Comcast Customer Satisfaction At All Time Low - Despite promises to make customer service a priority...

Comcast Customer Satisfaction At All Time Low - Despite promises to make customer service a priority...
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Comcast Customer Satisfaction At All Time Low
Despite promises to make customer service a priority...
(old news - 10:02AM Wednesday May 21 2008)
tags: business · cable · consumers

For years, the cable TV industry has been at the bottom of the barrel across industries when it comes to consumer satisfaction rankings. Comcast and Charter have been particular offenders, so both companies have made plenty of noise this year about how improving customer service is their priority. Yet according to the latest American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), customer service from both companies is actually getting worse.

The ACSI is created by the University of Michigan, and uses random phone interviews to determine consumer satisfaction across sectors on a scale of 0 to 100. According to the latest numbers, Comcast hit a record low of 54. Charter also comes it at 54, but for them it isn't a record -- they bottomed out at 53 back in 2002.

"Rapid growth may have contributed to difficulties in operations as Comcast continues to add cable subscribers, often through acquisitions of companies in smaller markets," proclaims ACSI analyst Claes Fornell. I believe 9 out of 10 hammer wielding grandmothers agree.

Comcast says they've hired some 15,000 new support workers in the last 18 months to handle the strain, but either it's not helping, or they haven't been given enough time to make a difference. I'm thinking the Twitter band-aids aren't cutting it. ACSI says size does matter, and smaller providers improved overall TV ratings:

The reason for the industry's uptick is the large improvement among smaller cable TV providers such as Cablevision and RCN. The category of "all other" cable TV companies is up 5% to lead the industry with an all-time high of 69, well ahead of the large competitors. As is often the case, small is often better in terms of being able to provide good customer service. Cablevision, for example, with some 3 million subscribers, is barely 1/8th the size of Comcast.

The survey also ranks wireless phone service, and indicates that while AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile saw consumer satisfaction gains, Sprint dropped to a record -low rating of 56. Looking at all ranked industries, the airline industry managed the worst average score at 62 (the cable & satellite TV industry came in at 64). I remember that when the ACSI used to rank the IRS, it scored around 60 -- so Charter, Comcast and Sprint clearly have some work to do.

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Dogfather @ 21st May 09:56AM:
Surprised?

That's what happens when you relentlessly raise prices at 3X the rate of inflation.
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Matt @ 21st May 09:57AM:
DirecTV et al

It's funny, DirecTV would have you believe they are head and shoulders above the Cable Companies based on this study. All their new anti-cable commercials quote this study in the fine print at the end of the commercial. I've had both and they both have their strengths and weaknesses.

The larger trend that no one seems to notice is that customer service in EVERY industry has taken a huge nosedive in the past 5-10 years.
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phantom6294 @ 21st May 10:00AM:
Include me in the dissatisfied customers...

I first got Comcast barely over a year ago when I moved to Maryland. At first, I was happy -- the technician was professional, the speeds were great and the introductory price (I got the triple play) was reasonable. Only issue I initially had was trouble connecting to *.mil sites. That seemed to work itself out. Also, every now and then, I would lose dial tone on my phone service. No biggie, just reset the cable modem.

Well, that all started changing. About two months ago, my signal suddenly went to the pits. I replaced all the splitters and got it back into an acceptable range but things are still erratic. I lose dial tone about once a week though internet doesn't seem to be affected. I frequently find my cable modem getting reset. I've been accused by Comcast as being a spammer. Also, my cable modem was supposed to come with batteries but didn't... I'm fearful to ask for them or return the modem that Comcast is going to claim I stole the batteries. Ironically, all my problems seemed to start just about when my introductory triple play price expired. Go figure.

I look forward to Verizon moving along with FiOS installations here in Harford County. I'll probably jump ship as soon as I can.

EDIT: Only problem I've really had with the TV portion of my service is that the first box they gave me is slower than molasses. It literally and seriously takes more than 5 seconds to change the channel after turning on the box; even if I let it sit for minutes -- the first channel change takes forever. After that, changing channels is still a VERY slow ordeal. I've just been lazy and haven't exchanged the box yet.
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ptrowski @ 21st May 10:03AM:
Re: Include me in the dissatisfied customers...

said by phantom6294 :

I've been accused by Comcast as being spammer. Turns out, my cable modem was supposed to come with batteries but didn't...

Maybe it's just me, but how are those two things related?
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fuziwuzi @ 21st May 10:09AM:
Is this true????

The fanboys in the Comcast forum here repeatedly claim that "bad service" is a rare occurrence or that it never happens at all. It must be true since they wouldn't berate so thoroughly every person who dares make a complaint, right? :p
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PhoenixDown @ 21st May 10:14AM:
Fast food

Wendy's is doing better than Burger King and way better than McDonalds yet they are being bought out by Arbies which didn't make the list. Interesting!
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phantom6294 @ 21st May 10:23AM:
Re: Include me in the dissatisfied customers...

said by ptrowski :

said by phantom6294 :

I've been accused by Comcast as being spammer. Turns out, my cable modem was supposed to come with batteries but didn't...

Maybe it's just me, but how are those two things related?

They're not... it was poor grammar on my part. I'll correct it.
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ptrowski @ 21st May 10:34AM:
Re: Include me in the dissatisfied customers...

said by phantom6294 :

I first got Comcast barely over a year ago when I moved to Maryland. At first, I was happy -- the technician was professional, the speeds were great and the introductory price (I got the triple play) was reasonable. Only issue I initially had was trouble connecting to *.mil sites. That seemed to work itself out. Also, every now and then, I would lose dial tone on my phone service. No biggie, just reset the cable modem.

Well, that all started changing. About two months ago, my signal suddenly went to the pits. I replaced all the splitters and got it back into an acceptable range but things are still erratic. I lose dial tone about once a week though internet doesn't seem to be affected. I frequently find my cable modem getting reset. I've been accused by Comcast as being a spammer. Also, my cable modem was supposed to come with batteries but didn't... I'm fearful to ask for them or return the modem that Comcast is going to claim I stole the batteries. Ironically, all my problems seemed to start just about when my introductory triple play price expired. Go figure.

I look forward to Verizon moving along with FiOS installations here in Harford County. I'll probably jump ship as soon as I can.

EDIT: Only problem I've really had with the TV portion of my service is that the first box they gave me is slower than molasses. It literally and seriously takes more than 5 seconds to change the channel after turning on the box; even if I let it sit for minutes -- the first channel change takes forever. After that, changing channels is still a VERY slow ordeal. I've just been lazy and haven't exchanged the box yet.

No issues, I was just trying ot see how Comcast could make that leap!
--
"A religious war is like children fighting over who has the strongest imaginary friend."

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anon @ 21st May 11:59AM:
Re: Fast food

Wendys staff is pretty retard in my area. They are slow as snail , and seem to get more things wrong then others. It amazes me how wendys and McDonalds are next to each other and McDonalds can progress even if alot of their staff doesn't speak english they move more volume threw line vs Wendys just has you sit there until they have done two cars before even taking your order. Goes to show there are many flaws in way Wendys operates. There are a few places that take more time then others like Steak N Shake , Long John Silvers but this is not one of them.
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DHRacer @ 21st May 10:40AM:
Rapid growth my eye

Customer service sucks because they offshored customer service (not just tech support, but even the billing department) to some foreign country where they insult you by adopting an American first name and then barely able to speak any sort of intelligible English, and on top of all that, any deviations from their script cause hold times while they call a meeting to figure out what to do next.

