Xfinity Cable TV Reviews

Another thing that has happened is that when I call Ecuador, the call often doesn't go through. This happens all the time. I'll get strange ring tones or no ring tones, etc. and when that happens, I know the call isn't actually getting through. I've recently looked at a detailed description of the calls I've made to Ecuador and found out that each time I simply dial the number and the call doesn't go through, I am still charged for this.

I paid $14.95 a month for an international plan which did me no good as well as incurred $99 of international calls for the month of November since that plan didn't actually cover me and I thought it did. I didn't get the bill for November until mid to late December and so was continuing to make a large number of calls to Ecuador during that time. So when I get my December bill, it will be even higher for international calls. The number of minutes I am being charged for Ecuador is also way too high considering that so many of the minutes were actually me simply trying to get through and not getting through (to no answering machine or anything, simply a bad, ineffective ring).

I reported this to the call center and the following day, on the 27th, a new technician also came out and who also advised me that he only corrects problems and I should again contact the call center. I again called the call center and stressed that I needed a new installation, and, finally, a technician came out on the 31st of December, 2009 and laid a new cable from my house to the pole outside. He told me someone would come around to complete the installation.

After calling the call center number everyday thereafter, they assured me that a technician would be out to complete the task the following day. It is now the 05th of January, 2010 and I am still waiting. I called the call center to cancel the service and refund the funds I paid for when I initially took the equipment from the Marietta office. I am not sure if this is an isolated case, but Comcast service is unsatisfactory and plainly non-existent. I will seek alternate services for my house in Marietta.

Now, we have been trying to get this resolved and by my calculations, they owe me almost $10,000. They are refusing to help me and I have since gotten a hold of the DPUC and found that they do not regulate them but they tried to help. Comcast continues to say that they are investigating, but in the meantime, they have sent my bill to collections while they are investigating and will not return any of our calls.

We have asked the boxes to be turned on again but they will not turn them on and they won't give us a reason. I am stumped as to what to do. They did send out 2 men on 12/22/09 to see that there is only one set of lines coming into the house and we were also told by several Comcast customer service people that it is against the law to double bill a customer, but we were unaware of this at the time.

Consequently, after numerous calls to your customer care service representatives and one visit to the equipment return center in Denver, Colorado with my lease, I was told that I would be forced to pay the bill even though I was not using your company's service for those four months while I was not at that address. I moved out of the apartment on September 1, 2009 and did not use your company's services after that. The new residence I moved into on September 1, 2009 already had Comcast service when I moved in (under another customer's name) and therefore, I did not transfer service to my new address. I was told by Comcast customer service that you could not have two active accounts at the same address.

My brother, Ryan **, moved into the apartment and set up a new and separate account at the old address. Your customer service representative acknowledged that there was a new account at the address and that my account was not being used but she would not terminate my bill and the amount owed, even though I have not had Comcast services at my old address or my new address for the last four months. Essentially, I am being charged for services that Comcast has not provided and this makes no sense to me. No one at customer service has tried to explain why Comcast is allowed to continue billing someone when Comcast is not providing services. I found that the way this situation was handled went against Comcast's customer service mission statement listed on your company's website.

I would like to have the amount owed to your company on my account terminated because of this. The representatives I spoke with acknowledged that I was not in the apartment and was not using the services but said there was nothing they could do. This shocked me being in the customer service industry myself. Additionally, the customer service representative that I dropped off my equipment with refused to look at my lease or look to see that my brother had a new account at my previous address and simply stated there was nothing they could do. Your company's inability to work or resolve the issue disturbed me to the point of extreme frustration. I have never worked with a company that has not been willing to come to a solution that both sides find fair. This will be a determining factor in my decision to use your services again if my account is not cleared. Could you please reevaluate the circumstances I am under and clear the balance from my account? There is overwhelming proof that I was not at the address or receiving Comcast services for the four months I was billed. I have a new lease I signed and there was a new account established by another customer shortly after I moved out of the residence.

I have been a loyal Comcast customer for seven years and was appalled by the manner in which no one would help me or work with me. If this issue is not resolved in a timely manner, I am unlikely to use your products or services again. Also, I will not pay the amount owed until this is settled in a fair and honest manner. In addition to this, I respect that my account will not be sent to collections and not incur any additional interest penalties or late fees. I appreciate your time and consideration. I realize that you are a busy person being a senior vice president of a large company but I would appreciate a timely response. Thank you for your time.

