Oh my god. People need to stop trying to be funny. It is so irritating.

I guess Michael didn't take a torch with him and was eate by an grue.

At least Brad kept his sense of humor for us.

@tweemo: I find it humorous when people poke fun at the obviously convoluted process of attempting to get support when we know what the problem is and would just like to get the solution we know we need but have no power to do so. That was a little long-winded but it makes my case entirely. I had a problem with my HP laptop display backlight that was still under warranty. I called in to tech-support to get a box sent to me so that I could ship it in for repair, since that's what was needed the first time the backlight went out. When I called in I told the overseas support agent what the problem was and that I needed a repair box sent out. First the agent suggested I need to plug my laptop in, which it was... Then remove the battery, reseat the RAM, reseat the HD, run a BIOS diagnostic on the HD and all this other stuff... It was ridiculous... all I needed was a FedEx box and envelope, like I told them in the beginning...

@tweemo:

I don't even know why people bother with online helpdesk chats like this one. The person on the other end is clearly outsourced and lacks the know-how of even a phone-based CSR, which isn't much to begin with. That's not to say that outsourced CSRs can't help you, but 9 times out of 10 phone-based Comcast people are useless whether they're based in Bangor or in Bangalore.

And Brad, way too snarky for your own good here. Granted, you were unlikely to receive a successful resolution anyway, but all the cutesy BS lowered those chances to zero.

I have to admit that had to be one of the most entertaining chats I have read in a long time. We'll assume comcasts tech didn't catch his jokes but I did. well worth the read. Kudos.

This is the major reason why you should not cancel your local telephone service. You are going to get morons like Michael and they are going to ruin it for you.

@tweemo: I imagine it's better, for both you and the CSR, than being an ass, and when you're as frustrated as Brad most likely was, you have to get that out somehow.

When our Verizon wireless router failed after 2 1/2 years, we spent about 10 minutes on the phone with a CSR, and the very next day a new router arrived. Couldn't be happier!

When my cable/internet/phone goes down at work, they tell me to call to help resolve the problems. It's almost as stupid as ConEd's commercials telling you to go to their website to report if your power is out.

I have been in communication with Brad and we will make it right and learn from the overall experience. I appreciate Brad sharing the experience.

Thank you!

Frank Eliason
Comcast
@ComcastCares
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com

I don't understand why anybody would use Comcast for voice. Even during the introductory cheap-rate period, Comcast is more expensive than Vonage, BroadVoice, or, I would expect, any of the other VIOP providers.

Yes, Vonage's tech support is pretty much Comcastic. But it's a LOT less expensive.

One more reason I'm not feelin' the love for VOIP. My wife's firm signed up with Via-Talk -- some calls go through, some don't. The blame the router inside the Qwest DSL modem now and wash their hands of the affair.

Ugh.

@PatrickIs2Smart: I once had a problem with a modem where if I downloaded more than 2mb,s it would freeze up. Tech support kept telling me to DL this 5 mb file to re-flash everything and add drivers. They could never understand that downloading the file was freezing my computer, and I needed a new modem.

This is like when I moved into my brand new house near downtown Atlanta about seven years ago. The house in on the corner, not 25 feet from a Bellsouth telephone pole. I'd waited a week for telephone service and no one could tell my why I couldn't seem to get it. Finally, calling from my cell phone on my back deck, I got someone who knew something (or kind of knew it) and turns out the paper work letting them know my house existed had gotten misplaced so everytime I placed an order, the order couldn't true up with a known address so the order would just dissappear in their system. The lady at Bellsouth said it could take a couple more weeks for clear up, but that it might even take longer. Annd this is the best part.

ME: "I'm standing on my back deck literally looking at the telephone pole and the phone wires and this house is located in the middle of one of the country's largest cities, yet you're telling me in terms of getting a phone, I might as well be on the moon."

BELLSOUTH: "Yes, I guess so."

I see "419 eater"-style humor has increasingly begun taking advantage of third-world wage slaves in order to be funny. Doesn't really work for me.

@Hawkins:

Well, for one thing, Comcast, for all its faults, owns the network.

maybe it took him several chat sessions to get his problem resolved because he was being a jerk.

