B

Visitor

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21 Messages

Sunday, December 17th, 2023 9:08 PM

Closed

After updating passwords, I can no longer send eMails via Outlook

This morning I logged into xfinity.com and was asked to update my password.  I have 4 eMail accounts across 2 different desktops for different family members.  I changed the password on two of my accounts.  I then went into Outlook and updated the password for those 2 accounts.  Right after doing that, I was no longer able to send eMails via Outlook.  I was able to receive eMails..  This happened on all 4 accounts at the same time even though I only changed password on 2 of them.  I then logged back into Xfinity.com and was able to both send and receive emails.  It only stopped working on Outlook.

Here are the error messages that I received when trying to send an eMail.

Sending reported error (0x800CCC67).  ESMTP server temporarily not available, please contact support.

 

I spoke to someone at  Xfinity this morning and they claim there is no issue on their part.

I have tried everything that I could find info on. I turned off the firewall, anti virus pgms, etc.  But still have this issue.

I also physically deleted one of the eMail accounts and added it back in.  Still cannot send eMails via Outlook.

Very frustrating spending all day trying different things only to end up failing. Searchin the Internet I have seen others who have posted same issue after updating their passwords. They too have not received an answer on how to fix the issue.

Official Solution

Retired Employee

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5.9K Messages

9 months ago

@Buythatcard Welcome to the Xfinity Forum and thank you for posting your questions here. I believe the reason that you have had so many issues when attempting to call Comcast regarding your email, is that we cannot troubleshoot Outlook as that is not our product. However, we can assist with ensuring that you can get logged into your Xfinity account and you have access to your comcast.net email via the Xfinity Connect website. Please remember that using third-party email clients (e.g., Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, etc.) to access your Comcast.net email address can potentially expose your Xfinity ID and password to fraud and other risks. We recommend you access your Comcast email by going to Xfinity Connect and clicking Email. Now, we do have some helpful information that should help you to reconfigure your comcast.net email in Outlook, found here: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/configure-outlook-express-xfinity-internet?view=app

We also recommend ensuring your Outlook configuration is set to IMAP vs. POP. We recommend only using IMAP configuration for your comcast.net email for the following reasons:

  • POP can cause problems when checking your mail from more than one phone or computer because POP removes the mail from our server and delivers it to your device.
  • IMAP makes it easier to sync your email on multiple devices because your folders and mail remain on our server until you move or delete them with your device.
  • With IMAP, the email changes you make on one device, like your smartphone, are reflected on your other devices, like your laptop.

Additional information about IMAP configuration can be found here: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/email-client-programs-with-xfinity-email

Finally, please remember, any time you change your comcast.net email password you will need to make sure you update Outlook or any other email client with the new password there. The passwords stored in those third-party email clients are not updated automatically and will not allow you to connect to the email servers without inputting the new email password there.

Unfortunately, if you are not having difficulting accessing your comcast.net email by going to Xfinity Connect and clicking Email, then the issue is not related to Comcast and you must contact Microsoft directly for help with their Outlook product and getting your passwords updated there. 

Please let us know if you have any other questions related to your Xfinity services. 

(edited)

Visitor

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21 Messages

I don't believe it's an Outlook issue.  I also use a software package for my business which sends out invoices to my customers. It does not use Outlook. It asks for my Xfinity email server credentials for outgoing mail.  It also stopped sending eMails.  

Maybe Xfinity should stop trying to pass it on to Microsoft and look into the issue on their end.

I have been using both Outlook and my business software for over 15 years and never had issues sending eMails.

As soon as I change the passwords on 2 out of my 4 accounts, things stop working.

FYI, I have 1 of my accounts set to IMAP and the others to POP.  They all have the same issue.

Wake up XFINITY and do some research here.  You are about to lose me as a customer if this is not resolved.

Official Employee

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906 Messages

I know this is frustrating to hear, but contacting Microsoft for the Outlook issue is the best way to go about getting this resolved. They will know what the issue is on their end.

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Visitor

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21 Messages

How do you explain the fact that the software I use to generate invoices for my business is not using Outlook.  It only uses Comcast credentials.

It also fails to send eMails.  It also has problems accessing the smtp.comcast  servers.

Even if it is an OUtlook issue, you cannot contact a human being to talk to over there.  

Official Employee

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906 Messages

If the software is third party and not Xfinity related, please reach out to that company for steps on linking your Xfinity email.

