I'm normally not the person that makes a big stink about something. If an issue gets resolved, then I'd rather just move on and not spend time complaining. I realize that having complaints about things like how companies treat you, or bad service is just a fact of life from time to time. I also know that big companies like Comcast only really care that you remain a customer, and not if you enjoy being their customer, regardless of their slogans to the contrary. This all usually adds up to me quietly moving on after resolving most problems. However, this time, with these complaints, I feel differently. I am so frustrated with Comcast that I want to complain about their terrible customer service and my awful experience with moving my internet service to my new address. Unfortunately there is no one at Comcast to complain to that will actually take my experience (and I'm sure countless others' just like mine) and use it to make their service any better. And really, why should they? If I want the highest speed internet in my area, I don't have a choice
other than Comcast. So, as a consumer I feel forced in to using a
company that treats its customers
poorly, and there's nothing I can do about it.
So, I'm writing this in hopes of having as many people read it and share it as possible. I'd also encourage you, that if you have a choice, to please stop choosing Comcast for your internet and television. I assume loosing customers is the only thing that might get them to listen to our complaints.
Here's how my moving experience with Comcast went:
-Tuesday, Jan. 21st (4 days before my move)
I called Comcast to set up the transfer of my service from my old address to my new address. The customer service rep, CSR, told me that my old modem would not work at my new address, but that he would ship me a new modem and that it would be there on Friday, Jan. 24th or Monday, Jan. 27th at the latest. To get the equipment there on time the CSR said that he would ship the equipment priority and there would be no charge. I asked multiple times throughout the conversation about the shipping and fees, and was assured each time that I would receive the equipment on the dates specified and that there would be no extra charge.
-Friday, Jan. 24th
No equipment delivered to new address.
-Saturday, Jan. 25th
Move into new house.
-Monday, Jan. 27th
Still no equipment delivered to new address. I called Comcast to find out why no equipment was delivered. The CSR told me that NO EQUIPMENT was ever shipped to my new address. She then put in an order for new equipment to be shipped priority, at no extra charge, to my new address for Wednesday Jan, 29th.
The CSR also told me that my old modem would actually work at my new address, and that we can get it up and running until my new equipment arrived. She took me through several steps to activate the modem, but we ran into problems at each step and could not get the modem to receive a signal.
The CSR placed a work order for an outside service technician to be sent to the house to check the outside connection, at no charge to me. The service was scheduled to be done anywhere from 8 AM to 8 PM on Tuesday, Jan. 28th. I should also note that the neighborhood I live in has basic Comcast
cable tv as part of the Home Owner's Association. According to what
I was told multiple times by the CSRs, Comcast's policy is to never disconnect an
outside connection at our addresses because the service and payment is
never interrupted.
-Tuesday, Jan. 28th
I call Comcast just after lunch to double check that the equipment was actually shipped, and to check if the outside connection was inspected by the outside service technician. The CSR tells me that the work order has been completed and that the outside connection should be in working order.
The CSR then checks on the equipment shipment, and says that it has shipped but doesn't see priority shipping noted anywhere on the account. She tells me that the equipment will be there in 3 to 5 business days, and not on Wednesday, Jan. 29th like I was promised.
*For full disclosure, I have to say that on the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 28th there was a snow storm that closed most of the roads in and around Atlanta. I expected this to delay the delivery of my equipment.*
-Wednesday, Jan. 29th
No equipment delivered to new address. Again, I understood that the weather had certainly delayed any deliveries. I drove to a Comcast location to pick up equipment, but they were closed due to the road conditions and inclement weather the day before.
-Thursday, Jan. 30th
Again, I drove to a Comcast location to pick up the needed equipment. This time the store was open and I picked up the new equipment. Once back at home I attempted to activate my equipment, but could not get the modem to acquire a signal. I called Comcast and spoke with technical support, and they were not able to get a signal to the modem either. I told technical support that Comcast had already sent an outside service technician to check the outside connection and that the work order had been completed, meaning there should be no reason for the signal not to reach the modem. I had technical support schedule an appointment with an inside service technician for Friday, Jan. 31st between 1 PM and 3 PM.
-Friday, Jan. 31st
The Comcast technician arrived during his scheduled window and began to test the signal in my house. He found there was no signal inside the house. He then checked the outside connection (the one that was supposedly already checked and okayed on Tuesday), and he found that the cable was completely disconnected. In other words, the outside service tech that supposedly came 3 days ago either never came in the first place, or came and then lied about checking the outside connection, or checked the connection and did nothing to fix it. Once the inside service tech connected the outside connection I began to receive signal inside the house. Within 30 minutes, all of my equipment was working fine and I had internet in my new house.
-Tuesday, Feb. 4th
I received an email telling me that Comcast is now shipping my equipment. This is 2 full weeks after my first call to transfer service, 6 days after I had already picked up new equipment from a Comcast store, and 7 days after the third CSR told me the equipment had already shipped. (I was told by multiple CSRs the longest a shipment should take is 3-5 business days.)
It took 10 calendar days (8 business days) from my first call to transfer the service, to the day that I could finally access internet at my new address. In that time I spent multiple hours on the phone and I was either lied to or told wrong information 4 separate times. At first I believed the CSR when they told me something, so I waited, which caused many days of delay. After the first time I was lied to, I realized that Comcast customer service can say whatever they want and never follow through with no consequence. The number of lies I was told may go up when I get my bill depending on what charges were applied, even though I was told repeatedly that none would be added. I can't wait for that "other shoe to drop."
Personal use of the internet wasn't really missed, but doing my work requires internet service at my house. This interruption unnecessarily delayed the completion of much of my work (which delays the payment upon completing that work) and caused extreme disruption in my work schedule. I've only detailed the events that led to this interruption in service, but I haven't bothered to detail all the hassle the interruption has caused. It shouldn't matter WHY I need the service, just that I pay for the service and then receive it. As it stands I've paid for 10 days of service I didn't receive, I'm sure I'll spend even more time fighting bogus charges, and the interruption in service has cost me money from delays with my work.
A very frustrated Comcast customer,
Matthew Wilson
