U

27 Messages

Monday, January 15th, 2024 10:15 PM

Closed

Billing- [Edited]

[Edited: "Inflammatory"] I've had Comcast for over 20 years ever since it was Rogers Cable Network. I'm not sure if there was a CEO change, but the last 3 years, Xfinity has been making changes [Edited: "Inflammatory"/"Language"]. I'm about to cancel everything and just rent movies at Redbox. 

Up until a couple years ago, I paid for cable tv including HBO, Showtime, and Starz and was able to watch a majority of movies that were airing at the time with no commercials. Now instead of having 4 or 5 movie channels, there are 200+ streaming channels/apps. Now I can't watch a Disney movie without renting or buying, and movies that I would be able to watch ON DEMAND, Xfinity now says I have to rent or buy them. This is unacceptable and this is about to be the end of Xfinity. What is the point of having premium channels and On Demand if I then have to rent or buy the movie? That is exactly the reason I am paying a monthly subscription to HBO, Showtime, and Starz in the first place. A couple years ago, On Demand was broken down by movies without adds which are showing on the premium channels, and now ALL movies are grouped together. I am paying $260 a month, I don't want to have to watch a movie with ads or have to rent or buy a movie that is 20 years old that was on the 3 premium channels yesterday but today you are making me rent it? [Edited: "Inflammatory"]

On top of that, you have now stopped supporting the older Dave's that actually recorded onto the DVR instead of the cloud. It works perfectly fine, has both HDMI and RCA hook ups which I need for my stereo and you just decided to no longer support it because you want to control our ability to save movie! [Edited: "Inflammatory"/"Language"]!! Now you are forcing us to use your cloud DVR so you can delete the movies after a year even if we would like to save it. 

Another issue I recently had is with home security. I purchased a light switch compatible with Xfinity Security so I can turn on my lights from my phone. After 2 years of working perfectly fine, Xfinity decided to no longer support my light switch even though it shows in the selection in the App. I have had technicians come and check and they said it sounds like an app programming issue, I have called 5 times and wrote in to the Home App creators on Google and have received no reply!.

Then I just got an email saying my bill is going to go up $27 a month for no reason. I did not agree to this but they tell me tough luck. They keep nickel and diming us thru admin fees, local tv and sports fees.. All of that should be included in the excessive amount you already charge for cable tv which I now have to rent or buy movies or subscribe to another of the 200+ apps. It's like every Channel is now making you pay for a streaming service. THATS WHAT XFINITY IS!! I pay you $260 a month because you are a streaming service to them provide me movies to watch. Now you want me to give you $260 then pay another $50-$100 to have access to movies that I've been watching for years on either HBO, Show, or STARZ that now require another separate subscription or me to rent it.

Everytime we bring up the issues you tell us there is nothing you can do, but thanks for the 20 years we have been a customer, have we signed up for your Rewards program? Your rewards program is anything but that!! You use to offer free pay per view rentals and now you offer gift cards to some random store that no one will ever use.

[Edited: "Inflammatory"/"Language"]. Get rid of this new trend of requiring a streaming subscription for every channel. Bring back ON DEMAND which is broken down by Premium movies with no ads and that is included in my service like is was from 2000-2020. Start supporting our older DVR's which have hard drives so I can save the movie I record as long as I want. The excuse and telling us DVRs weren't meant to save movies [Edited: "Language"]. It's not up to you how long we save our movies but now you want to take that away too. You need to start providing more for less. We should be able to get every channel with Internet and security for $200 a month with a on demand that doesn't make us rent or buy movies to watch them. Bring back how It was when you first brought out your X1 boxes. Everything was great then! We had access to unlimited movies, the ability to have the X1 DVR with HDMI and Component hookups, unlimited storage time for the movies we record, fast Internet, decent security with the ability to hook up a smart light switch all for under $200 a month. 

In the past year my bill has gone up to $260, I have lost the ability to use my light switch which I spent $60 on because you said it would work and it did until you switched apps, I have a DVR I can no longer use On DEMAND because you stopped supporting it, (because it has a hard drive), I can no longer watch 50% of the movies I use to without having to rent or buy it or get another streaming app, or it's on AMC or Tubi with commercials.. Xfinity should not just be a hub for streaming apps, while it's nice to access Netflix and Prime Video, it's getting out of control. And if that is the way you guys are gonna roll with this a[Edited: "Inflammatory"] my making us pay extra for another streaming service to watch movies that use to be on HBO or the other premium channels, THEN I AM DONE!! I WILL CANCEL EVERYTHING!! [Edited: "Inflammatory"/"Language"], and after 20 years I'm done with playing your stupid games of over paying, having my bill constantly going up without agreeing to it or adding any additional services. [Edited: "Inflammatory"]. You don't treat your most loyal customers the way you do!! And you don't cut services but charge more!!

You want to make more money as a company?? You could tripple your profit if you dropped your rares to $150 for every channel, Internet, and home security. At that price, Xfinity would be in every house in America as it is affordable. Instead of excessively charging the people who can barely afford your rates, drop your rates to $150 for everything including taxes and fees and everyone will sign up. Then spend 1/3 of your new profits and hire some well trained individuals to provide friendly, professional, and helpful customer service with accountability. The fact there is no way to track or get a name or department for the customer service people you currently have which hang up on us, tell us one thing and then not put it on the notes, or tell us there is nothing they can do as it's as high as they can go is insulting. You have zero accountability and everyone is working from home without supervision and no way to communicate except via chat and you don't seem to care at all. [Edited: "Inflammatory"]

Please take this seriously, don't tell us about your Rewards program and do something to fix this. You need to cut rates and make Xfinity what it once was. You are going backwards!