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
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2 Messages

no matter what any low level tech is going to pass this off. I'm having the same issue since the updates last week.  They either changed the name of the smtp server or the ports  or the need for certain security protocol.  

Official Solution

Retired Employee

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5.9K Messages

8 months ago

All,

Please remember, any time you change your comcast.net email password you will need to make sure you update Outlook or any other email client with the new password there. The passwords stored in those third-party email clients are not updated automatically and will not allow you to connect to the email servers without inputting the new email password there. If you need assistance with updating the passwords in those third-party email clients, such as Outlook, you will need to contact the company that owns those email clients (Microsoft in the case of Outlook).

Visitor

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6 Messages

Yes, of course. I think most people know that!

Accepted Solution

Visitor

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21 Messages

6 months ago

I originally started this post about 3 months ago. None of the suggestions that the tech people suggested worked.  It just started working by itself about 4 days later. 

Over the past 3 months, the same issue has happened  atleast 4 times.  Each time it went away by itself. Some times, I waited a few hours and sometimes I waited a whole day.

Once again 4 days ago, I lost my ability to send eMails via Outlook.  I went online to the support group but it only allows you to speak to an automated bot. You answer its questions and it just goes in circles.  So, I tried calling tech support. They sent me a link where I can chat with someone. I spent over an hour where they were giving me suggestions.  I told them that I already tried these suggestions.   I told them over and over and over that I have already gone thru all of this. Finally, they said that they will escalate the issue and someone from Comcast will contact me in 2 hours.  Four days later, I am still waiting.  I also sent 2 direct messages on these Forums to the Xfinity Support.  Never received a response.

eMail started working yesterday for a few hours. When I woke up this morning, once again I cannot send eMails. It's now been over 10 hours with no way to send messages via Outlook.

This has gone on for too long.  I am not the only OUtlook user out there having an issue.  Why hasn't Xfinity addressed this?  Why do they have such a horrible tech support group who are clueless?

I am moving in a few months and thankfully I will not have to deal with the worst company in the world anymore.

Official Employee

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1.4K Messages

Good afternoon @Buythatcard, and thank you for reaching back out on our Community Forums with your email issues. We're sorry to hear that your issues with sending emails have returned, we understand your frustrations. May I ask what errors you are receiving? 

 

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
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1 Message

9 months ago

I have the same problem for the same time frame

Visitor

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21 Messages

@user_ld28c4​ I am sure there are more of us out there with the same issue.  I have made multiple phone calls and posted in several community boards. Xfinity is just clueless.  Last night I was told that they would escalate the issue and call me back in 1 hour.  It's been 17 hours since they told me that.

I have also discovered that I cannot send eMails from my iPhone or iPad either. I have tried 4 different eMail accounts from Xfinity with all the same issues.  Don't let Xfinity try to tell you that it has anything to do with your individual account.

We shall wait and see if this continues.  Good luck.

Official Employee

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882 Messages

Hello, @user_ld28c4 thank you for reaching out over Xfinity Forums, you have contacted the right place in regard to your email concern. 

 

I know how important it is to be able to send out email communications. If you haven't checked your email port settings, I would recommend reviewing this article as there is some great information on Outlook port settings: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/update-your-xfinity-email-settings. 

 

If you're still experiencing issues after ensuring your port settings are set up correctly, please let me know. 

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
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Visitor

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6 Messages

9 months ago

I have the same issue!

Visitor

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21 Messages

9 months ago

This is my 3rd day with the following issue.   I have called & chatted with Xfinity technicians 3 times and they were clueless.  Each one wasted over an hour of my time reading the same script with no resolution.  While chatting with 1 technician yesterday, I was transferred to 2 other technicians.  Each one started over with the same script until I finally said enough is enough and quit the chat.  The very first technician that I spoke to on Sunday, said it was Microsoft's issue. I called Microsoft but was not able to speak to a human.  I have posted on multiple boards with no resolution.

On 12/17/23, I logged into xfinity.com and was asked to update my password.  I have 4 eMail accounts across 2 different desktops for different family members.  I changed the password on two of my accounts.  I then went into Outlook on my desktop and updated the password for those 2 accounts.  Right after doing that, I was no longer able to send eMails via Outlook.  I was able to receive eMails..  This happened on all 4 accounts at the same time even though I only changed password on 2 of them.  I then logged back into Xfinity.com and was able to both send and receive emails.  It only stopped working on Outlook.