Customer service rep tried to assist my wife with no avail and stated that he would work on this issue by trying to get a technician to come earlier than the last day of the year. When I got home at 9 pm and service was still not on, I called Comcast and advised the customer rep that this was not acceptable. I need some someone here asap. To add insult to injury, the customer service rep advised me that the earliest that someone could see me was not 12/31/09 but 1/1/10. If there was any way possible to get rid of Comcast as my cable service, I would have done it yesterday. Comcast service sucks. I am very angry that I am missing my football. This is the only reason I got cable - to watch the various football games only available on cable!

They ship out up to two of the boxes free and the customer installs it. Very simple - two wires and a power cord. When you call for a signal, the box won't activate. Comcast sends a tech out, who merely makes a phone call back to Comcast, and it's up and running. Then the customer gets billed $50 to $70 for what they call a failed customer install! In my case, I had other service issues not related to this. I hadn't even installed my boxes at this time and they still billed me for this failed customer install.

Comcast is clearly defrauding customers with this latest effort to recoup money for hardware we never should have needed in the first place. Now they want the customer to pay for the fix.

I have been trying for weeks now to have Windows Media Center people walk me through a way to upgrade this problem. They are telling me that I need an IR blaster cable, which does not have a place to be inserted into the remote that has been given to me by Comcast. So I talked Comcast to ask them to have a service person come out to the home to fix this problem. I waited, until the given day, and then finally someone came out, only to tell me that there was nothing that they could do, that this was a new problem, and no action was trained on this matter. Problem is I can't find anyone willing to fix this problem. The box created the problem and the program says at the end of programming that it cannot find the IR cable. Now, I am paying for service that I no longer receive.

A representative came out on 29th September to try and fix the problem but to no avail. Soon after, I was contacted by a person named Linda at ** and we arranged for someone to come on 13th October, 2009 between the hours of 2 and 5 pm to pick up the television. When they determined the problem, (blown circuit board), Linda called me back and asked whether I wanted to have the television repaired or would I rather receive a check for it. Since they could not guarantee that we would not have any more problems with it after it was fixed, my husband and I decided to just take the check for the cost of the television after its depreciated cost and purchase another one. She informed us that we could not receive that (even though we should have been entitled to that amount) but would rather only be given the cost of repairing the TV.

She said that she would submit the paperwork and, within six weeks, we would receive a check from Comcast. After the stipulated time had come and gone, I proceeded to call her repeatedly, to find out what had happened to my check. After several irate messages, I finally got in contact with her and she said that she no longer had my television and was not in charge of sending out the check. She gave me the name of the person in charge of sending out my check. This was a Ms. Sharon 88 of Connex at **. When I first contacted her, she was very insistent that she had already mailed out my check; however, when she checked, she realized that that was not so. She said that she had to submit more paperwork and that someone would contact me within a day or two to confirm some information before they sent out my check.

After several days of not being contacted, I called her back and left her a message to call me. She never returned my call. Instead, I called back and when she heard my voice, she pretended like we had a bad phone connection and hung up on me. I made three calls back during which she picked up the phone and hung up each time. On the fourth call, she allowed it to go to voice mail and I left a message asking her to just return my television because I would be seeking legal advice concerning the matter. I have still not been contacted by anyone.

I fail to see why a simple request to pass on to service personnel that there is a difficulty at a specific address or area is a security risk either for the company or the person calling in. I realize people have procedures, but they also need to use some common sense. In addition, a request to speak to the supervisor who might have authority to intercede with simple requests is the norm. At best, the quality of the Comcast transmission is spotty but the service dept seems to be even worse.

Yes, I know I could have gone somewhere to access public Wi-Fi, but that wasn't the point. Now that I have received my first bill, I am stunned to see that not only am I paying $40 more a month but I was nickel-and-dimed on everything. I signed up for a bundle service and it’s more? Upon calling, the representative was rude and could not help me even though they have a 30-day money back guarantee. I explained that I didn't feel that I was getting my money's worth and the guy had the audacity to tell me I was definitely getting my money's worth as if he has insight to my life and my financial situation. They have to be the worst company when it comes to value and customer service.

I called and the best that Comcast could do was reschedule or email the tech. They did not know when the tech supervisor would reply or when they would come out. I scheduled the appointment two weeks out due to my busy work schedule. The drive to work takes 45 minutes. I drove home and waited four hours for service. I had to return to work another 45 minutes and now it will take me almost two months to have free time from work in order to get any type of service. The point of the service was for family to watch TV for the holidays when visiting.

I'm more than a little miffed that the digital tuner I bought last year is now worthless scrap. For that matter, what the heck is wrong with the digital tuner that came with the television I bought last year? Why do any televisions in the northwest need tuners at all if there is basically no service provider sending a signal that is compliant with a standard or HD television signal?

