7.03.2005

Comcast reeks

The Mrs. and I have moved into our new house. All in all, the move was easy enough; the moving company didn’t break anything, most of the essential equipment has been unpacked, two of the four rooms we plan to paint have been, and I have only spent 6 million dollars at Home Depot.

Oh yeah. I told Comcast to jump into a lake.

Allow me to backtrack a bit. Since I moved to Maryland, where Comcast is the local cable company, I’ve found the customer service of the company to be lousy. Like the time Comcast switched internet service provider companies and I had to go into a local office to find out the cable modem I had wasn’t compatible with the new service after over two weeks of waiting, information their technical support office couldn’t provide me. So I was understandably wary while setting up the service in the new place.

I called June 18th to make an appointment for the service to be turned on. The earliest day they had available was Monday, June 27th; between the hours of 10am and 2pm. No problem, the appointment was made. The fateful day arrives; no Comcast technician. I called back, where Carlene, the “customer service” representative, told me I made the appointment for Wednesday, June 29th. This is impossible as I knew at the time I made the appointment I wouldn’t be in town that day. I then asked when the next available appointment could be made and was told July 18th. No way. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was put on hold. After a few minutes, Carlene informed me the supervisor, Jasmine, was working with another customer and would be a while. I gave Carlene my number and asked for a callback. This was at approximately 2:30pm.

At 4:40pm, I had yet to receive a callback. I called again, this time getting Greg in the technical service department. He attempted to reach Jasmine, only to find she had left for the day. Having enough, I told Greg if a technician couldn’t be sent that day to set up service, I would take my business elsewhere. No one showed up and I quickly called Verizon for DSL service.

When I came home Wednesday the 29th, there were two calls on my answering machine from Comcast technicians, to confirm I’d be home. This is after telling their customer service department I wouldn’t be home that day. I chalked it up to normal Comcast customer service, and erased the messages. Ironically, I also received a bill from Comcast for July internet service. I called to ensure the account was cancelled and destroyed that bill.

Thursday June 30th, sometime in the 6pm hour, a car drives up to our home. A man in a Comcast polo shirt tells me he is there to turn on my internet access. I don’t know if I am more stunned he would show up unannounced, angry that he was there at all, or happy that I would be able to tell him about his company’s woeful customer service. After explaining to him (in front of the house; I wasn’t letting him in) that I cancelled our account with Comcast because of current and past mistakes and signed up for DSL, he asked me to give his company one more chance, that this would be the beginning of a new Comcast.

Right. A new focus on customer service since Monday.

I asked him about the lack of call back from the customer service center. He apologized for that and said it wouldn’t happen again. I told him I didn’t trust his company. I asked what would happen to Jasmine, the supervisor that didn’t return my call. He said this incident would be put in her file. I replied ‘in other words, nothing.’

Finally, I told him the DSL service wasn’t scheduled to begin until Wednesday, July 6th. If somehow, Comcast could impress me that they were truly changing their ways (and some sort of financial remuneration for the annoyance), I’d consider coming back. He said I would be hearing from him the next day.

I didn’t hear from him. I did hear from Verizon, informing me the phone lines were now ready for DSL service. And that is how I am able to post this message.