doesn't touch CC -- costs in time and money for development, manufacturer, and certification, and by the time it's on the shelf at Best Buy cableco's have "invented" 37 different ways to make it useless. | |
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| | Buggy Cable Box If Comcast, or anybody, brought a pest infestation into my home, they'd be paying for an exceedingly expensive home delousing, and our hotel bills whilst it was going on. | |
| | | | Re: Buggy Cable Box but then they will clam you broke there $500 (over priced) cable box and call it even. | |
| | | | No they wouldn't. At best, free month of service. | |
| | | | You know what they say about roaches in buildings: once you see one, there's a thousand more where it came from. | |
| | | | No they wouldn't. That's just big talk. They would give you that government-bureaucrat-blank-stare, shrug their shoulders and invite you to sue them. Then you would lose if you tried. Next silly threat? | |
|
 n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY
·Optimum Online
| Cablevision STB Back in August 2010 I got an STB from Cablevision that I wound up returning due to it having HDMI problems. However, looking inside the top I could see pet fur, dirt and what looked like bread crumbs. Absolutely disgusting to see inside. It kind of PO'd me that they would "refurbish" these yet not clean them out. The fact that the box did not work right did lead me to believe it may have been a returned box that got mixed in with the outgoing ones but either way it was disgusting.
--
I support the right to keep and arm bears. | |
| | | | Re: Cablevision STB Maybe if people where to use stuff like in a court case of being forced to rent the boxes that may go over better in a court / jury. | |
| | | | said by n2jtx:Back in August 2010 I got an STB from Cablevision that I wound up returning due to it having HDMI problems. However, looking inside the top I could see pet fur, dirt and what looked like bread crumbs. Absolutely disgusting to see inside.
Back in the days of Tribune/United cable, they delivered to me a replacement remote that was like that. Absolutely disgusting. When I called to complain about it, expecting them to be as appalled as I, they blew me off. I disco'd my cable box and brought the whole shebang into the local office right then and there, canceling my service. The girl behind the counter didn't even ask me why.
That's the last time I ever had cable TV in my home. | |
| | cramer
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC
kudos:5 Reviews:
·AT&T Southeast
| "refurb" is code for "we took it from your smelly neighbor's house and put it in yours." I can almost assure they didn't do jack to it once they got it back from a customer -- if it wasn't reported broken, it goes right back out the door. I've seen installers reuse a cablemodem they literally just took from someone else's house; stb's aren't any different. | |
|
 DaveDudeNo Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey
kudos:1 | Cable card If customers could buy their own equipment we wouldn't have these problems. Anyone should be able to go to a store and get a cable compatibility tv and have it work on any system. | |
| |  baineschile2600 ways to livePremium
join:2008-05-10
Sterling Heights, MI
·Comcast
 ·magicjack.com
| Re: Cable card said by DaveDude:If customers could buy their own equipment we wouldn't have these problems. Anyone should be able to go to a store and get a cable compatibility tv and have it work on any system.
You obviously dont know the economic climate in Englewood. Though the 'supervisor' was kind of an ass in saying that it didnt matter because the bill wasnt going to be paid, they are a bit right. People cant afford $80/mo for cable, they arent shelling out $300+ for their own equipment. | |
| | cramer
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC
kudos:5 Reviews:
·AT&T Southeast
| You can... if you want a Tivo, as they're the only ones still putting up with the CC bullshit. The cable companies make it a pain in the ass if you do. SDV requires a Tuning Adapter, which is one more crappy cableco device to not work correctly -- and because they don't use them, they're ALWAYS BUGGY. They charge a small fortune to have a monkey plug in a card, call and 800#, and read off 2 numbers. | |
| | | DaveDudeNo Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey
kudos:1 | Re: Cable card well if every tv did "allvid" from the store, there would be no equipment to buy, and there would be no issue or cost . So i guess its totally possible. | |
|
tpkatl
join:2009-11-16
Dacula, GA | It's not a bug, it's a feature Right there on the Comcast pricelist.
Cockroaches (and other insects) are deemed a "convenience feature" and Comcast charges an additional $4.00 a month for providing you that service. It is a mandatory service feature in Chicago for residences - Business customers can opt out.
