comcast tech visit charge ?????? Shady all the way

[falcon25]

I had just gotten my cable and was able to see all my channels except for one. Called tech support and was told that a tech would have to be sent out. The tech came out and replaced a filter in the big cable box that's outside on the street. Then today i just found out that I was charged $28.

so I called Comcast and informed them that I shouldn't have to pay for that $28 because it resulted from a Comcast equipment failure and that it's part of their customer guarantee. The rep was unwilling to remove it at first and told me she could only lower it to $14. I then told her about the customer guarantee and she had the guts to tell me that such a thing is NOT part of the customer guarantee.

After a long conversation on the phone, she finally said she'd remove it but she insisted that she was doing me a FAVOR and they would never remove any charges from my bill again. I can almost guarantee that the charge will reappear on the next months' bill. What happened to Comcast's customer guarantee? It's clearly spelled out on their front page and now they won't honor it? The rep then went on to tell me that i'd ALWAYS be charged a service call regardless of whose fault it is. Why should I pay an additional fee for them to maintain their own equipment?

This is not the first time I've heard of this and has happened to many of my friends and family. I'm so fed up with the deceptive Comcast practice and the fact they seem to be getting away with it. Is there anything I can do to make sure it's truly removed from my bill ??

[rog286713]

You are correct.

We will resolve routine issues in one visit or we'll credit you $20 or give you a free premium channel for three months.

After the first visit to your home, if we do not satisfactorily complete installation or can’t resolve a routine issue, we will credit you $20 or give you a free premium channel for three months. Additionally, we won’t charge you for a service visit that results from a Comcast equipment or network problem.

[CCCarole]

When you receive your next bill, post back if the charges have not been removed. 

Here is the link to the full Comcast Guarantee

[falcon25]

Yes. I'll most certainly keep you guys updated. the next bill comes out this Sat. this is really fraustrating. the rep had the guts to tell me that this is just how Comcast is and we will ALWAYS get charged regardless.

[cherylol]

You state that Comcast does not charge for tech visits that turn out to be Comcast equipment or network issues, but this is a complete misnomer.  I was advised by a Comcast representative that Comcast always charges for service calls.  In my particular instance, I utilized the number on my bill to contact a technician.  He ran some tests a determined that my line was dropping.  He advised me that a technician service call should be scheduled; which I arranged.  The technician came to my home and replaced some equipment at the box outside.   This was Comcast's equipment; nonetheless, I was charged $39.95.  If this is not a standard practice then your billing representatives should be advised accordingly.  The representative also informed me that the technican conducting the visit determines the application of charges and this cannot be changed.  I hope that the technician does not get some financial remuneration based upon whether charges are passed through to the customer or not.  If this is the case then this establishes a situation where a conflict of interest resides on the part of the technician.  I am very displeased with this practice and feel as though as a customer these charges are invalid.  

[Zoder]

---

@cherylol wrote:

You state that Comcast does not charge for tech visits that turn out to be Comcast equipment or network issues, but this is a complete misnomer.  I was advised by a Comcast representative that Comcast always charges for service calls.  In my particular instance, I utilized the number on my bill to contact a technician.  He ran some tests a determined that my line was dropping.  He advised me that a technician service call should be scheduled; which I arranged.  The technician came to my home and replaced some equipment at the box outside.   This was Comcast's equipment; nonetheless, I was charged $39.95.  If this is not a standard practice then your billing representatives should be advised accordingly.  The representative also informed me that the technican conducting the visit determines the application of charges and this cannot be changed.  I hope that the technician does not get some financial remuneration based upon whether charges are passed through to the customer or not.  If this is the case then this establishes a situation where a conflict of interest resides on the part of the technician.  I am very displeased with this practice and feel as though as a customer these charges are invalid.  

---

They are definately invalid and I am upset that we see this problem reported here so frequently. The Customer Guarantee clearly states that they will not charge you for a service call if the problem lies in the network or their equipment. So if a rep told me they would not refund it, I would politely remind the rep of guarantee #3 and that if they don't issue the credit I will be reporting them to the corporate office for violating the Corporate policy. The customers should not have to beg for a credit they are entitled too.

