 |  | rob316
join:2005-10-17
Carteret, NJ
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Striving To Make Things Better Screw Comcast, my area TV & HD lineup is horrible. We are on the 750mhz system and they ran out of room to add any new channels. I switched to Verizon Bundle with D-TV what a difference. ComCrap can keep their paltry lineup and inept tech support. I spoke of my displeasure with my wallet, good riddance CrookCast | |
| | 
CarterStClai
X-Out The W
join:2002-04-17
Sugar Land, TX | Using your comment as a forum to spew talking points against satellite isn't going to impress us. | |
| | | 
Dillz85
join:2008-07-04
united state | Re: Striving To Make Things Better Facts. Not Talking Points. | |
| | | | DonLibes
Premium,ExMod 2001
join:2003-01-19
| Re: Striving To Make Things Better said by Dillz85  :Facts. Not Talking Points. I agree that you are presenting talking points, not facts. I just had a Comcast tech stop by my home this Tuesday (July 22, 2008) and despite your assertion that "The technician will not leave until all of the customer’s products have been given a clean bill of health." the technician certainly did recognize there was an unfixed problem and left anyway. And that was after getting to my house 3.5 hours after the window Comcast promised he would arrive. I had to take off an entire day from work. And that was after a previous visit for which the technician completely failed to show.
Your assertion that Comcast is expanding techs for Saturday/Sunday hours may be true by some measure but it's not working out in practice - all I got were unfilled promises. I was scheduled for an appointment this past Sunday; I waited the entire day; When the tech never showed, I called and Comcast said "He's probably running late; just wait another hour". I waited two more hours and then Comcast's dispatcher said "He was there - twice - and found no one home." The tech obviously never visited my house - I had my garage and front doors wide open. The Comcast representative on the phone with me said "I don't believe him either." | |
| | | axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC
·Verizon Online DSL
 ·Cox HSI
| I don't think he was spamming... it's a forum, anybody can come and give their point of view. It's nice that a company can make a post on a forum that isn't shilled.
Of course, we don't really know that this guy is from Comcast! He should become a paid member, slap on a nice Comcast icon, and put some contact info in his signature. Of course then he'll be a nice target for us, heh heh heh | |
| | quintin3265
join:2008-06-07
State College, PA
·Comcast
 ·Verizon FIOS
| I agree that Comcast's customer service, in terms of people wanting to help, does seem to be improving. The representatives themselves are very friendly and supportive every time I've called. However, that doesn't change the fact that they lack understanding of Comcast's basic policies.
Throwing 15,000 representatives at the issue, or providing the best software tools in the world, isn't going to solve anything when the representatives this information. I called three people and none of the CSRs knew anything at all about Comcast's apparently widespread bandwidth cap limitations. One actually said that she had "never heard of that before." (!)
Last year, when I lived near a big city, I called Comcast to ask if it was acceptable for me to run a small webserver for testing by a few people before I delivered the consulting project to a customer. One technician said that Comcast had no issue with running servers. Another said that running any kind of server (I suppose this includes hosting a brief online game, too) was prohibited by Comcast's terms of service. Another tech said that someone was actually running a large-scale server somewhere in the neighborhood, but they couldn't figure out who it was. Which rep am I to believe?
What kind of company that claims to "care" about customer service doesn't educate its CSRs in its policies? No matter how many representatives Comcast hires, I won't change my opinion of the company until I can finally get an honest answer out of people. | |
| | | 
jt6
@comcast.net | Re: Striving To Make Things Better every company has hundreds of policies. i bet you dont know all you policies at work. you might think you do but i am sure we could find something you dont know. | |
| | | | quintin3265
join:2008-06-07
State College, PA | Re: Striving To Make Things Better These are basic policies that I think that representatives should know. If they don't know, I shouldn't get an answer like "I think that..." - have a site where the CSR can quickly review policies and apply them equally to everyone. | |
| | | | | 
funchords
Robb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Hillsboro, OR | Re: Striving To Make Things Better This company is delivering broadband. My water company and my electric company don't have a bunch of policies that that CSRs have to worry about. Why does a broadband company? | |
| | | 
Rob
In Deo speramus
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
·AT&T Southeast
| said by quintin3265 :I agree that Comcast's customer service, in terms of people wanting to help, does seem to be improving. The representatives themselves are very friendly and supportive every time I've called. However, that doesn't change the fact that they lack understanding of Comcast's basic policies. Throwing 15,000 representatives at the issue, or providing the best software tools in the world, isn't going to solve anything when the representatives this information. I called three people and none of the CSRs knew anything at all about Comcast's apparently widespread bandwidth cap limitations. One actually said that she had "never heard of that before." (!) Last year, when I lived near a big city, I called Comcast to ask if it was acceptable for me to run a small webserver for testing by a few people before I delivered the consulting project to a customer. One technician said that Comcast had no issue with running servers. Another said that running any kind of server (I suppose this includes hosting a brief online game, too) was prohibited by Comcast's terms of service. Another tech said that someone was actually running a large-scale server somewhere in the neighborhood, but they couldn't figure out who it was. Which rep am I to believe? What kind of company that claims to "care" about customer service doesn't educate its CSRs in its policies? No matter how many representatives Comcast hires, I won't change my opinion of the company until I can finally get an honest answer out of people. All three answers are correct. Comcast's official policy is no servers, at all, allowed on their network.