At one time, there were standards. Standards that meant you could plug something into something else and you knew it would work because it was built to a standard. Standards were meant to protect the industry, the consumer, and in a small way, the government that embraced that standard and endorsed it. The 110 volt wall outlet is a beautiful example. I can pretty much be guaranteed that if I plug a three prong electrical cord into it, I'm going to be able to power a 110 volt device. Today though, even if I've got what looks like a cable for TV, I can no longer be guaranteed that what's there is going to be interpreted as a standard signal my television can consume.

I'm very disappointed with the mishmash of products that were allowed to be sold in the US if they were going to become scrap within a year or two. Someone should have indicated the digital tuner program we were saddled with was a pure bunch of bunk. The only thing I can see is that it took the cover off the top of Pandora's box and now all television service providers can do anything they want.

So I was scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 28th. Well the tech that came out said he could not run the line in our underground pipe to the house, but would call for there contractors to get a line through it. I was also told my number was not ported, so I would have been given different phone numbers. I told them in the beginning that I needed our phone numbers (my husband has his own business). So that was a problem. Plus they didn't even think I would get service because the cable box on the telephone pole was too far away. Anyway the contractors came out the same day and for two hours my husband tried to help them, but the contractors jammed a piece of foam down in the pipe so they could not get a line through. So with no luck, they gave up for the night.

On that Sunday, my husband went and got his compressor. He was able to blow the line out for them and we snaked a line through to make it easier for Comcast to get the job done. Okay, so now to the final Saturday wasted on Comcast was on December 12, 2009. I was given a time of 11-1:00PM and was told my phone numbers would be ready for install. Well 1:30 went by and my kids and I saw a Comcast truck go by, but never came in the driveway. I called at 2:00 and explained to them the tech was not here yet. She said it shows them arriving at my house at 1:30. Not! They went by at 1:30! They sent someone else out here, who arrived at 2:30. I asked him how long it would take because I had plans in the early evening. I also told him to make sure they had my phone numbers ported and he told me to hold on and he would call and check.

He was on the phone for awhile, so I called Comcast directly and talked to a nice tech named Bob. He said he would call back and let me know if my numbers were ported. Meanwhile the install guy got off the phone and said, "No, your numbers are not going to be ported and ready till Dec.14th." I said what! This was supposed to be done, ready to go. I said, "Forget it. I'm done with Comcast." I don't want to deal with them anymore. So the tech called Comcast and canceled. So now the tech from Comcast called me back and he said my numbers were ready to go. I said, "What! Your install tech told me they were not ready." Anyway, this was my nightmare experience. They offered me when I installed a gift card of $75 to Walmart and I emailed my sales rep and told him I still want my gift card for all the time and aggravation I had to put up with. I'm sure they won't, but I deserve at least that. Thank you.

When I called the number again, they said a technician would be out between then and 8 pm and was a must do. When I called back at 7:45 pm, they said the technician called and had no answer which is bull because it's my cell and I had on me for one reason - to answer Comcast's call and there is no number listed and I know they didn't call or it would be listed on my cell.

I tried to get the phone equipment charge and non-published number charge but they refused to do so. If their service doesn't work without a box, like other services did, then they shouldn't be allowed to charge for this. They also would not tell how much the box really costs, and don't have an option to buy one instead of paying a monthly charge for it for Infinity. Also, it doesn't cost any money to not publish a phone number, so charging a consumer for not publishing a phone number is outright highway robbery. I am looking for an attorney to sue this company, but heard that people aren't allowed to sue Comcast anymore.

The charges on Sunday, 9/27 had to have been done in my presence and they were not. I watched football all day on Sundays and my son was not at home that day. He was at a friend's home. I told them this and that nobody was at home during the daytime hours that week and they insisted again that it came from my home. Of course, images of some pervert breaking into my home and ordering ** while we were gone came to mind. They stated again there was no other way any breach on their end happened. I have found information that there are illegal black boxes that are sold and all the criminals need to do is look up codes on a website and they can then get into someone's cable, including ordering pay per view.

Comcast is not taking my complaint seriously. I am afraid now that someone is breaking into my home while we are not here because they refused to acknowledge that it could be any sort of illegal activity. I heard a story from one rep at Comcast (my 2nd or 3rd call) that there was only one other similar complaint he had personal knowledge of and that was when he stated the husband admitted to ordering the ** movies. I insisted over and over again that there is no male in my household other than my 12-year old son. I felt as if they were implying silently that perhaps my 12-year old 7th grader was ordering the ** without my knowledge in my small 2-bedroom apt.