[odubiel]

I too am having this same issue. I am moving into a new apartment in the same apartment complex. I went online and said I was going to self move my equipment to the new place. My services didn't work there because of an outside the building issue. This tech is coming tomorrow to reconnect my apt from the outside. When I received the confirmation call today to confirm my appointment tomorrow. The lady said I would be charged 39.95 standard fee. I told the lady I didn't need anything installed, just my building connected from outside. She said whenevr a tech is called this fee is applied????? So I have had Comcast for a year now, I move down the street, and I have to pay 40 bucks because the building I'm in isn't cconnected to the internet? Doesn't seem right

[Swapnil]

I had this issue last month, i moved in toa new apt. Comcast was having some equipment issue outside and the tech guy fixed it. When i checked my bill today i was charged $70. when i checked with the customer support they said they always charge for this kind of visit  

This is ridiculous, i was charged for some faulty hardware on street.

[ComcastCares]

Hi Swapnil -

I show that you were assisted by one of our representatives earlier today. Has your billing issue been resolved? Let me know if you need any further assistance.

[salonij97]

Hello all,

I had called comcast to ask them to fix the cable line in my apartment. They told me that they'll send someone and did not tell me that it will cost me money. It was their responsibility to fix it or at least tell me that it will cost me. They took away all my options and left me with a $74.00 charge.

What should be done?

Thanks

Saloni

[TonyG74]

Disappointed!! I was never told about the potential of having to pay for a Service Call when they said "we will have to send someone out to look at that" and tonight I get an email from Comcast and not only was I charged for a On SITE Service VISIT at $39.95 but I was also charged for One-Time Installation Charges at $39.95!! Basically $80 to fix their faulty equipment I have only had for 3 months!! Their equipment proved faulty and I must pay?!?! I DONT THINK SO!! I called the 24/7 customer service at 11:30pm Eastern and of course the Billing dept is closed so I go to Support. They lady I spoke with told me while laughing well yes you're going to pay for that! REALLY?!?! Man my blood is boiling right now!! Why the heck would I pay for your faulty equipment?! What ticks me off more is the technician told me I had to change the box and down grade from a X1 DVR to a NON-DVR unit because it was causing issues with the other DVR in another room!! Kept saying "it'll save you $10 a month can you tell I'm not in sales?" Yea because you knew I was going to get screwed on the other end! Save 10 bucks a month my rear!! After the lady laughed at me I asked to speak to Retentions and she said they are open made me wait like 5 minutes while she typed something (supposedly) and then finally transferred me ONLY to come back and say Retentions is closed also!! mg blood boils more now! Either these charges come off my bill or I will cancel my services! I don't need cable TV and I can easily switch to Centurylink Internet! Comcast you are not the only service in this town! You need to remember your customer guarantee...as stated in Guarantee #3 Additionally, we won't charge you for a service visit that results from a Comcast equipment or network problem. Seems to me you're not standing behind that guarantee!!!!

[jackmorgan9905]

Same issue. And I was told 3 to 5 business days ago it would be resolved. I have the original chat log saved and the name of the person I contacted on the phone. I'm giving it until tommorow then I'm ready to get a couple people fired

[jackmorgan9905]

Charge me for faulty equipment. Lie to me on the phone. Standard operating procedures Comcast?

[upsetinindiana]

I am going to contact the BBB  since I was charged 150 for them putting in a new line which they did npt do and I being called a liar since the technician gave me paper work to sign and I thought i was signing for work he did. My bill is 541 and I have had comcast for 1 month.

[Pdc88]

Join the club. I started with comcast almost exactly a year ago. I tried to do the self-install and it failed so a Tech had to come out and basically flip a switch so to speak (which was only off because the previous tennants didn't pay the bills) but they told me there would be no charge. After I was set up I found I was charged like 130 bucks for this "service" call. When I reached out to comcast they said there was no way to reverse it and instead offered me blast internet for a full year at no additional charge. I was ok with this as I had been without internet for a month at this time anyway and just wanted to move on.

Fast forward a year and here I am getting overbilled and charged for equipment I don't even have anymore. 

The ironic thing is up until today I have actually defended comcast when all my friends and family would talk about how much they hate this company. I always said "The support really isn't that bad and the internet speed is worth the price" Well now i feel like the fool because like everyone else I'm now searching around for other internet options and thinking about just getting dish or directtv for football season. 

This is weak. How can such a huge company fail so much on just the billing aspect of things? You can walk in and basically get any equipment you want without paying a dime but as soon as you try to modify your service things starts going wrong and you end up being over billed. 

[dt10]

June 2016 and Comcast is still charging $70 for trouble shooting service calls. I pay nearly $300 per month for a bundled service and the internet has been terrible. I get shut down at least twice a day or more. I've called out several technicians over the last 3 years who always find an issue with Comcast equipment or the way it was set up by the previous technician and repair/replace it. Why should I have to pay for equipment or technician errors that I have no control over? ATT and other phone companies DON'T CHARGE if the problem is due to their equipment. I was offered a refund on the lastest charge and told that I can sign up for equipment protection for $4.95 per month. Huh? Seriously considering dropping Scamcast. 