As for Charter, I've totally given up on calling in. I just go to the local office now, but that's something I can really only do on weekends.

In addition, Charter seems to have oversold themselves on supporting HSI and phone, and they've been neglecting their core service: Cable TV. So you pay all this money and the service isn't as good as you think it should be (it should just work).

Now I'm sure the contingent of users on this forum will say "just switch" or "don't like it, don't have it" and to them I say drop dead. If I could, I would, but there is no competition, so I'm not going to punish myself by living like a cave man just to spite the cable company.

In short, I'd love to be in an area where the Telco can compete, or at least make Charter work harder. It would make Charter a better company, or at least I'd like to think so.

--
"No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them." (R&D Supervisor, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing /3M Corp.)
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Rob @ 21st May 10:40AM:
Too big..

You know the saying "too big for their own kind"? Well it applies to Comcast. Comcast is simply way too big for their own kind. They use 3-4 different (and sometimes complicated) billing systems. Many of the company policies are not passed down to agents, and that is why customers will get different answers when they call.

They have a very complicated backend system that needs massive reworks.
--
www.rr.cx | YourIP.US | MySite.cx
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Corydon @ 21st May 10:41AM:
Interesting overview, but not enough details

Personally, I trust the reviews I see here on this site a great deal more. Well, perhaps "trust" isn't the right word: I can actually read about individual experiences instead of just getting a high level overview number that may or may not tell me much about what service is actually like in my area.

I also notice that high speed internet service is not tracked separately, although phone service is (and Comcast's VoIP seems to be doing better than it's cable division, although still below average). That's a shame...those figures would be a great deal more useful.

As others have pointed out, Comcast's service is really uneven. Whether you're satisfied with your service or not seems to depend a great deal on where you live. As noted in the article, areas that were recently acquired seem to do worse than areas that have been with the company for a while. There seems to have been an awful lot of pain in areas that used to belong in to Insight for example. Too bad the survey doesn't break down the numbers by area.
--
My opinions are my own. No-one else would want them!
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Dogfather @ 21st May 10:47AM:
Re: DirecTV et al

Read it again, DirecTV hasn't taken a nosedive, and by no measure is it a "massive" nosedive. They're a tiny bit off from their insanely high ratings to just below insanely high. And more recently, their customer satifaction has increased while Comcast continues it's freefall toward 50% satisfaction.

Of course DirecTV is head and shoulders, torso, pelvis and legs above Comcast.

You Comcast fanbois can try and spin this all you want, but the numbers don't lie. People are satified with DirecTV by a ratio of better than 2:1 and it's increasing while nearly 1/2 are dissatisfied with Comcast and within another 18 months, the customers actually satisfied with Comcast will be in the minority.

That is very sad when 1/2 of their customers think they suck and they're at the bottom of the customer satisfaction index. Even sadder when people like the IRS more than Comcast by quite a wide margin.

Unfortunately Comcast's solution for this will certainly be yet another price increase.
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CUBS_FAN @ 21st May 10:51AM:
One of the largest

The more customers the more complaints.
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Dogfather @ 21st May 10:55AM:
Re: One of the largest

It's based on percentage, not total number of complainers. The IRS has way more "customers" but still rate higher than Comcast.
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anon @ 21st May 11:03AM:
I dumped Comacast and haven't looked back

I can attest to the customer be damned attitude at Comacast. Every year in the Spring for four years I had to call for service. They would go through their script wasting their time and mine when I knew what the problem was after the second year. Then they would send three separate "techs" insisting the problem was in the house when it was at their box. It seems that the terminals would rust each Spring and they needed to send a tech who know how to properly clean them. But they would insist on all that waste instead of just send the correct tech on the first call. I've had Dish for 10 months now and I couldn't be happier. My bill is $30 less per month and I have fantastic picture quality. You can't compare the Comacast HD to Dish Network's HD.
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dadkins @ 21st May 11:09AM:
Re: Is this true????

said by fuziwuzi :

The fanboys in the Comcast forum here repeatedly claim that "bad service" is a rare occurrence or that it never happens at all. It must be true since they wouldn't berate so thoroughly every person who dares make a complaint, right? :p

Yeah!
It can't be that Comcast is taking over crap systems(yeah I said crap) and trying to get them all up to what the rest of the Comcast footprint is doing.

We seen it with the TW/Comcast buyout and swap meet of areas with Adelphia and now with Insight.

Problems? Trying to replace neglected HW and lines?
Getting infrastructure to acceptable levels with hodge-podge equipment?

The hell you say! :mad:

Yes! Issues *DO* happen - everyday!

"Comcast served 24.1 million cable customers in 39 states, 13.2 million high-speed Internet customers, 15.2 million digital cable customers, and 4.4 million voice (phone) customers at the end of 2007."

With numbers like that(currently higher BTW) you mean that there are going to be problems somewhere?
No fucking way! :o :hmm: :uhh:
____________________________________________________________
WARNING! Common Sense Ahead!!!
Higher overall numbers dictate that a higher number of complaints will arise.
____________________________________________________________

""Rapid growth may have contributed to difficulties in operations as Comcast continues to add cable subscribers, often through acquisitions of companies in smaller markets," proclaims ACSI analyst Claes Fornell."

Ya Think?

Oh! Shit!
I'm sorry dude! You didn't want reality posted in response to your rant... My Bad!
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera
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JPuppy @ 21st May 11:27AM:
The solution is easy, spend more money

Drop the outsourced support, and create regional call centers. Treat call techs fairly and create an environment that encourages techs use their expertise rather than force them to stick to the script. Of course, hiring techs that posses expertise is required. Nothing is cheap. My cable bill certainly isn't
--
Only through the criticizing of others can we learn to love ourselves.
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pfsmith @ 21st May 11:35AM:
Re: Is this true????

said by dadkins :

Yeah!
It can't be that Comcast is taking over crap systems(yeah I said crap) and trying to get them all up to what the rest of the Comcast footprint is doing.

Comcast took over Insight in IN and IL which was running *wonderfully*. I had great speeds, great pings, no packet loss.

THE VERY DAY OF THE CHANGE OVER MY SPEEDS WENT TO SLOWER THAN DSL. We were promised by Comcast that we would keep our 10/1 Insight speeds. But, that hasn't happened. I'm on 8/768 and THEY KEEP LYING ABOUT IT. They tell me to my face that I'm on 10/1 but MY VERY OWN MODEM'S STATUS SCREEN SAYS THAT I'M PROVISIONED FOR 8/768. When they escalate the problem the upper level techs CONTINUE TO LIE TO MY FACE AND CLAIM THAT I'M ON 10/1.

They even forced me to get a new modem because they wouldn't properly support the modem I had with Insight that had worked flawlessly for several years... said they couldn't provision it properly (what a load of crap - Insight could do it just fine).

