Xfinity Cable TV Reviews

I called Comcast yesterday and was told they are scheduled to come tomorrow, Aug. 26 and there is nothing they can do about it to expedite an unsafe situation. I asked to speak to a supervisor and when connected to another person, it was to no avail. Today I called again, and was redirected to an office in Canada where two youngish sounding women, kept telling me they were sorry, but nothing could be done. I was never notified previously by Comcast when any work would be done, and what work was being done. Consequences: An unsafe, hazardous situation for children and adults. Spending useless time on the telephone causing me to use up my valuable work time.

The customer agent I spoke just said, "Sorry, there is nothing we can do." But then the next day when I called in, the agent said, "Yes, there was maintenance and you were supposed to be notified. Sorry if you didn't know." I asked to talk to the supervisor; the supervisor basically said the same story and offered me a credit for $2.99. I lost my work and someone in the house who was doing online exam end up failing because of Comcast's mess. Bottom line, Comcast, they don't care or value their customers. What they care is the money they collect. I decided to cancel my services and I advice anyone looking for these kinds of services to stay away from Comcast. They don't deserve to be awarded with free money!

On Wednesday, August 12, 2009 (1st day off work), Comcast has an appointment between the hours of 11:00-2:00. Comcast called my home at 10:15 to tell me the install tech would arrive between 12:00-1:00 (I thought great, I can get a few more things done.) The tech arrived at 11:00. He assessed the situation and said he would have to call a supervisor out because of 250 feet of cabling that would have to be done and would inform me of the supervisor's decision. I don't know if the supervisor ever came out, but by 12:30, the tech was gone and never informed me of what was going on.

So, I assumed maybe he went for lunch and would return. He never returned, so I started calling Comcast. The first customer service rep told me to be patient and someone would contact me shortly. It didn't happen. I called 4 more times to Comcast. I was told that they were sorry and they would have a supervisor call me back in 30 minutes - same story by all of them. I was at the house waiting on a call till 8:30.

Now, I'm very angry. It's a wasted day of vacation. Now, I have no internet service and no TV, and I'm left out in the cold with Comcast. I called my boss to ask for another day off work, so I can get my service with Comcast because certainly they would take care of it. (It's the 2nd day off work.) I started calling Comcast, and I'm passed around to 3 different people and repeated my story over and over again. I'm finally told I would have to wait for a callback with an appointment time. But I'm reassured that something would be done today. I received a call from Comcast letting me know I have an appointment set up for Friday, the 14th.

On August 14 (It's the 3rd day off work, but an exciting day because we were going to really get hooked up with service this day. I live in a house with 2 guys and no TV.), the tech arrived around 10:30 and also a cable crew. They both agreed that the cable they were about to lay would not give me a signal at my house but they have to do it anyway and try it. The cable crew completed their work and left the cable on the ground, because they felt they were going to have to upgrade the cable later in the day.

The tech was here until 4:00. He was able to get my internet hooked up as well as the phone service, but there's no signal for the cable TV and no DVR boxes. I also told him I didn't want the voice mail. He said he would disconnect it at the box. (He didn't do this.) He said he would call it in and a crew should be back this day to replace the cable and bring boxes. So, I waited till 6:00 and called. I was told I have to request an order with Comcast, so I called Comcast They told me that this would be an additional charge of $60; I was quoted a original price of $140.

Once again, I was passed around to 3 people and repeated my frustrating story over and over again. The last person I spoke with said that for 3 DVR boxes, my bill would be about $140. I told them to bring them (2 DVRs and 1 HD DVR). I was told to call back to the dispatch center for an approximate time of the new cabling. They said they would send a supervisor out Saturday.

On August 15 (It's the 4th appointment for Comcast, and I had no time off work.), the supervisor arrived around 1:00, listened to my frustrations, installed an amplifier, and informed me I would be charged for this. He came inside and checked the signal strength. There's not enough strength for cable. He agreed that the cabling inside and outside all needed redone and that he himself along with a crew would come on Monday, the 17th to do this. (It's my 4th day off work.)

No one ever came on Monday, so I called dispatch. They have no order in their system. I would have to call Comcast. Now, I'm very pissed. Comcast customer service what a treat; once again. I was passed around. They told me someone would call with an appointment time. It looked like it would be Friday. I got a call on Thursday with an 11:00-2:00 time. Ok for me.

On August 21 (It's the 5th day off work.), I got up and went to use my phone and I had no service. I tried my internet, and there's no service. So, I decided not to make another aggravating call to Comcast and just waited for the tech to show up and he could address it. I went out on my deck to water my plants, and my garden hose was missing. I thought how strange someone would steal my hose. An hour later, I saw a man on my deck returning the hose. I was frightened and run in the house to call the police. As I was phoning, I was looking out the front window and realized it's the cable crew leaving my house. (Thanks, guys, for showing up, but you should have informed me that you were here and I would have no phone service for a while.)

The tech showed up at my house at 1:30 to install an amplifier. I informed him that an amplifier has already been installed over a week ago and I thought he was here to bring me my DVR boxes and replace the inside cabling. He said he could not do anything, except what was on his order and that his order showed the equipment that I had in my house and I already had DVRs. It's not true.

I asked him if he could at least come in and check the signal strength since the ground cable was just replaced. He came in, checked it, and told me no and that the whole house would have to redone and the original installation was done wrong. Something outed the splitters. He said I would have nothing but problems. He said before he left my house that he would be calling in with his recommendations and also let them know I have no DVR boxes.

I called dispatch about 30 minutes after he left to see what was next. I was told once again to call Comcast. They have nothing in the system. I called Comcast and explained. She told me she wanted to read the notes on file and would call me back. She called back and transferred me to the technical department. This gentleman I talked to said he would get someone out tonight with the DVR boxes and set an appointment up for the re-cabling on Saturday, the 22nd, so that I didn't have to take another day off work. Well, guess what? No one showed up Friday evening, and no one called for an appointment for Saturday. What I did get from Comcast on Saturday was a bill.

I feel I should only be charged for internet service and phone service. I should not be charged for rental of the boxes that are not working and are not the right ones anyway. I should not be charged for digital voice that I didn't want, and the tech was to disable it anyway. I should not be charged activation charges or other fees due to my time off work and aggravation. And still, there's no cable TV service. I was still waiting on my boxes and cable TV to be re-wired on Monday, August 24.

I called dispatch, and I was told they have no order in the system and couldn't do anything till Comcast send a work order. I talked to Heavier, the supervisor, who made a promise to me and didn't fulfill it. He gave me a line of ** that I didn't appreciate. I want someone to follow through with this and be accountable. I next called Comcast to talk to a supervisor. I was told she would have to call me back. I told them I would hold till she was available. Tandra, a Comcast supervisor, told me she was going to do an investigation and get back with me in a couple of hours. She also gave me a customer satisfaction department phone number. I will be calling now. (I'm angry, frustrated, and out of vacation days.)

After receiving the box, they had constant problems with it. The cable company was saying it wasn't their equipment but it was my parent's TV. Finally, they sent someone out after they weren't sure what to do. The technician discovered it was the cable box and left a new one. A few days later, they again had the box fail and just said enough and they decided to drop the box off when they were near the cable company at their next doctor appointment. (It was more trouble than it was worth.)

I received the bill twice now and was shocked to see all the charges. They were in fact charged for Broadcast HD from having the box that we were told was free and also were charged service charges of $36.99 each time they came out that we were never told would be a charge to send a technician for their faulty equipment. I have called and left a message with a manager since the lady on the phone refused to resolve this issue and also asked to speak with the original person that set up these appointments and told me the box was free. I haven't heard anything back and would like any information on how to resolve this issue. I am upset that they can do this to people and they surely get by with it because some people won't fight these issues.

The wires had been spliced and were spliced again, making the signal barely usable for internet and DVR box. These latter men actually laughed at the installation and commented that it was one of the worst installations they had ever seen. We called to have someone come out and do something about the wiring, but they told us there was nothing to be done. Eight wires, six new ones and two old ones wrap around the front of our house, go up the side of the house and look horrible. No one at Comcast cares. Since they have a monopoly on cable TV, they believe that they don't have to satisfy a customer. Please bring on some competition, Comcast needs it to be honest.

Later they, pulled the bait and switch on me twice. I was coaxed into signing up for television service with a 6-month promotional rate. After 4 months, the promotional rate ended without explanation. I was able to get a similar promotional rate for another 6 months, but not long into that, my internet connection stopped working. After several frustrated phone calls, I finally reached a competent young lady who discovered the rate code I was using was no longer valid. Why are they canceling promotional rate codes that are actively being used? Eventually, she was able to find a valid rate code and the service was resumed.