Sincerely,

Chris (A 20 years loyal customer)

Expert

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192 Messages

10 months ago

@user_15a8c0 

So, I can certainly appreciate your concerns about prices going up. I am noticing it myself and for someone on a fixed income, having just about everything be more expensive, it is making it hard to get the necessities. With that said, everyone's operating costs are going up. I have seen increases in the cost of everything from clothes, to food, to gas, to rent. I have not seen one company in my entire life that will eat into their profits and not pass any increase in operating costs along to their customers. That is what being in this country and getting things from a for-profit company will do when inflation/costs go up. 

Also, I think your anger about Comcast and what is available free for you to watch via HBO, Starz, Showtime is unfounded as Comcast does not control the cost of any paid content or even what is classified as free or paid. That decision is 100% up to the content owners. So for instance, if HBO said we are no longer doing movies for free, Comcast just passes that along to their customers. If you are mad that less content is available via HBO, Starz, and Showtime then you will need to speak with them. This is also the case when determining which content is available via streaming apps such as Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, etc. Comcast does not have any say as to what is agreed upon by the content owner/producer and the streaming service that received exclusive rights to broadcast that content. If you are concerned about what is/is not available via streaming apps, you will need to talk to the owner of those apps. As far as I know Comcast/NBC is only the owner of the Peacock app. Even so, that is treated like a separate business than the Comcast residential services provided to your television box. So, even if you had a complaint about Peacock app content, no one in Comcast customer service will be able to do anything to assist you, you will need to contact Peacock directly. 

I used to work for an IT department and anytime someone's work laptop broke and was outside the manufacturer's warranty, we forced the employee to order a new one. I am pretty sure this is somewhat the case with Comcast. Since they are required by law to ensure they provide you with equipment that guarantees you access to the television services you are paying for, and, if have an older device that cannot be guaranteed then Comcast HAS to replace it. There is no choice. If your DVR cannot provide you the services that Comcast is required to provide you based on your agreement, then they will ask/"force" you to upgrade to newer equipment that will get you your paid for services. This happened to me recently with the box in our guest room. Apparently, it was so old that it would not allow for the new digital way in which Comcast provides OnDemand services so if I wanted to keep using OnDemand on that TV, I had to get a replacement. I know replacing equipment is a pain, but for technology it really should be done on a regular basis to ensure you are getting the latest and greatest, but also that it works with any backend programming changes Comcast may make that customers are not privy to. Luckily, you can do what I did, unplug the box, grab the power cable and the remote and return it to an Xfinity store. I was able to get a new box the same day and it was already ready to go on my account once I got it installed. 

Again, I sincerely appreciate your frustrations, so I hope this helps. 

(edited)

27 Messages

You hope this helps?? How is you trying to tell me how the market works helping anything? I got a business degree, I know how the free market works. It's supply vs demand. And right now Comcast is providing less services for $70 more than I was paying a year ago. I understand how inflation works but that is gouging. That is a 35% increase and I am receiving about 50 less free movies that I now must rent or buy. Not to mention my light that doesn't work and they just say oh well.

I understand Comcast is a provider for Showtime and HBO and all the other channels, but why am I going to continue to pay Comcast/Xfinity money when I can just pay for the streaming service and get a Roku? If I received the same or more services and prices went up slightly to keep up with inflation that's one thing. That is not what is happening.  

And here is the truth about it. No company wants to cut into their bottom line, I understand that. Instead of gouging the loyal customers you do have and to actually reward them and bring in more money, cut prices.. It's simple Supply vs Demand. At price X you have the current Comcast subscribers who consist of mainly middle and upper class and people like myself who can just afford it but if it keeps going up I'm out.. If you change the services to Price Y, you will tripple your profits as you will now grab another group of people that couldn't afford it before. There is barely any expense to Comcast to put in service to someone, you literally have the initial install and maintenance of the lines. So drop your price to $100 for every Channel and wifi and $150 with security and monitoring and you will have Comcast/ Xfinity in every house. It basic economics. But Comcast wants to go the greed route and squeeze it's current customers for everything until we tap out and say enough is enough. And that is right about now if they raise my bill by $27 more after they just raised it $60 the last year and a half.

It all comes down to what I'm paying vs receiving. And Comcast isn't keeping their end of the deal. I'm getting way less movies, way less features with security, way less DVR and On Demand options, I have to rent or buy movies I could watch for the past 10 years but having Showtime and HBO [Edited: "Inflammatory"/"Language"]

(edited)

Official Employee

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1.5K Messages

As a company we are always trying to have the best balance between entertainment and value. Finding the best array of services that can meet the needs of the widest audience possible is the ideal goal. We are making huge strides in residential internet, ramping up speeds in some areas by double, and I am seeing right around the same price points for major speed increases on that side of things. From the TV end, I am truly a huge fan of our options and offerings.

 

Please know that losing you as a member of the Xfinity family is never something we want to see happen. I can assure you that your satisfaction is always top priority. Thank you very much for sharing your feedback. 

 

 

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