So, Comcast has taken over a nicely run Insight system with great local customer service and turned it into garbage with sometimes less than DSL speeds and shit for customer service.
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iampedro @ 21st May 11:35AM:
Re: The solution is easy, spend more money

I am on comcast and I am just waiting to move to att when U-verse available in my location. I mean the download is fine but upload really stinks...
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dadkins @ 21st May 11:52AM:
Re: Is this true????

One last time Pal...
YES! Problems *DO* happen!
NO ISP is problem free!

I believe you that you are having issues with Comcast...
Just as I said, there will most likely be issues when Comcast has to get ALL AQUIRED network segments set to what the rest of Comcast's footprint is at.

What part of that can't you understand?
Hate to tell you friend, 10/1 will be going away - like it or not!

*No offense to any phone reps intended...*
I don't care what some phone monkey told you!

Comcast does not have 10/1 service! It *WILL* go away!
Get over it! :uhh:
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera
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BSD24 @ 21st May 11:54AM:
Re: Surprised?

said by Dogfather :

That's what happens when you relentlessly raise prices at 3X the rate of inflation.

skeedatl - Umm don't you know that Verizon Fios is more expensive then Comcast Cable. Same goes for the limited use of Uverse, they raised rates above Comcast. Most providers raised rates this year, and most other providers are more expensive. For example - Comcast has had (in most areas) the $99/mnth for 1 year(1yr no contract) (or if you want for 2yrs you sign a contract) bundle since January. Verizon Fios TV for same exact bundle is $115/mnth and requires a 2 year contract.

3x the rate of inflation, what about gas prices? Gas prices affect everyone including every business. Who do you think pays for the techs to go out, and who pays the gas for the trucks??? Hmm Gas using your math must be 500x the rate of inflation.....
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en102 @ 21st May 12:02PM:
Re: Surprised?

Just another reason to go OTA or access basic.
--
Canada = Hollywood North
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ib50MbSoon @ 21st May 12:03PM:
What's not to like?

Paying for 8000/768 and NEVER see it slower. Today I'm seeing peak gusts to +32,000.

Digital Voice is crystal clear, OnDemand performs flawlessly, and all the TV channels I watch are delivered in HD.

I really can't comment about Comcast's customer service since I haven't had to use it.
--
Comcast has spoiled me rotten!

anon @ 21st May 12:11PM:
plenty of excuses for terrible service

The Twin Cities is one of their "better" for technology, internet, HDTV, etc.

Prices are nuts. Three price increases in one year.

I believe they hire most of their CSRs from the same neighborHOOD.
I won't even start on most of the techs - scary, very scary.

Junction Cable boxes held together with tape or no cover at all.

Certain HD channels, occasionally, have the resolution of an Atari 2600, but with sound dropouts.

All good.
Can't wait 'til I live in a house with a southern view.
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BSD24 @ 21st May 12:17PM:
Re: Surprised?

said by en102 :

Just another reason to go OTA or access basic.

en102 - Yes OTA HD signals are free too, and there are a good amount out there depending on where you live of course.
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Dogfather @ 21st May 12:19PM:
Re: Surprised?

Not in my service area it's not.

And Comcast was into 3X inflation price increases long before gas was 4 bucks.
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BSD24 @ 21st May 12:31PM:
Re: Surprised?

said by Dogfather :

Not in my service area it's not.

And Comcast was into 3X inflation price increases long before gas was 4 bucks.

Skeedatl -
You might want to check your math then. Once you have facts then let us know.

Comcast raises rates just as the other TV providers do. So then you really should be mad at every company that provides TV service! As I said before Verizon Fios and AT&T UVERSE are more expensive then Comcast currently, before they were practically neck to neck on costs.

Try taking your monthly bill before tax and divide it by 30days. Find out how much you pay per day for cable.... aswell as internet and phone (if you have them with Comcast too).

Why does Comcast charge more for channels by raising rates?? Who does Comcast pay? The broadcasters and programming companys like Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, NFL NETWORK*, etc.. What do you think happens when they charge Comcast a higher (per user/tv-watcher) rate(s)?

Just like what happened this past football season, NFL decided to get more greedy and charge cable providers an arm and a leg more than they were getting before if they wanted to continue providing their channel (*NFL NETWORK*) to a customer. So Comcast ended up putting it into a seperate package called "Sports & Ent. package" instead of raising the rates of everyone (even the people who don't watch the channel).
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mglunt @ 21st May 12:33PM:
Re: Surprised?

said by BSD24 :

said by Dogfather :

That's what happens when you relentlessly raise prices at 3X the rate of inflation.

The $99 comcast bundle is for their Digital Basic right which is what 80 channels? The Verizon package does cost a little more, but it comes with a lot of channels that Comcast charges extra for. Someone on the Verizon forum just switched and commented that you would have to pay $140-$150 to get the same content on Comcast, then see the rate get jacked up after a year to levels like $141 in my area. A $41 increase!!!

Then you have Comcast squeezing too many HD channels into a QAM and compressing the heck out of them as was pointed out here a couple months ago.
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Dogfather @ 21st May 12:36PM:
Re: Surprised?

My math is fine, you are the one who chooses to ignore reality along with the rest of the Comcast fanbois who desperately try to explain away Comcast's abysmal customer service ratings. You should bother to learn what Verizon's rates actually are and was programming they provide for those rates before mouthing off.

Of course it wouldn't dawn on you to wonder why people like the IRS more than Comcast.
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raythompsontn @ 21st May 12:36PM:
Comcast Service

I can give you a prime example of the problem.

Yesterday in my area there was a large outage affecting several blocks. I had neighbors calling me to ask if my cable was out which it indeed was. I tried calling Comcast but could not get through because the lines were busy. I figured that large an area and Comcast would know about the outage.

Today I called to get credit for the lost service. I was told there was no record of a call on my account. I explained that I could not get through on the phones. The agent checked and said there was no outage in the area. WTF?

Anyway, the agent was rude and somewhat condescending before finally agreeing to "courtesy" credit this one time only. Next time I would have to have information on my account that there was an outage.

Finally Comcast tried to sell me their phone service. If I had that service than I most assuredly would not be able to call to report an outage.

Comcast service sucks, their reps suck, the programming sucks. But I have no viable alternative. When you are the only option quality goes out the window and the price goes through the roof.
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BSD24 @ 21st May 12:37PM:
Re: Surprised?

said by mglunt :

said by BSD24 :

said by Dogfather :

That's what happens when you relentlessly raise prices at 3X the rate of inflation.

Nope, you get more than 80 channels, (I believe it comes with 105 channels total but may depend on your area cause locals etc..) unless your area is behind the times. Plus it includes the first cable box at no extra cost HD BOX is extra, but thats it, no seperate charge for HD programming (HD Channels) is no extra cost. Verizon charges you for every box in my area, they start out with $115 and then add equipment, they don't have the local government access channels in most areas currently and they charge you extra costs if you want to get a HDBOX + not only that they charge you a seperate fee to have access to the HD CHANNELS!!!
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Dogfather @ 21st May 12:41PM:
Re: Surprised?

Comcast charges for every box, especially painful considering they scramble analog basic and here Verizon's 200 channel all-digital premier service is the same price as Comcast's analog extended basic cable package.

