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.

adriadne

guspaz

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?

XanderSan

banmojo

banmojo

banmojo

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.

mannyv

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.

mannyv

Papa Midnight

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?

CharlieInSeattle

They are STILL doing this crap? You would assume they had lost too many customers to keep this up. I remember 5 years ago when comcast decided that basic (non-digital) cable had to be $70.00 a month in our area. My Dad called and got a "deal" by threatening them with going sattelite. Well, they gave us digital for $80.00 a month. Then, suddenly basic jumped up to $90.00 the following year and we got sattelite.

It actually worked out brilliantly! We were happy with the satellite service and never lost our signal. Well, we called comcast and said we didn't want them anymore and they needed to come get their stuff. They never told us when they were going to come, but suddenly, a few days later, we find out that our satellite is not working.

We blame the satellite company and threaten to go back to comcast (which is what they wanted). The satellite company was great, though, they came out and said mysteriously that our line into the house from the satellite had been cut.

We are pretty sure comcast got pissed off and cut it - like we are sure no one else could get to the line. Very suspicious. I hate comcast!

colorisnteverything

Prolific Programmer

eviljed

I had the same sort of trouble around 2 years ago. Our internet kept going out for intermittent periods every single evening from 7-9pm. (peak time, easy diagnosis right?). I have some weekdays off during the week, so I'm at home all day and there were no issues with the service at all from 9AM - 7PM. Then, everyone gets home... the service goes out or goes really slow and basically it just was terrible. We call and try to get someone to figure out what the deal is, or at least make them aware that there's an issue. They claim that they're going to need to send a tech out (during the day, which means a day off of work which is worth several hundred dollars of vacation time to either of us in the house) to check on our line because there's nothing wrong with it on their end. Meanwhile, the HD cable was working fine. I know a thing or two about TV (worked in it for 15 years now) so I'm pretty sure that if I can get a digital HD signal with a motorola digital box, there shouldn't be any significant problem with the lines such that they need to do any work.

They sent the tech out anyway. (1.5 weeks later) He claimed there weren't any problems and because I'd bought my cable modem (I needed one that routed to 2 PC's) I'd need to buy a new one since there was something wrong with it. There wasn't, because as I tried to explain to everyone in the first place... it works fine until peak times and then the SERVICE goes to shit. Nobody really was interested in listening to my actual complaint.

I decided instead of buying a new cable modem just to appease the people at Comcast, that I'd dump them at least for their internet. I'm now with Speakeasy and I've yet to have any issues whatsoever in 2 years of service. It's expensive, there's no doubt... but I'm a firm believer now that with internet services you get exactly what you pay for. ESPECIALLY with Comcast actively trying to prevent you from actually using your Comcast service for BitTorrents.

Comcast is helping to keep the US Broadband industry back in the 90's. Ditch them, go with someone else as soon as possible and demand they act as a neutral carrier, add capacity as necessary to provide things you want as a consumer and get rid of the cable companies that are only interested in overselling and bundling your internet service with digital voice and cable and a dog walking service and someone to come fluff your pillows or whatever else they'll try to sell you next month.

MasterDave

When the customer calls comcast, they see the connection is fine. Until you get a tech out to check the tap and see if theres a block on the line, you'll never know. I'm sure the first tech never even checked this... especially if he was new.

Ryan Duff

Wow -- I made it through that with a straight face. Whew!

Beerad

Is this available in your area?

mikesfree

If he has really been with Comcast for 12 years and is just now getting screwed he should consider himself lucky. The sad truth is that's the only part of the story that strikes me as unusual.

swags

KogeLiz

Wimpkins

As an FYI tech usually block their numbers when calling a customer so they don't get blown out of the water with call backs at all hours for minor things. If you have a scheduled appt that day WATCH YOUR PHONE, especially if you specifically asked for a call ahead and pick up those UNKNOWN/PRIVATE caller ID calls.

rainmkr

LikeYourFace

Papa Midnight

When I got back into town after the holidays, I called again to reschedule and this one time I got someone that understood the problem, was truly empathetic and really tried to help. The techs that came out finally found the problem and fixed it, and all was well ... I had decided to give Comcast this one last chance. But ya know what? They blew it. It was on the next bill that the service charge appeared. When I called to get it taken off, the CSR was rude, basically called me a liar and refused to escalate me to a supervisor. It took three more calls to get the charge reversed.

