Regular Visitor
•
3 Messages
Comcast has abandoned us....
We are seniors in a rural community. We have been with Comcast for about 30 years and have spent $$60,000 to $70,000 with the company over that period. In that last month we have been without a functioning cable box. We have been sent three boxes that were either not the right specification (non X1) dated, obsolete or dead on arrival. Countless hours were spent on so-called customer service with someone halfway around the world working out of his or her bedroom. These “agents”, while polite and well meaning, are given extremely limited tools and authority. For the last week (in the absence of a functioning cable box) we have been reduced to porting our cable service via a laptop to our TV. $212.00 a month for this???
A chronology:
1. Mid December I call to find out why I cannot access the closed caption option on a particular service (peacock). The agent says the problem is that I have “X1” service (which apparently I have had for several years), but don’t have an X1 box and he will send me one. It arrives and it turns out to be a long obsolete, non-X1 box that predates our aging box.
2. The next agent decides against my wishes/or without my knowledge, to send me a box via an installer – for a hefty fee (I did have this fee rescinded). Given the Covid scare, we have not had anyone in the house since March. I can and have done these installs myself. The installer (who was very nice) comes to our come, cleans all connections in side and out and (most importantly) brings a tiny, abbreviated box (no clock, like an upside down trapazoid) that (later) another agent tells me is a piece of obsolete junk that has a terrible record.
This box performs terribly. We have to reset it from scratch (get it to accept a signal) every other day until it just completely stops working. Neither our efforts nor working with tech support over the phone will get it to work.
3. After talking to the next Agent and finding out we have been sent a piece of junk, I ask that Agent to overnight us the correct, up to date modern box, commensurate with the premium service we have. This he does and the box arrives the next day. However, this box will not activate at all, regardless of half a dozen attempts per instructions and multiple tries with two different agents. That was last week. We were told we would be sent another box. We have not received one or even a notice that one has shipped. We are now indefinitely without a proper, functioning cable box
We have been told to go to the Comcast store in Holyoke, MA Mall – which is a Covid-19 hotspot. We are both 70 and my wife has diminished lung capacity. I will not go to this place and risk our lives. Hooking up a box is simple, I’ve done it many times…so, what are we to do? The Comcast “experience” is rife with limited mediocre (at best) service, ageism and a dismissive attitude at the top where constant, repeated errors are the norm.
Responses
jagboy85628
Frequent Visitor
•
5 Messages
5 m ago
I have found one, and only one, effective way to get customer service from Comcast: contact one of the executives directly.
We live in California, in the area that was hit with massive wildfires last fall. We were evaculated for almost a month, and when we returned we had NO utilities, because all the lines (phone, cable, and power) were literally gone, burned up. Amazingly, Comcast STILL expected us to pay our monthly bill, for service they were totally incapable of even providing! Talking to their customer service people was a complete and total waste of time. As you indicated, they have no authority to do anything at all.
So, I did some digging, and found the name of several executives, and sent an e-mail. Within hours of sending that e-mail, I heard from someone in the E-suite, who actually resolved our problem. It is ridiculous that it is necessary to do such a thing, but it is, sadly, becoming more and more common. I had to do the same thing with Sears about two months ago. For too many companies these days, "Customer" and "Service" are just words, with nothing backing them up.
0
0
southriv
Regular Visitor
•
3 Messages
5 m ago
Sadly, what you say is all too true. Up until a few years ago, ther was a separate customer support number where got someone in the US who would re-negotiate you "contract" . Customer service a Comcast is now a joke. I feel for thespeople around the world who get yelled at and abused because they do not have the tools or authority to help.
This morning I got someone in the u.S. but asked that I get a real supervisor. I preceeded this by filing a complaint with our state office that deals with problems with service providers. I didn't get much more form the "supervisor" - I was just probably fobbed off on someone else.
One year when I was in business I started having problems getting my products properly delivered via a well-known carrier during holiday season - which is when they relaxed standards for training. I did a survery with my customers, printed the (overwhelmingly negative) results and overnighted (using the rival service) the results to the CEO. Within hours my phone was ringing off the hook....
0
0
Rustyben
Expert
•
24K Messages
5 m ago
the box you describe appears to be the latest xg1v4 4k capable DVR. The front profile is wider on top than the bottom and a single rectangular LED on the front. Is that your box? You may have had older equipment that was not X1, can't tell by the post that started the whole problem. When you connect the DVR to your TV is it via the HDMI cable and connected to a port on the TV labelled HDMI1 or HDMI2? If so, when you change the TV's input to that port does the screen show any video at all? get sound? is the cable set top box (STB) connected to the coax cable on the 'IN' connector not on the 'out to TV' coax connector?
I have escalated your issue to the Comcast Team available to these forums. Check back often for a reply in this thread from a Comcast Official Employee.
0
0
southriv
Regular Visitor
•
3 Messages
5 m ago
0
0