The Comcast Show

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…)

One Response to “The Comcast Show”

  1. Bradford Benn Says:

    So any news from Comcast? I find it funny as a Comcast customer just how much they hype all their services and the bundling, but when it comes to Customer Service it can be a little difficult at time.

    Luckily once we got our stuff installed it just worked, it is the cable boxes that seem to keep dying for us. I will say that some of the configuration stuff makes my head hurt, like why do I need someone to come and install a card into my DVR then call Comcast to activate it. I can do that on my own also! Perhaps they need an advanced user level.

Leave a Reply