Global Travel Pass Nightmare

I need help figuring out how to get this issue resolved.

In August 2022 I traveled abroad. Prior to leaving, I called customer support and had Global Travel Pass activated on two lines on my account. At the border, one of the lines got a message stating that GTP was active, the other did not. I immediately called customer support, the agent assured me that GTP was active on both lines and that everything was fine. Several days into my vacation abroad, I got a notice from Comcast/Xfinity letting me know that I was amassing a rather large bill from international roaming charges. I called customer support again, after a few hours on the phone I was told the charges would be reversed and that GTP was now added to my account. Several days later, I saw that my charges had almost doubled. We spent several hours on the phone over multiple calls trying to get this resolved. Ultimately, no one was able to turn GTP on and after returning how customer service credited my account for all the roaming charges.

Now, in April 2023, I again traveled abroad. I again called customer support to have GTP added to my account. Again I was told it was added to my account. I could see on the Xfinity Mobile app, it was not added to my account. I was unable to add it myself as there is an error when I try to do so and it instructs me to call customer support or chat with customer support. I did so through my travel abroad multiple times. At this point, I've contacted customer support somewhere between 15-20 times. Thankfully, I knew better and disabled roaming while crossing the border so I avoided the charges, however I was left without access to my data and was unable to keep myself safe during my travel.

I'm trying to find out who to contact at this point to get it resolved. Here's what happens when you contact customer support...
1) I get to explain this over and over to a new customer service agent.
2) I'm assured that my concern will be taken care of. I'm assured that I'm certainly speaking to the right person who will make sure my issue is resolved.
3) I wait for around 10–20 minutes while they try to again add GTP to my account.
4) I'm told that my GTP is pending and that it's "stuck" in the system. They often ask for more time while they use "advanced tools" to solve my issue.
5) After 5-10 more minutes, I'm told that they have successfully fixed the problem, but I need to wait some amount of time (it ranges depending on the agent from a few minutes, 30-60 minutes, 8 hours, 24 hours or 36 hours).
6) I'm assured that GTP is on my account and that there will not be any need to contact customer service in the future.
7) After waiting the specified amount of time, nothing happens.

8) Contact customer service, start over at #1

I've asked to be escalated to a different department, I've asked to speak with tier 2 level support, I've asked if there was a support team that handled more complicated issues. The agents typically say either they're already working with tier 2 level support or there is no need to contact anyone else because they definitely solved the problem and I can "rest assured" that they have definitely added GTP to my account this time. I don't know what to do at this point. It's ruined two trips abroad and has endangered my family. I don't know how to get this resolved or who to contact at this point. Please advise me on how to get the help I need.

Thank you for your time.

Responses

XfinityPeterH

Official Employee

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1.8K Messages

2 years ago

@user_ae0d6c I appreciate you taking time out of your day and want to ensure you’re able to get in touch with an awesome Xfinity Mobile expert to help get this resolved. Due to account security, our options with Xfinity Mobile accounts are very limited. We're unable to perform any device or account specific requests over this platform.

Have you tried reaching out to our secure online chat at xfinity.com/xfinityassistant/?channel=xMobile where an Xfinity Mobile expert is available 24/7?

Chat: xfinity.com/xfinityassistant/?channel=xMobile

user_ae0d6c

Visitor

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8 Messages

@XfinityPeterH Yep, I've contacted support through chat and telephone around 20 times at this point. I actually explained it in detail in my original post. They claim to have resolved the problem, tell me to wait, and then call or chat with support again if I have any issue. Nothing gets resolved and I start the process over each time.

I'm looking for another department to contact. The customer chat and telephone support line is not able to resolve this issue. I need to have this issue escalated to someone who knows how to resolve this.

2 years ago

XfinityPeterH

Official Employee

•

1.8K Messages

Thank you for the confirmation @user_ae0d6c Since our department is limited with support there is not much we can do but we are happy to put in a request for you to be contacted. Please send us your full name and complete address in a Direct Message. We will gather a few more pieces of information but want to keep your information secure. Here are the steps for sending us your details:

(Full credit to @BruceW for this excellent explanation!)

