What's going on, Albuquerque?

Comcast is NOT fantastic

In Jan. 2008, my husband and I signed up for the Digital Preferred with HBO and for $39.99 a month, for 6 months. However, my April bill no longer reflects that cost and is quite more than expected. When I contacted the Comcast office on 4/26, I was told the transcript would be reviewed because the service person who signed us up did so for 3 months not 6 months as we had discussed and is ON THE INTERNET SITE. I didn't hear back from Comcast so I called again on May 2. I was told that the transcript would be reviewed and I would be contacted later that day. No one called. I called Comcast today, 5/5 and was told the transcipt of the conversation was "lost" that the "codes are gone" for that promotion and there is no way to change my bill to reflect the orginal plan that I believed I had signed up for $39.99 a month for 6 months. I am very upset that I am essentially a victim of a bait and switch plan. Sign up for a 6 month promotion, but wait, no it's 3 months and because there's no transcript, well I am left with no defense other than my word and my husband who was there during the conversation as we very carefully asked questions to ensure what we were signing up for in the first place. Because of the LACK of response to this matter~ not correcting our bill, losing the transcript and promotion codes, I am extremely frustrated and feel I have no choice but to pay the bill. Any advice would be most welcome!

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Permalink Reply by Neonnoodle on May 5, 2008 at 4:12pm

They're not "fantastic", they're "comcastic". Two very different things. We're seriously considering dumping them for TV in favor of Direct TV. The signal on the HD channels, and actually anything above the basic stuff, has the tendency to flicker out a lot. I've tried to have this resolved several times through Comcast but it keeps resurfacing. DirectTV seems to have better packages for the $$$ anyway.

I should add however, that I've been pretty happy with their internet service.

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Permalink Reply by lilith penguin on May 5, 2008 at 4:53pm

Neonnoodle-
I dumped comcast many years ago in favor of DirecTV and have not regretted my decision at all. One thing to remember with any cable or satellite service is that the quality of cable used to get the signal to your TV makes a world of difference. I've seen a number of problems solved by simply upgrading the quality of the cable used.

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Permalink Reply by Neonnoodle on May 5, 2008 at 6:33pm

Funny you mention it, the technician who came by to check on my signal problem mentioned the same thing. He switched out the cable line I had been using (a generic comp USA brand) for their standard cable. He mentioned that the cable I had installed lacked the shielding of their lines and that can lead to signal interference. It was great for about a week, and then it started happening again :(

...anyway, I think Direct TV gives you more bang for the buck.

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Permalink Reply by Brendan on May 5, 2008 at 7:07pm

I once had a problem like that- it started after my old cable modem died and a new one replaced it. Intermittent service- it turned out the splitter on my roof didn't have the correct impedance threshold, so the modem was just barely connecting- any slight fluctuation would cause the connection to drop. The older modem had higher tolerances than the replacement. A new $5 splitter solved all. If you have high quality shielded cable (RG-6 or RG-9, IIRC), that's another place to look.

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Permalink Reply by magoo on October 20, 2008 at 3:24am

RG-9?? I think maybe you meant RG-59, which is NOT a good cable. RG-6 quad shield is the only cable to use for Comcast feeds

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Permalink Reply by Brendan on October 20, 2008 at 8:47am

I think I meant RG-9, but it was 6 months ago so who knows? There is such a thing, but perhaps its lower impedance makes it inappropriate.

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Permalink Reply by hettie on May 5, 2008 at 4:26pm

you should check out the consumerist and maybe consider posting the above there. they're kind of a clearing house for people who're being screwed by giant faceless corporations with no accountability to customers. people seem to get some results, too. here's a good place to start. good luck!

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Permalink Reply by once banned twice shy on May 5, 2008 at 4:26pm

I would suggest lodging a complaint with the NM AG's consumer complaint division. You can find the NMAG's phone number in the blue pages and then can get directed to the consumer complaint division. Also, complaint to the BBB. Be sure and let Comcast know you are doing those things, too. They probably don't care about the BBB, but complaints to the NM AG's office can get them into trouble...

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Permalink Reply by Lou on May 5, 2008 at 10:37pm

use the off button more frequently. you'll get used to it, most programs are total junk, except PBS.

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Permalink Reply by Albuquerque Gal on May 6, 2008 at 9:18am

Here's the update fellow Duke City Fix fans. I contacted Scott Westerman at scott.westerman@comcast.net late yesterday afternoon and received a call from Comcast last night and low and behold! My bill is changed to reflect the 6 month deal AND (because they couldn't figure out how to return me to the original 6 month deal) I have a NEW 6 month deal that is the same that I signed up for in the beginning. That's really all I wanted was to have the deal I signed up for in the first place. So, the barriers that made that "impossible" for the personel at Comcast were not the whole story. Sadly, I had to make a rukus to get some help. It's not in my nature to do that and I didn't like this whole situation. I paid my bill and I hope it's done.

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Permalink Reply by EJW on May 17, 2008 at 12:32pm

Oh my, that sounds almost exactly like the problem I had. Luckily, every time I complained they were willing to give me the discount (that I was supposed to get in the first place, but they seemed to think they were giving me a deal over and above). But, since every bill I got was wrong and I had to call again every single billing cycle and they never really apologized or offered anything for my troubles, I gave up after five months.

I cancelled my service, switched to Qwest for internet access, and couldn't be happier. TV was such a time waster for me anyway; now I just watch the shows I want to see online and don't have any cable.

Do yourself a favor and cancel before you give any more money to such an inconsiderate, lying, cheating company! And if you need cable, qwest has a partnership with directv and they actually honor their deals.

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Permalink Reply by Kyle Redford on October 19, 2008 at 7:04pm

I am soooo upset with Comcast I could scream!!!! It all started when I got home phone service, I never had a single problem with my service until then. Since I got home phone service I have been without phone service and/or without internet service so many times I don’t even remember. Whenever you call customer service they always, always, always tell me that there is a problem with my modem and a technician will have to come out and replace the modem. Of course when the technician does come out there is nothing wrong with the modem. If you tell the CSR on the phone that you would like to talk to a supervisor you get mysteriously disconnected. This has happened to me three times. I even filed a complaint about being disconnect and was promised I would get a call back to discuss the problem but I never did. COMCAST HAS THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH!!!!!! Today I had an appointment for a technician to look at my phone service AGAIN and he was supposed to call on my cell phone when he was on his way but he called on the home phone (the one he was coming to fix) did he really think I was going to answer a broken phone. Now they can’t come back for two more days. Tomorrow I am going to begin the search for a new TV-Phone-Internet company.