I then tried my iPhone and iPad and received the same error message.

Here are the error messages that I received when trying to send an eMail.

Sending reported error (0x800CCC67).  ESMTP server temporarily not available, please contact support.

 

I have tried everything that I could find info on. I turned off the firewall, anti virus pgms, reinstalled Outlook, etc.  But still have this issue.

I also physically deleted one of the eMail accounts and added it back in.  Still cannot send eMails via Outlook.

On Sunday night, everything started working again. I thought everything was good to go. But, Monday morning the same issues happened. Can no longer send eMails. The whole day went by and I was not able to send eMails.  THen late Monday night, it started working again.  I woke up this morning, and once again it is not working.

Very frustrating spending 2 days trying different things only to end up failing. Searching the Internet I have seen others who have posted same issue after updating their passwords. They too have not received an answer on how to fix the issue.

Anything left for me to do?

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Sending Xfinity eMails via Outlook 2016 Suddenly Stopped Working

4 Messages

This is not a Microsoft issue! I am an Apple Mail user and having the exact same problem!

1 Message

I do not buy blaming MSoft.  This is what I have discovered.  For discussion passwords are fake.  Originally my xfinity password '123456789'  and the password used in desktop outlook to access xfintiy servers was the same '123456789'.  One machine works 24/7 so it has been online for months. During the breech the password used to access the xfinity servers went from '123456789' to 'iamapizzedoffpizza' this was verified by using the desktop outlook repair utility and clicking on the eyeball.  I cannot add a new outlook account to my desktop because it does not recognize the old '123456789' or new xfinity password '123454678B' I was forced to create.    I could add my 2 working outlook accounts to a second machine using the xfinty alphabet soup passwords they pushed to these two accounts that were on line at the time of the push.  Again I have 3 outlook accounts that have been on my machines, one no longer accessed xfintini using the repair tool it still has my original xfinity password stored '12345689'. xfinity will not allow the outlook app to connect to the server, accept my new xfinity password '12345678B' to change or up date. 

Still cannot connect to the xfinity server to create a new outlook account or repair the one that stopped connecting because xfintiy will not accept the new password, or old password (10 characters, num, lo case, up case and special char) .  The third account that wont connect because it was off line at the time of the password push has the origninal password '123456789'.  Note that the two existing working accounts have different alphabet soup passwords and different from my xfintity account password that is supposed to be the same. A bit repetitive, no?  The error message below as an example of what is happening to a previously good account with no issues.

(edited)

1 Message

9 months ago

I have the same issue.  I am able to login my Xfinity account and check email via Xfinity website, but my third-party software Outlook keeps asking me the password to login my mailbox.  I tried to delete and add the Comcast email account, and Outlook still cannot access my Comcast email account.  It is second day now.

Official Employee

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1.7K Messages

Hi, @user_y0pfs1! Thank you for your patience and for taking the time to visit XFINITY over our forums page for help with Outlook asking for your password and for your patience while waiting for a response. Have you checked on the port settings like my awesome teammate mentioned here?

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
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Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

4 Messages

9 months ago

I have the same issue! I am able to login my Xfinity account and check email via Xfinity website, but my third-party software APPLE MAIL keeps asking me the password to login my mailbox.  I tried to delete and add the Comcast email account, and APPLE MAIL still cannot access my Comcast email account.  It's the 3rd day now.

Visitor

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6 Messages

9 months ago

I use Apple Mail and am also having issues since Comcast forced me to change my password. I can receive but not send mail. I spent several hours yesterday on hold with Comcast before speaking with THREE representatives. The Level 3 guy seemed to get it working last night but this morning, I cannot send again from MacMail!

Visitor

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1 Message

I use Apple mail also with the same difficulty. This is not an Apple problem but an Xfinity problems. No issues till Cfinity asked me to update to another sign in password

Official Employee

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738 Messages

@Drops Can I ask that you reach out privately, so we can cover the details of your account. You can start by clicking the chat icon located in the top right corner of your forums page when signed in. Once there, you can direct your messages to "Xfinity Support." Please add your full name and service address to help us locate your account. Let me know if you have any questions.

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

Visitor

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21 Messages

9 months ago

This is exactly what I am going through also. Spent hours on the phone. Things start working at night but fail to work the next morning.  All Xfinity technicians that I have spoke to are trying to blame Outlook.  But, I found that another software package that I use to generate invoice for my customers also stop sending eMails.  It does not even use Outlook. It just uses Comcast credentials.