And while Verizon in my service area offers 3 boxes for $12.99, Comcast here charges $6.95 per box. HD boxes and HD-DVR here are the same price. Comcast just itemizes the box and DVR service separately.

Also no, HD programming isn't extra with Verizon, comes with the HD box rental just like Comcast. The only optional programming on FiOS are premiums like HBO or WWE. Everything else is included in their standard tier unlike Comcast.

It appears you are the one who doesn't have the facts. Perhaps you should bother to visit Verizon's site before mouthing off about the price of their service.
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moonpuppy @ 21st May 12:46PM:
Re: Is this true????

said by dadkins :

One last time Pal...
YES! Problems *DO* happen!
NO ISP is problem free!

The issue isn't that there are problems. The issue is whether or not Comcast FIXES the problems. I have had an issue with pixelization on analog service and Comcast says there is no problem. They even rolled a truck and found NOTHING wrong with my house wiring and while the tech knew there was a problem, Comcast said there was none. :uhh:
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mglunt @ 21st May 12:47PM:
Re: Surprised?

said by BSD24 :

Nope, you get more than 80 channels, (I believe it comes with 105 channels total but may depend on your area cause locals etc..) unless your area is behind the times. Plus it includes the first cable box at no extra cost HD is no extra cost. Verizon charges you for every box in my area, they start out with $115 and then add equipment, they don't have the local government access channels in most areas currently and they charge you extra costs if you want to get a HDBOX + not only that they charge you a seperate fee to have access to the HD CHANNELS!!!

Nope, no extra fee for HD. You just pay for the HD receiver. The basic lineup on Verizon offers more channels. The only thing they have that you pay for is a sports pack with some off the wall sports channels (like Tennis, horse racing, black belt channel, etc.) and their movie packages. There is no basic, preferred, etc. Verizon is also not jamming in 3 HD channels per QAM greatly reducing quality ( »www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre···=1008271 ).

The $115 is for more channels (every one digital), better HD quality, real landline unlimited phone, better internet. Plus, they are not going to jump the bill 41% when the 1 year deal is up. Locally, the Comcast basic triple play goes to $141 after 1 year.
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moonpuppy @ 21st May 12:51PM:
It doesn't matter how many agents you hire....

quote:
Comcast says they've hired some 15,000 new support workers in the last 18 months to handle the strain, but either it's not helping, or they haven't been given enough time to make a difference. I'm thinking the Twitter band-aids aren't cutting it.

You can hire 15 million support workers and have each one here in the USA but it means NOTHING if you do not fix the issues. Problems occur and that is a fact. However, taking your good old time fixing it and denying their is a problem is not going to make your customer satisfaction ratings go up. :uhh:
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Squirrelly @ 21st May 12:53PM:
Re: Comcast Service

Dish is so much better and cheaper
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BSD24 @ 21st May 01:04PM:
Re: Surprised?

said by mglunt :

LOL Real landline phone, I assume you are meaning copper phone line... Umm actually Verizon and Comcast use same technology. Just the Fiber line ends at your house instead of a Node that converts to Coaxial Cables. Both actually use IP technology for their phone service.

Yes I never said you didn't get more channels, I was telling him Comcast provides more than the 80 he says. Comcast has more Video On-Demand and more HD Video On-Demand. Verizon Fios charges for the first box, and an extra fee for HD. Umm yes they are going to jump, the 1year deal is exactly what it is a 1year deal. I had Fios for 4 years before switching back, all these hidden fees they didn't tell me about - every cable box is more then Comcast's charge for equipment, besides the fact that Comcast gives you your first Digital Box (Not hd) for free (no extra charge). And if you do get an HDbox, first one is discounted + Comcast doesn't charge you a fee to access HD programming (channels) like Verizon Fios does. AT&T does the same!

You might want to check out the Verizon website on pricing before posting, mglunt.
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TK Junk Mail @ 21st May 01:08PM:
Re: DirecTV et al

said by Dogfather :

Of course DirecTV is head and shoulders, torso, pelvis and legs above Comcast.

You Comcast fanbois can try and spin this all you want,

The problem is comparing apples and oranges. DirecTV is TV only, while the cable company ratings are also based on internet service as well. And I believe that is where Comcast gets a black eye. I find their TV service near bulletproof over the last 10 years. But I have had occasional internet outages while TV was still working without a problem.
--
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
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BSD24 @ 21st May 01:09PM:
Re: Surprised?

said by Dogfather :

My math is fine, you are the one who chooses to ignore reality along with the rest of the Comcast fanbois who desperately try to explain away Comcast's abysmal customer service ratings. You should bother to learn what Verizon's rates actually are and was programming they provide for those rates before mouthing off.

Of course it wouldn't dawn on you to wonder why people like the IRS more than Comcast.

skeedatl - don't get off subject, don't take this personal.
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Dogfather @ 21st May 01:09PM:
Re: Surprised?

said by BSD24 :

You might want to check out the Verizon website on pricing before posting, mglunt.

You should take your own advice.

How many channels do you get for $48 with Comcast? Here it barely got you analog extended basic which was about 80 channels including all the filler like QVC. I'm not sure if Comcast still offers analog here though. With Verizon you get 200 and again no, there is no extra charge for HD programming. It's free with the HD box rental just like Cox, TWC and Comcast.
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Dogfather @ 21st May 01:10PM:
Re: Surprised?

RTFA, it's about Comcast' horrid customer service rating.

Meanwhile you keep repeating falsehoods about Verizon like Verizon charging for HD programming.

Verizon does not charge for HD programming. It's included in the HD box rental just like Comcast. In my service area, Comcast didn't discount the first HD box. They charge $5 on top of, not instead of, the regular box rental for a total of $12.95. Verizon charges $10.
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TK Junk Mail @ 21st May 01:12PM:
The sat ratings did show an interesting look at cell service

While checking out that link to the ratings on the cable and sat TV companies, I also checked out the cellphone service ratings. There wasn't a lot of surprises there - pretty much good across the board except for Sprint. Sprint's numbers have taken a nosedive the last couple years.

[att=1]
--
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page

Matt @ 21st May 01:14PM:
Re: DirecTV et al

said by Dogfather :

Read it again, DirecTV hasn't taken a nosedive, and by no measure is it a "massive" nosedive. They're a tiny bit off from their insanely high ratings to just below insanely high. And more recently, their customer satifaction has increased while Comcast continues it's freefall toward 50% satisfaction.

Of course DirecTV is head and shoulders, torso, pelvis and legs above Comcast.

You Comcast fanbois can try and spin this all you want, but the numbers don't lie. People are satified with DirecTV by a ratio of better than 2:1 and it's increasing while nearly 1/2 are dissatisfied with Comcast and within another 18 months, the customers actually satisfied with Comcast will be in the minority.

That is very sad when 1/2 of their customers think they suck and they're at the bottom of the customer satisfaction index. Even sadder when people like the IRS more than Comcast by quite a wide margin.

Unfortunately Comcast's solution for this will certainly be yet another price increase.

Comcast isn't even available in my area, so I'm far form a Comcast fanboy. I misread the blurb at the bottom that lumped the cable and satellite industries together.