However, many Comcast customers do run "small" servers, and as long as they aren't causing any problems, Comcast does overlook them. So they have no issues with you running a server if it's a small one used by a few people for testing purposes and doesn't use excessive bandwidth or other problems (i.e. sending spam). | |
| | | |
funchords
Robb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Hillsboro, OR
·Verizon Online DSL
 ·Skype
·Comcast
| Re: Striving To Make Things Better said by Rob :Comcast's official policy is no servers, at all, allowed on their network. Rob, you're usually not wrong about such things, but I think that you may be wrong about this one. I'm not sure if you work for the company, for a contractor of the company, or if you're just well acquainted with them and not connected at all.
If you are connected, please go get the official line from your legal department. The TOS simply does not say, "No servers, at all." (If that were the intent, it would be clearer and simpler if it did say exactly that, wouldn't it?)
In addition to the TOS language, there is also an FCC policy statement that has some powerful effect of force. So Comcast has to walk a tight line. (I believe the FCC policy statement has a nullifying effect on the TOS, but I'm also obviously one very biased opinion.)
The question you are answering does seem to be a difficult one to parse, since it is a business use, but it is not a public service or server.
--
Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
Comcast: We never did anything wrong, and we'll never do it again...
| |
| | | | | 
sivran
God Save The Suite
Premium
join:2003-09-15
Arlington, TX
clubs:
·RoadRunner Cable
·Comcast
| Re: Striving To Make Things Better Business users have a different TOS/AUP which depending on the level of service purchased, may or may not allow servers.
As for home users, no servers no matter what tier you buy. Now to us technical people, a server is any app listening for requests and responding to them in some manner, which includes (some*) games and even p2p file sharing.
(*Diablo Classic, for instance, is a peer to peer game and would fall under the no servers clause. Diablo 2 Closed BNet OTOH is all hosted via BNet servers, and even if you created the game you're still just a client.)
--
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon profitable cause... | |
| | | | |
Rob
In Deo speramus
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
·AT&T Southeast
| said by funchords :said by Rob :Comcast's official policy is no servers, at all, allowed on their network. Rob, you're usually not wrong about such things, but I think that you may be wrong about this one. I'm not sure if you work for the company, for a contractor of the company, or if you're just well acquainted with them and not connected at all. If you are connected, please go get the official line from your legal department. The TOS simply does not say, "No servers, at all." (If that were the intent, it would be clearer and simpler if it did say exactly that, wouldn't it?) In addition to the TOS language, there is also an FCC policy statement that has some powerful effect of force. So Comcast has to walk a tight line. (I believe the FCC policy statement has a nullifying effect on the TOS, but I'm also obviously one very biased opinion.) The question you are answering does seem to be a difficult one to parse, since it is a business use, but it is not a public service or server. And you may be right, I was simply paraphrasing from their Acceptable Use Policy:
quote:
use or run dedicated, stand-alone equipment or servers from the Premises that provide network content or any other services to anyone outside of your Premises local area network ("Premises LAN"), also commonly referred to as public services or servers. Examples of prohibited equipment and servers include, but are not limited to, e-mail, Web hosting, file sharing, and proxy services and servers;
| |
| | 
jmn1207
Premium
join:2000-07-19
Reston, VA
edit:
July 23rd, @06:39PM
| said by Dillz85 :Hiring more customer service agents and technicians than we have at any other time in our 45-year history to meet increased demand, driven by our Triple Play of video, high-speed Internet and digital voice services. The problem is that there were never enough resources to begin with, both in personnel and equipment, to adequately meet demand. And despite the recent efforts to douse the flames of irate consumers, it's simply not enough to keep up with growth, and consequently, customer service is lagging further and further behind.