Xfinity needs to wake up and stop blaming everything on Micorosft. They need to look at the issue more closely.

4 Messages

9 months ago

ATTENTION XFINITY/COMCAST REPS: Stop trying to pass the buck and make this a "IT'S A 3RD PARTY EMAIL CLIENT PROBLEM" when YOUR COMPANY started the problem and all roads lead to the password change and some sort of blockage to passing the new password credentials through to whatever normal ports are set up!

You have now heard from several Outlook and Apple Mail customers who have the problem.

In my case I own several Comcast email accounts and I only changed 1 password. ALL of my emails are working except the 1 I changed 2 days ago. First I was unable to send any mail but did receive it, now nothing. I'm staring at a blank Apple Mail mailbox! YEARS of history gone.

I also spent an hour on the phone today with 2 different reps who couldn't do anything for me because they have no idea what's going on with this issue. I alerted them that it's now documented on this forum which they knew nothing about. WHY?

XFINITY/COMCAST needs to be the one to change whatever is wrong and not make it's customers suffer with hours on the phone with TS Reps who know nothing about this problem whatsoever!

What they do know how to do is ask me if I want to subscribe to Xfinity Mobile! All after alerting us Fees will increase AND not providing us stable services. Why would I switch over?!

Visitor

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21 Messages

@user_ybodys​ Well said!!!  

Visitor

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6 Messages

Indeed!! I agree with all of the above. 

Visitor

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21 Messages

Another interesting thing about my chat experience yesterday.  After getting transferred 3 times and wasting over 1 1/2 hours speaking to a wall, I finally just walked away from the chat.  A few minutes after that, I received 6 eMails from Xfinity.  Each one said "Awesome is waiting.  You're just a few steps away. Proceed to review and approve your order."  Then there was a link to Finish Order.

I said to myself what order?  For some reason one of the technicians tried to update my service.  Where the heck did that come from?

The tech support group is in sad shape. Xfinity needs to get their act together.

They are quick to add new services that you did not ask for but are lost puppies when trying to solve an issue.

Good luck to all of us.

Official Employee

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882 Messages

Hello, @user_ybodys thank you for reaching out over Xfinity Forums, this isn't the experience we want you to have with your email access. I know how important it is to have access to your email communications, and be able to send and receive those. 

 

3rd party email client is a something we support, but configuration is needed to support this function. If you haven't checked these articles, there is some great information to ensure all the settings for access is correct: https://comca.st/3nPCKFo, https://comca.st/2St3WOO, https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/email-client-programs-with-xfinity-email. 

 

Working with customers I've also had some let me know that if a VPN is active, it may need to be turned off or if running through an APP to pause it. 

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
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Visitor

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2 Messages

@XfinityJustinC​ 

I did that immediately.  It made no difference.  I continue to experience intermittent issues connecting to Comcast's email servers.  Comcast is just deflecting the blame instead of fixing the problem.  I have started shopping for another ISP.

3 Messages

9 months ago

I had a text chat with an Xfinity service tech on 12/18/23. Here was his answer to me, cut & pasted from the original: 

I completely understand your concern, however, I would like to inform you, this is an ongoing issue which many customers are facing and our back end team is already working on this concern and most of the emails and password have started working. Please be assure and help me with your best contact number or email to notify you once the issue will be resolved.

This issue is now 4 days old with no end in sight. Apparently, nobody on this thread received a seemingly honest answer I did. My wildest guess is that this issue was caused by upgraded security recently implemented to protect from a reoccurrence of the huge data breach that occurred at Comcast/Xfinity in Oct/Nov. Possibly an unintended consequence of other actions. Possibly intended. Either way, we'll never know. I just want it fixed sooner rather than later. An honest "expected resolution timeline" would save a lot of angst from a lot of customers. Its crippling.  

Visitor

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21 Messages

@user_yl63wr​ Update:  Last night I was able to start sending mail again but that happened for the past 2 nights and then stopped working the next day.   So far, all is good today. It appears that someone is finally taking care of the issue.

Over the past 4 days, I spoke to 9  Xfinity technicians  on the phone, chat & community boards.  Every single one gave me the same answer. It's a Microsoft issue.  Even after I told them that the problem was happening with other apps besides Outlook.