Finally, I decided to cancel my television service, mostly because I just didn't have the time for it. I called Comcast and they canceled my TV service. The next month, I had new charges for a different channel lineup. This was the last straw. I called to cancel my service entirely, they reversed the incorrect charges for the new service I had not ordered and informed me my service would be canceled on or about the 20th of April. Fine. The following month, instead of a final bill with a few dollars due, I have new charges for the previous month of service! Comcast recognizes the order to cancel on 4/20 and once again, assured me everything will be taken care of. The new charges are reversed. Next month, more new charges for television service! They did manage to cancel my internet though. Of course, another frustrated phone call and assurances that the problem would be corrected followed.

Now in August, I'm fighting off the collection agency for services billed after I canceled. These goons hired by Comcast are even less understanding than Comcast. They demand payment, period. They accept no explanation, there is no appeals process and they won't even bother to check with Comcast to verify any of the information I'm giving them. Only Comcast can reverse the collection attempts, but I can't even get through to them anymore - "The phone number you entered does not appear in our records." So 4 months after attempting to cancel my service, they've completely removed me from their system, yet somehow I still owe them money? Great. I was somehow able to find a hole in their automated menu and got through to a real person. Now the middle of August, I have once again been assured by Comcast that everything will be taken care of. I called back several days later to verify and they've confirmed that my account now shows $0 due. I guess we'll see.

Nothing in the DOCSIS specification forces end users onto a particular operating system, nor should it. Within the first 72 hours of activating service, I was losing connectivity to the Comcast network, but not in the sense of the modem or the router losing connectivity. Instead, the Comcast network kept trying to force me through their self-installation mechanisms as though their network forgot my modem's DOCSIS mac address.

For the next three months, I would lose connectivity, but not by the loss of communication with the modem. Instead, the Comcast CMTS would refuse to communicate with my router (or PC, when connected directly) regardless of the lease time remaining on the DHCP assignment from Comcast's CMTS. Starting in March, the only change was the duration before I would have to reset my equipment to maintain connectivity. That time frame went from losing connectivity every seven days to every four days.

This all changed from being an annoyance to a borderline complete service interruption on August 16, 2009 at 7:30 pm EDT. At this time, I lost connectivity and had to restart my router before the CMTS would give a new address. Following this reboot, I am now losing connectivity every 1 hour and 45 minutes, give or take two minutes (though this two-minute window may have to do with the time it takes to reboot my equipment and obtain a new lease).

Currently, the 1 hour and 45 minute window means that to maximize my network connectivity, I would have to reboot my network on average 13 times a day, which by any reasonable person's standards would be considered completely unacceptable. Additionally, this reboot must be done manually as the Comcast CMTS is not permitting a DHCP release and renew, which means that any equipment that follows the RFCs related to DHCP (or it's predecessor BOOTP) must either get a successful release or wait for the lease timeout before the new lease (in this case 30 days). Under these circumstances, without manual intervention on my part, I would have Internet access for 1 hour and 45 minutes out of every 30 days.

I contacted Comcast about the connectivity issues and was told that an appointment could be set up for Tuesday of next week at the earliest, even though they do see that I am receiving a poor signal from their network. This precise change from exactly four days between reboots to precisely 1 hour 45 minutes is just too exact to be related to a physical network problem - and instead screams of a configuration issue on Comcast's network. This is especially evident considering there were no changes on my network to coincide with this severe reduction in an already poor quality and overpriced service.

Now, for some background on my networking history:

I have worked in telecommunications as a technician for the last decade (full 10 years) and am Cisco-certified. Additionally, I work for an ISP and perform both installs and re-grooms on ATM, Frame Relay, VPN, and MPLS private networks, in addition to Internet connections with or without BGP for customers with circuit sizes ranging from 56k up to bonded 10GigE and everything in-between.

I have also had cable Internet service with the following previous providers (based upon my residence at the time): Cable One, Charter, Time Warner, and now, Comcast. Over that history of Internet access, I have tried various routers from several different vendors and the current router and modem have operated successfully for months on end (longer than the DHCP lease time for each of those networks) without the necessity to reboot my equipment (modem or router) at any time besides those of my own choosing while operating on All of those cable providers listed previously except for Comcast. It has only been since operating on Comcast's network that it has been necessary to constantly reboot.

I am convinced they do not keep a case file when you call. They send out technicians who do not know what they are doing and you spend hours waiting for these technicians to come out and do nothing. They then send maintenance crews out who report back to Comcast that the problem is resolved when it has not been resolved at all. This requires me to spend several hours on the phone again, calling Comcast to start all over again.

One CSR, after spending 2 hours on the phone with her, told me it was my modem. I went out and purchased a modem and returned that evening to have Comcast tell me it was not my modem. I have no access to my landline, internet, email or TV channels that I wish to watch. My bill for this month is $250. After spending 10 hours on the phone being transferred from department to department, I finally got a customer service rep who agreed after 40 days of no service to refund my monthly bill. But this problem has gone over a month's bill. I asked him not to send a tech out my house who couldn't do anything and he sent one anyway.

I unknowingly signed their yellow sheet which has on it that I am responsible for the bill and that I am not requesting further services at this time. In addition, the tech said he was putting his phone number on the service paper and that I could call him anytime tomorrow if the maintenance guy did not fix the problem. When I looked at the service paper today (problem still not fixed), I realized that he deliberately did not press hard enough on the original for his phone number to come through to the copy.

Comcast systemically lies to its customer. It is institutionally deep and part of Comcast's underhanded training policy. I am still waiting for internet, phone and TV services after 40 days of interrupted service. Comcast denies this service interruption is a result of adding in a landline, but I believe it is and they are not willing to admit they cannot provide those services to this area. However, they are willing to take my money for services they cannot deliver.

I don't know about you but I have a whole lot more than three TV's (Comcast is offering a total of 1 digital box, and 2 DTAs), so that means if I want to keep my same level of service on all my TV's, I need to spend more per month. This means more electrical equipment plugged into outlets in my house, costing me more per year to run (admittedly, not that much). It also means having to hide stupid little boxes on all my TV's (try hiding these things around small flat screens), as well as having to deal with yet another remote for every TV. But the best part is that once you install these little suckers, you can kiss your ability to use VCR's and DVR's good-bye. Why? Well, think about it, these recorders need to be hooked directly to all cable channels so they can tune the selected ones in at the selected times for your recordings. The problem is the boxes only output one channel at a time. So unless you only record on one channel, you're screwed. But, that's okay, Comcast is more than happy to sell you a DVR subscription.

Personally, I feel Comcast is guilty of pulling a bait and switch on their newer customers, and just plain screwing the rest. I mean, didn't I see ads from Comcast touting how their customers had nothing to fear from the digital conversion? Don't you think they got a whole lot of new customers from the fear-mongering ads? Do you think that any of those new customers were told that virtually within weeks or months of their signing on-board with Comcast, that they would be facing an internal digital conversion that would force them to take on more equipment and/or pay higher monthly charges? I doubt it. I'm sick and tired of being pushed into an ever smaller corner with respect to my television entertainment options, and feel it's time for us all to push back. Write anyone you can think of about this. Don't stand for it.

I called and was told, "Too bad. That's for rental of the modem." Rental of the modem? I demanded it be taken off of my bill. I was also told, "Too bad. Everyone pays that." I asked for a supervisor. Same crap. I did a live chat with the company. I was told the same crap! Is that not the old bait and switch routine that is illegal? Yes, it is, but Comcast doesn't care. Now today, another issue I discussed with Joe, ESPN classic was removed from my line up and I will have to pay and extra $7.95 a month to get it back. Shame on you, Comcast. You are still the dirty birds I remember from the last time I hooked up with you. Now, I am stuck for two years. I have a feeling they won't come through on the rebate I was promised either.

Customers must now add (Comcast) equipment and now pay a monthly charge of $55.75. After the digital transition, everything was fine (in my home anyway). Now, overnight that has changed. They have screwed their customers and once again gotten away with it. This is a crime. In this economy? Regulators have obviously allowed this to happen and people need to complain to the FCC and their local county Cable TV Franchise regulators.

Comcast said they notified customers. I never received that notification however.