It's similar to an employee's raises that simply do not keep up with economic inflation. | |
| | | | | Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL
| Re: Striving To Make Things Better said by supergirl :Just a thought, but maybe you should have "emergency" tech service to fix full outages. And, don't give me that crap you don't know if they are fully out. If the Power Company can say, "Yes, You're Out...we'll be out to fix it now", you can. The law has alot of say in how the Power Company works more then the cable co. | |
| | | | | | | MrSpock29
join:2008-02-09
Hammonton, NJ
| said by Dillz85 :We’re putting a tremendous amount of effort into improving our customers’ experiences with us, and we know we need to continue to work harder to increase customer satisfaction. Our goal is to answer our customer’s questions and fix their issues the FIRST time they contact us. We use customer feedback to help improve the way we deliver service. For example, we’re: Hiring more customer service agents and technicians than we have at any other time in our 45-year history to meet increased demand, driven by our Triple Play of video, high-speed Internet and digital voice services. Giving our technicians new tools like laptops and handheld devices that help them work more efficiently. Expanding the number of morning and late evening appointments. Increasing the number of technicians working on Saturdays and Sundays (something most satellite contractors don’t offer). Agents now have access to a diagnostic/troubleshooting portal on their desktops allowing them to perform a remote “health check” and fix customers’ Comcast Digital Voice (CDV) and/or Comcast High-speed Internet (CHSI) service issues without ever sending a technician to a customer’s house and provide our customers with a one time resolution to their problems. We have implemented a “Whole Home Check” service to eliminate the need for additional technician visits to the customer’s home. The “Whole Home Check” enables a technician to check, update or fix all Comcast services in the home. The technician will not leave until all of the customer’s products have been given a clean bill of health. Yet, my family who still has phone with their triple play (until Verizon gets FiOS here) has suffered with phone outages averaging over 1 per month this year. Some outages lasting hours. Then you can't get through to customer support.
I left Comcast because of the hidden bandwidth caps that a service issue that was COMCAST'S fault helped create, and I am glad I did. I am sorry I was paying Comcast over $2400 a year. Don't get me started on all the other nightmares Comcast caused myself and also my parents last year alone. | |
| | 
Wills
join:2001-01-03
Port Charlotte, FL
| Sorry Dillz, but you can hire all the people you want and give them all the tools they want. Until they know what they are doing and start listening to the customers and stop telling customers stupid crap and blaming all their problems on them you aren't going to accomplish anything.
I just had a buddy who signed up with Comcast's new burst package (against my warnings), and one of his email accounts stopped working the instant they switched it over. The others worked. For over an hour he listened to a Comcast tech tell him to clear his cache in Internet Explorer (he uses Outlook for email) and blaming it all on his computer.
He had them switch back to the old package and everything worked just fine.
And the sad part is, this is pretty much par for the course with Comcast.
--
I have a shaved head, a goatee, and tatoos. Don't you realize the rules don't apply to me. | |
| jaminus
join:2004-10-14
Arlington, VA
| Comcast's support isn't that bad Am I the only one who thinks Comcast's support--despite having some problematic elements--has improved noticeably over the past couple years, and is considerably better than Verizon's and AT&T's?
Sure, Comcast could do a lot better, but I've called them at least 25 times over the past year and every single time I've spoken with a relatively competent person who spoke English without an accent. The worst hold time was 15 minutes, I think, and that was an aberration. When my service went out due to damage to the local drop, they fixed it within 48 hours.
Try Verizon's support if you want to know what real bad support is like. They're only open like 8 to 5, monday through friday, and it's impossible to get anybody who can actually answer questions. FiOS is the best big residential ISP, but its service is far from optimal. | |
| | 
sousademiami
join:2003-02-04
Miami, FL | Re: Comcast's support isn't that bad I agree. I haven't had Comcast for long, but although the service leaves much to be desired, their technicians and phone support people are pretty helpful, knowledgeable and responsive.
--
OASAASLLS | |
| | 
TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
·Comcast
edit:
July 23rd, @05:31PM
| said by jaminus :Am I the only one who thinks Comcast's support--despite having some problematic elements--has improved noticeably over the past couple years, and is considerably better than Verizon's and AT&T's? Sure, Comcast could do a lot better, but I've called them at least 25 times over the past year and every single time I've spoken with a relatively competent person who spoke English without an accent. The worst hold time was 15 minutes, I think, and that was an aberration. When my service went out due to damage to the local drop, they fixed it within 48 hours. I am happy myself with Comcast support. But I do question support in your area if you had to call them 25 times in 1 yr. I don't think I called them 25 times in the last 6 yrs. Were those all problems? Or were you calling for something else?
And I also have to question the customer in this particular story. He couldn't tell if he had a cable run to his house? He needs to give up membership to being a guy if he is that clueless. But that doesn't let Comcast off the hook. Three visits to the house and they didn't check to see if a line was connected to the system. Those techs need to find a new line of work.