Regardless, I have had TW Cable and now I have DirecTV. I am waiting for my contract to end so I can go back to TW as the DTV savings just aren't there and their overall product isn't any better.
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Dogfather @ 21st May 01:15PM:
Re: DirecTV et al

Looking at the statistics, they broke down the industries. For example, Comcast telephony and Comcast television are rated separately.
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dadkins @ 21st May 01:19PM:
Re: Is this true????

And yet some people like... me, have a Comcast issue and it gets fixed in a timely manner. Go figure, huh?

I know that some have problems, but you also have to realize that MOST do not.
Maybe the local techs in your market are clowns - who knows!

That does not mean they all are! Right? ;)
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera
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Matt @ 21st May 01:19PM:
Re: DirecTV et al

said by Dogfather :

Looking at the statistics, they broke down the industries. For example, Comcast telephony and Comcast television are rated separately.

So which did they lump Comcast Internet Service?
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TK Junk Mail @ 21st May 01:21PM:
Re: DirecTV et al

said by Dogfather :

Looking at the statistics, they broke down the industries. For example, Comcast telephony and Comcast television are rated separately.

But they didn't break out internet service. I suspect that is in the television category.
--
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
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Matt @ 21st May 01:24PM:
Re: DirecTV et al

said by TK Junk Mail :

said by Dogfather :

Looking at the statistics, they broke down the industries. For example, Comcast telephony and Comcast television are rated separately.

But they didn't break out internet service. I suspect that is in the television category.

As do I.

Internet customers are much more demanding than TV customers.
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Dogfather @ 21st May 01:26PM:
Re: DirecTV et al

According to the statistics description, it doesn't include internet service. It's only cable TV and DBS TV.

quote:
cable & satellite TV, cellular telephones*, computer software, fixed line telephone service, motion pictures, network/cable TV news, newspapers, wireless telephone service

No internet.

There is no evidence that they included internet in their rankings, especially considering the explicitly excluded other cable services like telephony.

The only thing mentioned was possible spill-over for AOL's portal from AOL being an ISP. But that implies that they weren't rating AOL as an ISP but people hate AOL ISP so some possibly hated AOL as a portal.

But there is no similar commentary about spill-over for Comcast or horrid numbers coming for people hating Comcast's HSI service. From my experience it's the other way around; people are happier with HSI than TV which is why Comcast has the $15 how dare you not want our crappy CATV fee.
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EPS @ 21st May 01:27PM:
Re: The sat ratings did show an interesting look at cell service

Wow- Sprint is dragging down the entire wireless industry with their rankings.
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Morac @ 21st May 01:32PM:
Comcast's support system needs to be completely overhauled

Adding more phone reps won't help when the overall support system is broken. The issue is the three tiered support (phone, techs, line techs).

1. Phone support cannot do anything but schedule a local tech. Even if a phone support can see evidence of an issue affecting more than one person, s/he can only schedule a local tech. If enough people call from one area, it triggers an "outage", but most people are lazy and don't call (my neighbor's Internet access was out for a week before she called). So it doesn't matter if the phone support person is competent or not (not that I enjoy talking to incompetent phone support). On a related note, the local techs cannot read the support logs from phone support so when a phone rep "makes a detailed log of your problem", the local techs never see that. The local techs see a short description of problem (eg: "packet loss") instead of the details (eg: "packet loss caused by an upstream signal issue affecting everyone in a 3 block radius").

2. Comcast should monitor its own network for problems. I shouldn't have to spend weeks getting an upstream line issue fixed when a simple automated monitoring system could detect signal problems and automatically notify the line tech department. If I can see problems running a smokeping test, Comcast should be able to automatically monitor the headends for problems.

For completeness, here's my last major Comcast problem which demonstrates the flaws in the system.

A month or two ago, I started noticing dropped pings, slow download and errors on my modem so I called Comcast support. The person ran tests and said that yes there was a problem so she scheduled a local tech. Before the tech came out the problem went away so I canceled the call. The problem came back so I got phone support to schedule another tech and when the person showed up the problem went away. This went on for a few weeks with a total of 4 tech visits; each time the problem wasn't occurring when the tech showed up. A couple of times I had the phone person check the upstream values (which were way off), but the phone person could only schedule a local tech.

Frustrated I decided to call the number of a lead tech that I knew from a previous issue I had (and amazingly he answered). Since I was having the problem at that time, he could easily see from looking at the headend data, that there was an upstream problem in the area (everyone's upstream values were fluctuating wildly). He sent the information to the line tech department.

I had one more local tech come out and all he did was tell me that the problem had now been escalated to the line tech department and would be fixed soon (it was within a few days). I asked him if there was software that monitors the upstream values in the headend automatically (so I wouldn't need to go through this) and he said that would be a good idea, but there isn't any.

So in my case I'd still be having problems if I hadn't had the office number of a local tech.
--

The Comcast Disney Avatar has been retired.
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BSD24 @ 21st May 01:35PM:
Re: Surprised?

Forgot to mention with Verizon Fios, you have to have a cable box for every tv, primarily because of the IPTV technology which is awesome. But I doubt Comcast would just sit here keeping technology they have the way it is. They can't, they have to go above Fios at some point.
Currently with Comcast you can hook up your TV without a cable box, but as technology is getting better, Comcast should eliminate the analog stations which will free up a tremendous amount of bandwidth to use for more digital and hd channels plus with Comcast releasing 6000 new OnDemand movies a month (3000 just in HD) which far exceeds Verizon who is trying to catch up to previous Records of On Demand content that Comcast has had years ago.

But don't forget. Verizon is getting there feet wet, they know phone technology, but are new to TV technology. Their on-demand menu in my opinion stinks and isn't user friendly. But althought I had to pay Verizon $30 amonth for 1 Multi-Room Main DVR (doesn't include cost per std boxes for all the rest of the tv's), it was awesome to be able to watch a program that I recorded on my main DVR down stairs, from my own room at the same time as someone else watching it in another. And I loved the MP3 player that was on the dvr, getting the mp3s right from my computer. Competition is good, and I can't wait to see some of the new devices and services coming soon to Comcast.
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BSD24 @ 21st May 01:40PM:
Re: Surprised?

said by Dogfather :

RTFA, it's about Comcast' horrid customer service rating.

Meanwhile you keep repeating falsehoods about Verizon like Verizon charging for HD programming.

Verizon does not charge for HD programming. It's included in the HD box rental just like Comcast. In my service area, Comcast didn't discount the first HD box. They charge $5 on top of, not instead of, the regular box rental for a total of $12.95. Verizon charges $10.

So you are saying Verizon Fios charged me falsely for everything, including the $20* a month for 1 box that was multi-room dvr without HD, another $10* a month if I want HD channels in my area. $6.99 a month for standard boxes each. I don't see how something from Verizon printed on paper by them would be false. Yea Verizon itself must be false, just as much as DVR meaning Digital Video Recorder, that must be false too. What else do you believe in your world is false?
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MysticGogeta @ 21st May 02:08PM:
Re: DirecTV et al

I don't like Comcast (in fact dropping the TV service in a few days) but you sounding like a fan boy your self, so you shouldn't be such a hypocrite.
--
Team Discovery-Join the fight
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moonpuppy @ 21st May 02:18PM:
Re: Is this true????

said by dadkins :

And yet some people like... me, have a Comcast issue and it gets fixed in a timely manner. Go figure, huh?