[CCCrystal]

Hello dt10,

I apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused you. Please keep in mind that as with any service call, there is a possibility that you will incur a charge for having a technician come to your home to fix or replace your equipment. For your peace of mind, we offer the Service Protection Plan (SPP), which ensures that any service calls regarding customer education or customer equipment will be free of charge. For more information about our service protection plan you can visit http://www.comcast.com/spp/terms.html.

I have credited your account for the trouble call. The credit will appear on your next statement that prints under the Other Charges and Credits section. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach  back out to us.

[jutesch]

You act as if you are doing the customer a favor with your support plan, but it is $60/yr to have this.  You aren't doing anyone a service except your wallet.

[JdhCA23]

So much BS I'm starting to get irritated rapidly. Reading these customers literally just asking to be notified BEFORE they are slammed with fees they're forced to pay or lose service and then legitimately being told that your guarantee is not guaranteeing anything it say but for only extra money on top of ludicrous charges already created out of Thin air and thinner fine print you can get protection from Comcast equipment malfunctions that were already guarantees to be no cost anyway. I called asking to transfer my service and the inability of the phone rep to reach my router remotely after trying to sign up for a new deal with only a "$100 deposit due now" that I never even mentioned in the slightest, I am told that for no cost a tech will come out to see, and tech comes out and can't find which cable from outside is the one to my room so he leaves accomplishing nothing then a new tech arrives a week later at "no cost". Instead of looking for the correct wires to get my router online he comes back in the room with a drill and puts a hole in the wall and runs a new line, hooks it up then randomly leaves n comes back with a new router and jus says this one is faster I thinj, which I ask about fees for just changing it out and am assured no cost to me, then makes me start a new account because he can't log in to my current acct on his tablet so I do, then he gives me his number and says anytime call and he'll come fix any problems no cost to me. Now I have speed increase fees and a self install customer failure charge when I called only to transfer my service after moving , and now my router is more expensive not including the speed fee and my first cycle goes 5/18/16-6/17/16. Then my second cycle goes 6/18/16-7/5/16 and includes all these new unexplained fees after I just spoke a few weeks ago about being charged on my new acct and tbe old acct that are supposedly linked but billing me separately which I guess they fixed after having to credit me again for overcharging me. Now my service is off because thus bill is past due when it should be due on the 17th like last month. Why is this period just over 2 weeks?! Like I'm afraid to call again to tell you I lost my residence and only want the Xfinity hotspot to work seeing as calling earlier on met me with "I access your billing so j cannot help you but thanks for calling the help and support center. I suggest you talk to someone about a wifi hotspot access pass for now" wait spend more money and then wait to call when billing is open to be lied to about the lies you already told me and my $270 bill for just over 6 weeks of service and bogus irrelevant charges related to actions that were not ever discussed or had even taken place. This is extortion of your customers using slimeball legal agreements written by greedy selfish souls. You bleed people of their finances and cause financial hardships for people trying to have a small portion of their limited free time to enjoy games, social sites, tv ,and entertainment I'm between slaving away our lives for those pieces of paper you're consuming out of their wallets with misinformation and pricing increases for no legitimate reason other than evil human greed and manipulation.

[CCDevion]

JdhCA23,

I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you. I have sent you a private message to further assist you. You can click on my name ComcastDevion and click on "Private Message Me”. 

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[eugenedz]

Hey there. Very similar story in September 2016. Got internet with a self-install kit. I connected everything, no signal. Call support. We do  this and that (basically tried 3 different outlets). No luck. So support rep suggests that they dispatch a technician to fix it. Technician comes along, does something. Not with my modem, not with the way I connected it to the wall (c'mon, what could be done wrong there?). So to me it looks like he fixed his (comcast) equipment. He went to the distribution panel and did something there... Patched cables? I don't know, and I don't care. Bottom-line -- it wasn't a problem with my equipment. What's the end of the story? Yeah, you guessed it right -- I was charged $80. Very upsetting... 

[CCAlexis]

Hi Eugenedz, 

I see that the professional installation was $79.99, however; you received a $20 discount. This brought the professional installation cost to $59.99. Please keep in mind that an unsuccessful self-installation is when a customer has received the Self-Installation Kit  and experiences issues when attempting to connect the equipment or activate the service. This will require a professional install. This triggers a possible professional installation charge. If the technician determines the issue is a Comcast issue, the technician will waive any associated fees. When the representative scheduled the appointment, you should have been made aware of the potential service charges. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns. 

