Awesome phone call with Comcast...

[UteStar]

So, I am a Comcast subscriber. I know many think they are of the devil...but overall, I have had a good experience with them. I have to call in every year and negotiate a service price with them...but I have had almost zero problems with service for the past couple of years.

So, today, I received a bill from them. I have two tivos, so I have some cable cards with them that I am charged a couple of dollars total every month. Fine. But today, the bill had this on it: Outlet Service, Qty 3 @ $8 each for $24. What is that? I do have their little digital box, so I thought maybe it was for that...I called in. The rep explained that those little digital boxes are free. This Outlet Service charge is to "transmit the service to the cable card.' WHAT? I am being charged $8 for an electric transmission of my cable to go to the Cable Card (which already decodes it? She said that is what it is for. I then explained that the service is already transmitted and that it is the cable card that does the work. She told me that is the charge. ARE YOU FRAKKIN' KIDDING ME???? They are charging me $8 to transmit a transmission that is already there feeding my tv and then charging me for the cable card as well?

Yeah, I am now waiting for a phone call from a manager.

[creekster]

Some of us apparently take longer to recognize the devil than others.

[Jeff Lebowski]

This exactly mirrors my experience with Comcast. You may as well hang up. You are wasting your breath.

[old_gregg]

comcast customer service is the worst i have ever dealt with. i am very glad i do not have a contract with them. $15 apiece for "self-install kits" which consisted of a coax splitter and a 20 ft piece of coax??? it was either that or pay $50 for some underpaid sweaty person to come into my house and hook up one cable. that's the kind of s*#(* that works when you're the only option in town, but i'm not going to be at all tolerant of their next screw up.

[Eddie]

Like you, I had comcast for a long time. Every year I would call in and re-negotiate the cost. Sometimes it went up just a little, others it went down just a little, but for several years I was right around the same place.

Then this year I made my annual call when the price went up, and they told me there was nothing they could do for me. Nada. I played the game of telling them I was going to cancel if they didn't - which usually worked like a charm in the past - and they said "OK".

A couple of times in the past they've played strong like that, and I've called their "discontinue service" number - playing dumb - and asking how long it takes to shut things down so that when I get my new service there isn't any lag time without phone/internet/TV in between. Usually that prompts them to ask why I'm discontinuing, I say cost, and then they negotiate a better deal to keep me. This year - nothing.

So I made the switch to Qwest for phone and internet (too many trees to get a dish right now). When I called to cancel service, Comcast asks me why and I tell them cost. Suddenly they want to make a deal this time. I tell them "Sorry, too late. They are already here hooking up the other service. I've enjoyed the service you provide and I never would've switched if you had offered this the first time I called."

I went on to tell them that with the cost of TV, as much as I like their service - as soon as I get a couple of trees cutting down I'll be switching that too. They quickly reduced my TV bill, hoping I'll stick around. But I noticed it was bumped back up again this month.

I need a chainsaw.

By the way - I thought I would miss the comcast phone and internet. My internet is actually faster now. I was prepared to have it slow down, but it is faster. Crazy.

[il Padrino Ute]

I have little sympathy for those who continue to willingly let Comcast screw them. But I will recommend (again) that you tell Comcast to get itself hence and no longer do business with it. You'll feel better.

[RobinFinderson]

Three cheers for the FREE MARKET, where if they can make something up and charge you for it, they will! (especially with the MANY cable choices everyone enjoys, there is no reason to put up with this)

[old_gregg]

I have little sympathy for those who continue to willingly let Comcast screw them. But I will recommend (again) that you tell Comcast to get itself hence and no longer do business with it. You'll feel better.

what do you use? i would have gone with qwest, but i need tv service and don't particularly want to deal with having them mount a dish on a 110 year old house and run wire.

[NorthwestUteFan]

By the way - I thought I would miss the comcast phone and internet. My internet is actually faster now. I was prepared to have it slow down, but it is faster. Crazy.