I made another appointment since Comcast has a monopoly on internet here and they finally came about 2 weeks later. Three weeks for the first appointment date I got internet. Then, I got my bill and it showed that my request for cable cancellation had not been received and they decided to start charging me for renting their modem, which I never did. I called 1-800-Comcast and they said it was the wrong department and transferred me to Maryland. Maryland said since I lived in DC I would need a different number, and for some reason I got transferred to NY! They said sorry and transferred me back to 1-800-Comcast who finally got me to the cancellations department - after 4 hours of holding and transferring!

The cancellations department said everything was fixed. Then I got another bill - no changes. I went for the live chat and after doing that for an hour she said, “It's all fixed. Ha-ha-ha.” I just got my bill: $236.10. Nothing has been fixed. The modem’s still on there. There are no payment credits, no missed service credit, the cable still being charged, and the internet is not prorated for June. And there are some late fees! I just contacted live support again. They said there is nothing they can do, but a supervisor will be contacting me soon. Yeah, right, I'm not holding my breath.

Services were disconnected before the date on my due notice. The home phone number was given to someone else (I must change numbers). The package I had has now gone up over $10.00 a month in price from the one I was guaranteed for a year. They are charging me installation fees when no new installation should even be required. I currently have been charged for services and yet have none. This is just as if they stole the money out of my account. They have taken my money and provided nothing that they were supposed to. This is completely unfair and they only get away with it because they are practically a monopoly here and they know that there is just absolutely no accountability for the way they treat their customers.

After the 9th tech visit, I got a supervisor involved because the tech replaced the DVR box I had with a non-DVR box. Stupid. So the supervisor scheduled an appointment for today versus an appointment on Saturday without me knowing, and I got a recorded call that it has been cancelled since I didn't confirm it. I didn't know about it. I gave Comcast 10 tries to fix my issue, and these were the chances I got for a confirmation. This supervisor George should have tried a little harder.

Now I have no appointment, because today's appointment wiped out this Saturday's appointment, and the next available is Tuesday. I am through. You bought Patriot Media, and it seems like you cannot handle your new customers or don't care to. So, you have forced me to go to Verizon, which I don't want to do; but I have no choice. I just wanted someone to know what I went through. I needed cable more now, since I am bedridden since June and will be till November. I need all cable has to offer to keep me occupied. I am not paying my last bill. I feel for all the time I sat here waiting for a tech to come and all the hours on the phone that I deserve a free month!

On my July 2009 bill, I noticed that I had over $50 of additional charges for HBO, SHO, and STARZ. I filled out a complaint with the BBB, and I called Comcast because the cycle of billing and service issues was occurring again. Mr. Micheal contacted me, stating that if I wanted the charges removed, he would also have to remove the channels. I told him that at no time was I told by Comcast that those channels were only for a 5- or 6-month period and that evidently, Comcast just thought that they could shut me up from complaining by adding the channels for a limited time.

Well, against my request, Mr. Micheal removed the channels. For the new bill for August, I am back at square one; the bill states that I should have SHO, STARZ, and HBO included with my bundle package. However, I don't have the channels. I left Mr. Micheal a message on July 27 that he never returned. I called on August 5 to speak to a manager, and they again transferred me to Mr. Micheal, who blatantly stated that he was not going to correct the problem and he stands by his decision to not allow me to have the channels, though it says I should have them on my bill.

When I received our bill, I noticed that we were charged for 2 service charges. When I called in to question them, I was told that when they have to send out a technician, there is a service charge. I replied that I had never been told about a service charge and, furthermore, if I had called a utility company about my service not working and that company came out and discovered the problem was with their equipment, they would not send me a bill for a service call. I was then told that if I purchased the $.99 monthly wiring insurance, then I would have insurance to cover my wires. I informed them that their "insurance" would not have covered our problems and they agreed. After being on the telephone for over 45 minutes and being on hold waiting for a supervisor, Alleen, the customer service rep, waived my service fees. I don't know what else will happen on my next bill as we have had several service calls since then and our problem is not resolved.

Also, since being put on the double play option, the internet has gone down almost every night - sometimes two or three times in the same night. The outages last from 15 minutes to several hours. I have called and set up technician appointments. Unfortunately, the problem does not seem to occur during the daytime hours that they can come out. The phone customer service people always verify that there is something wrong when I call and always want to send out a technician to check it out. But they can't or won't come out at night when the problems occur.

The past week I have had two different technicians come to my home. One swapped out my modem because it was hot, but found no issues with the signal. It went out again that night, so I called again and they said it was a repeat so they would send out a more experienced technician. He came out and said my upstream power was fluctuating and he would get a line technician out probably late at night when the problem was occurring. Later that same afternoon, not at night, a line tech came out and did some work on the lines. He stopped by and said that he fixed something and to call them again if I still had problems. The next day, yesterday, the TV with the digital box hooked up to it went in and out all day on every channel and once again the internet went out at 11:30 p.m.

I called the 800 number to tell them it went out again and the representative verified that the signal was not good. He wanted to set up another technician appointment. I told him that unless he could get someone here at night when the problem happens, it would not do any good. I know this from the past 4 or 5 years of experience with Comcast. They must be doing something at night that causes this problem and then switching it back during the day hours. Because at least 20 times technicians during the day come out and find no problems, yet the internet will still go down again that night or within a couple of nights. I usually don't have problems with the internet customer service phone people or the technicians that come to my house. Generally, they are pleasant and somewhat knowledgeable about what they can try to do to fix the problem - well, except when I have called the television service people who seem rather stupid.

The problem I have is with their system or ability to provide the service that they sell. Because of that, I really wish that there were other options for the service in this area. Comcast would lose this customer. The politicians that allowed them to have a monopoly without ensuring proper regulatory policies were in place need to be out on their rear ends. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Since I have had the double play, if I run a trace route (tracert), now the first hop always comes back with 3 time outs. The second hop comes back with times almost twice as long as it was before I got the double play. The double play says 2 Mbps upload speed in their services available guide, not the 1.5 that I get.

Separate note: why do they not inform people that there is going to be scheduled maintenance in the area that night? At least then their customers could be prepared for the outage. Instead, the service just goes off and when you call you get a recording saying that it was planned. Apologies if this came through last night, but my internet went out again at about 1:00 a.m. and it didn't come back up until 10 minutes before the Comcast technician arrived this morning at 8:30 a.m.

About two weeks ago, with football season approaching, I decided to revisit the DVR situation. I was surprised that it was identical to last year. Comcast has disabled or blocked every possible way to get more recording space. My DVR can record only 20 hours of HD. One HD football game lasts for 4 hours. I could almost fill this DVR up in one weekend of football. This was when a coworker mentioned I should get TiVo. The more research I did, the more I found the answers where yes, yes, yes.

The TiVo was highly upgradeable in every way. There was one problem. There is a multitude of horror stories on websites such as comcastmustdie.com and others of Comcast customers who have attempted and failed to get Comcast to do one simple thing (install Comcast cable card in the TiVo box). After researching the situation and considering that I hold a Masters Degree in Information Systems from Kennesaw State University, I figured I could walk a Comcast CSR through the process.

I knew from my research that I would be better off to go to Comcast and get the m-card because every part of this process could be done over the phone. It's a simple matter of typing some numbers in a computer (m-card pairing) and sending an initialization hit from the Vinings head end. I also knew that many of the service reps sent out have no idea what they are doing. I won't even go into the trouble I went through to actually get the m-card from Comcast.

When my TiVo arrived, I followed the instructions and made sure that the latest software was installed. On Monday night, July 27th, I was ready to make my first of about ten calls to Comcast customer service. The CSR was named Pat. I knew from the online forums what numbers she needed such as host ID and data ID. She said she didn't need all those numbers - that everything would start working in about 45 minutes. Nothing happened so I went to bed and started the next morning.

I didn't get the names of every CSR I talked to but I know it was at least 8, and maybe 10. The fact that the first one I talked to didn't set up a case file proves that their entire existence is a joke to Comcast. With a case file, the eighth CSR I talk to will know this. Asking them a question is equal to asking the guy that bags my groceries what to do about my cable TV. Sometime on Tuesday afternoon, one of the CSRs mentioned that she could schedule a field rep to install my cable card the next day. I was exhausted so I reluctantly agreed knowing I may be paying $17 for more misery.

Lamont arrived at 12 noon today in a Comcast truck. I started bombarding him with technical information about Val:V missing and the Auth:MP problem. He didn't know what I was talking about but he assured me he would get my cable card working. I took some notes. He called someone at ** using my phone because his was malfunctioning. He told them he was getting an illogical equipment message from the first person (the dispatcher) he called that could not help him. He said it was job number **. He switched the m-card I had received from Comcast with another one. He also solved one mystery.