[eugenedz]

Hi Alexis, thanks for reply. 

Yes, I do have questions. 

1. How do you define "unsuccessful self-installation". In my opinion it was successfull -- I was able to follow all the instructions precisely. All my equipment is fully functional. Why would a customer hold responsibility for repairing comcast equipment?

2. "If the technician determines the issue is a Comcast issue, the technician will waive any associated fees". Will he? How do I know it? Do you have a log of the procedures he performed? He definitely did not do anything to my modem. As someone mentioned in this thread there is a clear conflict of interests on the technician's part. He is not interested in waiving any fees even if the problem was indeed on the comcast side. So again, if there isn't a documented work log, then sorry, but I am experiencing trust issues.  

3.  "When the representative scheduled the appointment, you should have been made aware of the potential service charges.". Well, I wasn't. 

Thanks!

[CCAlexis]

Eugenedz, 

An unsuccessful self-installation is when a customer has received the Self-Installation Kit  and experiences issues when attempting to connect the equipment or activate a service. Our technicians document the account with the fixes that he/she have completed for the work order and will inform the customer if a charge will be applied or not. Since you were not informed of the charge, I have applied a credit for the professional install. Please allow 1-2 billing cycles for the credit to reflect on your billing statements. 

[eugenedz]

Alexis, thanks for resolving the problem. 

[vanderbeek]

Same thing happened to me several times. The customer service tech came and confirmed a bad Comcast device and after multiple calls with customer service they kept insisting that they have to charge the fee. After getting to a manager they said I'd get $20 of the $50 back. I had to callback disguised as a "new customer" to get them to admit that the customer guarantee about Comcast equipment. I recorded the conversation with their permission and played it back to another manager and got my money back. That said. The tech tried to get me to sign a document when he was here that would have effectively accepted the charges. I did not sign and when I called to make sure I wasn't charged customer service did try to pin me down on whether I signed and since I didn't the changed their tune. Comcast people are usually nice but it seems like there is a top down strategy that tricks customers into thinking they have to pay part of this tech visit even when it's Comcast equipment failure. I know because they tried to only take $14 off of my bill and then not offer tge$20 credit when the tech guy stood me up. I had to fight for hours on the phone to get this right. Shameful.we need to unite in a class action lawsuit!

[CCCurtiss]

Hello vanderbeek,

I apologize for this situation and for the customer service experience you have described. I can confirm the credit was properly applied. I can also see the root cause of this issue. When the trouble call was scheduled, the agent you spoke to incorrectly scheduled it as an installation, which is always chargeable. If the agent would have correctly scheduled a trouble call, you would not have been charged at all, under the conditions that you explained. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to assist you.

[antoniobcastro]

YES THEY ARE SHADY!!! HAVE THE NERVE NOT TO RESOLVE NETWORK BOX AND OUTDATED BOX CREDIT 20.00 BUT CHARGED ME 74..00 EACH VISIT! THEY SHOULD BE SUED CLASS ACTION STYLE!!!!! THEY'RE ALREADY MONOPOLIZING THE MARKET WITH THEIR OVER PRIVED PLANS THAT COME WITH LOWER THAN LOW CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!! 

[antoniobcastro]

I FORGOT TO MENTION THEY FORGET TO MENTION THE CHARGE LIKE SOME SNEAKY OVER BILLING CROOKS!!!!!

[ComcastKenF]

Antoniobcastro, I'd like to look into your billing concerns. Please send me a private message (Click ComcastKenF and then click Private Message Me) with your account address and full name for assistance.

[gschell79]

This is still an ongoing issue! I had a problem with my cable and called the customer assistance line. She was unable to resolve the issue and scheduled a service appointment. The service technician comes and there is a problem with the outside setup from previous installations and he informed me that since this was an issue with the equipment and not user error that there would be no charge for the visit. Then I get my bill a month later and they charge me $70 for the visit! 

I just was given the run around by the online chat service saying that it's a valid charge and they cannot remove it from my account. THIS is why so many people dump cable and cut cords. It's completely appaling the way Comcast operates and expects people to just pay for issues that are not their fault. I'm paying for a service. You cannot provide that service, then it is the company's responsibility to effectively provide the service they are paid for, barring user mistreatment and error. I'm so fed up with this. 

[ComcastShane]

Hello gschell79, and thank you for reaching out to us. I would be happy to assist you from here. Can you verify your account information with me? I would need your phone number, full name, and service address. You can private message me by clicking my name and clicking private message. Thank you