IVR phone tree[Edited: "Inflammatory"] problems not resolved, [Edited: "Inflammatory"]

All I needed to do was talk to an agent? Why? Because [Edited: "Language"] Comcast randomly deleted all my port forwarding settings (note: for some [Edited: "Inflammatory"] reason these settings are only accessible through the mobile app, [Edited: "Inflammatory"]).

It's simple: I woke up one day and all my port forwards were just suddenly gone. Nothing was working right. I needed to speak to an agent to find out what happened and how to restore them and keep this from happening again. But the customer support IVR phone tree is so [Edited: "Inflammatory"], there is simply no way I could find to speak to an agent. The system tried to reset my modem, hung up on me several times, and then very eventually I managed to get an agent to call me back after a long wait. A few minutes into that call, the agent suddenly went mute mid-sentence and the call dropped. Of course they did. They never called me back. Of course they didn't.[Edited: "Inflammatory"]

Why is it so difficult to simply talk to a human being??

I am so frustrated at this point, I simply want to cancel my service and become a monk. How can it be this [Edited: "Language"]' difficult [Edited: "Inflammatory"]. I just need to talk to an agent. It's that simple. Edited: "Inflammatory"] For many years I would pick up the phone, press a couple options, and talk to an agent and have my issue solved in minutes.

Edited: "Inflammatory"]

Responses

XfinityThomasA

Official Employee

•

2.3K Messages

10 months ago

primes2357 - Thank you for your feedback and for joining us here on the Forums. This isn't the experience we want and we'd appreciate the chance to help out. As a quick reminder, you can visit xfinity.com/support/schedule-callback to schedule a call back at a time that works for you. And, here you can find other methods to get in touch with a Comcast specialist. Our team is here to help too. We're part of the team that works here online. We; 're experts in all things Xfinity and would love to help out and save you a phone call in. Please send a direct chat message with your full name and complete service address to “Xfinity Support” for assitance. To do so, click on the chat icon located at the top right of this forum's page.

Here are the detailed steps to direct message us:
• Click "Sign In" if necessary
• Click the "Direct Message” icon (upper right corner of this page)
• Click the "New message" (pencil and paper) icon
• Type "Xfinity Support" in the to line and select "Xfinity Support" from the drop-down list
• Type your message in the text area near the bottom of the window
• Press Enter to send your message

primes2357

2 Messages

Fair enough. I appreciate that. Besides the relatively poor IVR situation over there, it's befuddling to me why the only way to manage port forwarding is via the mobile app. It can't be done on the gateway/modem anymore. No advanced option to restore it to there. No option for the agent to restore that functionality to the gateway. What if a customer doesn't own a mobile phone or can't use the app for some reason? No port forwards for them?

Further, what fuels my frustration about this port forward settings thing is that my settings recently got wiped out by Comcast.

For context: I used to own my own modem hardware. It was great, and I had full control over it. But Comcast did everything in their power to force my hand into renting the equipment from them, including denying me Internet service tech support on multiple occasions (when, it turns out, the issues were Comcast failures; nothing to do with my hardware). So I finally said, "fine, I'll play it your way, I'll rent the modem and see how this goes." And what am I rewarded with? Wiped settings and frustration and wasted time.

I assume the reason Comcast has the port forwarding settings abstracted off-gateway (in the mobile app though? really?) is protecting customers from themselves, so they don't mess things up. So I find it ironic that Comcast just randomly wiped my settings. I presume it was related to the recent service outages we've had in my area, which I assume are systems maintenance or upgrades. I get that these things need to happen, and that's fine. But it's not fine to mess up all my carefully curated settings.

How do we resolve this? Do I stop renting and instead go buy my own hardware again and arm wrestle with technical support occasionally when I have to call in and they try to deny me? Is there a third option I'm not yet aware of?

10 months ago

XfinityDena

Official Employee

•

3.2K Messages

@primes2357 Per the modem, you can definitely own your own modem at any time that you want. You would want to visit the link: https://mydeviceinfo.xfinity.com/ to check on compatible modems. As long as the modem is a modem/ router combination you would not need to get separate equipment. I want to let you know that there are great benefits to using our Xfinity modem https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/why-rent-wireless-gateway.

For the settings are you able to visit https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/port-forwarding-xfinity-wireless-gateway and set up fort forwarding on your Gateway?

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer. tick

10 months ago

Customer Service

primes2357

IVR phone tree[Edited: "Inflammatory"] problems not resolved, [Edited: "Inflammatory"]

XfinityThomasA

primes2357

XfinityDena

New to the Community?