--
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk? | |
| | | myokitis
join:2004-06-19
Alexandria, VA
edit:
July 23rd, @05:42PM
| Not Realizing a Drop Cable Was In Place said by TK Junk Mail :He needs to give up membership to being a guy if he is that clueless. But that doesn't let Comcast off the hook. Did they even send anyone to the house? If they did, that tech needs firing. I agree, it sounds like the techs need some serious retraining (Comcast does train their techs, don't they?  ). But regarding the customer's manhood, it depends . . . if his house is served by buried service it wouldn't necessarily be obvious if a cable was already run to the house or not. I wouldn't expect a customer to go check their network termination box to confirm something like this. New developments are typically served by buried service, and it sounds like he moved into one.
If his home is served by an aerial drop however, then yes, I'd tend to agree w/ you. | |
| | rob316
join:2005-10-17
Carteret, NJ | Verizon tech support is 24/7, billing is only 8-5, get your facts straight. | |
| |
funchords
Robb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Hillsboro, OR
·Verizon Online DSL
·Skype
·Comcast
| said by jaminus :Am I the only one who thinks Comcast's support--despite having some problematic elements--has improved noticeably over the past couple years, and is considerably better than Verizon's and AT&T's? Sure, Comcast could do a lot better, but I've called them at least 25 times over the past year and every single time I've spoken with a relatively competent person who spoke English without an accent. Wow, I'd exchange one person with a difficult accent who fixed my problem the first time for having to call my ISP 25 times a year to keep things running right.
And, you're right, Verizon sucks in this area, too.
--
Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
Comcast: We never did anything wrong, and we'll never do it again...
| |
| | MrSpock29
join:2008-02-09
Hammonton, NJ
| said by jaminus :Am I the only one who thinks Comcast's support--despite having some problematic elements--has improved noticeably over the past couple years, and is considerably better than Verizon's and AT&T's? Sure, Comcast could do a lot better, but I've called them at least 25 times over the past year and every single time I've spoken with a relatively competent person who spoke English without an accent. The worst hold time was 15 minutes, I think, and that was an aberration. When my service went out due to damage to the local drop, they fixed it within 48 hours. Try Verizon's support if you want to know what real bad support is like. They're only open like 8 to 5, monday through friday, and it's impossible to get anybody who can actually answer questions. FiOS is the best big residential ISP, but its service is far from optimal. We had to call Comcast a lot, sometimes the phone just hangs up, like when the RSN had a problem last month. Couldn't get a hold of anyone. The constant phone outages are annoying, and we have to hope we can get through just to hear someone say that they're working on it. After Comcast arbitrarily decided to cancel a 4 PM repair job at my parents due to storm damage (which left them without phone service), they promised credits because the Canadian call center said no one fixed those things after 5 PM. It took 7 months, a lot of arguing, threats of reporting them, and everything else we could do to get what we were promised. Each new supervisor said they wouldn't give us the credit the first supervisor got approved. Great way to run a company. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
Verizon may have billing issues, but the people have been nice to me, and have stuck to their promises. I do wish billing had more hours, they need to correct that. But, what good is having those people there for Comcast if they have no idea what their own policies are, or you can't get through anyway?
Those were just a few of our experiences, YMMV. | |
| BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | well Comcast needs to stop trying to kill it customers. that would be a good start. | |
| | fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| Re: well Comcast needs to said by BF69 :stop trying to kill it customers. that would be a good start. ... very insightful. | |
| | | rob316
join:2005-10-17
Carteret, NJ | Re: A week to get a tech out Typical ComCrap support | |
| 
baineschile
join:2008-05-10
Oak Park, MI
·Comcast
| growth i think the problem is that comcast customer base is so large, that many more problems arise. comcast was really the first one to offer the triple play, tv, net, phone, and there are still growing pains both technically, and billing-wise.
maybe when uverses's and fios's half million subscribers each total the 25 million or so that comcast had, you will see more complaints with them
rob, did comcast fire you? | |
| | rob316
join:2005-10-17
Carteret, NJ
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: growth No they did not fire me, but I was getting tired of all their excuses about why we can't add more programming, I was paying $129.00 a month and that's not including almost 40 dollars for all their shitty moto boxes. What was I paying for shiity over compressed HD channels which by the way my area of Union II NJ has the worst lineup only had 25 HD channels and that's including the locals. Now with DTV my bill is half of what my ComCrap was and I get almost 60 HD channels. | |
| | |
Rob2647
@qwest.net | Re: growth You call them up and they tell you the same line of BS every time. Such as, "we are working on the service in your area." For 2+ years they are? WTF!?! Just one reason why I'm dropping them like a bad habit. | |
| | | | rob316
join:2005-10-17
Carteret, NJ | Re: growth Rob send them a message with your wallet like I did eventually when people wake up and see the crappy service they get with ComCrap they will leave also. | |
| | | | 
lm5449
Premium
join:2001-03-31
Knoxville, TN | Service is great in my area. Have never had any problems with tech support. | |
| | | | | inslyx
Premium
join:2008-02-12
Carrollton, TX | Re: growth Holy smokes, at least he finally cited an official news press - albeit The WP.