From the second I received the m-card, I was billed for digital service a/o. He said the Comcast rep had charged me for an additional stb instead. These charges were on the bill that I received on Tuesday. I was able to check the conditional access screen (which he knew nothing about) and see that the Val:? had changed to Val:V but Auth:MP still displayed which needs to be Auth:S. He said I was 36th in line to receive an init hit from the Vinings head end. He said I should have all my channels within an hour and he would call back to verify.

He assured me that if the init hit failed, he would return to fix it. Indeed, some unencrypted HD channels displayed as he was leaving. I commended him and told him I would keep checking channels until he called. He gave me a receipt and took my Comcast DVR and the original m-card I had received from Comcast. That was about 5 hours ago and no call. Below, I have provided every piece of information Comcast may need to correct these problems. I believe it would take a person with basic knowledge of how to use a computer and telephone about 5 to 10 minutes to fix this problem.

The grief this has caused me has made a permanent negative impression on me concerning Comcast. What is the price to pay for that? Right now, my options are limited. I have invested in a TiVo DVR, a year of TiVo service, and football season is coming up. My personal knowledge of technology ensures me that a time will come in the near future that I can rid myself of this Comcast. Consider this: I intended to eventually have Comcast cable, Comcast Internet service and Comcast phone service. Now, I intend to eventually rid my house of all traces of Comcast.

In the meantime, this is what must happen in the next 24 hours. I want every single channel that I am paying for restored and an email or phone call from Comcast assuring me that I have been refunded for the erroneous charges and that I am not charged one single minute for the DVR and m-card Lamont took with him. I also will not be charged for Lamont accomplishing nothing. Make sure the $17 is removed. Considering what I have been through, I should receive a month's credit but I can assure you at this point with the time and money this has cost me that would be an insult. You will however give me what's mine. I will not waste my time on the phone with another Comcast CSR and I would prefer that no one else from Comcast be sent to my house.

In the event that all of this does not take place at 5:00 pm eastern on Thursday, July 30th, 2009, I will draft a cover letter and place that and this entire email in letters to the president and CEO of Comcast and every member of the board of directors of Comcast, the FCC, the governor's office of Consumer Affairs and the BBB. I also intend to post this email on comcastmustdie.com and any other websites or forum that will allow me. Next week, I plan to start requesting meetings with the President, CEO and members of Comcast board of directors. These people need to hear in person what Comcast is doing to its customers.

I called Comcast at 6 p.m. to confirm that the technician was coming. I was told that Comcast had tried to call me, but got no answer. I thought that was weird considering that I had my phone right beside me all day. I asked what number they called. The representative told me the number from my previous apartment. I told her that they had the wrong number. She corrected the phone number and said that someone would be calling me shortly. No one ever called or showed up on Monday.

I called at 9:30 on Tuesday morning. I was told that my problem had been noted and was labeled "accelerated" and since it was early in the morning and slow, someone would be calling me within an hour to send the technician out. No one called. I called back at 1 p.m., and was again told that they were sorry, I would receive a call within an hour. No one called.

I called back at 3 p.m. I was told that they were sorry for my inconvenience and was given a $20 credit to my account, and again was told that I would receive a call within an hour. No one called or showed up. I called back at 4:30 p.m., and was told that they could reschedule my installation for a week from that Tuesday or they could resubmit the acceleration, but it could take up to 72 hours (first time I had heard that). I opted to resubmit the acceleration.

I called Comcast on Wednesday at 1 p.m. and went through the same story with yet another CSR. I am still waiting and still have not heard anything from a Comcast technician.

They have no customer service to help sort out their invoicing tactics either. They have an actual store nearby which I went to, but was waiting in line for over 45 minutes, before my back couldn't take standing up any longer. I went home and called their customer service number instead, only to find that it was simply a recording with no links to anyone. Their website had a link with a question, do you wish to open online session with a customer service rep? Clicked on the link and an hour later, I was still waiting to contact someone at Comcast. Isn't there a federal law that requires handicap access, which Comcast has violated here? Feds, where are you?

Most critical of all is that it is fairly clear that Comcast is engaging in some kind of illegal billing. This company should be investigated by the authorities, and shut down, to let a more honest broker of communication services replace it. What is really needed now though is for someone from the District Attorney's Office discreetly subscribe to Comcast services and discover the rotten eggs in their billing practices. Comcast is a company that behaves less like a communication company and more like a Jersey mob shop.

On the evening of April 3, 2009, Orange Park experienced a rather bad electrical storm and my internet went out. On the morning of April 4, 2009, I called Comcast to report no lights on the modem and that I did not have internet service. The young woman from Comcast said there was no signal at my house and scheduled a repairman to come out on Monday to see what the problem was. I waited the entire day but no one showed up. I called that day and according to your voice message, the appointment for service was the following week. Now mind you, why would I want to want an additional week for a repairman if I hadn't had service since the day I had the cable re-installed?

I spoke with Eric on April 6, 2009 and he couldn't seem to help me. He kept putting me on hold and then he dropped my call into the Orlando cue and I spoke with someone there who didn't know how I got her and she couldn't help me. I called back the local Comcast number and spoke with Ellen who was very apologetic about the entire situation. She informed me Comcast was very busy and they could not come out to my house to diagnose the problem until Thursday April 8, 2009. I informed her of the above situation and asked her why the other Comcast representative didn't tell me this information but just made an appointment for a week later. Now mind you, I have been without internet service for six days from April 3 to April 8. Per Ellen, she said a $20 credit and no internet charges for April 3-April8, 2009 would be on my bill. I spent over 45 minutes of cell phone use just trying to get someone to come out and fix the problem. This is very poor customer service.

When the repairman finally came, he said the cable from the box to the house is completely dead. He also replaced the modem. My bill came this month, and yes, there is a credit of $20 and $7.15. There is also a charge for $30 for T/C Trip charge. Prior to my discontinuing Comcast in March 2009, my husband and I were great Comcast customers. Our account was always paid on time actually before the bill was due. I am very disappointed in Comcast. It appears that lightning must have struck your outside cable but you charged me $30 for this to be assessed. I find it kind of strange that prior to the cable being re-installed, I had the $2.95 service plan and had no problems. I reinstalled the cable and the day I reinstalled the cable/internet, there is a problem with lightning and I get dinged for the service charge.

This is not right. I want a tracer to find out where my $22.62 credit is and I want the $30 T/C Trip credited to my bill for next month. I have already paid this month's bill. I have tried to call and speak with someone/anyone about this problem. No one seems to know how to handle the problem. I can be reached at ** should you need to speak with me about this problem. I am enclosing a copy of all bills, credit slips and installation receipt. In this bad economy, cable TV and internet services are a luxury, not a necessity. Can you afford to lose me, a good customer? Check my account. It has always been paid on time. Thank you.

I have been sending $38 per month, so how do I owe $106.76 now? It should be about the same amount of $38.00. This has been happening every month for the last 4 months and the supervisor corrected the amount over the phone and said to send that payment of $38 and I will owe nothing and we are even. Then the new bills arrived and showed no corrections. They are reversing it after the correction, cheating, and tricking. The same thing has been happening with AT&T. If you do not check, they will take your money and they got away with that. Strange thing is that the supervisors, accountants, and customer service all belong to one group and they are all crooks stealing from customers for their pockets. I rather blame Comcast for billing and accounting fraud. Thanks.

I called and a second technician came out. He happened to be the one that made the initial installation and had had a hard time. The computer is older and slower. I tried to explain to him that the computer would not hold the signal and what the first technician had done and said. He stated that he remembered the computer and since my other computer was working okay, it was not Comcast's problem. He never looked at anything. Comcast set up the settings, not me and the first technician changed stuff and I don't know what he did.

My son looked into the diagnostics and found that the computer had been set up for a corporate network connection and I had to disable that. I did not set it up that way and either the installer of the adapter or the first technician that came the other day did that. The second technician made me feel stupid and didn't even take the time to look at anything. My son was the one that found the problem for me, as the computer had worked fine previously. All of a sudden, we started getting a message that said "we would get a better connection if the adapter were plugged into a high speed port". That message had never occurred before and that is when we started having problems. We may have never understood what was wrong if my son had not been here. I'm just very disappointed as the first technician's supervisor never got back to us, the problem was not written up properly, and the second technician wouldn't even look. I don't want either of them at my house again. I also hope that from now on we get better service.

