A Drop In The Stream

We were Comcast broadband TV, data, and phone customers for a handful of years and while we weren’t always thrilled with the quality of the service we were content enough not to go to a satellite service until ATT came into our area with U-Verse. The Comcast issues of faltering download speeds at peak times and cable movies not being scheduled at times that were convenient for us all went away with U-Verse. The last hurdle with Comcast was to actually sever the relationship and this has proved to be an education.

Several years ago, we had issues with our cable modem and the technician that came in to do the service apparently didn’t do his asset management housekeeping correctly so apparently we were on record as having two modem serial numbers attached to our account. Each time I contacted Comcast when there was a connectivity issue I had to explain to them that I had only one modem, not two, and to provide them with the serial number of the modem in my possession and ask them to please update their records to reflect the correct number of modems on our account. Fast forward to the time to say goodbye.

All the wonderful lip service about Comcast customer service guarantees goes out the door when you terminate your service. Comcast technicians never missed a service appointment without calling until it was time to pick up my equipment – then they blithely skipped two scheduled pickup times and then randomly showed up at my door when I wasn’t home. I had already packed up the gear into my car to drop off at the local Comcast service center because when I terminated my service, the Comcast agent was quick to inform me that I had “hundreds of dollars” of Comcast equipment that had to be returned promptly. So, the expensive equipment’s return is on me even though two pick up appointments were missed by Comcast. Great.

To make a long story short, since I dropped off the equipment at the Comcast service center (where the representative assured me that my account was clear and the modem wasn’t a problem at all) I’ve had 2 calls from Comcast, one invoice sent to me for the modem ($40) and a call from a Comcast affiliated collection agency. The call last night with the collection agency may be the last (I live in hope) because the representative stated that he was marking the modem as returned. This is, of course, exactly what all the other Comcast agents told me but I’ll be optimistic until it proves unfounded.

The final irony of the whole situation, is that when one calls Comcast’s toll free number now, you have to listen to the VP of Comcast Customer Service (or some such corporate spokesman type) spouting off about “Comcast’s customer service guarantee” and urging us all to “ask your Comcast representative about the guarantee”. The missed opportunity in all this that I would sooner go to Clear’s wi-max or to a satellite solution now before I’ll ever choose to do business with Comcast again. That is my customer guarantee to them.