Reader Daniel lives in San Francisco, where parking is notoriously impossible. He came home one morning to find a Comcast van blocking his drive way, and politely asked the driver to move. Ten minutes later he lost his internet and TV signal. Mysterious coincidence, or malevolent tech? Check out the details, inside.
So up until this moment, I had no issues with Comcast (other than occasionally having to switch out my cablecards). This morning around 8am, I was returning home from the gym and there was a Comcast truck blocking my garage. I was very polite (no horn or anything) and asked him to please move his truck so I can get into my garage. He said something about it being a 1 lane-1 way street and he couldn’t park anywhere else. I told him that he can’t park in front of my garage, so he moved.
About 10 minutes later I mysteriously lose both my internet and TV signals. I call Comcast who tells me they show no trouble on their end so it must be my equipment. They can have a tech out tomorrow. Unfortunately, I do not have another day off until next Monday. She suggested I go purchase a new Cable Modem and get replacement cable cards. I do just that. I own the cable modem, so I purchase a new one for $80.00 and stop by Comcast in Potrero Hill to get a new cable card.
I get home and install them, call Comcast to fix the issue and of course, they don’t work either.
I call Executive Customer Service and explain the situation – some Comcast guy was mad that I asked him to move, so he cut my cable line. I’m not off until next Monday (6 days from now), I explained. She said, “I’ll call you back in 15 minutes”. It’s now 4 hours later, she has not returned my call, so I call her back, she’s gone for the day.
I call Comcast Service Center again, now they’re telling me I cannot have a tech until Friday.
I am totally shocked at how poorly this company treats it’s long time customers! I’ve been with them for almost 12 years and I’m subscribed to their highest level of cable programming and the new Blast internet service so I spend around $180.00 a month. Now I understand what all of the bad publicity is about.
If it’s not fixed by 5:00pm, I’m canceling Comcast and switching to Dish Network and AT&T DSL.
The irony of the situation is, Comcast just called and asked me to sign up for their digital voice service. YEAH RIGHT!
Daniel
San Francisco, CA
Daniel later sent us this update:
It’s still not working. Comcast sent a rep who was in my house for maybe 5 minutes and said it’s hooked up correctly, so you’ll have to call and get a 2nd level tech out here.
Comcast clearly doesn’t want your $180.00 each month. Time to cancel. Why not drop CEO Brian Roberts a line first, and tell him why you’re unhappy?
(photo: Spidra Webster)
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@Corydon:
Well I’ve actually had this happen, and it was comcasts fault, they shut off my cable, by disconnecting it because some tech had the wrong address. If it’s their fault, and it’s outside of the build then why should he have to be around for them to fix it?
@Prolific Programmer: When was that scrapped? I remember hearing from a friend interning in San Francisco that he was able to use a municipal wifi… Wierd…
Just as an FYI, this happens occasionally…this meaning a service cutoff.
Every once in a while the installer has to do something at the local node. So they unplug something, and they look around, and realize that they have no idea where the cable end came from.
That happened to one of my neighbors a few years ago (it was my cable that they were installing). At that point the installer really can’t do anything.
It may or may not be revenge, but it does happen accidentally. That’s why it’s always good to be wary whenever you see a service truck around: occasionally they’ll disconnect something accidentally.
This happens occasionally. It may not even be a revenge cutoff. In NY, my neighbor’s cable got cut off when the installer was installing my cable.
Basically, they unplug a wire to get to somethign else, and they get distracted and forget where that cable end was supposed to go. Ding, that person now has a service interruption.
Of course, it also happens intentionally…but it also could be accidental. It depends on the installer, I guess.
@Corydon: I think you’re wrong. Coincidences may occur but this is really fishy. Will you feel like an ass if it turns out Daniel was RIGHT? No? Then you’re not just wrong, you’re an ***. Think about it.
@CharlieInSeattle: exactly. and don’t expect them to refund for any missed days either.
@colorisnteverything: Comcast sucks big donkey d***. No doubt about it. If Comcast was a lame ass dude, I’d put a cap in his a$$. Justified shooting, fer shure :^))
A level 2 Tech? What’re they sending noobs out for, they probably haven’t even finished the tutorial quests yet-
Ah, sorry, back in grown up world; In the UK if I ever have trouble with some form of internet/satellite whatever, whoever arrives to fix it will either fix it then or will attain the parts they need and return on a later date. I’ve never heard of any company sending someone out to look at it who wasn’t a high enough level to figure out what the problem is.
That’s just ridiculous. If they can’t fix it then what the hell are they doing there?
I don’t know about the US, but where I live, it’s illegal to park in front of a driveway. If the person refuses to move, or is not present to move it, you can have it towed at the owner’s expense.
@petrarch1608
Leaving without fixing the problem is standard operating procedure for Comcast technicians. Between two separate incidents a couple of years apart, I’ve had them do it to me approximately ten times.
With the first incident, I had problems with my cable internet after a storm. Some of the techs would look at connections in the house and say, “it should start working in an hour when they send the signal” then leave or that they didn’t know and everything checked out and then leave.
One tech came into my house, flipped on the TV saw that it was working and just left. Amazing. Didn’t even look at the modem, the lines, or anything.
That incident didn’t get fixed till a friend of mine who works for Comcast in another state got what he called a construction crew to look at the outside connection. That was after four or five visits, and a couple of half days at work waiting for the incredibly helpful and diligent cable techs. (Yes, that would be sarcasm.)
The most recent incident was a couple of months ago. I got a Tivo, and needed a cable card installed. The first time they came out, left without it working. The second time, they came out and forgot the card. They said they’d be back out the next day. I waited at home. They never came. The third time, they were supposed to come out but never showed. I called customer service and got a hold of a supervisor. They said the cable tech would be out that night, but it may be as late as 11pm. I said okay. I waited up. They never showed.
Lies, lies, and more lies. That’s what Comcast is about. With the whole cablecard ordeal, I even had a customer service person tell me that they didn’t support cablecards or Tivo and that I had wasted my money by buying the unit.
Just a horrible company, but it’s the only cable in the area and because of my location Dish isn’t a real workable solution for me. So for now I’m stuck.