I am now enjoying AT&T phone and DSL, and DirecTV.

But Comcast has one last gift for me ... they are billing me through April 14, even though the phone was switched over as of 2/29 and the TV and internet by 3/8. This is a battle that still rages on ... it's Comcraptic!

LissaKay

"Hmmm, now do I use HRC, or IRC? Better call someone... got a phone I can use? Got anything good to drink? Can I nap on your couch? Is this true QAM?" (sorry wrong company)

scoosdad

BrentNewland

@lefty_redhead: Ha ha, I remember hearing that before hopping CSR's a few years back. I still see CSR's are as "helpful" as ever.

@ConsumerAdvocacy1010: Must've really wanted his service back. Bad.

Papa Midnight

ConsumerAdvocacy1010

spryte

seriously.

I don't even know what to say about this post.

KogeLiz

Seriously, Comcast once told me my television was broken when I called about losing half my channels. When I told them I had tried another television, they said that one broke, too.

And I didn't even have a driveway at the time.

lefty_redhead

xtc46

pizzaparty2

deedrit

@Corydon: Actually, said information is accessible over the internet... granted proper access knowledge and utilities... which Comcast CSR's are supposed to have, at least in terms of the latter. As for them having "knowledge"... That's another story.

By the way, Comcast as a company, should be willing to make their schedule flexible to accommodate their customers. Anyone who knows anything about good P.R. should know this helps, especially in the realm of customer service. DISH Network and DirecTV don't seem to have trouble doing this. Hell, even Time Warner can pull this off to a point. Why can't Comcast?

Or has Daniel's persecution theory reached out to include the tech parked in his driveway, the CSR he spoke to this morning, the escalations CSR he spoke to this afternoon and the tech they got out to his house that same day?

You are aware a Comcast employee used his power to extract vengeance upon a customer...

By the way, Bending over backwards is calling back 15 minutes after. Not failing to call back after 4 hours and ending up leaving the office prior to doing so.
Bending over backwards is covering cost of Materials. What's $80 to a company who makes billions of dollars a year and has monopoly over 33% of the USA market?
Bending over backwards is helping one of your longest term and highest paying customers for over 12 years.

After all this, Comcast still managed to get someone out to his home on the same day. Unfortunately they couldn't fix the problem and need someone else to look into it.

That's a load of bollocks. If that tech had any intention of doing more than a courtesy call, he would've been there fore a considerable amount more time than 5 minutes.

I'll also point out that bending over Backwards is going out of your way to keep a customer from hopping services, but then again, what do I know? As previously mentioned, What's $180 a month loss when you make Billions of dollars a year off of your 33% monopoly?

@Buran: Most Cable Modems are accessible via IP, atleast for a simple diagnostic output (modem name, serial number, mac address, status, Tx and Rx levels, bandwidth, etc.). Most cable companies lock out the actual diagnostic tools, however.

For those of you with Scientific Atlanta WebStar Cable Modems, they should be accessible via 192.168.100.1 (As established, most of us are lucky to have 2 ISP's available. There are those of us like myself though who only have Comcast available).

Papa Midnight

I can so do that in 5 minutes.

viqas

Unscrew all of the easily accesible connectors on your cable line where it hits your house (like at a splitter or ground block). Take a look at the stiff copper wire in the middle of the connector, which carries the signal. If the Comcast guy was truly vindictive and wanted to cut off your signal in a spot where it wouldn't easily be discovered, he could have taken his wire snippers and cut that copper wire all the way back to the bottom of the connector so it wouldn't make contact anymore when it was screwed back in. Don't worry, there's no dangerous voltage there.

And to another tech looking at the wiring, everything would appear to be nice and tightly connected, even though it might have had a hidden gap in the connection somewhere. I'll bet he even put his wrench on the connector to make sure it was tight. But without that center wire long enough to mate with the receptacle, practically no signal gets through.

