Some Thoughts…

Several hours after I posted The Comcast Show , I received a comment from Detreon Roberts of Comcast National Customer Operations asking me to contact his department. I spoke with Derrick Dunn on the phone on Wednesday, September 23. Derrick, of course, apologized and assured me they were looking into why this happened. Derrick made three promises:

• He would make sure that my next installation appointment would be changed to September 26. It was in the system for September 25, even though I had explicitly told the installer making the appointment through the dispatcher that I wanted a Saturday appointment so I didn’t have to miss any more work.
• He would make sure that the porting would happen at this appointment.
• He told me not to pay my first bill – he would issue a credit.

I was getting ready to leave for work this morning when who should show up at my door but the Comcast installer! I decided to let him at it, even though it meant being late for work. Guess what? The porting order still hadn’t been placed. Through the installer I have made a new appointment for Saturday, October 3. This will be the fifth attempt and porting my number.

After he left, I checked my ‘Recent Activity’ on the website, and there was no credit. Three strikes and you’re out, Derrick.

Update: I received an e-mail and voice mail this evening from Anthony Robinson, who has the title of ‘Executive Care Manager’ and is evidently Derrick’s boss. According to him, Derrick has put a credit on my account that covers all installation and service charges through Oct 19.

Update: I just received a call from Jacob Carruthers who is working with Anthony Robinson on this issue. Jacob assured me that they were looking into why this happened and that the porting would take place on October 3. Also, the promised credit has shown up under ‘Recent Activity’ on the website.

A comedy of errors, if you will.

On August 28, I ordered the Triple Play – digital cable TV, Internet, and phone – from Comcast. I was already getting analog cable TV from Comcast, but my phone and Internet was through Verizon, and I figured I could save money each month by getting all three services from Comcast.

I ordered the service online, and the order process concluded with a chat with ‘Michael’ that included the following exchange:

Michael > Would you like to have a new phone number Bruce?
Bruce_ > no we want to keep our existing
Michael > May I have the number please and the service provider?
Bruce_ > 574-875-xxxx Verizon
Michael > Thank you.
Michael > To ensure that you can keep your number from your previous carrier, you need to complete Third Party Verification. Please click on this link http://www.comcast.com/eloa and visit the verification Web site.
Bruce_ > ok
Michael > Thank you.

On September 1st, the installer came to the house. He said the order called for one cable box, I told him I had ordered two DVRs. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any confirmation on my order, so I had no proof of what I had ordered.  After an exchange with his home office, in which he appeared more concerned about getting his ‘points’ then he was about pleasing me the customer, he produced two DVRs from his truck and proceeded to install the system. When he had finished, he showed me my new Comcast phone number! Oh wait…I didn’t want a new number, and I showed him the transcript of the chat I had with ‘Michael’. As it turns out, Comcast had no record of my request to keep the same number. After the installer talked to seven different people at Comcast, the plan was to reschedule the phone installation (at one point, Comcast wanted the installer to rip out the TV and Internet installation as well).

Over an hour after the installer left, I received a call from ‘Paul’ (I think that was what he called himself) that I was told would come in fifteen minutes. The purpose of this call was to complete the Third Party Verification which, by the way, I had already completed online the day I placed my original order.

It soon became apparent that one of the DVR units was bad, so a technician came out a couple of days later to swap out the unit. In the process, while trying to deactivate the faulty unit, he actually deactivated the second DVR, which was working just fine. Of course I didn’t realize this until after he had left. It took another call to customer service to straighten this out, and a second call a day later to get all the channels on that unit that I was supposed to get.

On September 8, another installer came out to finally port the phone number, only to find out the porting order had never been placed with Verizon. Say what? Because it takes six business days to complete a port, they rescheduled for September 18.

On September 18, another installer came out to finally port the phone number, only to find out the porting order had never been placed with Verizon. Yup, it’s true. I took off of work AGAIN for no good reason.

We are rescheduled for September 26. This is a Saturday, so at least I won’t have to take off of work.

To top it all off, I just received my first bill for the Triple Play and they charged me for my phone service, even though I was told by ‘Paul’ that they wouldn’t.

Can a company be any more incompetent?

(For the answer click here…)