An appeals court has kicked the Comcast, NFL dispute back down the lower courts where the two companies will have to start all over again in their dispute over whether or not Comcast can offer the NFL network on a special “sports tier.”
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Comcast Will Charge You $2 To Stop Sending You Junk Mail
By 2.29.08
We don’t mean to influence the “Worst Company In America” voting, but check this out: if you call Comcast and ask them to stop sending you anything other than your bill, they’ll agree but quietly slap you with a $1.99 “change of service” fee. Like most made-up, totally indefensible fees from cable and cell phone companies, Ian found that a chat with a customer service agent can get the fee removed. Update: Comcast has responded to this and apologized for the fee.
Video Of Comcast's Opening Remarks During Net Neutrality Hearing With Seats Stuffed By Company Employees
By 2.27.08
Here’s a video of Comcast VP David Cohen’s opening remarks during the FCC hearing on Monday, the one where Comcast bused in employees. These employees all wore yellow highlighters to identify themselves to company organizers.
Comcast Stacks FCC Hearing Seats With Sleepy Shills
By 2.26.08
Comcast admitted to paying its employees to sit in at a F.C.C. hearing on net neutrality at the Harvard Law School today, depriving angry protesters from their right to sit in those folding chairs. Despite the venue being filled to over capacity, keeping some people from entering, not everyone inside seemed appreciative of their privilege. One Comcast employee admitted on tape, “I’m just getting paid to hold someone’s seat, I don’t even know what’s going on.” According to SaveTheInternet.com, the Comcast employees, “arrived en masse some 90 minutes before the hearing began and occupied almost every available seat, upon which many promptly fell asleep.” The stacked audience’s behavior was limited to wearing a yellow highlighter, sleeping during the proceedings, and loudly applauding when Comcast VP David Cohen got on the mic.
Comcast Dings Your Credit Report For Moving With Their Precious Cable Modem
By 2.26.08
Comcast told reader Marcus that he could just take his cable modem with him when he moved from the Philadelphia suburbs into the city. Then he checked his credit report and found out that he was a cable modem thief.
Man Gets $35 Service Credit From Comcast By Doing Math In His Head
By 2.25.08
Shaw writes:
I am one of the early adopters of Comcast’s new TiVo service that is being rolled (see: rushed before ready) out in Massachusetts.
"So, I'm Suing Comcast…" Reader Joins Comcastic Class Action Lawsuit
By 2.25.08
My name is Jonathan [redacted], and have had the worst customer experience in my life in dealing with Comcast of DC over the last 5 months. From incompetent technicians, to gross abuses of billing procedures, to a simple lack of basic service, I am appalled at what they claim to be “Comcastic”. In addition, I am a graduate student, and so do not have much time to fight with call center employees (60 hours and counting, no exaggeration) over their horrific overcharging; I also don’t have time to sit at home for yet another technician who doesn’t know anything about the services they are providing. For my work-study, I am an IT technician or an office building in downtown DC. As a result, I oftentimes know much more about networking than the technicians who are supposed to service my line!
BusinessWeek: "Consumers Are Fighting Back"
By 2.22.08
BusinessWeek’s cover story from their March 3rd issue, “Consumer Vigilantes,” looks at last year’s wave of stories about consumers who took matters into their own hands, either by smashing up a Comcast office with a hammer, starting a “Comcast must die” blog, or sending EECBs to unsuspecting executives. “Frustrated by the usual fix-it options–obediently waiting on hold with Bangalore, gamely chatting online with a scripted robot–more consumers are rebelling against company-prescribed service channels,” BusinessWeek writes. What we can’t figure out is how they got those three guys to actually pose with those goofy masks on—sometimes it’s okay to say no to the photographer.
Comcast Recommends That You Switch To Verizon, Then Apologizes
By 2.18.08
Reader Brian sent us this transcript of a conversation that he had with a Comcast rep. He was considering switching to Verizon and was wondering if Comcast could come up with any reason why he should stay. They couldn’t. In fact, Comcast’s CSR “Mike” said: “my advice is to go ahead and switch, and if you find Comacst provides a fast and more reliable service we will welcome you back.”
By 2.14.08
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Comcast loses subscribers, gains income. [AP]
Comcast: No Thanks FCC, Blogosphere Polices Us Just Fine
By 2.14.08
In the brief Comcast filed arguing that they doesn’t need the FCC telling it how not to throttle its customers’ internets, Comcast came up with a pretty special explanation:
The self-policing marketplace and blogosphere, combined with vigilant scrutiny from policymakers, provides an ample check on the reasonableness of such [network management] judgments.
So after dissing on the relevance of blogs, Comcast turns around and says that it takes blogs seriously enough that they’re a sufficient proxy for FCC regulation. The lawyer that came up with that one deserve a very big M&M cookie.
By 2.8.08
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Comcast has quietly changed their terms of service following the BitTorrent backlash to protect their ass a bit more. [Ars Technica]
Big Ten Network Continues To Annoy Consumers
By 2.8.08
Stop us if you have heard this one before: Comcast and the BTN still don’t have a deal. Nothing has changed since the football season, when many fans were upset at not being able to see the Wisconsin-Ohio State game, which aired on the BTN.
Verizon To Hollywood: We're Not The Piracy Police
By 2.6.08
AT&T and Comcast may be willing to help Hollywood control piracy on their networks, but Verizon wants none of it, says the New York Times.
Comcast Apologizes For 4th Quarter SuperBowl Outage
By 2.5.08
Comcast is working to make things right after 8,000 customers in the North Valley lost their signal in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl.
Comcast Refunds $121 To Frustrated Customer
By 2.5.08
After an unhappy Comcast emailed his complaint to the CEO and we posted the letter here (see “Repeated Comcast Outages Nearly Cost Reader His Job“), Comcast refunded him $121 in installation and other fees, in addition to the $263 it had already refunded. “Not worth all the trouble my wife and I endured,” our reader writes, “but I have to give Comcast credit for trying to make it right.”
Tired Of Your Entrenched Service Provider? Consider A Local Alternative
By 2.3.08
Few consumers realize they can ditch their monopolistic service providers in favor of local, independent telecoms that often offer similar services at competitive rates. These smaller outfits depend on service, not size, as reader Sharpstick recently discovered:
In the Charleston SC area we are fortunate to have local a internet / phone / cable provider called Knology that has made customer service an art form.
