Aware that service calls from Comcast often don’t work out so well, John thought he’d save himself some hassle by driving 45 minutes to the nearest service center to pick up a cable card he needed for his TiVo. He discovered that Comcast is equally capable of being inept when you visit it than when it visits you.

His tale:

I recently purchased a TiVo Premiere that requires a M-Cable card. I contacted my cable provider, Comcast, to see how much a card would cost and how I could get one. I used the live chat system and the rep took forever but eventually told me that it would cost something like $1.45 per month and that I could save a tech visit and fee if I picked it up myself at the local service center. I asked the rep to verify that the local center would indeed have one on hand when I got there since it is about 60 miles round trip. After a few minutes the rep did verify that information and gave me the exact address and hours.

The next day I had time to run to [redacted], Ca from my home in Lemoore, Ca and pick up the card. It was Good Friday and I checked on the Comcast website the hours again and that this site could issue cable cards. I just searched for cable card issuing centers with 50 miles and the one in [redacted]was the only one to pop up.

About 45 minutes later I was standing in the service center being told that they do not issue, do not store, nor have ever issued any cable cards from that site . But they would be happy to setup a tech visit and charge me the $19.95 fee and waste an afternoon waiting.

I told the rep that I had verified twice that they issued cable cards at that site and that the whole point was to save time and money picking it up my self. The rep graciously agreed to waive the service fee but I’m still going to be without HD capabilities on my Tivo until Thursday.

You should remind your readers that they shouldn’t necessarily believe what their told by Comcast’s chat reps or their own website. Instead they better call the service center themselves before heading out.

This is bad news for John, but encouraging for those who have Comcast in their Worst Company in America pool. Comcast is kinda like Duke in our little tournament.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.