I know that some have problems, but you also have to realize that MOST do not.
Maybe the local techs in your market are clowns - who knows!

That does not mean they all are! Right? ;)

the problem is while you might have good techs and managers in your area, others might have lousy service which reflects badly on the company as a whole. A good report quickly gets drowned out by lousy customer service. ;)
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Dogfather @ 21st May 02:29PM:
Re: DirecTV et al

Fanboy for what service exactly? I'm an 11 year Cox Digital/HSI sub and have a Megapath T1 at work. At my vacation house I have Time Warner (formerly Comcast/ATTB/MediaOne) and it's in a Verizon FiOS service area.

Don't have DirecTV, don't have E*. I just look at their ratings and see people like them FAR better than Comcast. You don't have to be a fanboi of anything to do simple math.

You do have to be a fanboi to spin these ratings to be anything but abysmal for Comcast.
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Dogfather @ 21st May 02:32PM:
Re: Surprised?

said by BSD24 :

So you are saying Verizon Fios charged me falsely for everything, including the $30 a month for 1 box that was multi-room dvr without HD, another $20 a month if I want HD channels in my area. $8 a month for standard boxes each. I don't see how something from Verizon printed on paper by them would be false. Yea Verizon itself must be false, just as much as DVR meaning Digital Video Recorder, that must be false too.

Correct, Verizon quotes me wildly different rates than what you are quoting.

Perhaps you were misreading your bill. Can you post a copy?

Here there is no additonal charge for HD programming. The SD multiroom DVR is about 1/2 what you quote and Verizon offers 3 standard boxes for $13.

Standard Programming
Optional Programming
Standard box pricing
DVR box pricing

JerryTongue @ 21st May 02:37PM:
Nothing has changed

We had a power outage a couple days ago, call Comcast because connection is real poor, get a recording they know of issue in my area and are working on it. Day 2, have recycled my modem 3 times and connection is still poor, call Comcast again and am told line was fixed. She checks my line and has me disconnect everything and recycle again. Looks better. While talking to her I lose connection again to XBox live. She asks me if I have a splitter? Ha Ha Hello I have Cable TV and internet of course I have a splitter, a new one "They" replaced about 4 months maybe longer ago. It is NOT my splitter. I pay extra because I'm a gamer period. Anything slightly not right I will notice it before a PC user does being a gamer. The answers from them are always the same. I know it could be a million and one things it could be, when I say I have done all the steps already you try and talk me through then lets explore something else could we, instead of wasting my time? You get paid by the hour so no waist to you, in fact I along with many others are paying for your time wasting my time and money. Sorry but it just gets me angry more and more to the point I'm about to give up gaming and just go back to dial up.
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indianafanatic @ 21st May 02:38PM:
Re: Comcast Service

Comcast's lack of concern for my account is exactly the reason I'm switching back to AT&T/Dish. When I moved last December, I couldn't sign up for AT&T's triple pack because I was currently a Dish customer and had to wait 6 months before I was eligible. So, I signed up with, what was then, Insight.
When our sod was installed this past March, the cable was cut and a technician came out and repaired it. I called Comcast to schedule the line to be buried and they said it would happen within two weeks. Now it's May and after many Comcast lies and heated discussions, they tell me that they can't come out to bury it until July. Bullsh*t!

Good-bye Comcrap. Hello AT&T/Dish!
--
We cannot change the direction of the wind... but we can adjust our sails.
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Morac @ 21st May 02:47PM:
Thing like this don't help with their image

»consumerist.com/tag/bad-install/···liations

I love this one:

quote:
The rep on the phone explained that the tech had attempted to call the number on the ticket being reported for no dial tone, did not get an answer, therefore, did not come.

--

The Comcast Disney Avatar has been retired.
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raythompsontn @ 21st May 02:56PM:
Re: Comcast Service

said by Squirrelly :

Dish is so much better and cheaper

For a single TV. We have 5 TVs, a DVR, and a VCR. With dish you need a box for each device. With cable I only need a HD box for the TV and no boxes for the other TV's and devices. When I looked at Dish services I would have need to rent 7 boxes to get what I have now. That really pushed up the price.
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anon @ 21st May 03:10PM:
Stop being so naggy with sales!

I hate calling Tech support.
Customer numbers blow because every time I call they want to try and sell me something.
When I'm ready to order something 'I' will let you know!

Sorry about your outage and by the way would you like to save money by subscribing to our phone service?

No!

I use cell phones on the road all day and when
I'm home I use my magicjack phone service.
$40.00 for home phone for the entire year!
Same features as CDV but without the monthly cost!
Saving a lot more money using somone else!
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pfsmith @ 21st May 03:15PM:
Re: Is this true????

said by dadkins :

One last time Pal...
YES! Problems *DO* happen!
NO ISP is problem free!

ONE LAST TIME? RIGHT BACK AT YOU...

I have NO PROBLEM if 10/1 service is going away.

THEY NEED TO SAY IT TO MY FACE.

*EVERY* *SINGLE* *SUPPORT* *PERSON* THAT I HAVE TALKED WITH AT COMCAST - BOTH LOCAL AND CENTRAL - HAS TOLD ME THAT I *HAVE* 10/1 SERVICE. WHY DO YOU CLAIM THAT IT IS "GOING AWAY"? COMCAST DOESN'T EVEN CLAIM THAT.

On top of that, they continue to CHARGE ME FOR 10/1 SERVICE - that's right, they are charging me MORE THAN the standard cost of the 8/768 service.

I don't care which service I get... I just want what I'm paying for. Don't charge me for 10/1 and then give me 8/768 - *AND* *THEN* try and tell me that it's 10/1 when I CAN SEE THAT IT ISN'T!

Get it?

I doubt it... but at least I've tried.
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jmoz2989 @ 21st May 04:04PM:
Adelphia Takeover

After Comcast got the old Adelphia markets in North East Pennsylvania, I have never seen so many houses in one area with satellite dishes bolted down to their roofs. It doesn't seem to be much of a customer service issue in this area, just that extended basic analog cable is $60 a month after taxes. There is only 60 channels on the extended basic analog tier(~$1.00 a channel), and it is slowly shrinking (moving channels over to digital tiers). Lots of people choose Verizon DSL over Comcast around here, given the option. Comcast is just way too expensive here for what they offer. Its feels good to live on the other side of the county which is wired with Adams Cable. Its true, smaller companies are better! :)
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anon @ 21st May 04:53PM:
COMCASTIC!

Well, now we know what the dictionary definition of "comcastic" is. LOL
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dadkins @ 21st May 04:54PM:
Re: Is this true????

Get this pal, NO ONE has to say anything to you - read the TOS.
»www6.comcast.net/terms/subscriber/

"Subject to applicable law, we have the right to change our Services, Comcast Equipment and rates or charges, at any time with or without notice."

Bold mine

You keep bellyaching about the 10/1, There is no 10/1! Period.

So, there ya go!
Now, let it go already!
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera
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DHRacer @ 21st May 05:07PM:
Re: Stop being so naggy with sales!

Actually, I just experienced that myself. I called Charter to ask about a billing question, and the first thing the lady said is "let me take care of your issue, then I will tell you about the "Charter Bundle".