Karl: Keeping the cable companies honest; 1 slanted article at a time. | |
|
suggester
@sbcglobal.net | Comcast It seems like Comcast needs a channel outside of the phone lines to follow up with customers better. maybe check out www.suggestionbox.com - don't see a page for them yet, but looks like you can create one. | |
|
KJ2602
@sbcglobal.net
| My Comcrappy experience My experience with comcast had to do with my broadband service. I have DTV for video.
I cancelled my Comcast broadband when ATT came into the neighborhood with a DSL service that was $30.00/month verses $60.00/month for comcast. Granted the speeds are not as fast as Comcast, but mostly I just do some webapp work stuff and read e-mails and news.
The problem came when I cancelled my service. I actually had been ahead in my payments by nearly a month. When I cancelled the rep never informed me that I needed to return my cable router. My bill always said it was "FREE". Quite frankly I had no use for it anyway. It would have been excellent customer service for comcast to drop a return box in the mail (like Dell does for their warranty work) and have me ship it back on their dime.
Instead two months later, I started getting collection notices in the mail. And some really nasty collection calls, that were outside of the collection practice guidelines set by the Feds. I made three trips to the local Comcast office to drop off the cable modem. They were closed the first two times because of "area weather conditions". I finally dropped it off. The clerk did not mention a $16.00 final balance.
Again, I was ahead in my payments and was expecting a rebate back from Comcast. Instead, I am continually getting collection notices for the $16.00. For SIXTEEN BUCKS!!!!
Needless to say....I'm not likely to go back to Comcast even if they offered a 5 Terrabite download speed for $8.00 a month.
And what exactly does "COMCASTIC" mean anyway. My experience with them was/is horrible.
KJ2602 at Yahoo dot com | |
| |
See 12 replies to this post | |
HA HA
@embarqhsd.net | . *insert clowncast music here* How embarrassing! | |
|
Rob
In Deo speramus
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
·AT&T Southeast
| It's not the agents.. Ok, maybe it's the agents. But it's not entirely the agents.
It's the lack of communication from corporate to the agents who are Comcast's first line of defense, and the first employees that customers speak to.
--
CheckSite.us | YourIP.US | |
| hadirtyJlo
join:2004-03-31
Huntsville, AL
| All over the place really... I've found Comcast phone and truck techs to be all over the place in knowledge and customer service. In the Huntsville area, when I was having problems almost every other night, if I called before 11pm, I'd get the local people, who really didn't know too much about the system. If I called after 11pm, I'd get the regional center in Nashville, and with one exception, they were always able to see what the problems were and fix them. The one exception was a woman that wouldn't even listen to what I had to say, and just scheduled a truck roll without even addressing the problem.
The truck techs were about the same. Sometimes I'd get the asshole who assumed I knew nothing and talked down to me, sometimes I'd get the good ole boy who knew a ton, and realized I wasn't a total idiot, and treated me like a person. (got him more than once  ) It's really been up and down, but my service in Huntsville has been pretty good since they fixed the issue with the local box. Yay rust killing upstream connections for an entire node  . | |
| | | | | rob316
join:2005-10-17
Carteret, NJ | Re: All over the place really... Again Typical lazy ass Comcast employee, this is why Comcast is hemorrhaging customers. | |
| | | Phosphorous
Premium
join:2008-07-23
Dallastown, PA | I just had the same exact thing happen to me Monday night. It's been 3 months now with frequent lag spikes while in games and on my Vonage phone. | |
| | | |
COWARDICE
@comcast.net
| Re: All over the place really... I'm sure they're working on the service in your area. 
I haven't really had any downsides with Comcast, and a generous tech even gave me a signal amp for free. I think the problem isn't hiring more support, but actually getting around to completing the support the customers need.
Chicago, IL | |
| 
Chuckles
Premium
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN | Blah! In addition to the large amount of hiring Comcast is doing an equal amount of firing. | |
| | | |
|
|
Comcast Still Struggling With Customer Support
Striving To Make Things Better
