Josh H

I swapped out my digital box for an HD box for my new TV on Tuesday. Just drove over and swapped them and did the install myself so as to not have to deal with missed tech visits etc.

I hooked it up Tuesday evening, and everything was working great, except that the digital basic and plus channels were saying "not authorized."

I tried to call, but kept getting dropped as they were swamped as there was an outage in some parts of the county.

I get through yesterday morning, and explain the situation saying they likely accidentally dropped the digital tiers of my account when they added the HD. The CS rep says ok sends a signal to my box and tells me to unplug it for 10 minutes, and then turn it back on and it should be good to go.

I do this, but no dice, still saying not authorized. I call back and get another rep, and he says there's an outage in my area and that's probably the problem. I ask whether its an outage only affecting the digital tiers and not the basic and HD (which seemed odd to me, especially given that all the channels are digital as of last month). And he said he believed so and that it should be fine in a few hours.

Still no dice this morning, so I call in again and finally get a decent rep. She see's right away that they removed the digital service on the 4th (like I suspected and told the other two) and reactivates it and sends a signal to the box that has the channels up right away (no unplug for 10 minutes bullshit).


What a hassle!

DVD Josh

That's why I like COX now. They don't outsource their CS. Of course, they are only open 8-8, but at least you are getting a knowledgeable person.

Funk

Personally, Comcast has the worst customer service of any major company I've ever dealt with. Their Internet cable is dreadful and their VoIP phone service is even worse. Their tech support is either rude, unhelpful or both.

If Verizon FIOS TV had a family package for those of us that watch very little TV like Comcast does, I'd drop Comcast TV in a heartbeat.

dick_grayson

try the customer retention line (in case you didn't already)

Comcast F 800‑266‑2278 Press * at each prompt, ignoring messages.

Josh H

I'd drop comcast for Fios in a second if it was available in my area.

As is, I have no option. Well, the condo board is considering some kind of community Direct TV plan, but haven't heard on how it got voted on. But I still probably wouldn't switch over as Comcast Internet is too expensive without having Cable TV

DSL isn't an option here as the phone lines in this building are old, and it's a good ways from the C/O. We had it before and could only get the 768kbps plan, and then because of the shit wiring the best speeds we every got were 150-200kbps. Compared to usually getting 4.5 to 5.5 mbs on Comcast.

We don't use their Digital Voice, we use Vonage for that as it's cheaper than Comcast (even with their triple play promotion).

I do have to admit that I"m generally satified with the quality of service. The Cable quality is on par with satellite now that it's all digital, the internet has been fast and generally reliable (had a couple of weeks over the past year and a half where it was slow) and the price is ok as long as you call in and keep getting 12 month promotions extented by threatening to leave for satellite.

It's just the damn CS when you have any type of problem that sucks donkey balls.

ben12

lordzeppelin

Josh, what a weird coincidence...I had damn near the same experience. I've been having issues with the HD/DVR box I had for about a month...it would freeze and I'd have to unplug it. Last Thursday, I started having problems with HD Channels breaking up for no reason, then the box froze 5 times over the weekend, and corrupted all my DVR stuff. So on Monday, I take it up to the comcast office here (I didn't bother calling customer service), Get a new box. Only this time it has an HDMI output instead of DVI, and I failed to realize until I got home. So I go back up...get an HDMI to DVI cable (free. rock!), and come home, plug it in...and the box is simply dead. Won't come on at all. So I drive back up again...get a third. Bring it home, hook it up, wait 10 minutes for everything to boot up...and I'm getting the guide and no video. I called customer service, was talked to like I'm a 10 year old, and eventually told that I had a bad video out board in the box. By this point the office was closed, so I had to wait until Tuesday. I go up first thing in the morning, and I just straight up complain. They can't adjust anything in the office on my bill as far as crediting me goes, so I have to call the retention line and they give me my fourth box in 24 hours...bring it home, and this time I get video, but no damn audio. I check every cable 3 times over along with various types (SPDIF, Optical, L-R), and nothing, then I noticed that the closed captioning on the box is on, and there's nowhere in any of the 'consumer menus' to turn the damn thing off. So I had to call customer service AGAIN, and in order to turn off captioning you have to go into the service menu on the box - by turning it off and then pressing and holding menu for a second until it comes up. Only there can you turn off the captions...I ended up having to reset the box through that menu, and *poof* the audio turned on, which even the comcast rep had no idea about.

I still have to call and bitch to get a credit, and threaten to leave so they'll reduce my bill...should be fun. I've never had any problems with them up until this point, save for the fact that in my area, I have only 6 HD channels available, but if I lived literally 10 minutes down the road, I'd have 11, and I can't get NHL Center Ice in my neighborhood because they're 'out of space on the grid' and need to 'upgrade it' which has supposedly been 'in the works' for 3 years, but has yet to happen...

pepsiguy

I used to work for Comcast, in Customer Service through an outsourced company. Let me just tell you, about 99% of the reps you get lie through their asses about outages and etc. just so they can keep their call handle time down. It was pretty bad, we had many irate customers calling back all the time. I finally quit after 6 months (even though I was one of the good ones ).

I just thought I'd share since i'm bored and all.

devynal

Uh oh. I'm upgrading my Comcast service to HD tomorrow - I hope it's not the same ordeal.

Though I can't complain too much; my internet speed is always faster than what I pay for and the tech that came was on time.

C_Fletch

The very second that a competitor comes to town I'm jumping the Comcast ship ASAP. They have to have the worst customer service I have ever had to experience. They have lied to me so many times that I have returned the favor. I get credits all the time. The last one was for $16.20. I just keep lieing to them that the problem hasn't gone away and they keep giving me credits. God forbid they send a tech out to check on the problem, that's just ridiculous.

I personally would like to NOT recommend them for ANY service.

Listen, if you have a choice for another competitor don't waste you time with comcast.

calhoun07

Like others here, once something else comes to town I am kissing Comcast GOODBYE. I HATE THEM. The only reason I keep them around for now is because AT&T isn't offering cable TV in my area yet, but the governor signed a bill allowing them to offer it in this area (not Dish, but actual cable TV!).

Comcast is the ONLY thing in my area and they treat their customers like crap. I don't know if the bill the governor signed would allow other companies like Cox to also come in and offer cable, but I hope so.

I live in Missouri, by the way.