As I already have TV, HSI and phone through Charter, I guess when the lady pulled up my account and saw that, the second part of the conversation never happened.

But still, after being on hold for as long as callers must hold for these days, to take up another slice of our time by trying to tell us about some package crap that if we had wanted it we would have asked for it, is another slap in the face to customers. Apparently the company thinks their not making enough money off you as they already are.

--
"No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them." (R&D Supervisor, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing /3M Corp.)
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qworster @ 21st May 05:32PM:
My brother dumped Concast and went to FIOS

My brother dumped Concast a few weeks ago. FIOS has been available for a couple years where he lives (Lynn, MA) but he stuck with Comcast mainly because they doubled his Internet speeds for free when FIOS came to the neighborhood.

Lately however, his net speeds have plummetted and most of the time he can't even connect to Bittorrent (thanks Sandvine!). His HD pictures have been getting worse, so when FIOS offered him a good deal for a year, he jumped. The Comcast CSR person wasn't even surprised when he brought his converters back-she just wrote FIOS on his account.

He got two HD DVR boxes and two other digital non HD boxes plus 20/5 Internet for something like $125.00 a month. He gets over 200 chgannels perfectly. They also gave him a 100 dollar mail in rebate, HBO and Cinemax (including HD) free for six months and all the other pay movie channels (Showtime, Starz, etc) free for three months.

I believe what he's paying is within a few bucks of what Comcast was charging him-but he says his Internet works 1000% better and the he says his HD pictures are noticeably clearer-plus there are more of them.

They also threw in a wireless router so he sold his Linksys WRT45G on ebay for 60 bucks (a v4 with DD-WRT installed).

All in all he's pretty happy with FIOS. Comcast needs to lose their arrogance and begin competing, lest they find themselves in the $hi**er.

Dumping Sandvine would be a good first step.....
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qworster @ 21st May 05:38PM:
Re: What's not to like?

said by ib50MbSoon :

Paying for 8000/768 and NEVER see it slower. Today I'm seeing peak gusts to +32,000.

Digital Voice is crystal clear, OnDemand performs flawlessly, and all the TV channels I watch are delivered in HD.

I really can't comment about Comcast's customer service since I haven't had to use it.

Wait until Sandvine comes to your area...you'll be lucky to get 15 kbps on torrents (2x dial up spreeds)
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chronoss2008 @ 21st May 06:28PM:
try being a slave to bell canada

try being a slave to bell canada then you might stop whining.
imagine 10 hrs a day when 90% of people would like to use your net comcast told you sorry 30Kbytes/sec and your govt allows them to do it.

For once perhaps the conservative idea to get rid a gov't bodies is right ....DOWN WITH CRTC....
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darcilicious @ 21st May 06:38PM:
Re: Surprised?

said by BSD24 :

skeedatl - Umm don't you know that Verizon Fios is more expensive then Comcast Cable.

Not in my market when you actually compare an equivalent TV package from Comcast that you get with Verizon FiOS.
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Tigerpaw509 @ 21st May 06:55PM:
Get what you pay for

$13 hr wages for the techs get you well.....gets you $13 hr tech.
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Unit649 @ 21st May 07:04PM:
Course part of it may be....

People being home a lot more now because they can't afford to go anywhere. I have a feeling the service outages and stuff have been going on for years (I've only had them 4 months for internet, but for 3 years for TV) but you don't notice nearly as much when you're not home all the time.

Now that more people are staying home and using TV/Internet as primary entertainment a lot more because they can't afford to do anything else, outages and speed issues become much more of an issue :)

I didn't realize that my new router I got recently would sometimes take 15 minutes or so to obtain a new IP lease till about a month ago when I found myself at home and on the web more. (a firmware patch fixed it, btw) But, if it had been last year, I probably would have been gone one of the 2 weekend days, or not home as much, and probably wouldn't have noticed it.

When you reach the point because of gas and the economy that you're totally reliant on TV and Internet to entertain you, you notice when it goes off, even for a few seconds :)

But it is true-internet people are much more picky. Especially people who used to be in the business like me :)
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N3OGH @ 21st May 07:34PM:
Re: Surprised?

Price aside, Comcast stinks.

Every time I call customer service, I get a different answer. They can't get my bill right. They continue to charge me for the DVR box when I've taken it back months ago.

Comcast got too big, too fast. Too many legacy systems cobbled together to make one lumbering colossal giant that is sooner or later doomed to failure....
--
Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power…
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Dogfather @ 21st May 08:02PM:
Re: Surprised?

You can see from their historical ratings, things started going to hell after they bought AT&T Broadband. That is certainly when my service went to crap. My video rates quickly went from AT&T's $72.00 to $105.00 in just a couple of years. My neighbors who didn't have CATV saw their HSI rates jump 33% in just a few months because of the lame "How dare you not have our crappy CATV" penalty that Comcast had. Raising video rates 33% is certainly enough to get people to give them bad ratings. Also for HSI subs who didn't have CATV, they didn't get the speed upgrades when everyone else did. So not only were they paying 33% more, they were getting less service. Lame.
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tc1uscg @ 21st May 10:12PM:
Dang.. I must the exception

Ok.. I have had top rated WOW and it was so/so. It's CS reps were less then ok 99.9% of the time.

I've had Comcast too, off and on over the past few years. Have them now. They have been great in the CS department. So, why do you people rate them low based on price alone. VZW nickels/dimes you to death and no body is beating them up.

Ok.. I have Spring. Again, another bottom feeder. Had them for over 9 years. Have had excellent service. Just tonight, daughters LG Rumor screen died. Called Sprint CS, waited all of 30 seconds for help. Told them the issue, they switch ESN's (phones serial nr) to one that worked (had extra phone). No charges, did it in a few seconds, phone was up and working before I hung up. That's the kind of service I get. So like I said, I must be the exception because I think just like any big corp (I've had more issues with my credit cards then CC or Sprint), there are going to be issues.

Hearing other people talk about some of the top rated companies (VZ, WOW..) they must be talking to the WRONG people. :uhh:
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dlconkey @ 22nd May 06:52AM:
Re: What's not to like?

Try a "real" speed test. I can get incredible rates from my cache too!

And BTW, "peak" speeds are great for surfing (subtract DNS lookups!!!), but try a large file d/l.... No way you'll get the same speed... Not even close.

Note the comparison to RCN???! :D

I see ComCRAP trucks all over here, along with RCN's.

I pay $5 for bulk cable, digital, 100 channels, 40 or so CD quality music channels, and then pay $45/mo for 10,000/800 kbps data...

Beat that Comcast! They're trying to sneak into the area but BZZZT, they'll bury themselves...

Buh bye Comcrap... (And the ex ATT...)
--
Dave, Chicago - Edgewater/Uptown, @ the lakefront
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dlconkey @ 22nd May 07:00AM:
Re: Dang.. I must the exception

Well, as a user of (don't laugh!) Virgin mobile, I can change ESN's, phone numbers, swap fones all I want, without even using CS!

"PAYG" service does have it's advantages... ;)

You're not the exception!
--
Dave, Chicago - Edgewater/Uptown, @ the lakefront
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fuziwuzi @ 22nd May 09:05AM:
Re: Is this true????