On Saturday 9pm, nada. I called and heard a message telling me I am scheduled for a tech on Monday between 2-5! I asked to speak to a supervisor, explained my concerns and he hung up on me! I called back and again asked to speak to a supervisor. I got his name first, Aldo, although he tried to talk over me and get my information (for the 5th time today to verify!). I explained my concerns and he tried to talk over me in his macho angry voice like I was wrong, and said HDMI cables are not provided and if I couldn't be there Monday, would I like to reschedule!? I calmly, yet angrily, said, "No, tomorrow and I would like credit for the days without service." He said that it can only be done after the technician states the problem is fixed! I said I don't need a technician. I need a cable that I was advised was free since I paid extra for the HD box! He said I was wrong and was there anything else he could help me with. I said if he calls dispatch to let them know how irate I am and that I would be contacting the head of customer service and any other consumer org so they should get out here ASAP!

When you first sign up, they offer you a 'promotional price' that is either six, 12 or 24 months. However, they do not state the length or amount of the promotion remaining on your bill at any time. This means that when you see a bill that is 50% higher than it was the month before, you would understandably freak out. When you call them, they give nothing but excuses, say that they can't give you another promotion for 90 days and that you would have to pay full price for 90 days. And then, they would look into what packages they could offer you at that time. While doing so, they attempt to transfer you many times to someone who has no idea of what they're doing if it is not in their script to read to you. Everything from outright lies, to blaming the customer and claiming that everything is computer-automated and that there's nothing they can do about your issues.

In other businesses, you receive price breaks the longer you are with the company in question. For example, if you are a customer for 2 years, you would receive a certain percentage off of your bill. If you are a customer for 5 years, you would receive a larger discount. What they are doing is giving you one price to get you in the door and then raise the price at will after that. In any other business, this is called, 'bait and switch' and is highly illegal in our state. If you, as a customer, contact any company with an issue, they would bend over backwards to do anything to satisfy you in following the old adage, 'The customer is always right.' Does Comcast follow the same adage? Obviously not. That's why you are reading this post.

We have done some research and have some numbers for you if you are in Pennsylvania. To contact Comcast's Philadelphia office, you would call 1-(215) 665-1700. Ask to speak to Brian Roberts (COO) or his assistants. If that does no good, consider contacting the United States Department of Consumer Protection. The Harrisburg office is at 1-800-441-2555. If you are not living in Pennsylvania, a quick Google search should give you the local corporate office for Comcast and then also the Department of Consumer Affairs. We could all join together as one voice and tell Comcast once and for all that they are not allowed to treat us the way that they have been and we will not allow it to happen anymore.

Secondly, my channel 3 (NBC) developed an audio problem wherein the audio only broadcast on the right channel and nothing on the left. A technician listened for his self and agreed that it was not something he had ever seen or could fix. He suggested I call for credit starting July 1, 2009 when the problem started. Then he changed the diagnosis in order to charge for a home visit and reported that the problem was my TV monitor instead. Thirdly, now I have crackling sound on Channel 3 NBC, but also, Channel 7 ABC plays background music but there is no dialogue on certain shows. I called to offer sending you a digital capture .mpg movie of the problem. I have made a living troubleshooting AV problems for 40 years, and I have eliminated any problem in my own equipment.

When I called today to report the new problem, I spoke with "Tanisha" and she was very rude and defensive. She suggested that I did not understand AV equipment and tried to sell me service insurance. So one Comcast employee didn't understand the rabbit-ear versus cable-ready issue but he represented Comcast technical support; another made a home visit, which I was told was free, and then falsified documents contrary to what he told me the actual problem was (and told me to get credit because it was a cable problem); and now, a third employee told me that I would be charged again if the technician returns to look at the same problem.

I am paid much more than your service people, because I troubleshoot all the major convention video engineering problems at Moscone. I don't like being lied to and being charged for inadequate service. You need to train your people on how to deal with the public. I have already tested your cable signal on various TV monitors, and it is not an SAP setting adjustment. Your technician came here and agreed with me but then filled out paperwork saying it was my equipment causing the audio problems. Our homeowner association is discussing this issue with other neighborhood groups, and we are switching to Dish DirecTV.

The Comcast rep told me that I must go in person to the local Comcast office and place my complaint since it's a local issue. This is unacceptable to me and solves nothing. In my opinion, the Comcast rep could have forwarded my email complaint to the local office. But the main issue is how could Comcast get away with occupying so many channels with infomercials? I and other clients are paying for the ability to watch these channels and it's not fair that Comcast derives profits from the infomercials while we are at the mercy of Comcast as to when and what we can watch. Thank you.

The cable television and phone worked as described; however, a test of the internet connection by several online speed tests revealed that the internet connection was lower than a dial up modem - less than 23 k. I contacted Comcast who, in turn, scheduled a contractor to come and diagnose the problem. A week later, a tech came out, dug around, stated that he found the problem, fixed it and left the location. After he left, I ran the speed test and found that the speed as the exact thing, 23k. I contacted Comcast minutes after their contractor left, and was informed that the contractor would not be sent back to our home, and that we would be put back on the bottom of the list waiting for another contractor to pick up the job. No biggie.

About another week passed and another contractor showed up and went through his procedure and said that the signal coming into the house was weak, that he would notify Comcast that they needed an external cable repaired and he left. Two weeks passed and I called in regards to the matter. I was informed by a nice lady on the phone that the cables had been checked, that they were deemed serviceable, and that I had subscribed the economy package, hence the reason for the 23k signal. I informed the customer service rep that had I known that, I would have never signed up for the service. I did not believe that 23k is anywhere near reasonable for a digital cable internet speed. I recognized the statement for what it was, an excuse, and decided to terminate my service. Lesson learned.

I packed up the electronics and headed to my local Comcast store, waited in line to turn in my equipment, and finally made it to the clerk. I told the clerk that I wanted to terminate my service. I was given a bill for the month of service, and three trouble fees of $25 each. Of course, I inquired about the trouble fee for attempting to fix their own problem to no avail, but I got the blank stare. I learned a lesson for $150+, so please feel free to take advantage of the lesson that I have learned. It's bought and paid for.

I called the 800 number, spoke with "Randell". She stated we were only the 2nd customer to call on this. I asked her the above questions. She said she had no answer. I pressed the issue, asking, "How can you take away something without saying what it is? You must know what you are going to remove." She put me on hold to talk to her supervisor. She came back on to say "We think it may be Howard Stern." As rude as it may sound, I had to laugh. "Please take him - but I can't believe what you're saying". She said they were just guessing and no one knew what the letter was about.

Comcast has a cable monopoly here in Stockton. We cannot get satellite as we are in an apartment complex and trees block access. I firmly believe that we are targeted for this as the letter we got was addressed to Philip ** or current resident. Our account is in my name and has been for over 3 years. Why the "or current resident"?

They refused to lift a hand to give us a cheaper rate or package. My wife and I then received a flyer from Comcast saying that we could get all 3 services for $99.00 a month for two years. They docked on till we are where we are now. And still they have yet to tell us what our bill is for July 2009. However, they want us to sign a two-year contract online and we have been Comcast customers for three years now. We will not sign the contract till they tell us what our bill will be. With this special package, they say that you receive $100.00 cash back and yet they beat around the bush and refuse to work with us. There are a lot of games going on. And then we also noticed that there has been an illegal tap on our phone line and we have a right to know why and they will not tell us why.

The Jeff ** claim to have done an internal investigation into us, having a restraining order on one of their employees; however, they treated us terribly and he really made accusations and really it was not right. He even accused us of making a scene when we paid our bill and we made no scene whatsoever. Now, they are trying to cover all this up. We have rights and the games that these men are playing, well, it is just not right. What part of fixed income are these people at Comcast not hearing? We just want something done about this. And the illegal wire-tap my wife has been going through and now me, through a stalking ex-husband, and it has been going on for years now. What can we do about all this? For I know that we have rights! Thank you for your time.

I took the time to make an appointment so someone could come out and fix the problem. My appointment was on Sunday, 07/12, at 4 to 6 and I even received a phone call from a representative confirming that I would be home. I called at 5:45 p.m. because I didn't see anyone arrive and they said the person had just left their last job and were on their way. The technician never showed up! I then called and spoke to other representatives on the phone and they said the worker came out and fixed the problem.

