I hate Comcast Tuesday, September 30, 2008 | comments
Here at work, we soon have someone moving into an apartment type called a corporate suite. This means it has furniture, utilities, and cable all added into their rent price. I had to set up Comcast. This all began a month ago. Let's go through the timeline. Each bullet point repersents a different call with a different person.-I called, told them what we needed, and they they accidentally hung up on me.
-I called back, they heard the word "corporate" and transferred me to a Comcast voicemail in Grand Rapids
-I called back, was told I needed to put the resident's name on the account and us as the billing address. I did so and they told me they were going to ship me the box for installing the cable and that I would have it in 5 business days.
-Two weeks later or so later, I realize we haven't gotten the shipment and call to ask where our equipment is. They check and see it never shipped. They ship it out.
-On Friday I get just the cable modem with no box. It says more boxes will follow but on Monday, I still have no other boxes.
-I call Comcast, get transferred to someone and don't get picked up for a half hour at which point I have to hang up to make work calls.
-I call later and they say that somehow that's the only thing that shipped. I explain to them that I need the box for Wednesday because that's when they're moving in. They tell me the fastest way to get the box is to pick it up in person at the local Comcast location. They say they'll add a note to the account saying that I'm coming to pick it up. I ask them to verify that I'll have no troubles getting the box. They say the note will take care of everything.
-This morning I go in and there's no note on the account. Furthermore, they can't give me the box because the account isn't in my name (despite the fact that I set it up). The only way to get the box is to have the resident (who is the cosigner and lives abroad) come into the office or have her call to be on the account.
-From the parking I call the 1-800 number for Comcast to see if they can see the note. They can't but say that if I bring in the lease that they'll be able to add me to the account.
-Before I go back for the lease, I go inside Comcast and ask if I bring the lease in if that would work. They say no. Even though I made the account, they said there's nothing they can do without the resident since it's an active account. They tell me that I shouldn't have been able to make the account in the first place under someone else's name (which, you'll remember, is how the Comcast person told me would be the best way to do it).
-From work, using the same information I used to make the account, I call and pretend to be the resident. I get added to the account even though I have a male voice and the resident is clearly female.
-I drive back to Comcast, show them my license, and get the box.
And now, after a lot of back and forth, I finally have everything I need and am ready to go install it. I can't imagine what it must be like to work at Comcast where the system is so flawed and no one says the same thing. It's worth noting however that someone must be enjoying their job because the last woman I talked to had a "24 years of service" certificate up at her window. It's also worth noting, however, that she had her last name on the certificate covered up--probably so all her disgruntled customers couldn't look her up.
Update: Moments after posting this, Comcast emailed me directly to apologize and ask for more info as it seems they do frequently these days, which is pretty cool. He then called me directly to get more specifics about when this occured and he's working to get his people to see if they can change everything so that the correct name is on the account and we'll have no further issues. He saying he's "reaching out to his contacts" and will keep me posted with the results. While I still don't have any faith in the main system over there, it's really nice to know that there's at least someone up there that's trying to fix things.
