Comcast: The REST of My Story

Posted by Vulnadia on Oct 29, 2009 at 03:51 PM So there I sat at my fathers, desperately trying to speed check all of my account emails and handle all of my business as best as I could before having to leave for the show Friday night. At this point, I was told by Comcast that they would have someone out Sunday morning between 8 & 11 even though they knew I had to leave by 10:30 to open my show out at the Fair. Well, Sunday rolled around and low & behold this tech actually SHOWED up this time. After all of the speculation as to what exactly could be wrong, and the determination via phonecall that I probably needed a new modem/router, this tech was sadly void of having a working modem/router on his truck for me. Reluctantly, he plugged in a cable modem to see if this truly was a modem/router issue or a wiring issue. Guess what? It was their bad equipment and he came out ill-prepared to deal with this even though my account has been notated time and time again that I needed an equipment replacement (ongoing issue for literally years sadly enough.) So, this tech was wiley and decided to call dispatch and then in turn call every tech supposedly on the job that morning to see if anyone had a replacement. Low and behold of course nobody had one on their truck. Why? It is because the tech's state that these modems simply are bad and do not work well at all. Yet, they still supply these to their customers knowingly and to date have refused to replace mine even though they openly admit that they need to do so. What is wrong with this picture? It was determined that they would have to RESCHEDULE my tech call so that yet another tech could bring me out that piece of equipment needed for my internet to function properly. Normally, and in most cities they service, you could just go in and trade out that modem myself. BUT in Shreveport, they have a nice policy where they REQUIRE a tech to come out & plug this in for you on my behalf. Huh... So this tech rescheduled the appointment for the next day, Monday between 1 & 4 with notations that I would be leaving to pick up my child at 3:30 which he stated wouldn't be an issue due to it was literally a plug & play situation. Monday rolls around, and NOTHING HAPPENS. Nobody shows up, nobody calls, nobody writes, nobody does anything... So there I am, calling in to Comcast yet AGAIN. This time I sat through several supervisors and reps only to be told that because it was raining out, my appointment was cancelled due to a known outtage in the area that MUST be the cause of my week-long problem.... HELLO !!!! Can you say FOUND AND KNOWN EQUIPMENT PROBLEM???? The only record they have of Sunday's tech call is that it was rescheduled and subsequently cancelled...no notes or anything even though I myself HEARD this tech schedule everything through dispatch while sitting in my bedroom. They promised to come back on Tuesday to fix this between 8 & 11 no problem. I spoke with 2 reps over this. Guess what the story is on Tuesday? Just guess! NOTHING! No appointment anywhere. There was a notation concerning yet another phantom appointment, but no actual scheduling of said appointment took place. Why would this happen might we wonder? Guess...Ready for it??? IT'S RAINING OUT and it MUST have been cancelled due to the known outtage AGAIN but no records exist of it. Are they serious?? I am a work at home mom with 2 different online employers to answer to and I cannot work for an entire week because they cannot provide me with a working piece of equipment? Seriously?? Finally, I went through 2 more reps who swore they would credit my account another $20 (we were up to about $50 in phantom credits if my math serves me right...) Then this guy swears he will call me back with a solution because dispatch isn't answering yet again. Well, he did call back. He must have seen that pending survey call attached to my records because he called me back on the WRONG contact # (I hadn't provided my home number only my cell) and get this. While I had this guy on my home phone, the satisfaction survey was ringing in on my cellphone and he refused to let me answer it without hanging up on him. Why had he called me back other than that? To try and bring my modem online in his system because he PERSONALLY hadn't tried even though countless others had recorded that they had been unsuccessful at just that. This was not to mention the fact that the tech came out Sunday and found the equipment faulty and to be the actual problem remedied ONLY by replacing that modem. So I was waiting on them to literally bring me a piece of equipment and they were trying not to do even that. After I picked up Bregon, we headed over to Best Buy and I spent $141 on a modem/wirless router combo. I took it home and 2 hours later, pulling teeth to try and get Comcast to program my storebought therefor lesser and to them inferior of a choice therefor not worth programming, I would almost have internet. As it turns out, the guy who didn't want me taking that satisfaction survey had rescheduled my appointment for Wednesday without letting me know and the system would not allow my new modem to be programmed because of it or so they said. They said anything and EVERYTHING to attempt to get me to wait on their tech to decide to bring me yet another faulty modem/router combo. 2 hours later, the guy finally reluctantly programmed my modem into their system and I had my desktop back up and running. It wouldn't be until about 1:30 in the morning that I was able to reconfigure my network successfully because Comcast had tried to block and remove me from their system. I cannot believe that they actually function like this. I do know that I have filed a formal complaint with the Public Service Commission on the subject and whole experience. Will it do the trick? I seriously doubt it since this behaviour and business practice is about the only consistent thing about Comcast! with at&t ...they have to start checking out at the termination box that is indicative of your street/block which can be in a myriad of places!!! so he may have checked it there, then backtracked before eliminating all the places the problem can be...(can you tell i used to work for the phone company & did repairs a lot???) as for the knocking, i've no idea- but just keep calling them- warning though, the rain & storms will have them backed up seriously badly for a week or so most likely-but do get your name on the list to minimize the long wait i just cannot believe how many different reps i talked to at comcast that didnt do what they should have & just didnt finish logging things into the system...i talked to some several times a day is the saddest part!!!! nobody seemed to be able to commit a note to their system, either which is the saddest part!