See page 3 of the price list:
Insect supply and replenishment .........................$4.00/month
(required with Digital Cable) | |
| |  NickDPremium
join:2000-11-17
Princeton Junction, NJ | Re: It's not a bug, it's a feature Cockroaches on demand. That's Comcastic! | |
| | | | | Re: It's not a bug, it's a feature Its the another added value feature now included in their Over priced Cable Service | |
|
|  nerdburgPremium
join:2009-08-20
Schuylkill Haven, PA
kudos:1 | Yep When I was a tech I pulled plenty of these disgusting boxes out of people's homes. I double bagged them before they went in my van tho. In Comcast's defense, I've seen the warehouse just chuck those double bagged STBs right in the dumpster. With that said, I completely believe the customer got a box full of roaches. Comcast should have apologized profusely, replaced the box with a new one and paid for extermination. | |
| | Reviews:
·Bright House
| Re: Yep said by nerdburg:When I was a tech I pulled plenty of these disgusting boxes out of people's homes. I double bagged them before they went in my van tho. In Comcast's defense, I've seen the warehouse just chuck those double bagged STBs right in the dumpster. With that said, I completely believe the customer got a box full of roaches. Comcast should have apologized profusely, replaced the box with a new one and paid for extermination.
I agree, working for a cable co myself. I see Plenty of discusting boxes come from peoples houses, I have a box of garbage bags in my van actually to bag them up. Luckily I havent ever gotten one back with roaches  | |
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| | mworks
join:2006-06-13
Faison, NC | not surprising at all I once worked doing repairs on satellite boxes, cable boxes, etc, and it is an everyday thing to find these boxes infested with bugs. The reason is pretty simple, these boxes generate a lot of heat and things like roaches love heat, that is why they also infest clock led displays , around adapters plugged into walls, routers, modems, and more.
My advice is when getting a cable or satellite box that is second hand you take it outside and use a very bright light to look through any vent holes, if you see signs of a infestation , take it back.
Also if you buy used electronics off places like ebay or craigslist take the cover off and inspect it before you place it in your home . You can't do this with cable equipment because of the security screws, but you can for most other consumer electronics. | |
| Reviews:
·Comcast
| I've always had a thing against used equipment... Used equipment from Comcast has usually failed from my experience. You have to go out of your way to ask them for a "new" box. The only "new" boxes you seem to naturally get are the ones that the install techs bring over when you first install your service (and sometimes even then it's used). | |
| NWOhio
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH | Eggs can NOT be seen by the human eye. They're too small to even see. | |
| | | | Re: Eggs said by NWOhio:can NOT be seen by the human eye. They're too small to even see.
obviously they meant the "Egg case" small pill sized hangs off the bugs a..... | |
|
| | Just shake it... if it rattles and crap comes out, then take it back | |
| | | This is true. I worked for Comcast is South Augusta, GA. This is absolutely true. We'd take cable equipment out of nasty bug infested homes and turn right around and install them in a different home. Our supervisors had the same opinion about low income areas. They would tell us to hurry up and do shotty, quick installs to save time, because we'd be back in 60 days to disconnect them anyway.
I worked there for three years. This went on the entire time. | |
| | | spelling "Surprise" not Suprise. Just because you are posting on line and not an actual reporter in a real newspaper, doesn't mean you get a pass to spell like a first grader. Feel free to use spell check. | |
| | | | | | |
| | Comcast Wow! So many posts about bad Comcast employees. I find it rediculous to blame the customer service reps for anything. I understand there may be a few who should not be working in the customer service field but there are many, such as myself, who pride ourselves on helping others. BUT we deal with hundreds of customers, daily, calling in and belittleing us. Honestly, I have found since working in the customer service department that there are many, many, many uneducated, dishonest, foul, and disgusting people out there. None of you could possibly imagine what many of us have heard or been treated like because they wake up in a bad mood, single parent, or are having family issues. I HAVE HEARD IT ALL! If you can't afford the PREMIER package at it's regular rate or even on discount than take a package you can afford. Don't belittle or make others feel bad because your trying to live beyond your means. Nothing is FREE and no one owes us anything..even if we have been a customer for years. Geesh, I wish I could call my gas company or electric company and tell them "Since I have been loyal customer, I think you should comp a year for me". Sure would be nice to have FREE electricity or discounted electricity. Please remember, Comcast/Verizon/AT&T/DISH/ so on are entertainment providers!!! If you can't afford entertainment than do without or find a way to afford it without degrading others.
As for cockroaches, you don't have to be poor, destitute, or living in public housing to get the creatures. They travel and I have known well off people to have them. I am sorry our company disregards this issue and yes we should make it right to the customer.
