Our recent problems with Comcast/Xfinity

So from time to time I give my opinions on products or services I've had recent experiences with. This post is one of those.

I must say - since our move, my already negative opinion of Comcast has gone down even more, if that's possible! I figured with them becoming Xfinity perhaps maybe their service would be better, but unfortunately it's still "Comcrapstic" (a play on their "It's Comcastic" ads).

If you can avoid using Comcast as your service provider, I would highly recommend doing so!

I first got stuck with them when I was in college, when we moved into our apartment. I knew not to expect much as everyone I knew that already lived in apartment said their service was pretty terrible, but unfortunately unless you want to go the satellite route (which here in the Midwest, it isn't recommended!), you're kinda stuck with Comcast for cable and internet. Anyways, it wasn't too bad although it did get frustrating some nights, late at night, when my roommate and I would be playing WoW and our internet would start slowing down or even go out completely. I called them on it several times and eventually they flat out admitted that our area of town (which was one of the more heavily populated areas as it was where most of the apartments and townhouses near campus were located) is all on the same grid which is overloaded so there will be times we will be without service as it rotates people on and off the grid.

Say what??

I was baffled, as why the hell are we paying for service that they are purposely dropping us from every so often? That's completely stupid and in poor service!

I was looking forward to having a different cable provider when I moved back to my hometown, as for the longest time they had Insight Communications, however about 6 months prior to me moving back, Comcast bought out Insight and were in the process of switching everything over. I recall my parents saying they weren't too thrilled, as the rates were much more expensive too.

We didn't have any issue with our cable TV, however our internet would randomly go out throughout the day, sometimes being off for just a few minutes to several hours. It was quite annoying. By the time we moved out our modem was pretty much shot - had we stayed any longer we would have brought it in to have it switched out as it was constantly dropping our internet.

But since we've moved, things have only gotten worse - MUCH worse.

At the time of our move they had a really good online deal for new customers - $69.99 for cable and internet plus 6 months free HBO. Since it was a better deal than what we were currently paying, not to mention at the time the account was in my maiden name, rather than move everything over we just signed up for new service in my married name. I set the order up online and the rep I dealt with was really helpful and even went out of his way to check for special deals and coupons that could work with our order to see about getting us an even better rate. I was quite pleased with the service.

Anyways, we set up the installation date at our new house for the day after what was supposed to be our original closing date, however the week before we found out our closing date wasn't going to be until the day of the install so I had to reschedule. I opened up my confirmation email and clicked the link provided in case a reschedule was needed and it set me to another chat with another representative.

And I can say that representative should be fired! The guy clearly didn't know what he was doing as he would take overly long pauses/breaks, sometimes going 5-10 minutes with no response. All I wanted to do was simply reschedule my appointment for a day or so later. After 20 minutes he informs me I gave him the wrong last 4 digits of my SSN, so I quickly correct it. I don't know what he was doing the 20 minutes prior to that! After 40 minutes of him doing absolutely nothing I was getting impatient (and it was cutting into our dinner time, which for us is usually 9pm on the weeknights). I requested he give me a phone number I call to reschedule, as all the email provided me with was a link. He apologized and said he was working on it, however he never did give me the phone number. It took just under an hour for him to reschedule the appointment. I gave him negative remarks on the survey afterwards and went on their site to file a complaint.

So I thought it was all good, right? Wrong.

The morning of the original install I get a call from the technician confirming our address and the appointment. I inform him that no, he's not supposed to be coming until tomorrow, as I had it rescheduled since we won't have the keys to the place until after hours that evening. The tech checked and there was no reschedule listed but he put me in touch with a rep that took care of that for me. So not only did the stupid online rep waste an hour of my time, but he didn't do a damn thing he was supposed to! What the hell was he doing that entire hour?!

So the installation tech comes out and I got no complaints about him - he arrived on time and did his job, which too longer than usual as we have sooo many freaking cable outlets in this house (half of which we found out are for satellite) and he was having trouble getting an HD box to work (he ended up getting the 3rd box he tried to work). The only complaint I do have is that the guy that put in the initial order somehow left out that we needed 2 digital adapters for our TVs upstairs as when the installation tech came he said his order sheet showed we only requested the digital receiver - it didn't say anything about the adapters for additional TVs. He told me who to call though to have them sent out to us.

So we get our digital adapters in the mail and I hook up the one in the bedroom right away so I don't have to sit in our 50 degree basement to watch TV all the time. No problems with that one.

