The Cable Provider from Hell – the COMCAST nightmare continues….

So if you read my blogs, or have stumbled across them, you will know that I have had more than one negative experience with Comcast. I got Comcast just under a year ago (and believe me I am counting down the days until I can switch to Direct TV…or ANYTHING ELSE) and it  has just been one horrible experience, and you better believe I am NOT renewing my contract and I tell everyone I know DO NOT GET COMCAST!

My prior blogs Comcast Cable Installation Fiasco , Yet More Issues with Comcast and Comcast Fiasco PART 3!! YES PART 3!!! have all given a detailed overview of the issues I have had to deal with in the past. After 3 blogs one would think “There cannot possible be more” well wrong.

First, let me say that I am not the high strung on edge person that I was 10 years ago. I have actually calmed down as I have gotten older and realized that getting upset over spilled milk wont un-spill it (try telling teenage me that! HA)

But I am getting off topic –

Where do I begin this story? It all just wants to come pouring out at once and everything is wrapped up in itself.

I guess I should just start by saying that, I don’t get bills from Comcast. I did NOT opt out of getting a paper bill and I NEVER opted into their “going paperless” program. Although I hate the idea of wasting paper, I am the type of person that needs that paper bill every month to remind me that my bill is due. It is just good for me, I can then write the check, put the check number that I am sending to the company on to my bill for my own personal record, and write down the day that I mailed it out. Or if I pay it online, I write that date down on the bill.

But with Comcast I have honestly received 2 MAYBE 3 paper bills since I have been their customer and I have had them for 9 almost 10 months now. And the 2 months was when I first joined with them. When I signed up I gave them my address

BLAH BLAH BLAH, FL, 333—

Right and I gave them my email

BLAH@Blah.com....

So after month 2 I stopped getting a bill. Ok… BUT I did NOT get a bill notification to my email (that I provided them) as to when the bill was due either. So for the last 7 months I have basically been winging it. Just kinda saying oh, it is the second week of the month, I should pay my cable bill. NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO WING IT!!! I am not going to spend my days logging into my Comcast account so I can check when it is due, when I log-in it is because I think to myself, OH I should pay my bill sometime. So inevitable - because 7 months of winging it one will eventual miss a due date – I did. Thanks to a stressful month! Which I know is not an excuse, and I need to be responsible, but that is why we get a paper bill in the mail or an email….it’s a reminder. We all need them sometimes when life gets a little busy.

About 3 maybe 4 month ago, I logged on for my monthly GUESS of when my bill was due and I couldn’t login. I try for about 2 weeks wondering what is wrong with the system…is it me…did I forget my passcode? So finally I think..I really need to pay this…I can’t send it the check…CUZ I DON’T GET a BILL! So I log onto the Chat thing. Which I must say I am actually amazed I found, because since then…I have had to actually type CHAT into the search bar to find it. There is NOT an easy to locate button on the main page that says “CHAT” I said to myself, this is ridiculous. Come to find out…something was up with the system…but what do I expect from Comcast really!?

So I get my bill paid and I mention to the guy on that CHAT that I haven’t gotten my bill and could they fix it. The guy says sure. So a few more months go by and guess what…I still haven’t gotten a bill. I spend the next few months WINGING it. Guessing when my bill is due and logging on randomly to pay it. And of course…with all these late fees that I am getting, because…just my luck…I randomly log in late.

So a few days, I came home from work and my TV didn’t work. I think…CRAP…did I pay the bill? Not like I had a notice from them or a letter reminding me, an email or anything saying Your bill is due….so I call up thinking maybe something is wrong in the area…NOPE I forgot to pay my bill so I pay it. I didn’t mean to…I wanted to…but you can only wing it so long before it bites you in the ass….right. What really frustrates me is the fact that NOW I have to pay something like $40 for re-connection charges…which I never would have had to pay if they would have just sent me a bill, or emailed me a bill or something.

So I contact them again…during business hours. And the lady tells me that I didn’t actually have to opt out of the paper bill, I had to opt into it, and after a few months it automatically stops sending me a paper bill unless I request it or something and that is why I was not getting a bill. WHAT! UMMMM…Last I knew you had to opt out of getting paper bills. WHY the FRICK would you stop sending someone a notification that their bill was due?! WHO DOES THAT!!! COMCAST DOES! (Gadda make that extra money by screwing over people in some twisted way) So I say…well what about my email. Comcast sent me emails to my personal email address for like 3 months (I filed them away in folders in my inbox for records, reminders, etc). She goes, oh well yes we have your email address but we actually forward your email to your Comcast email address. 

WHAT HOLD UP!!! I HAVE A COMCAST EMAIL ADDRESS! Apparently, when the girl came to my house the first time to set up my internet, she was suppose to log me into my Comcast email address and help me set it up, but because I guess she was too busy bringing her drug smoking boyfriend (he had a shirt covered in pot leafs so I think calling him drug smoking is pretty much right on and completely fair…or else why would he be wearing that shirt) who didn’t work for Comcast into my house so she could rush off with him after not hooking up my cable and leaving me to figure it out on my own was more important.