Perhaps YOU need to face reality: Comcast has one of the worst customer service ratings on the planet. THAT IS FACT. They didn't get such an ignominious attribute because everyone lives in your perfect world.
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chrisbmoore @ 22nd May 09:45AM:
too big......

I've worked for large corporations and I've worked for small stores.....there is a big difference. In large corporations, there is a very small amount of authority given to reps and managers at the customer service level. Everything has to go through the hierarchy of going to the next guy up to get things done. It slows down the process so much that it causes the customer to suffer. It's not a matter of reps not WANTING to help the customer its a matter of them being given the responsibility to do so but with none of the authority. Training is an issue too because when you have so many employees its very hard to get a consistent message out across the board. With smaller companies, if you need something done you have one guy you go to plain and simple....not 50,000 others. It gets done quickly, very efficiently and the customer is satisfied. Smaller companies ARE much better at satisfying their customers. It's unfortunate but a proven fact.
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vrette @ 22nd May 10:46AM:
Re: Surprised?

No surprise here... Love the big new building, glad I helped pay for it. :uhh:
--
Chairman of the Bored...
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BSD24 @ 22nd May 11:38AM:
Re: Surprised?

said by Dogfather :

said by BSD24 :

Actually that is exactly what I said. $20 for Multi room dvr... But there is a charge in order to have access to HD channels. I will post.
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Dogfather @ 22nd May 11:43AM:
Re: Surprised?

That's not what you said.

Read your post.

said by you :
including the $30 a month for 1 box that was multi-room dvr without HD

The standard multi-room SD DVR is $18, not $30, at least out here. The Hi-Def version of that DVR is $2 more at $20.

You then quoted $20 for HD programming which at least here, Verizon doesn't charge for. HD programming is included with any HD box rental.
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BSD24 @ 22nd May 11:45AM:
Re: Surprised?

I should mention that I haven't had Fios since November of 2007. It appears from what you posted that things have changed.. It finally looks like they got bundle packages instead of everything having to be A La Carte like when they first came out with Fios TV.
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BSD24 @ 22nd May 11:51AM:
Re: Surprised?

said by Dogfather :

That's not what you said.

Read your post.

said by you :
including the $30 a month for 1 box that was multi-room dvr without HD

My error - I've corrected what I have on my bill.. $20/mnth for Multi-Room DVR and $10 extra a month for basic HD channels, more hd content in my area is even more than that.
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BSD24 @ 22nd May 11:55AM:
Re: Surprised?

And in case you wonder why I would be soo upset at Verizon, is they promised me with all the equipment and everything I had for package it would only be $147.99/mnth, but my first bill was $420 for 2 months of service, which is higher than what they said. I had extra charges they didn't disclose to me for the equipment and having some extra channels charges. I was pissed, but it may be worth looking at in the future. I am pleased with Comcast currently though, no problems.

Its funny that you usually only hear the complainers, not the praisers of service providers including Verizon.
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tc1uscg @ 22nd May 09:46PM:
Re: Dang.. I must the exception

:)
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crapmac @ 23rd May 12:19AM:
Customer Satisfaction at an all time HIGH!

after 3 years of ShitService from Comcast, we finally got our problems fixed by their customer support! I don't see the problem here. Yes, they do suck, but earlier, they sucked even more. Seems like customer satisfaction should be going way...

oh wait. It's probably been going down because of the lady who was pissed and smashed up every computer in her local comcast trade in center, or the numerous stories of technicians who blew up people's Oven Ranges, or maybe that van race on the East Coast that severely injured a 3 year old...

nah. can't be!

"customer satisfaction". since the recession's in town, do you think the lack of low prices is causing any bad customer relations with comcast and it's customers?
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Out with the old, in with the Antique! :)
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"Hey, have you heard the song... 'Bomb Iran?' *bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Ir...* n - never mind..." - John McCain
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buckingham @ 23rd May 01:45PM:
Comcast just lost me, too.

Yea, they broke the camel's back in this past month with me and the new DirectTV service is being installed next weekend. When we eventually have FiOS available, I'll move to that. But I'm done with Comcast at this point.

Order a another HD box via the call center, confirm more than once with the agent that a) they would ship it in a few days, and b) that the only addition cost would be the monthly rental for the extra HD box. Never receive the unit. Call again after a week and a half, find out they never shipped the box and decide to pick up the unit at the local office. Get there and they try to give me a non-HDMI box after I specified quite clearly on both of my calls that I required that. They find an HDMI-equipped box in the back and after a few tries get it assigned to me. (Some kind of inventory control things between the back room and the front desk). Take the box home and plug it in. No authorization for any channels. None. Call the tech line...they can't fix it remotely after numerous tries. (Kudos to the tech for trying) Promise a tech the next day in one breath, but then find out the slot was filled while they were yapping. Wait two days for the tech. Tech does an excellent job. (Kudos to him) Of course, outside of HD Theater and "some" of the network material, the quality of the HD is not what I expect with my new equipment.

Then the bill comes. There is both an addition outlet charge (this after the agent confirmed more than once that there would only be a rental charge) and a nearly $30 charge for that technician visit to fix their low signal problem. No way to get the former mitigated; might get the service charge removed if they are feeling nice according to the CS agent.

That was the last straw. I'm certainly happy with the techs, both remote and live, but the rest of the business no longer interests me. They keep taking away content and expecting me to pay more for the new HD channels by buying a bundle that includes a million things we don't want or need. DirectTV is only $5 more per month for the first year with about, oh....30 more HD channels. Click...
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ELRefugee @ 23rd May 05:36PM:
Satisfaction isn't just "customer service"

I should preface this by saying we've been 110% satisfied with Comcast HSI so far. We went from paying $22/month for SBC DSL (1.5/384) to $33/month for Comcast HSI (stupid fast, often 20+Mbps/1K). But unfortunately their cable TV service is one of the finest examples of unqualified corporate greed we've ever come across.

Our last cable TV provider was Charter. For $55/month (their analog "standard cable" package) we got sports coverage of the L.A., S.F. and Oakland areas, we got Turner Classic Movies (no commercials), we got HGTV and NatGeo and the GSN and a half-dozen others we watched on a routine basis.

Meanwhile with the same analog "standard cable" package from Comcast, we get none of these channels. To get any of them we'd have to pay DOUBLE our current rate. A complete ripoff!

And that's not even the most irritating thing about Comcast. Yesterday we were watching a MLB game and, right in the middle of the game at 9PM, *POOF*. GONE. The screen cuts to Comcast's famous blue screen that tells customers they're SOL unless they have digital service.

Just outrageous, and hugely irritating. Either carry the damned game or don't carry it.
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anon @ 23rd May 05:49PM:
Death to Comcast

I have never met anyone who did not hate Comcast. The cable glitches, the internet speed is unpredictable, and their commercials make people hate them even more.

If I won the lottery I would write a commercial to mock their Big Old Expensive Phone Company ad, with my own jingle that would go.

The Worthless Yet Expensive Cable Company...
We charge more every month with our made up hidden fees...
If you ask them to explain the bill the line gets staticeee!
The absolutely scamming crooked Cable Company!!!
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