Question for Comcast / CSN Houston Customers

I have Comcast and yes I can confirm their costumer service is fucking horrible. I pay like 140$ a month. My bill was a few days past due so I called and asked for an extension. I was granted one. I was supposed to pay half the bill by the end of the week, then the rest of it the following week.

A day after I made the 1st payment my services were cut off. I contacted costumer service and the guy kept telling me my payment wasn't enough keep my services running. I kept asking him what the fuck does that even mean because I'd gotten an extension. In the end he stopped with the PC bull**** and straight up told me I was "lied to". They weren't supposed to give me the extension in the first place. Pretty sure that was a lie too. I told him to give me the name of the person who had lied to me and he said he wasn't allowed to do that.

In the end I was forced to pay the rest of the balance that day. I was pissed. lol The only reason I got Comcast is because of the Rockets. Got tired of streaming games and all the buffering just made it difficult for me to enjoy the games. But their Costumer service is horrible.

 

comcast is overpriced there are way better cable options

only reason im still with them is because of the rockets

 

I'm pretty sure most pay TV companies would refuse "extensions" like you just requested, and start sending you late fee notices with threats to stop service.

That's pretty comical that somebody actually said "just pay half now, and give us the rest later..." What's worse is that you fell for it.

They have bad customer service... but this is a pretty bad example of how to show it.

 

i was held hostage by TIme Warner and eventually Comcast for many years and then the month before the Rockets 2012 season started i had enough with thier customer service and switched to DirecTV. Yes, that is right, i was a cable customer for years and cut them the month before this damn lockout started and have been unable to watch the Rockets for 2 seasons because now i'm locked in with DirecTV.

Cable customer service is beyond atrocious, they don't give a sh** about thier customers. They will pass you off to the next person like nickel night at a french brothel. At the end i wound up paying to get rid of comcast because they kept charging me for channels i didn't have, movies i didn't order, equipment i didn't have, ugggghh my blood pressure is rising just thinking about the literal 1000's of hours i spent on the phone with that cut throat careless organization.

Never goto Comcast or any cable company. Never.*




*Unless you want to watch the Rockets.

 

I have DirecTV, but I use comcast for internet. At the start of the Rockets season, I upgraded my comcast to include tv, the digital starter package, so that i can watch the Rockets. Im paying a total of $220 a month for Directv and Comcast services. It hurts, but I gotta have my rockets and Ive had Directv too long and dont want to change. As soon as the season is over I'll be cancelling comcast and switching to ATT for internet. I will say that CSN Houston does have a lot of local team coverage. Hopefully next year this coverage train wreck will all be resolved and I can watch the Rockets on Directv.

 

This IS typical of comcast.....

 

Similar situation here. Back when Comcast bought Time Warner I had to drop them. I had been with TW for years with no real issues. Comcast takers over, no biggie, I add a TV to my house and go pick up an additional receiver. Bill shows up and it went from $120 a month to $270!!! I call assuming it must be a mistake. I get some jack@ss on the line who tells me I changed my package. I try to explain I am still on the same package, I just added a cable box, a piece of hardware, that I'm still on the same programming. He tells me that since I added one cable box, that counts as changing my plan... I offer to return my new cable box and he says too late, and the package you were on is no longer available, so I'm stuck with the new price. I ask what other options there are and he tells me, they don't have any other packages available. I told him to go F himself and cancelled. I WILL NEVER GO BACK. I'll go without TV before I use there service. The whole BS with not being able to watch the Rockets just reinforced my decision not to use there services. I use Ballstreams to stream all the Rocket games, it only cost me $55 for the season and I can watch at home or the office. It's not perfect, but it's better than dealing with Comcast.

 

I'm pretty sure that TWC customers are gonna be able to get Digital Starter at a good "conversion" price between 20$-30$.. I remember when COmcast took over here to make the process of converting more smooth they would offer grandfathered accounts exclusive deals (there was even a team who mailed and called these particular customers).

 

The regulatory issues with the buyout are going to be enormous. I do not view a successful buyout as likely. Setting yourself up with an IP address not in the Houston area and purchasing NBA League pass probably costs $240 a year. I do not know if this is affordable to you.

 

I am sorry to hear that many of you are unhappy with your Comcast service.

I have worked for Comcast within the technical repair department for about 4 months and I will say that I think we provide great service, but with a company so big, some bad apples will be hired (and from time to time you'll get outsourced).

What I would like say is that if you are calling in, please try to be courteous to the agent you are working with. You're not mad at that person, you're mad at the company. Cussing, screaming, belittling employees, and whining is unlikely to get you what you want. We are people, real people. It does blow my mind sometimes the way that I get treated from the second I answer the phone. With Houston customers (I'm based out of Denver), I like to build rapport by telling them that I am a life long Rockets fan, and that's usually when they realize that I'm not some evil minion trying to break your internet. I really don't know how much longer I can go on doing this job, because I am a verbal punching bag for customers; but I'll try to power through, because it is a good company to work for and I'm good enough at my current position to look into future promotions.

90% of my customers treat me pretty well, but the 10% that don't, really make an effort to bring you down. And when you take 100's of calls per week, getting screamed at and cursed at 10% of the time can be very draining. Just a few examples from one 8 hour shift yesterday.