I'm sorry but I have to say that is **! The tech has to be some lazy irresponsible lying worker who should not work if he doesn't like his job. I don't see how he showed up and fixed the problem and didn't take the time to come to my apartment and see if he really fixed the problem. I don't know if that's how you guys run your business? I hope you guys can assist me when fixing my issue because I'm really at the point where I am going to another cable company. I don't want to but it seems I have no other choice since all I'm getting is the runaround. Your employees are not doing their job. The techs are lying and saying they came out to an appointment and don't do it. They probably go home because they sure don't come out to see their clients. I am very upset because I don't like to deal with issues as little at this that turn as big like this one. When I take time from my work to file a complaint like this, something is wrong and I believe a customer shouldn't have to go this far.

At 6:15PM, I called to see what happened to him, that he did not come out. The answer, "He called and got no answer, so he did not go out." This goes on every time I call for any reason, like in April 2009 telling them the day I will be moving to transfer my account to the new apartment. What did they do? They sent a guy out to pick up my modem. That is how I found out that my internet was cancelled, but not by me. I told them to turn it on again and do not charge me for the reconnect, that I did not tell them to disconnect. Also, to send someone out to put the cable for the internet from the living room to the back bedroom. They did that with no problems.

I have no phone and use a neighbor's. She is constantly called by Comcast to speak to me and she tells them that I do not have a phone and only use her phone when I need it. She also told Comcast to stop calling her about my service. They refused because if they called me on July 10 and got no answer, it was because they called her. Tell Comcast to remove any phone number from my account and that they are not to call any number I call from because I am now going to go to a pay phone and call them.

For the next six hours, from 11:00 to 5:00, I repeatedly called Comcast to explain that I didn't answer the 11:07 call because I was talking to them about their missed appointment. I was told many things (the tech will call you back; you're next on the list; the dispatched will call in 15 to 30 minutes; he'll be there in 1/2 hour; a supervisor will call; he'll definitely be there before the end of the day), all of which turned out to be false. I wasted nine hours on a beautiful summer Sunday afternoon waiting on Comcast. And they never did show up.

Calls on Monday, July 6, said we would get a call to schedule service, never mind, we were out of land line service. Tuesday, brought a round of discussion with a live-on-line chat. We got a ticket number, and found out we needed to teach the Comcast representative how to use English. There’s still no call and still no action. Tuesday evening, we called, rank and file said the next open work slot was Friday, 10-12, one full week after the start of this debacle.

Trying a different number at Comcast, we talked to rank and file and got the same stories, "our records show you have service, and this is not an out of service situation." We demanded an escalation. 3 and 1/2 minutes later, we got to talk to a management member (of video services, when we were working on a voice problem). Video said they would send the request to scheduling, to get us on the schedule for Wednesday. The manager mentioned some credits - well at least we have a manager phone number.

There is a rule of fives, or rule of sevens in business: it takes X minutes to get new business, X minutes to keep business, X seconds to lose a customer, and X years to get a customer back. I cannot believe the hoops we are being put through. I cannot believe the lack of support we received. I can suggest that any new business be tightly watch and performance measurements be built in before switching to Comcast Voice.

Well, we have video and internet also, this died last month - my, my, it was a failed (fried) connection in the road side service box. We didn't see the credit there. Isn't it lovely to spend money on Shack and Stein, but not take care of customers? Beware.

I have spent 3 hours on the phone with them and was told that the manager, Forest **, is in an all day meeting and has no replacement. Unfortunately, in the neighborhood that I live in Atlanta, GA, there is no alternative internet service provider, either Comcast or no internet. Furthermore, the consumer protection agency in GA is largely nonexistent and they won't process the complaints they've been receiving regarding Comcast.

When I got on the phone and waited for 20 minutes, I gave up and got on a chat session instead. The chat session support person named Ronald told us that I will have to upgrade my package in order to get the HD programs that I until a couple of hours ago (i.e. before exchanging my cable box, which was due to Comcast's bad equipment and not due to our volition) we were receiving. The service support person would be of no help in restoring our programming and directed us back to a 1-800 number to again go through the ordeal. This has resulted in extreme frustration, mental agony and pain. Comcast charges us for the services and then decides to change terms without letting us know. And if a consumer does that, they will slap us with large fees for "violating the contract.” This is totally unacceptable. In my profession, I have to rely on business and other world news. I had to miss all that because I spent hours trying to resolve a situation that was a result of bad and unethical practice of Comcast. It is tough to quantify the economic implications of such deeds of large corporations.

The end total that I paid to Comcast for the month of June was $244.00! I would like to inquire why I can no longer make payment arrangements on my account. Is that policy? Comcast has a reputation for poor customer service and unfortunately I have been a victim of that. The economic damage resulted in me paying $244.00 with the course of two weeks. Customer service representatives were threatening to disconnect my service completely if I did not pay the amount due that same day! I have never been late on any payments or payment arrangements that I have set up!

Meanwhile, my bill is never credited as promised and Comcast representative will have no notes from your previous call. The price is said to be cheaper but it should be free since you have so many issues and they are so frequent.

Terrible, terrible service as well as customer service! Pay more and go with another company! At least this way, you get to watch TV. I say when my service is interrupted then the monthly bill should be on the company, not the consumer. This causes much undue stress and anger! I don't want to hear "I'm sorry" from the company anymore. Fix the problem once and for all!

After being on hold, the service person wanted to just transfer me around again. This is part for the course with Comcast! Whenever I ask to speak to a supervisor, one is never ever available. I ask for a call back from a supervisor that absolutely has never come in the past. Something just has to be done about customer service. Right now, in my opinion, it is an absolute disservice and it just makes my blood boil to have to contact Comcast. It is like it is completely forgotten that I pay an unreasonable amount of money for cable/internet service, yet when there is a problem, I am the one that has to jump through all the hoops to make it work.

I waste valuable time trying to get customer service to help. We go to school online and when the internet is down . . . need I say more? Comcast is the only fast internet available in my particular area. So for now, I'm stuck. Just let one other option become available and I'm out of there!

This month, I received a bill of over $360 retroactively charging me for internet. The customer service agents claimed I was not charged for internet and my bill should have been billed about $85/month. They claimed my promotion would have only saved me $10/month, which is not a substantial benefit to me, and for such a large corporation as Comcast, it is definitely not a large loss. However, $300 of retroactive charges is a substantial loss to me and a minuscule benefit to Comcast. I want a full credit for these retroactive charges. I was told my bill would be $55. And if I knew my bill would still have been $85 with the promotion, I would have immediately switched to another service provider.

Therefore, retroactively billing me is inappropriate, because it is against your agent's representation and Comcast would not have received that money at all had I known I was still going to be charged so much for the service. The customer service agents I've talked to said they don't have the power to fix this. Comcast needs to start spending far less money on their commercials and much, much, much more money improving the accuracy and efficiency of their billing, getting more qualified customer service agents, and improving the quality of their services. And why not give something back to customers by reducing the ridiculously high rates. In the meantime, I'm leaving Comcast ASAP. They've lost yet another customer because of their deficiencies.

So I called tech support who could not understand what the issue was. Of course, they gave me another appointment for a time that I would not be able to be home (12 pm to 2 pm). I waited all day on the 18th for someone to come; no one showed. No call either. Today the 19th, I called to schedule someone to come out to the house. They stated that someone showed up on the 18th and there was no answer. That’s not true. We were waiting. Now, I have to drive the non-working box to the nearest Comcast site to exchange the box. Hopefully, a new box will work and it is not some other issue. I was told that I would not be reimbursed for my gas that I now have to use.

My job does not allow me to sit around the house every time they can schedule a technician for a visit. And because of the repeated complaints from my neighbors, I know this is not just an issue with my house. When I complained to a supervisor in the Atlanta office, John P., I was told that they do not require me to take time off of work because they have technicians that work nights and weekends. But when I asked him to book a weekend appointment for me, he said they were booked weeks out. He also said he is not aware of other complaints. Did he really check? In the past, they received so many complaints from my street that they cancelled the individual service appointment that I had set up and did something at the local switch. That fix lasted about a week.

The entire situation is a joke. There is obviously a problem impacting a street full of professionals that do not have the time to play Comcast's "it is not us, it must be you" game. I have worked in technology for 20 years and know that they can monitor (either automatically or manually) the traffic in my neighborhood and sniff out the problem. To me it is simply that they have sold more services in an area than they can handle.

