Comcast Customer Satisfaction At All Time LowDespite promises to make customer service a priority... 10:02AM Wednesday May 21 2008 by Karl Bodetags: 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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Skeedatl
Ah, push it - push it real good
Premium
join:2007-12-26
The Cloud | 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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Skeedatl
Ah, push it - push it real good
Premium
join:2007-12-26
The Cloud
edit:
May 21st, @12:20PM
| 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
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Taunton, MA
clubs:
 ·Verizon FIOS
 ·Comcast
 ·Verizon Online DSL
edit:
May 21st, @12:33PM
| Re: Surprised? said by Skeedatl  :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
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Taunton, MA
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Surprised? said by Skeedatl :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
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Taunton, MA
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·Verizon Online DSL
edit:
May 22nd, @11:49AM
| Re: Surprised? said by Skeedatl :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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Skeedatl
Ah, push it - push it real good
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The Cloud
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edit:
May 21st, @02:35PM
| Re: Surprised?
Standard Programming | 
Optional Programming | 
Standard box pricing | 
DVR box pricing |
said by BSD24 :said by Skeedatl :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
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Taunton, MA
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Surprised? said by Skeedatl :said by BSD24 :said by Skeedatl :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
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Taunton, MA
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Surprised? said by Skeedatl :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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N3OGH
They both suck, we're so screwed
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
·Verizon Online DSL
| Price aside, Comcast stinks.
Every time I call customer service, I get a different answer. They can't get my bill right. They continue to charge me for the DVR box when I've taken it back months ago.
Comcast got too big, too fast. Too many legacy systems cobbled together to make one lumbering colossal giant that is sooner or later doomed to failure....
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Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power… | |
| | | | | | | | | mglunt
join:2001-09-10
Fredericksburg, VA
·Verizon FIOS
·VoicePulse
edit:
May 21st, @12:36PM
| said by BSD24 :said by Skeedatl :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
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Taunton, MA
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·Verizon Online DSL
edit:
May 21st, @12:57PM
| Re: Surprised? said by mglunt :said by BSD24 :said by Skeedatl :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!!! | |
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join:2001-09-10
Fredericksburg, VA
·Verizon FIOS
·VoicePulse
edit:
May 21st, @12:51PM
| 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
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Taunton, MA
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·Verizon Online DSL
edit:
May 21st, @01:07PM
| 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
Premium
join:2008-04-30
Taunton, MA
clubs:
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast
·Verizon Online DSL
| 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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zbrett
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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Chairman of the Bored... | |
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TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
·Comcast
| Re: DirecTV et al said by Skeedatl :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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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page | |
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Skeedatl
Ah, push it - push it real good
Premium
join:2007-12-26
The Cloud | 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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MattE
Obama '08
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
 ·Corporate Colocation
| Re: DirecTV et al said by Skeedatl :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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MattE
Obama '08
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
·Corporate Colocation
| Re: DirecTV et al said by TK Junk Mail :said by Skeedatl :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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DirecTV et al