Girl calls in. "Yeah hi, I have an appointment set for someone to come and install my cable in two days, and I find that ridiculous that you can't pull someone in to do it sooner than that." I explain to her that I really only have the liberty to get someone out to their house by the availability that shows up in my system. I don't have the power to pull a technician from a job that's already scheduled so that her cable can be installed. I'm immediately being cursed at, whined towards, and insulted. "You are all f'ing terrible! Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I am single!!! I'm just going to be more depressed with nothing to do! I don't even have a car, do you realize the position you're putting me in!!?!?!?" At this point, what does this girl expect me to do? Call a technician in her state of California, and tell him that he can't go fix someone's internet tomorrow, because there is a single girl that has no Valentine date and no TV to watch?

Another customer calls in for assistance, and as I start to help him troubleshoot he states, "I really don't need these basic troubleshooting techniques, I'm in technical support too, and I make $180 per hour." Yet the way I fix his problem is through these basic techniques that he's far too advanced for.

Finally, a lady calls in and immediately screams, "Fix my ******* TV!!!" As I try to verify her account, she tells stumbles over every word and doesn't even remember her street address. She informs me that she "worked 10 hours today and just wants to watch some ****ing TV because we can't do anything right." How does her problem finally get fixed? By having her turn on her cable box.

I'm not trying to say that some of you don't have legit complaints, but I'd just like to put some perspective into play that if you treat your employees right, they will do their best to address your concerns. You wouldn't go into a restaurant and immediately start screaming and cussing out your server about how bad the server was last time you came would you?

 

I never yell at the folks from Comcast or treat them in the manner you're referring to. I just shouldn't have to pay $125 monthly and have to be inconvenienced by my sound or picture cutting out all of the time, and getting a recorded message telling me that Comcast is experiencing too much call volume to assist. They should be giving me a pro-rated rate dependent on how often their service actually works, if that's how they do business.

In fact, I don't have any horror stories about the people I've spoken to acting rude or telling me something that was blatently false. I just don't want to call Comcast as frequently has I've had to regarding technical issues or my bill.

 

I think converting legacy/grandfathered accounts is one of the most difficult billing situations for any agents. You could chalk that up to lack of training, or just that its not a common phase for most of the call center agents. To add on top of that the billing system is NOT forgiving at all. I bet most of the price increases a couple of you guys are referring to has to do with a billing system macro or script that ran after the agent made some changes without them even knowing. My advice for those with TWC who may be faced with this issue is A.) Ask the agent to COMPLETELY convert your account to only Comcast rates and tiers. B.)Grandfathered/legacy accounts are the hardest thing EVER for a billing representative. This will be like rocket science to them. If they make mistakes, MOST of the time, they can make the proper adjustments to compensate for any insane overages or unexpected increases.

 

man Comcast sucks, i hated every second i was with them.

you do not need Comcast to watch the Rockets as long as you have the interwebs!

 

Cool story bro. I'm polite as I can be, they're the ones who hang up on me when I tell them my $577 bill is wrong.

I know you work for Comcast, but how you can play apologist is beyond me. Comcast has some of the lowest rated Customer Service out there.

 

Even though I work for Comcast, I will not defend their customer service or ratings,I live outside our serviceable area, but when I used to have Comcast and had to call in it was not always pleasant. What I will say is in the many years working here I never once seen a customer bill go that high (worst i seen is a bill double from a mistake on our end - and every time get adjusted) that wasn't a combination of, billing increases that were mentioned on a statement "advising" the customer their options if available but the customer overlooks it, customer not completely paying their ENTIRE balance and the amount due "stacking" over months, or customer simply "refusing to pay the bill to its corrected" and just let the balance increase. I do know of some agents telling customers "don't pay this right now" or "you know only owe this much after adjustments". Although I agree that maybe a customer should not make any payments when in the middle of an issue, I cannot think of ANY provider or utility company that will not enforce "just pay the amount that you may think is unfair now and we will adjust your bill later" policy. Meaning that they might expect you to pay an amount RIGHT AWAY that is ridiculous but the following bill will either be ridiculously low or a negative balance (that sometimes spans for more than one billing cycle) to compensate. So what if the customer doesn't have that high amount now - that's the part I don't agree with, but providers are hard to budge with this one.

 

Guys...I work for Comcast fiber. Buy some fiber if you want the best service!

Coax service has it's flaws. You share your services with everyone on a node...it's not going to always be optimal.

Comcast has over 20 million customers. We don't expect 100% satisfaction and it's hard to maintain a high satisfactory %, but the customer service has seen increases in score year over year even though it is still low. There are a million variables of why a customer might be upset or experiencing problems. We're working on it.

The Comcast network itself is hands down, the baddest mf'er in the country. People's first inclination is to blame blame blame when the issue at hand is likely an old coax plant or the hardware on your end...both resolvable if you know what you're doing. When combined with the work in progress of our customer service, you may have a less than desired experience. AT&T has the same customer service issues. Anyone this size will have similar complaints.

 

I've been happy with my internet speeds, but I have avoided comcast TV for a few years now (Just basic HD cable and netflix etc, and streams for Rockets)

This is in clear lake area


But I still avoid getting more than internet from them. The billing system and service packaging is just setup in a way to where buying anything but a top package makes no sense.

I just want my fast internet and starter TV without paying over double my current bill (~70 or 80 for net and basic HD cable, it used to be $65 ). But there is rarely a double play package at all, and then those almost always cut the net speed in half. The triple play for $99 half the time still cuts the net speed to 25Mbps, doesn't include HD, or is only for new customers or something like that each time I call to inquire.

I watch rockets via ballstreams, but even that doesn't compare to a real CSN view. But not willing do deal with double bill, calling every N amount of months to renegotiate and all that nonsense just for one channel.