What am I to do? I am supposed to have high-speed internet for my job (I usually drive to the office at night and weekends when I need to, because of the constant outages). I have tried to turn to the regulatory authorities but unlike the power company, there is no single strong commission in my city or state that will punish them for bad service. The customer service department does not seem to care about their customers. I assume that they will continue to provide ** service until U-verse moves into my corner of the city and provides real competition. I am paying about $120 a month for a service that is sporadic, and for customer service that does not seem to understand the scope of the problem.

They have included the wiring is old and needs to be replaced. The other techs used a technique called "boot and scoot" which was explained to me to mean they just splice in a piece of wire and get out as fast as possible. One tech added an amplifier, another removed the amplifier. Another tech told me the modem was bad so I bought a new one. Then I found out that there wasn't anything wrong with the first one but I can't return a modem once it has been opened because it's an electronic item. Another time they sent out a person to disconnect my neighbor because he switched to a satellite network but disconnected mine instead. The excuses, incompetence and breakdowns keep coming but the reliability does not.

When I call in, I'm always, without exception, put on hold. During this time, Comcast has the nerve to play recorded messages telling how I'm a highly valued customer and all about the great shows I could be watching if my connection worked. The best part is they also play commercials telling me about other premium channels and services I can sign up for that won't work either but that I can pay more money each month.

I’ve been a customer for over twenty years and yet I get treated like someone whose business they don't need. Maybe that's what I need to do. Three of my neighbors have switched from Comcast to a Dish Network because of their lack of service. I think I will be next but not before I write an editorial to my local newspaper, the college newspaper where I work, the Better Business Bureau, The County Cable Franchise Commission and I purchase a full page of space in the newspaper as well just to make sure everybody gets to see this. I also intend to post this message on any and every internet site that might have an interest in it. I will also look into any state offices that might have an interest in your incompetent performance.

Here's a surprise! While writing this, my cable connection dropped out again. That brings the count up to nine times in five weeks.

I am getting very, very upset that a national company won't carry a free channel and will carry foreign channels. I have looked at other cities that have Comcast and some of them have it. Why won't Comcast add it to the lineup of channels in the state of Maryland, which has a NASA center, is anyone's guess?

Also, a lot of the time I get a tiling screen or the picture freezes along with audio or the audio won't be there. Also, Comcast doesn't have the HD channels as they claim to have. By my count, not including the local channels, there are 32 HD channels, not near the number they say they do. I have had better experience with Satellite in terms of cost, quality of customer service, variety of channels, basically everything! I laugh at Comcast!

We also explained that it seemed odd to be notified about missing equipment a year after the technician made their visit. They agreed and told us not to pay the $40 and that they would take care of it on their end. Every month since, the charge has continued to show up on my bill. Every month, I call and again they tell me they're sending the forms to get it removed. This has been going on for three months now and I feel they're stonewalling me to get me to pay the fee. If they come back and say they still can't find the equipment I'm not sure what recourse I have. What particularly bothers me about this incident is that the charge showed up without explanation and a year after the supposed incident occurred. I'm sure many customers just pay the fee. When I asked about the bill, one of the telephone representatives acknowledged, "Oh yeah, we add that so people will call in." Really? Is this a best practice?

To this day I have a cable with two splitters running across my front porch. Comcast told me to be careful that it wasn't kicked. I had to contact Comcast seven times in under one year because service went out. I was told by a supervisor that they would refund the days I was unable to use the phone and other services. She also told me they would fix the installation. None of this ever happened. In fact, because it was a holiday weekend, my daughter who had just gotten home with a newborn baby the day before was home alone with no phone or transportation.

This supervisor had been informed of this but insisted I would have to wait several days to get the phone working. I have now canceled the phone service. The next problem I have will go to the authorities of my city as I have documented it all. I have had cable with several companies of many years with no problems. Comcast has the worst installation, equipment and by far the worst customer service of any company I have ever dealt with.

Anyway, the customer service representative assured me that the account will be updated to reflect the cancellation and the credit in my account ($90 something) will be refunded shortly. Even after several months waiting and three calls to Comcast, no refund showed up. Finally, on May 24th, I filled out a complaint on their website, supposedly to be looked into by one Rick **, their VP for Customer Relations. Next day, I received a telephone call from Comcast as a follow-up to my e-mail complaint and I was assured by the man that the refund check will be mailed out most definitely by the end of the month.

Guess what, there is no check as of today. This is what one gets for paying everyone of their bills on time and being a good customer for six years! What an ungrateful company. I am glad I switched over to FIOS. Anyway, I have also filed a complaint with the Maryland Attorney general's office.

That does not make sense. They had already agreed to come out to my place (which would have cost them gas money). So what was the big deal about coming out with an HD box instead of a basic box. They just would not do it. They kept insisting that I should pay for the change of the box if they would bring it out. Finally, I just got fed up with them and told them to send the basic box itself. It's their loss; they would not be making the extra on the HD service every month, in front of which the $15+ is nothing.

They refuse to put my mother's correct SS# on her account and they abuse her every time she has to call over that. They kept confusing us with another account, and telling us that it worked or that we didn't have wi-fi, like we're a couple of brain-damaged 5 year-olds. It worked for two hours, then died again. After being uncommonly evil, they told us that they couldn't get a tech guy out here for 86 hours. This is terrible.

If it were their intention to be the worst, most evil, incompetent, sadistic company on this planet I can't think of a single thing they would be doing differently. Since they confused my mother's account with mine in another town (I'm here recovering from surgery) and they jacked with all my settings for 7 hours I know that when I get back home nothing will work there, either. So 8 hours on the phone with these psychopaths and everything is worse than when I first called. This is the 4th of the last 7 days that the Internet has gone out, and it will be another 4 before they get out here

When I called the center, it says wait for your call to be answered, then hangs up. I tried the live chat, who told me I have to talk to someone to "reduce my services" in order to lower my bill, which is now almost double where it was before they came to my door. I am in poor physical health, including a bad heart with mitral valve leakage. I can not handle stress. I have been unable to resolve this issue on the phone or online with them and each encounter leaves me so sick I vomit and am unable to eat or even watch the television or use the internet I pay so much for. I also have a witness to all the aforementioned events and I am willing to file suit if it be necessary.

About a week later, I received a bill from Comcast stating that I owe $206.11. Confused, I call back into Comcast and ask why I received this if my bill was waived. They have no record of me calling at first. Then, I ask to speak with a supervisor and there isn’t one working there that day. After about an hour on the phone and long hold times, the woman comes back on the phone and tells me that the supervisor I spoke to last time added comments to the account but forgot to actually take off the $206.11. She confirms to me it’s no problem at all, and she said that she is going to go ahead and remove it again like the first person was supposed to do. I explained how long it took to get this settled last time as well as this time, and she confirmed to me she will be personally handling it and that it was removed. Once again, I ask for a written statement showing that they removed it be sent to me at my address on record. She agreed. I said, “Thank you” and we hung up.

Another few days go by and I receive a letter in the mail saying that my account is overdue now (107 dollars) and I owe a total of 306 dollars. Outraged by another Comcast mistake, I call the phone number that I was given by the previous person helping me. The extension does not exist! “Not even close to an extension Comcast uses,” they said. So I start from scratch from the bottom again. Now, this is the third time I have called in on the same issue Comcast told me they are sorry about and have told me will be handled. Now, the bill is telling me that the bill is overdue and my service will be shut off if I do not pay immediately. I request time off at work and call into Comcast to once again start from scratch. This time, I ask for a supervisor right away. I talk to her for an hour, and she first told me she sees nothing on the account when I specifically asked the last person I spoke with to add comment to the account.

I talk for an hour and get nowhere. She decides she is going to look into it and call me back later in the day. She calls me back at 7pm one night and tells me that she hasn’t gotten anything on it and that she’s still working on it. Meanwhile, I’m not sure if I should pay my bill or not. She said to hold off and she would place a stop on the collections until the issue was resolved. She tells me that she will call me tomorrow when she finds out what happened. Next day, no call from the supervisor who said she would call me between 5 and 6pm. I get in to work in the morning and call Venessa and leave her a message asking what’s going on and why she was not back in touch with me yesterday. I get a voice mail (doesn’t even ring).

Later on that day, I get back from lunch and I have a message from Venessa saying that they looked into it and have decided not to adjust the bill. I told her that it was already decided a few weeks ago by a field technician that it was impossible for our household to rent movies and that all on-demand movies were going to be removed. She said they will stick with the inconvenience fee, but I owe them 300 dollars still. I call back and again I get a voice mail right away. This is illegal and someone needs to monitor Comcast’s Billing. There is no way anyone in my house rented any movies prior to the technician coming over to fix it. It was impossible and I have the documented receipt with his comments on it to prove it.