"Search for Xfinity Support" won't work. To send a "Direct Messaging" message to Xfinity Support:

• Click "Sign In" if necessary

• Click the "Direct Messaging" icon or https://forums.xfinity.com/direct-messaging

• Click the "New message" (pencil and paper) icon

• The "To:" line prompts you to "Type the name of a person". Instead, type "Xfinity Support" there

• - As you are typing a drop-down list appears. Select "Xfinity Support" from that list

• - An "Xfinity Support" graphic replaces the "To:" line

• Type your message in the text area near the bottom of the window

• Press Enter to send it

See https://forums.xfinity.com/conversations/email/cant-create-a-new-email-address/605e52b726aa974d63032d02?commentId=606107ea738c7f46a02b830e for an example.

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2 years ago

user_dfea49

Visitor

•

14 Messages

2 years ago

[Edited: "Inflammatory"], but, yeah, that's a heck of a time you had trying to figure that out. You did try soft resetting your phone and resetting the cellular network, right?

Also, in the future, pick your self up a local SIM card. It's way cheaper and always effective. (If your phone is locked to Xfinity, you may have to make a quick chat or call to them that you are traveling internationally so they can temporarily unlock SIM.)

(edited)

user_ae0d6c

Visitor

•

8 Messages

@user_dfea49 I understand it might sound a bit dramatic (I see it's been edited. I didn't take any offense, by the way. It was a bit bold, but I wouldn't have said inflammatory), but ultimately that's how it felt. We ended up going to a show and using the first line (with GTP) to navigate there. That phone was also used to take pictures and video. When we left, the first phone was dead and my line got the message that it was gathering hundreds of dollars in roaming charges, so I turned roaming off. I immediately called support, and during that 30-60 minutes we were left in the dark, late at night, in a foreign country, 30 minutes from our hotel, and we didn't know how to navigate back. Sitting in that parking lot waiting for support to resolve this issue, we didn't feel safe or secure. It's one of the reasons I made sure to get the GTP added before our trip and made at least one preventative call after crossing the border to verify everything was working. At every turn, customer service assured me it was okay and working.

I didn't know about picking up a SIM card. That's a great idea! In hindsight, it would've been a perfect solution had I known, my phone supports dual SIM cards and I think eSIM cards are an option. Hopefully I won't need to use it in the future, but it's good to know about in general. I did try resetting both my phone and my cellular network, neither worked. I read some other posts of users having the same problem, but it seemed to be an issue with bringing their phone from another service. I got this phone when I transferred service to Xfinity, so I don't think that was the issue.

The good news is somewhere after the 21st chat, it's been fixed! The 20th agent said they escalated the issue to the "technical team" and told me the issue would be resolved in 24-48 hours. There were a few differences in the exchange that led me to believe they might actually have been doing something different. It wasn't fixed after 2 days, so I contacted support again. They were great. We had a lovely conversation about books while we were waiting, but I don't know if they fixed the issue, as they seemed to do the standard customer support formula above. I was actually planning to contact the BBB today, and then this morning I had an email in my inbox telling me that GTP has been added to my account. I double-checked in the app, and it's all connected the way it should be. If anyone else has this issue, the key seems to be to just keep at it.

2 years ago

user_dfea49

Visitor

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14 Messages

@user_ae0d6c I'd say that was an adventure in a foreign land! We're not victims until victimized, right? But, seriously, we should always strive to prepare and protect ourselves and family whenever we step out into the world. And, you did just that.

I used to work for AT&T Elite customer support. We had a simple, often overlooked and under-used diagnostic tool that allowed us to wipe and reset a phone's cellular profile. This was usually the magic trick for the stickiest of device issues. I bet the tech team did something just like that.

2 years ago

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Global Travel Pass Nightmare

XfinityPeterH

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