SIDE NOTE – Thank you to Belkin and TiVo for taking the 4+  HOURS to fix the mess that Comcast left!!!! I appreciate your help, patients and dedication to your customers and recommend you to EVERYONE!!!

So thanks to the frustration that I have had with Comcast right off the bat…I find out 2 MONTHS before my 1 year contract with them is up that this entire time my bill has been going to a Comcast account that I never knew I had. Had no idea how to access it or get to it! So I logged on and forwarded it to my regular email address….but really….how jacked is that! I already got my crap turned off, had to pay late fees and only have 2 months left!!!

DIRECT TV HERE I COME!! Hopefully your employees are more respectful and dedicated than Comcast,  because I feel that if it hadn’t been for that first horrible experience which led to another  and another, and another…my experience would have been much better…but it wasn’t and I will over every be frustrated, pissed off, and angry with Comcast! And when it comes down to it…I will always tell my story of my experience with Comcast to anyone who asks, will listen or anything and it is not a very good story at all!!!!

Trust me…the few details I have said in this blog are just one of the MANY issues that I have had with Comcast…and this is just the most recent. Please feel free to visit my other 3 blogs where I have vented about Comcast…read the full story and then decide if you want to risk have an experience like mine…..or even just dealing with one of the issues that I have had…is it really worth it…or is Direct TV looking a lot better. The prices are just as good and you get more channels….why go with Cable anymore!? It is 2010!!!

Yet More Issues with ComCast

I have had Comcast for less than 2 months now and the problems just continue to keep comings, so let me just say one thing off the bat. If you have a choose in cable providers, DO NOT GO WITH COMCAST!! Heck, go with satellite instead if you have to.

This image of the Comcast logo seems to fit how I am feeling and makes me realize that I am SO not the only one who has had issues with them :-)

So not only did I have the WORST experience with the installation, which yes frustrated me and really upset me, but I was willing to over look, but let’s just go down the list of things that have gone wrong with Comcast since then. After my first blog, I was nicely contacted by a representative at Comcast who offered to speak with me about my problem. I emailed the representative and said yes please provide me with a contact number so that I can call you to discuss this issue. I was very pleased with the quick response, but I did not ever receive a follow up email, contact number...ANYTHING! So what was the point of them contacting me in the first place, just to make me THINK they were going to do something?? They should have just not offered to speak with me; it would have been better then false and broken promises.

My next issue with Comcast was that they sent me a piece of paper saying that I had signed up for this special and if I wanted to continue getting this special I had to sign this piece of paper and send it back within 30 days. THAT IS Sleazy. Seriously. Cuz you KNOW they are betting that people don't sign that piece of paper and send it back to them within 30 days so then they can JACK the price up and make even MORE money. I think that is sneaky and evil. If someone calls, orders a certain special then they shouldn't have to sign a paper to that effect. I have never had to do that kind of stupid thing before.

My 3rd issue with Comcast is that my first bill comes around. I go to my mailbox after work like normal and I see the bill. I think, ok, I will pay this tomorrow, so I toss it in my purse with my checkbook and the next morning I go to work. At lunch time, I pull out the bill to pay it and open the envelop. Only to find out that it was DUE YESTERDAY. Yes! I got the check the evening that it was due. So I call them up and explain and Comcast said they would not charge me the late fee. Really nice considering that I couldn't have paid it on time even if I would have tried. GRRR

My 4th problem with Comcast that I have had in less than 2 months is that my OnDemand didn't work. Hasn't worked since they set it up. Great right. Said I had it but I didn't! WTF! More false and broken promises...but I did sign that paper and get it back to them so I kept my end of the deal.

My last issue with Comcast which happened YESTERDAY was that over 1/2 the channels that I have just stopped working. GREAT right. Everything on my TV that is above 100 stopped working. Which I wouldn't really mind except that the National Geo Channel, Science Channel and BBC America (which has ALL my fav shows on it) are ALL on those Channels. When I called to order the cable, I specifically asked to MAKE sure that I would get BBC America!! So they go out, I call Comcast and they try to re-boot my system. The guy I talked to was very nice so it helped keep me calm. BUT the re-boot doesn't work... although it did fix my OnDemand. But did that help with the season premiere of 2 of my shows this weekend on BBC....GRRR NO IT DID NOT! So now Tuesday Comcast is coming out to my house to change out the box, which means that I have to leave work in the middle of the afternoon and spend my lunch break getting a new box and setting it ALL UP AGAIN, because you know they are going to mess up my TiVo and it is going to be a huge ordeal again. I have not even had this box for a FREAKING MONTH!!!

I AM SO FRUSTRATED!!!! This just makes me wonder what the next 10 months with Comcast is going to bring, but I can promise you one thing... If I don’t' see some VAST improvements on their service and my experience with them increases dramatically in a very positive way, I don’t' care if it costs me $100 more a month with Direct TV...I will NOT renew with Comcast and I sure as hell will never recommend them to ANYONE. I am paying really good money for what feels like…problem after problem after problem. No one should have this many problems with a cable company in less than 2 months...REALLY ONE IS ENOUGHT!!