I have my own Comcast horror stories that I could rail on and on about for a few hours but this one really takes the cake. The story also hits home for us here at D|M because we’re all from Houston and went through the hell that was hurricane Ike and even worse, his aftermath. Comcast has only been in Houston since they took over TimeWarner’s cable operation here in June 2007 yet they have enough horror stories to last a decade or more.
It seems that Comcast is shafting some Houston-area hurricane victims with bogus fees along with crappy customer service. Robert wrote in to the Consumerist about Comcast charging him $24.95 for a customer support call when he called to inquire about why his cable was still out a month after the storm. They also refused to promise they’d fix the ridiculous charge, they simple stated they’d "try" to get it removed/resolved. Good game Comcrap. It’s really sad when this day and age we can’t get good customer service when we are paying premium prices.
Everyone who knows me knows I absolutely hate Comcast and here are some of my horror stories with Comcast in the past year and a half…
- I’ve had four HD DVR boxes go out in a little over a year. Now, I know Comcast doesn’t make the boxes Cisco’s Scientific Atlantic does but it is still a product they sell me for $17 each month (x3). Swapping these boxes out at my nearest Comcast office isn’t very difficult, but getting the new ones to work always is. I usually have to make several calls until I can get a rep that knows what they are doing and sends a couple of signals to the new boxes.
- I’ve been on more than my fair share of hour-plus calls with Comcast support that never seems to resolve any of my issues. In fact, their tech support is absolutely horrible. How many times do I have to tell them that I’ve unplugged the box, tried it on a different TV and connection and it still doesn’t work?
- I’ve had two service technician calls where I’ve taken time off of work to make sure I was there between "8-5" just to not have anyone show up or call for that matter.
- I’ve paid up to $190 a month for my service yet every time I call they try to "up sell" me on something else, including having me state ten times that I didn’t want a premium service anymore before they finally removed it.
- My high-speed cable internet is sporadic at best. One minute I’ll be cruising along just fine at 6-8mpbs and the next my net will come to a screeching halt. I’ve called several times to confirm the problem yet they never find an error. I’ve also had the modem replaced to no avail… and don’t even get me started on their download cap and filtering.
- This is the kicker: I just found out two weeks ago that I’ve been paying for an HD box (not DVR) that I returned last February (2008) right before the Super Bowl. Yes, I realize that it was my fault that I didn’t catch the error until now since I "auto-pay" but they have no idea where the box is so they can’t refund me until they find it. I swapped the HD box out for an HD-DVR so they made MORE money from me in the process… meanwhile I’m out over $140 until they "fix the glitch."
I’d switch from Comcast in a heartbeat if I had another option as I’ve never dealt with a more incompetent company in my life; which is saying a lot since I’ve spent over a decade in IT. Sadly I own a condo and my management company has a deal with Comcast bundled into my monthly maintenance fees so we are only hard-wired for cable. My condo is also a loft with shared walls and it would be nearly impossible for me to run new cable for either DirecTV or U-Verse to all the places I would need it (bedroom, living room, loft)… and sadly I just can’t live without HD TV in three rooms of my one bedroom condo, so I’m screwed (and obviously an addict).
Do you have Comcast horror stories? Do tell… because we’re masochists.
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January 26th, 2009 at 10:41 AM
It’s been a long time since I’ve had Comcast. When Verizon installed the FiOS boxes in our apartment complex, my wife and I switched to their service. We loved FiOS service a lot better. My wife gets frustrated whenever she has to call customer service or tech support, but that’s because of the automated phone system. I just keep saying operator until it finally puts me through to a human being. And as far as a tech coming to call, They let you choose (if it’s open) a 4 hour time window. And guess what? Not only do they show up, but most of the time they show up during the early part of the window.
On a side note, though, we recently downgraded to just internet and no longer have TV, just to trim our budget. But, I would still recommend the TV service.
I’d say find out how long the contract is between your condo and Comcast and lobby the hell out of getting a new service from elsewhere. Good luck! :)>
January 26th, 2009 at 2:20 PM
I know Comcast is up 24/7, but I can’t stand cable, they are still behind on their HD channels. I have DISH network, whcih I love, and I have over 100 HD channels, and that’s all i care about, well that and DVR services. Which work great as well for me.