@CarolKepel: I'm working hard to study up on Bollywood films so that my cutting cultural references will be understood by folks in the CS chats.

To wit: "Ah, you're back. I gather you didn't leave to have a lassi with Shahrukh Khan."

Worse. He's posted another few logs. They now say they need a tech to put in the battery for his modem (it doesn't qualify for self-install) *AND* the switch/port to his house doesn't work.

With how much money he's loosing, I'd ping a local lawyer instead. That's way beyond the threshold!

Anyone who feels the need to offshore customer support needs to read this a few times and decide how they would feel after 16 attempts to get something fixed if they would remain a customer...

@tweemo: @PatrickIs2Smart: I worked phone support for a while. Every day we'd have someone call in and say "I know what's the problem, send me a new one". 90% of the time with a little troubleshooting we could fix the problem, and it wasn't what the customer thought it was. You might be the exception to the rule, but the CSR doesn't know that.

@comcastcares: Wish I had a star...

@comcastcares: Is this a real comcast account or is someone trying to be funny?

If it's real, I think it's insanely lol that the only way to get proper support from a large company like Comcast is to either post a Twitter or post on a website detailing how companies continue to screw the consumer.

Back when I worked in Tech Support, I knew agents who would punt, not fix, or even make the situation worse for half the sass that guy was giving.

It's not funny and for those who want to lose their jobs (surpringly high amount), it gives them a slim chance of hope that this call or transcript will be picked up by quality assurance and they would be on their way out to "freedom".

@comcastcares: Somehow, I doubt the "learn" part.

I didn't read the full transcript, but I used to work in the telephone repair call center for Charter in Town and Country, MO. The thing is with a situation like this if the problem is not something wrong with a setting for the customer's phone number in the telephone switch that I could fix, then a trouble ticket has to be sent to the engineers.

If it gets that far the engineers demand exact time and number calls were attempted so they can trace what went wrong in the system. If there are no specific examples, then the ticket is sent back for more info, and you're down longer.

So please be patient there's a reason you have to be asked for inane specifics. If they don't ask them the request for help will be rejected and you'll be down longer.

@Hawkins: B/c you save on their other services if you bundle. I had Verizon for voice and data, and cablevision for cable. I saved a lot by putting all three into FiOS.

@howie_in_az: There's been stories about this guy before. He used to just be on Twitter but I guess the amount of complaints that reach Consumerist caused him to have an account here also.

@comcastcares: "I appreciate Brad sharing the experience."

Even the Journey part?

@tweemo: Agreed, the whole thing just makes him sound like a huge d-bag

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: Agreed. Being snarky and attempting humor will not help you. I take a minimalist approach every time I need to interact with online chat. Say the bare minimum, and get it over with as soon as possible.

@Nighthawke: It's Comcastic!

To be fair, usually when a city has more than one area code on a phone system, PSTN users normally do have to dial a full 10 digit number. Maybe the area just got a new area code for expansion and the rules changed? Who knows. Then again, this was on Comcast's system so who knows what their dialing rules are...

@Tremblor:

Agreed.

But the story indicates Brad had already gone through all of it before. It is extremely frustrating to sit through the support script again when it didn't work the first (second? third?) time.

I see the need for scripts. I am in the support industry. But critical thinking should be allowed too.

But if I call and say, "I have called before, and was promised a tech that never arrived," I too would get irritated if they started by doing the TS again.

Ok Am I missing something here he states
"Brad_ > I'm in 603, I don't need to dial it for local calls"

In my area 508.. we have to dial 508-xxx-xxxx even if we want local numbers. its been like this for several years now. I must have misunderstood all these years but I thought this affected all US States?

@ekthesy: I'm wondering if, even if a CSR isn't particularly annoyed about it, that kind of padding makes it tough for a new rep to dig the relevant information out.

@neuman1812: no it's not like this everywhere.

Who's bright idea was it to allow chat tech's to reset a modem... that kills the chat session! I guess it's one way to end the customer's bad attempt at comedy!

In my town I have to dial 419 before every number because Toledo has too many people for one area code, although ever since we got Buckeye Cable phone service I don't think we have to because I think I accidentally forgot the 419 and it went through. We still dial the 419 anyway.