I go to pay our 1st bill online - a partial one for April -  and I notice that even though I thought I set up our new account to show up under my current login info, our old account is the only one showing up. I get online in a chat with another rep and they explain that for our new account I need to login using my new Comcast email ID, not my old one (which is my current/main email address). Annoyed, I asked if I could change it as the tech set it up and it's not really one I would use or remember off the top of my head. She says no, I have to use my Comcast email address to login to view the new account. Eventually I figure out I can change my userID while logged into the account so I do that. Even though I told the rep I just did this, they proceed to spend 20 minutes, insisting I do each step to confirm setup and that it works (even though I had just logged in and out of the account using the new userID I had changed it to). Like I said, it took 20 minutes and by this point my baby was screaming to be fed as he woke up from his nap. I was a bit annoyed at having my time wasted like that as the rep took 20 minutes insisting I do something I already told them I did. As if that wasn't enough, I started getting phone calls from them saying that I had to login with my Comcast email to access my account online - I told the guy (after he called 3 times in 1 week - I screen my calls) I got the message when I spoke to the rep online prior to his phone calls so I would appreciate it if he would stop calling already - it was getting annoying and clearly it worked as I had paid my account!

Then I get our 2nd bill for the month of May, due at the end of May and on it are partial charges for DVR services for April and full charges for May. I specifically told the guy that placed the order for us that we did not want DVR service. I call and inform them of this and they say that their system is showing that the HD box we have hooked up is an HD DVR receiver. I explain that the tech tried several boxes as he was having trouble getting them to work and whatever one we have is the one that he got to work. I told them we were not aware it was a DVR receiver as we never used the DVR features on it and did not want DVR service in the first place. They say they'll credit us the charges and ship us out a normal HD digital receiver that we can hook up and include a paid UPS box to ship the current one back in.

Okay well, the new one comes and hubby finally gets around to hooking it up... and it doesn't work. As we can't get a picture or any channels to show up onscreen (not to mention there was no box to ship the previous receiver back in) I call up the customer service and they try to do some stuff... their system is showing our service is active... the gal tries sending some signals to the box, etc and decides it needs some software installed on it but since it's after midnight that system is down and we need to call during the day to have them try sending that to the box. Well the next evening we try again and we can get some channels, but not all, HBO being one of them and our OnDemand isn't working either. They don't know what to do so they say they'll send out a tech.

The tech comes, promptly on time, and hubby and I aren't completely sure what he was doing. He messed around with the cables on the main switch and "to satisfy his curiosity" he insisted on checking out where all the other cable jacks in the house were as well as checking our attic for any cables up there. By the way, the entrance to the attic is in Jay's room, and since hubby was home and Jay was awake I was playing with Jay in his room keeping him occupied while the tech was here. When the tech insisted on going up there, he didn't realize how much installation stuff is up there - when he opened up the attic door a ton of it came tumbling down, which anyone knows, that stuff is not good for babies! He picked most of it up, apologizing, after finding nothing up there. Again, we have no clue why he needed to even go up there. And it turns out, the HD box wasn't working because no one on Comcast's end activated the box when it was sent out or checked to see if it had been when we called several times! The tech didn't even think to check it until after he made the installation mess in my baby's room!

So disappointment there, but we figured we were done as everything seemed good.

Until we got out bookshelves installed over the weekend and finally got around to hooking up the TV in the living room upstairs. We did it just the same as we did with the TV in our bedroom, however it would stop working after it loaded up and on top of that, after trying every code in the guide for the remote with our TV, none of them would turn the TV back on after turning it off. We called, they tried to send signals and stuff to it to test the box with no luck and decided we needed a service call.

The techs get out here and we learn right away that the cable jack we had it hooked up to doesn't work, but the other one on the other side of the wall does. An easy fix, however we didn't think to try that and none of the 2 reps I spoke with on the phone suggested trying a different cable jack either. Yet the tech claims it's a "failed self installation" and said they have to charge us $25 for it. How stupid is that! I'm tempted to call and point out to them that 1) if they had filled the order correctly the 1st time the initial installation guy could have hooked it up for us and 2) when we called the other night about it, NONE of the 2 reps we spoke with suggested trying a different outlet.

Also, these 2 techs, they were here from about 3pm til 430pm. I have NO CLUE what the hell they did for nearly an hour, as they insisted on taking apart all the cables on the main board and figuring out what goes to what (as there is a bunch of them) and then they wasted about 20 minutes outside. Not sure what that had to do with hooking up the TV in our living room to the correct outlet, but I did have other things to do today and they basically wasted a good chunk of my time when I needed to get ready to go to my sister's graduation tonight.

Hubby and I find it funny that whenever we call about a problem lately they offer us telephone service. 1) we both have cell phones and have no need for a landline and 2) if we're having these many problems with their cable TV service (and their internet service in the past) why in the world would we sign up for their phone service???

Ugh...

If I had another option for cable TV and high speed internet I would take it. Unfortunately the only other options in our area are satellite which hubby refuses as he's had satellite in the past and in bad or windy weather it was unbearable. Comcast has the monopoly when it comes to cable TV & internet service in our area.

Avoid them if you're fortunate to have another option.