Today, I just got a letter from collections about the service and equipment for almost $900. At best, I only owe $250 for the equipment. It’s only because I can’t prove that they didn’t take my modem when they upgraded (which they did) and a cable box that was outdated (and also switched). I got the missing equipment in February of 2006.

Calls to service which is supposed to be 24 hours a day 7 days a week allowed us to discover that this is not really the case. There is no service on weekends. You can talk to a voicemail and fight your way through the voicemail system. "Thank you for calling. Please continue to hold. We will be on the phone shortly to answer your call. Please be assured that your call will be answered as quickly as possible. Please continue to hold for a few more moments. We will be on the call shortly. Please be assured that your call will be answered as quickly as possible," with music provided, over and over. I am pretty sure that I have been through this several hundred if not a thousand times.

Last evening, the high-speed internet went down and we were instructed that with the input of trouble ticket ** that we would have high-speed internet service in the morning, but it could take up to 72 hours. In actuality by morning, we lost our digital phone service as well. This means that we have no phone or high-speed internet. Now, I have been on the telephone with Comcast for about 2. I was calling and indicating that I wanted service on the voicemail. After getting the final question in a series of about 7 touch 2 touch 1, 2 or 3, I got to the point where I was being switched to a service professional and the phone would become disconnected. Now, this was curious so I repeated the process about 5 times to just determine if indeed this was the system. I am guessing that there is actually limited or no staff to take service calls.

We have been told that we have a commercial account and many of the times that we call the information after 5 weeks that Comcast has on file for us is related to the previous owners of the number. We are in a community of 790 some homes that the homeowners association contracts with for basic cable service. One would only guess that this provides a distinct marketing advantage to Comcast. We still have no telephone service after 3 hours on the telephone with the representative. All of our I-Touch units now do not work because the reconfiguration of the router. Our Apple TV which took hours in its own right to get set up is disconnected again. We will be all day getting this set up again and for this, we will lose a day of work to be here to babysit with Comcast.

The billing error showed up on the January bill still as an unpaid balance. I called Comcast again at their billing phone number 713-341-1000. Again, the Comcast billing office said their billing system was in error, and while I was on the phone, she (Pat) said she removed the error amount from my bill. The March billing still showed an unpaid balance. I went to the Comcast office in Webster with all of my billings and documentation, and the clerk behind the counter checked my account and said my bill was paid in full but the billing statement still said there was an unpaid balance.

On April 11, I lost access to the TV cable signal. The message on my TV screen said “Unauthorized”. I executed a live chat with Comcast Customer Support person (Raymond). He checked my account and sent an ‘instant hit’ signal to reactivate my account. My complaint is that since last November, I have needed to work with Comcast each month and thus far have not received accurate billing. Additionally, I have lost service from lack of signal twice. I am considering changing to a different TV cable provider. Perhaps, I will change to DirecTV. I spent many hours trying to resolve this problem, lost the use of my TV, and when Comcast sent the ‘instant hit’ signal to reactivate my converter box, I had to go through a difficult procedure to recycle the box - that is, I had to unplug the box from the wall and re-plug it in. That sounds simple enough, but my converter box is fitted into an entertainment center. The power plug is not easily accessible. It was difficult for me.

I took off work at 2:30 to make sure I would be home. I was joking to my co-workers at Verizon that I would be a missed appointment. My boss said why I am still with Comcast, not with DirecTV. I told her I like Comcast and never had problems. Plus, the high speed internet works better with Comcast vs. DSL. I need the faster download speeds, not 768k-1.5mps. My wife, for the last couple of years, wanted to change to DirecTV but I stayed with Comcast. Because of this event, the pressure is on to change. My wife and I both work on Friday, April 10th. I don't know if I will get a call from Comcast and if I do, I cannot accept cell phone calls unless it is my break or lunch. I don't want to take off and waste more of my vacation time. I would like to have the install happen after I get off work at 6pm. I would hope the install would be free and I would like some type of compensation for my time I wasted. At Verizon on dispatched calls, we must get two CBR's. On the day of the install, the tech shows up and if you are not there, then Verizon leaves. If Verizon says you will get a call back, you will get one even if it is bad news.

I made a service call for crappy reception, freezing picture, pixely, sound in & out. Man came out, changed connections around, and said that the picture should be better. I got charged for the service call, almost $30, and they blamed it on my TV. Picture is still crap. I cannot watch certain channels at all. All I asked for was to be credited the fees I had to incur, because I couldn't make the free payment ($4) and credit for days I did not have internet (which was 6 days/$27.95 per month = 90 cents /day = $5.40, and removal of the service call charge of $29.70. Total of $39.10. What frustrates me most is I cannot have a satellite dish because of living by a mountain, so they can just do whatever they want. But they did offer me a coupon for a free movie, which I can't watch?!

Then, I just moved to my first home and transferred my service, and kept my box from my last place. I am unable to access On Demand (Error 4). I called this time and a gentleman who seemed tired said he will reset it, and to wait 30 minutes. I wait and guess what happened next? On the second call, I got some woman with a condescending attitude. I tried to have her just reset my box and fix the On Demand. Well, we went from the problem with my box to my billing issues (note that I had received promotional deals 2 months prior), stating that I should be paying $15 for my box, but I am only paying a fraction. I informed the woman (customer service) that I have a promotional deal. She stated that because I have a DVR-HD box (I've had this box since service started), I am being charged for just the HD.

Why am I going over with the type of box that was given to me at the time I started service? She would not let up, stating I got off for months, like I was robbing them from the get-go. I asked for a supervisor. Well, she came back on saying, "I spoke to my supervisor and we will cut the price," which is more than what I am paying now. My bill is already more than what it should be. I finally got a supervisor who sounded just like the representative. She was not trying to help, either. I just said that I did not call to go over my bill (mind you I pay my bill the first of the month, every month), I called to get my box reset so I can enjoy the On Demand that I am paying for! I got it done, but for some odd reason she was so quick to set up an appointment for a service man to come and visit. Why? Can you or can you not reset my box?

All in all, I am ready to settle for a dish. I felt so belittled and upset by the hour that was wasted just to fix the box. Thanks Comcast! FYI, my second letter to the FCC and State Attorney General's office will be sent. There needs to be some type of policy or procedure that your customer service center should take on manners and respect towards customers who will be loyal to your company in the future.

A service call was issued for Feb 13th. The ** service technician came and went. He claimed to have fixed the problem with an adapter device in my attic. Everything was working until 2 days later. I put another call into Comcast and I was told that they could not get anyone until Feb 21st. The ** service technician came on the 21st of Feb and installed a new box because the old box wasn't working properly. When he left, everything was working until 3 days later when we lost the quality of our HD programming.

I put ANOTHER call into Comcast. An ** technician came out and I was told that the HD signal was out of range. I told the technician that I did not think it was his fault but that we had been very frustrated with the service. He gave me his cell phone number to call but when we lost our service entirely after 1 hour, I called and could not get through. I have been told that this is a tactic used to get out of the house quicker. After losing both our digital cable and internet all together, I called Comcast again having to remain on the phone for 25 minutes before reaching anyone to tell them that we had no service at all.

In the Memphis area, folks that live in Germantown are not treated with the same courtesy as those in Memphis. Our services are worse and it takes longer to get things fixed. It is because there is racial polarity with the two communities. Given that, I feel we were not only given terrible service by Comcast, but we feel that this was racially motivated. I do not feel that we should be discriminated against nor do I feel that we will ever get our service repaired. At the time of this letter, we still do not have our situation resolved. We also feel that the situation will worsen once this is investigated. Comcast has spent hours, days trying to fix problems in our area but to no avail. This had been going for a month.

I have a small business, I pay my bills online, etc. and I cannot do this without my internet service. I am missing calls to my home because I have Magicjack phone through my computer and it requires broadband. I cannot keep up with dangerous weather coming nor can I keep informed of news that affects me and my family.

At this point, having spent well over 2 plus hours to understand what happened and still being confused, I asked Rachel, the billing sup., to put in writing what happened in my account and send me a copy, especially the items she is using to substantiate billing me even after I asked my account to be closed. Note, I do have a receipt for this closing date and as proof, they have the cable box. She would not do it, and said I owe them money and we were at an impasse.