By the way, Internet Essentials, is for children or families who NEED the service to do their school work. It is not for those who want to surf the web, game, look at porn or social network. It is specifically designed to assist families and their children who otherwise can not afford the higher internet services or internet at all, with any company. Honestly, the program has helped many. | |
| | | | Re: Comcast your right you cant call your gas or electric company and do that. but then, they are REGULATED, so the day comcast and other cable co's become regulated, and are required to provide a "basic" connection at actual cost (plus enough to cover upgrades) and sale the channels to the customer at cost (exactly what the content provider charges per channel) and only the channels we want. i would agree with you.
but untill that happens, your the public face of the company, if im a loyal customer for X years and i see some n00b getting a great deal you bet im going to call and ask you for that deal, cant provide it? maybe ill just walk to some one that will.
and before you hit me with "if you regulate then prices will go up" then dont compare an unregulated service with a regulated one.
cable co's could easyly charge $10 - $30 for a raw connection, then charge per channel making them a middle man, i.e. just like a point of sale card processor. thats the way it SHOULD be. and quit forcing set top box's on people, we should be able to buy our own, and i dont mean just the over priced tivo's (i mean really, add up the cost of one of those suckers with life time subscription) the system should be "open" (with some kind of security verification of course) but for any one to buy any set top box of their choosing.
as for "internet essentials" i love when people consider the internet not to be a nessesity, especially with more and more companies charging to get paper bills, or moving entire services online. i get it, its so kids can get an education. but there should be some sort of reasonable priced solution for other low income folks, even if it requires income verification, hell the letter i get from social security each year stating what my income is for the next year should be all the proof they need. but its just like "life line" its a PITA to get, and thats if the company you use deals with it. cable co's that pretend to be a phone company for example usually dont deal with "life line" for phone service.
people seem to think theres "all kinds of services" out there for folks like me, sure, but there all most impossible to qualify for, just like your "internet essentials" | |
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|  jhejr
join:2010-10-10
Verona, MS
·Comcast
| Dnana 123:
Wow! So many posts about bad Comcast employees. I find it rediculous to blame the customer service reps for anything.
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Let me share my Comcast Care service. Switched from Direct tv. to Comcast tv cable. 2days late on install. Regular plus HD channels. Brought a Big Monster of a box. It needed cleaning BAD dirty.Plugged it in. Installed cable to box,cable to set. used cell said: if its not working in 45 min. call 1-800-Comcast. Got in truck and drove off.
30 days of bad tv service, a lots of calls to Comcast customer service,no help. Walked the box to Comcast office. Comcast said nothing we can do,but give you a different box. Tried that no better. This one was clean. More calls to Comcast customer service,no help.
Ran across Dish Network employee a the diner. Talked to him. The next day had Dish installed. more channels plus more HD. Cost less than Comcast. Now we can watch tv,and enjoy it. Walked the box to Comcast and canceled service. Comcast said if you had called customer service we would have fixed the problem. Called so much we quit counting. | |
| | sgc
join:2011-11-02
Naperville, IL | I think everyone really needs to learn from the customer support that WOW! (Midwest) provides. I have never had a bad experience with their CSRs; however, I have had a really bad time with other companies. One time, Comcast cut our cable (we have NEVER been Comcast subscribers, and we had been in our house for 3 years at the time) stating we did not pay our bill. It was a nightmare dealing with Comcast for what they had done. WOW! got our cable back up and running within 3 days, and the Comcast reps are GENERALLY ineffective. I can't even count on my fingers and toes the number of people I know who hate Comcast and their customer support experience.
There is no excuse for customers to behave like that, and I realize being a service representative, especially for a company that provides inadequate service and overcharges customers like Comcast, is INCREDIBLY difficult, since you will encounter difficult, rude, and gold-digging customers. Comcast probably doesn't pay you well, either.
Comcast ends up charging people $220 a month for a similar package and equipment that WOW! provides for $160 a month. It is truly disgusting how much they overcharge for the service. It is only fair that they call in and ask for a discount on their inadequate, improperly installed, and defective service. It is NOT okay for them to belittle you or mistreat you in any way.
All in all, the CSRs are NOT responsible in any way for defective or inadequate service. They are only responsible for giving customers a positive support experience and solving problems with service. It's not your fault if they have a bad day, or if their cable is not working.
I hope that I made some sort of sense and helped in some way. | |
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 winsyrstrifeRiver City BouncePremium
join:2002-04-30
Brooklyn, NY | Funky Towel!! Towel got the funk!  | |
| | | | Re: Funky Towel!! "you’re in Englewood. They’ll only have cable for a month. They won’t pay (the) bills"
HAHAHAHA This is the funniest thing i've read all day. | |
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