Comcast sent a rep who was in my house for maybe 5 minutes and said it's hooked up correctly

If he didn't take out an RF signal strength meter and put it on a connection inside your house to verify you had signal there, he doesn't deserve the pay he got for your visit. Everything could "look" hooked up correctly but the RF signal strength meter test would be the ultimate check to perform. Doubtful he did that in five minutes.

scoosdad

Customer: Hello Comcast, my cable is out.

Comcast: No it isn't. You need a new TV.

Customer: OK, I'll go buy one right now. That will fix it?

Comcast: Absolutely. We're Comcast, would we lie?

I am totally shocked at how poorly this company treats it's long time customers!

Obviously a first time visitor to Consumerist, or a Comcast newbie.

scoosdad

gkendric

toastydoc

anubukpo

Corydon

AlphaUltima

what a shame that seinfeld got cancelled. actually, this would probably be more of a curb your enthusiasm episode. hahaha, "could you move your van?", hahaha.

hahaha, the gym! he was coming back from the gym! hahahaha. the cable guy was blocking his driveway, hahahaha. oh that's too funny.

okay, okay. in all seriousness, i think it's a coincidence. they must have made some kind of mistake while working at that location. i'd try to be patient, i doubt it's malicious.

prameta1

Concerned_Citizen

G-16

I hope the info IS in the manual. It should be, if it isn't.

Buran

you don't happen to work for Comcast PR, do you?

b612markt

On a side note don't try to get anything out of their retention department after hours. They really do not care about you.

And hey atleast with Dish there is a contract so you know how long they are going to be bending you over for.

G-16

1) Daniel has no idea what the cause of the problem is, only a suspicion. It's hard to say from his description, but "they show no trouble on their end" could either mean there was nothing on the outage board, or they were getting a reading from his cable modem (the CSR should be checking both).

The smart thing to do would be to ask the CSR if the modem was online or not (that's assuming you don't know how to check this yourself). If it is, then you know that it's not your malevolent tech.

2) They offered to have a repair tech out the next day. Daniel's hectic schedule isn't Comcast's fault. Same day service would be great, but can't always be done, especially if you're asking for it in the afternoon.

You can always ask for an appointment first thing in the morning or in the evening. You might have to wait a little longer, but these things can often be worked out with a little diplomacy.

3) After all this, Comcast still managed to get someone out to his home on the same day. Unfortunately they couldn't fix the problem and need someone else to look into it.

What exactly is the expectation here? That things will never go wrong? That Comcast will wave a tricorder and fix everything?

Or has Daniel's persecution theory reached out to include the tech parked in his driveway, the CSR he spoke to this morning, the escalations CSR he spoke to this afternoon and the tech they got out to his house that same day?

Sounds like Comcast is bending over backwards to fix things as quickly as they can in the face of a customer who is insisting on being unreasonable and demanding. I feel sorry for the poor employees who have to put up with him.

@petrarch1608: it seems pretty clear to me that Daniel went out and bought his own modem and tried to hook it up himself.

@Buran: The signal information is stored in the modem itself, which should be accessible over his home network, not the Internet.

Also, you can look at the blinky lights. They're not to hard to figure out, and presumably he has a manual to help diagnose the problem since he bought the modem today.

Corydon

So, the suspicion about the tech taking revenge was misplaced paranoia.

The outage was a mere coincidence.

So, are you Daniel and are updating the story? Or are you someone else just saying this in your opinion? Sorry, I'm not trying to be flip, I'm just curious if this issue has been resolved...

humphrmi

blkhrt1

sean77

m4ximusprim3

Buran

petrarch1608

The outage was a mere coincidence.

As a tip for others in the future, a complete and total outage can be verified by plugging the coax directly into your TV on most cable systems. A subset of channels (so-called "Basic Cable") will appear on your TV on channels 2 through 99, proving that you "have a signal".

Cable modems will blink their lights in specific patterns that will tell you if they can "see the downstream signal" or not, "range" with the headend, and "establish a connection". The internet is your friend in this regard, as there are even freeware tools that will extract information about your "signal quality" from your cablemodem and verify proper operation.

jfischer

forgottenpassword

Verdigris