I am amazed that you came across a technician who gave you the right answer.  Don't these technicians have a common source to get the latest updates from.  They all seem to follow the same script instead of looking outside the box.

I hope that your mail is up and running again.  

If Xfinity wasn't the only show in my neighborhood, I would have left them a long time ago.

3 Messages

The security breech I referred to above, possibly causing Xfinity react and change its security methods has been publicly disclosed previously and pushed to be via Norton just this morning.  

Data Breach Notification

Xfinity data breach affects more than 35 million people

Why are you receiving this?

A security incident has surfaced. You may or may not have been affected, but as always, we want to make you aware of the incident and remind you that you can take steps to help protect yourself. Check to make sure that you’re responding to LifeLock alerts, updating any software you use, changing your passwords often, and always watching out for phishing attempts.

What happened?

A security flaw is being blamed for a third-party data breach that has exposed the information of more than 35 million Xfinity customers. The internet provider reports stolen information that includes names, contact info, last four digits of Social Security numbers, and secret questions and answers. If exploited, cybercriminals can use this information to commit identity theft.

Visitor

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2 Messages

8 months ago

I have had the same problems.  Recently (yesterday) and intermittently.  Comcast always blames Outlook.  And then "encourages" customers to use the Comcast web based email.  I am convinced the problem is not Outlook, and I do not want to use Comcast webmail.  I believe Comcast does not have enough infrastructure in-place to meet the demand of all the third-party email applications on their mail servers, in particular with the roll-out of the iPhone 15.  Comcast just admitted to a data breach effecting 35.8 million customers!  That is a LOT of customers.  How many of those 35.8 million are using third party email apps like Outlook? 

Official Employee

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1.5K Messages

Hey there @atlanta01 thank you so much for contacting our Xfinity Support Team over our Forums. You came to the right place for help and we are here to see what is going on if you are still having issues. Are you still impacted at this time?

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
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Contributor

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31 Messages

8 months ago

I have a very similar, and maybe the same, problem.

My wife and I have four Windows 10 machines and four Apple products.  Since we moved last year, we have used legacy Comcast email addresses as is graciously permitted by Comcast.

We are unable to connect to Xfinity mail servers, sometimes incoming and other times outgoing, much of the time.  Either they all work, or they all don't work.  They worked for a while yesterday afternoon and now don't work today.

All machines have worked reliably in the past.   No configuration changes have been made except for the mandatory password change.

We connect using our local network to Spectrum cable (Comcast is not available here.)  Two of the windows machines are hard wired to our router and the others connect via wifi.

Interesting tidbit....

On my Iphone if I connect to the Xfinity servers via Spectrum *cellular* (aka Verizon), I can currently send and receive my comcast.net email.

If I connect via wifi through our router and modem via Spectrum *cable*, I cannot send and receive comcast.net email right now.

Again this has worked fine in the past.  Email configuration in both cases is identical.  Ports and other settings have been verified multiple times.

This would seem to suggest that the problem, in my case at least, is somewhere between the local cable ISP (Spectrum) and the Comcast servers.  The cynical side of me had the thought that Comcast doesn't want smooth connection to its servers via Spectrum, but I doubt this is the case.

This is clearly beyond what the customers of Xfinity, Spectrum, or Microsoft can diagnose and fix on their own.  It's in the best interest of all three (and maybe more) providers to collaborate to quickly and effectively address their joint problem.

Contributor

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31 Messages

8 months ago

Update:

As of 8pm CST, Xfinity and Outlook are playing nicely together.   Emails are coming and going normally.

....for the moment.

I sure wish Xfinity would publish what has been going on.  The longer this remains a mystery, the more credibility Xfinity loses.

Official Employee

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738 Messages

@crollman If you need assistance with your account can I ask that you reach out privately, so we can cover the details of your account. You can start by clicking the chat icon located in the top right corner of your forums page when signed in. Once there, you can direct your messages to "Xfinity Support." Please add your full name and service address to help us locate your account. Let me know if you have any questions.

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

Contributor

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31 Messages

I don't see a 'chat' icon in the upper right corner.   Do you mean 'direct messaging' perhaps?

I'd be happy to collaborate on this. 

I'll try that the next time email stops working.   It is working at the moment.

Problem Solver

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1.3K Messages

@crollman Happy to know it's working now! Yes, if the issue does happen again, please click on the direct message icon. 

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

I no longer work for Comcast.

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