There were also some charges on my 9/19 bill from 8/22, four movies. I did not pay attention to my 9/19 bill or I would have complained earlier. They stated there was no way they could remove the charges, insisting they were mine. They did tell me how to put a block on the pay per view, which I did. I asked to speak to a supervisor and they stated there was no supervisor present. I asked for a phone # to file a complaint and they stated there is no number for this but I can fax verification of where my son and I were during some of the charges (work and school) and I could also include a complaint with the faxed information and I could write to the executive customer care in Fife, WA. So, I have to jump through all sorts of hoops to get them to investigate this.

I have called the Sheriff today and left a vm for his assistant to contact me. I would appreciate an investigation to determine if I have a pervert in my home or if it is on Comcast. I want these charges removed. I refuse to pay for someone else's filth. I would appreciate if Comcast would take this seriously and not imply that it was my12-year old son or that I am being dishonest. I know, through internet searches, that Comcast is aware of the illegal activity in regards to stolen cable and unauthorized charges but they are not about to take any accountability for this. Instead, they make their faithful, long term customers feel as if they are at fault.

I would like Comcast to acknowledge to their customers that there are ways for other people to get access to your cable and order movies from pay per view without your knowledge or consent. I would like to see Comcast treat their customers with respect when they call in with a serious complaint such as mine and not be so jaded as to believe that all customers are lying when they call about something like this. Seriously, a little concern and empathy on their end would have gone a long way.

So, to my further surprise, the Comcast rep told me that I’ve been getting these higher channels for free. Ha! That’s odd because $16.29 is not free and this so-called $50.00 upgrade package to keep what I’ve been paying for is unbelievable! How do these guys friggin get away with this crap? How is this sort of thing not against the law? Quite simply put, I can’t afford any more than what I’ve been paying. I don’t want to lose half the channels I’ve received all these years and I don’t want be gouged by Comcast any more than I have already.

If I was being charged for more than one converter, the charge should have been listed as converters not converter. The customer service representatives told me that I should have known that $39 was excessively high for one HDTV converter box; however, since I purchased the HDTV converter box within a plan/bundle, I did not know the specific breakdown of charges. I am also used to Comcast's high prices, so I did not think twice about the $39 charge per box. Honestly, that is how I was thinking. By the way, I still cannot find a price list anywhere on Comcast's website that lists $6.50/converter box.

So I waited and I waited and I waited. Finally, I called Comcast where is the guy who is to come hook up my cable? She told me there was no connection with my account. I am like what! I told her I called the week before and asked for them to hook up my cable, and they told I had to be home between the hours of 12:00pm and 4:00pm. She told me I do not need to be home when they hook up my cable and that she would try and get someone out to hook up my cable. They hooked up my cable finally, and I got all the channels I wanted like they said.

I left the next day to go out of town for a week and a half. I came home and half of my cable channels are gone! I am like ugh! I called Comcast and asked them what the heck is going on. They told me oh with basic cable you only get 32 channels. I hit the roof going what! I told them that I talked to the customer service person and they told me I would get these certain channels with basic cable. The service person said no, you do not get those channels. I said I want my service shut off. I no longer want to deal with your service. They told me I still have to pay $37.29. I was like what? I was not the one who made the mistake here.

I then called customer service again this morning to talk to a supervisor. I shared with the supervisor the complaint I had with Comcast that I shared with the other customer service person and felt I should not have to pay for their mistakes. The supervisor told me, oh that Comcast messed up and gave people several people more channels than they should have not gotten now, as if that was going to make me feel better. I told him they need to honor their customers because they are the one who made the mistake not us and that we should not have to pay for their mistakes. He told me I still have to pay the $37.29. He told me I can file a complaint with Comcast if I wanted to. Like that they were really going to do anything about it. I did not think asking not to pay the bill was a big asking price for all I have gone through with Comcast. Help.

Well I, along with others, am paying for their mistakes. I had put my time into trying to get them to remove the charges because of their mistakes. I paid the same amount of money for channels I did not get back in 2007-2008. Money is lost here and time.

I then started contacting Comcast to let them know that I needed to have someone come back out and hook the internet up where I actually wanted it to be. I also let them know that I would need someone to come out and fix my wall. I no longer dealt with the supervisor I started with. I was passed to another supervisor who I have been talking to. She told me she would take care of it and would call me back before she left for the evening. I never heard back from her.

I then called Comcast and I was directed to another supervisor because the customer service agent wouldn't put me through to the second one I was dealing with. The process of my explaining the situation started all over again. This went on from August 21-30th. I am still waiting on a phone call regarding the wall and the hook up. I have spent many hours on the telephone explaining what is going on. I have taken two days off work. I waited for the technician on August 13th and another day waiting for the electrician. I suppose I will have to take more time off work waiting for someone to fix my wall and the installation, again. I've been sitting on the floor in the family room for over 2 weeks because I have nowhere else to put my desktop computer on.

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.