Realistic Customer Review

I recently moved into a new apartment complex that provided an xFi Gateway in each of the units. I got a student discount plan for the "superfast plan" for $50 a month. Cost breakdown was:

TOTAL: $50

$   107.00: superfast plan

$  - 47.00: student discount

$  - 10.00: automatic payment discount (bank)

I then proceeded to set up the wi-fi, but ran into some issues connecting to it, so I called customer service.

I reached a representative after an hour on hold. This call lasted for about 3 hours, as the representative and other teams tried troubleshooting the problem. They were unable to solve the issue, and my representatives shift was coming to an end, so it was decided to push any further assistance to the next day. (Completely understandable. I would not expect anyone to stay past their scheduled paid time).

The next day, a similar scenario. I called the customer service line and spoke with a representative who picked up where the other left off the night before. She said that they could not determine what the problem was and that a technician would be required to fix the problem. I asked if I'd be able to receive a prorated billing cost for the days that I was without wi-fi. They said absolutely, and that was that.

A technician came out a few days later, fixed the problem and set up the wi-fi. After this, I then made an automatic payment of $50 for my service plan and expected to receive a credit to my account for the prorated price I was promised a few days after this. A few days later I check my account to see if the credits had deposited into my account. Instead, I was faced with a  $185.76 bill.  I called customer service to understand where this cost came from. Here's the breakdown of the cost:

TOTAL: $185.76

$12.99 - Modem rental (from previous monthly bill)

$70.00 -

    $   107.00:   Internet plan - Superfast

    $  - 47.00:   Student discount

    $  -  5.00:    Automatic payment discount (credit card)

    $    15.00:   Modem rental (for current monthly bill)

$100 - technician

$2.77 - Taxes, fees and other charges

So first I'll state where I made my mistake. When I initially signed up for the plan, I did not select, "modem rental". This was a misunderstanding on my part. I thought since the apartment already had an xFi Gateway installed, that I did not have to "rent" it per say. Everything after this though, is why I canceled my service with Xfinity and why I'm spending the time today to provide new prospective customers with a detailed breakdown of how customer service works at Xfinity. Of course this is just my experience, but if it happened to me, there's a good chance it's happened to others.

Firstly, the call I made to inquire about the $185.76 charge, I was connected to a representative almost instantly. I told them the issue and they said they'll transfer me over to the billing department and to expect a wait time of 20-30 minutes. I was then on hold, for 4 hours, until about 10:00pm my time. I think this had to do with the US customer based service work shift ending when I called, and the process of having to transfer lines over to the non-domestic based customer service shift. That's just a guess.

I reached someone, they explained the charges to me, and I was extremely confused, because of how many different things that comprised my total bill. At this point, it was late, and I decide to wait until tomorrow to dispute the charges.

The next day I call customer service and hop on the line with a wonderful representative by the name of Brittany. I explained to her everything and here's what she responded with:

She said she was confused at why they sent out a technician to fix my router. She said a note had been left on my account by one of the representatives that assisted in troubleshooting my xFi Gateway saying that, "The reason for wi-fi user connectivity issues, is to due to the customer not signing up for the $15 a month modem rental". This note was placed on my account before a technician was sent out to my apartment.

I was never told by any representative that this was the issue for my initial wi-fi setup problems. All I knew is that a technician would be sent out to help fix it. The interpretation I took from this, was that if I had not spent the multitude of hours combatting with customer service to help fix my billing and service problems, Xfinity would have been able to sneak a $100 charge on me. In other words, scam me out of $100.

I was also charged for the $15 modem rental cost, although it was listed as $12.99 for the month I forgot to do it. So they still charged me for the problem that they didn't tell me about.

Continuing with Brittany, I told her I just wanted to cancel my service. She had been my 4th call with customer service and all together maybe 10 hours of wait times, actual phone conversations, etc. I just didn't want to deal with it anymore. She completely understood and told me that since I'm canceling the service within 30 days of my initial plan setup, that I could receive a full refund. Additionally, the $100 for the technician would be taken away.

I received the $100 credit for the technician fee, and continued to wait for the refund of $50 and for the remaining $85.76 for the next bill to be cancelled since I cancelled my services.

Today, my bill still showed $85.76 to be paid on July 21st and no $50 refund had been received. So, I called customer service again. It took a little bit of explaining, some back and forth between the representative and I, until I was told they'd have to check if I could receive a $50 refund. Remember, I had been promised it would be deposited back into my account as a credit, so again, why do they have to check?

The representative said they'd be able to deposit the $50 back into my account, which they did, but I'd still have to pay $14.21, for the days that I used the service in July.

I had canceled my service on the phone with Brittany on June 28th ( I believe) and expected for the wi-fi to stop and my billing to stop. My wi-fi continued to work and I assumed it would run until the end of my billing cycle, July 21st. Again, this felt like Xfinity trying to squeeze something out of me, even though I told them I wanted to cancel, and they told me I'd receive a full refund if I canceled within 30 days, which June 28th fell into.

I just gave up and didn't argue the $14.21. Right now, I have a bill for $35.76 ($85.76 - $50 credit). The representative said for me to call again when that bill is charged, and they will refund me the difference between $35.76 and $14.21. So, I'll have my 6th call with Xfinity customer service and hopefully my last.

All together, it is just extremely disappointing to deal with this sort of thing. There are competing services in my area and I plan to look at them. Unless Xfinity offered a heavily discounted rate for all of the hours I've had to spend trying to stop them from taking my money, I don't expect to be using them ever again and won't have anything good to say about them when others ask. 

It feels like the classic case of a company taking advantage of it's customers. Yes it's true, customers can always go somewhere else. Yes it's true, customers can always choose a cheaper plan, buy their own modem/router etc. This doesn't take away from the fact that Xfinity chooses to establish a culture within it's business operations and customer service that leaves it's customers having to jump hurdles to work with them. I'll never blame the representatives ever. I'll only blame the people who instruct them on what to do.