Wait. WHat? Isn't Qwest DSL only? I switched from Qwest dsl to Comcast/Xfinity cable and went from 1.5-1.7 Mbps to a consistent 18+ Mbps with the first 10MB burst at ~30 Mbps speed. Price is very similar. I can stream Netflix to the Wii, something to the Roku, Hulu to both computers, and watch Youtube videos on both android phones all at the same time and without interruptions. I do have a pretty good wifi router so that helps some.

I then added basic cable for $17.95/mo which comes with a permanent $15/mo discount, so basic cable costs me $2.95/mo.

Unfortunately it is a big step up in service to get ESPN, etc, because they are available only on the expensive packages. Getting that will be on the order of $60/mo, so football season may get expensive. Hopefully I will be able to catch as many games as possible on NBC/CBS/ABC/Fox, and stream others from ESPN3.

[il Padrino Ute]

what do you use? i would have gone with qwest, but i need tv service and don't particularly want to deal with having them mount a dish on a 110 year old house and run wire.

I use Qwest for phone and internet and have for years. I'm with DTV right now but will be switching back to Dish next month when my contract expires.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Three cheers for the FREE MARKET, where if they can make something up and charge you for it, they will! (especially with the MANY cable choices everyone enjoys, there is no reason to put up with this)

FREE MARKET? If I had 3-5 options for cable companies, and they all gouged the customers through collusion, you would have a point.

I can only get Comcast in my area, and the other cable providers really just piggyback on Comcast's lines and are bound by their rates.

[RobinFinderson]

FREE MARKET? If I had 3-5 options for cable companies, and they all gouged the customers through collusion, you would have a point.

I can only get Comcast in my area, and the other cable providers really just piggyback on Comcast's lines and are bound by their rates.

Exactly. I was being sarcastic.

[kccougar]

http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/2007/08/original-recording-of-verizon-customer.html

[YOhio]

So, I am a Comcast subscriber. I know many think they are of the devil...but overall, I have had a good experience with them. I have to call in every year and negotiate a service price with them...but I have had almost zero problems with service for the past couple of years.

So, today, I received a bill from them. I have two tivos, so I have some cable cards with them that I am charged a couple of dollars total every month. Fine. But today, the bill had this on it: Outlet Service, Qty 3 @ $8 each for $24. What is that? I do have their little digital box, so I thought maybe it was for that...I called in. The rep explained that those little digital boxes are free. This Outlet Service charge is to "transmit the service to the cable card.' WHAT? I am being charged $8 for an electric transmission of my cable to go to the Cable Card (which already decodes it? She said that is what it is for. I then explained that the service is already transmitted and that it is the cable card that does the work. She told me that is the charge. ARE YOU FRAKKIN' KIDDING ME???? They are charging me $8 to transmit a transmission that is already there feeding my tv and then charging me for the cable card as well?

Yeah, I am now waiting for a phone call from a manager.

That sounds horrible! Please keep us updated.

[Eddie]

Wait. WHat? Isn't Qwest DSL only? I switched from Qwest dsl to Comcast/Xfinity cable and went from 1.5-1.7 Mbps to a consistent 18+ Mbps with the first 10MB burst at ~30 Mbps speed. Price is very similar. I can stream Netflix to the Wii, something to the Roku, Hulu to both computers, and watch Youtube videos on both android phones all at the same time and without interruptions. I do have a pretty good wifi router so that helps some.

I then added basic cable for $17.95/mo which comes with a permanent $15/mo discount, so basic cable costs me $2.95/mo.

Unfortunately it is a big step up in service to get ESPN, etc, because they are available only on the expensive packages. Getting that will be on the order of $60/mo, so football season may get expensive. Hopefully I will be able to catch as many games as possible on NBC/CBS/ABC/Fox, and stream others from ESPN3.

I'll be honest with you - I have no idea what the numbers were. I just know that everything loads quicker than it did before. And this isn't with Qwest's fastest speed option.