If your town requires this you probably would have heard about it, our news stations went crazy over that story, almost as bad as the DTV transition.

@ZahavahClytius:

For those wondering just how badly most people in call centres don't want to continue working there, most (almost all) call centres turnover 75% of their staff in under 12 months, some in just 6 months.

Many of the employees are hoping for some form of Gov't handout, and having a job is in their way. Quitting it doesn't get them help either. But being fired, after some arguing, can help, and so can being laid off. It's not surprising, considering the future of someone working for a call centre involves working as a supervisor for under $12 an hour, or, when they're 40+, working as a manager for under $14 an hour. The peons are making under $8 an hour.

I worked in one and in under 3 months it managed to strip so much dignity from me, even I was hoping to go bankrupt and go on welfare. Sure, welfare only pays a few dollars more a month (yes, MORE after other benefits) but it's better than working in a call centre. And I am one of the most vocal against welfare. Most call centres are so terrible it just strips your soul. It's not the customers, it's the management, ie: Management through fear. I would liken it to factory work in the 20s, except instead of death by machine; suicide and depression are what takes most call centre workers. Yes, a surprising number are on medication for that. Did I say surprising? If you work there, it's not.

And that's in the US/Canada. I can't even imagine what they get experience in the third world.

I had a similar issue a couple years ago - but it was with one specific long distance prefix. I could dial any local number and any long distance number except those in the town west of me. It was really weird and annoying,and took several weeks to fix.

@MSUHitman: It maybe Frank "the Comcast Complaint Fireman"...

@neuman1812: No, only places with 10-digit dialing. I moved from a 10-digit place back to a 7-digit place and it's really messed with my head. :) First I kept confusing everyone local by giving my area code first when their forms only had space for 7 digits. Now that I'm used to 7 digits again, when I travel, I'm always dialing wrong because I keep assuming as long as I'm dialing in-area-code, I can just dial 7 .....

@neuman1812: I know it is like that in NJ where my friend lives. Her grandpa lives next door and she has to dial the area code to call him. Where I live in PA, you just dial the 7-digit phone number for local calls.

@Murph1908: Having worked in a call center for IT, most of the time they'll keep a record of the phone call and steps taken, if they're worth anything. If someone said that they're calling back first thing I'll do is review the previous ticket. there is NO NEED to go over the same GD script if it's been done 5 times in the past.

And I agree that Brad may have made things worse on himself by being a little too cute.

@MarcoApis: Cox was pretty good with this as well...Our phone went dead along with internet and half the HD channels, they started the script for the internet when I complained about that at first (we didn't notice the phones, we use cell mainly, just keep the land line for emergencies and incoming calls so we can mess with sales people and get calls from older relatives who claim they can't hear you the second you tell them you are on a cell phone) as soon as I mentioned the sporadic cable box the call center tech realized there was nothing he could do, especially since he couldn't reach my modem. The tech came out when he was scheduled to and after about 30 minutes of troubleshooting (mostly due to having to move crap out of the way of the outlets, entirely my fault) realized the local dinglehopper was snarlaxed and had to be replaced (I am in IT, not telecommunications I don't know their lingo). he said it would take 2 days, it took 2 days.

My only complaint was that it took 2 days. And that wasn't much of a complaint because they told me it would take 2 days.

@Hawkins: when you get the "Triple Play" you get quite a bit off all your bills, plus you only have one bill to monitor.

no one would get it if not for the bundling.

@snowburnt: Ditto... I miss Vonage. Especially since it seems Comcast sold my phone number as soon as I switched. The very next day after switching, my phone began to ring off the hook with solicitations for surveys and donations, despite being on the DNC list for over a year. I never got those calls before.

Sadly, I switched because Vonage is $30/mo and Comcast's Triple Play lowered my entire cable modem + cable bill by a ridiculous amount.

@HeidiMyles: Keep in mind that their techs tend to be wanna-be geeks who could not obtain jobs in other industries, are working minimum wage, but really think they should be programmers. By and large, they are not people persons. It is true that some are human, not robots, but they are far and few between - and generally undervalued. To those that are undervalued and do, truly, try and help people - I say thank you.