So here’s the story/update to my previous post promising a claim of a Comcast rant.

It all started with me wanting phone service at home.  Simple enough, right?  Wrong…

Knowing that my parents switched to Comcast and that they have generally been happy with their new service for cost vs. features, they were my first call.  With a bundle for phone, digital cable and telephone, really not a bad deal. 

So, I set up my Comcast service and appointment for installation.  I had to delay the installation from my initial call by about a week because I was traveling for business.  When I got home from my business trip, the installers came.  This is when the train started going off the track.  Scheduled a time frame of 8am – Noon.  Simple enough, right?  Work from home in the morning and get things done and then go to work for the afternoon.

The installers were over an hour and a half late.  That’s right, they got there shortly after 1:30pm.

So, they put in the new modem which I could have easily done with the assistance of a tech support person on the phone adding the MAC address for that and internet into the system.  They were really relieved to find out that instead of wanting the phone service available at all outlets that I was going to have one base station with an additional cordless handset.  So instead of finding the Verizon input, they just plugged the base into the modem.  (This actually worked in my favor).

First modem dead.

After some working with the tech people on his cell phone, the tech advised me that they’d have to issue a new number because the number assigned was already in use.  I find this hard to believe because if you dialed the number, the message was the number is not in service.  So they issued a new number, fine, whatever, I don’t care.  With a new modem and a new phone number, the tech was able to make and receive one phone call.  They leave, I go to work, I don’t check it again.  It was just before Thanksgiving and I went out of town to visit family and friends for the long weekend.

When I came home the Sunday after Thanksgiving, no dial tone.  When I attempt to call the number, get a system side error message about how the system is not available.

So, I call and they try to tell me that the modem is bad.  Because you know… when you can’t even get to the voicemail or dial tone, it has to be the modem and not a system side problem (which is what it was).

After trying to get through to somebody who knew more than just scheduling a service call, I decided I wanted to forget about the new service and pretend that I never had it.

I waited on hold for over an hour trying to get to somebody in their retention team.  The retention team associate was very professional and offered me some discounted pricing if I was willing to attempt to get the service in working order.  No deal for me.  I wanted my old modem back on the account.  Given that a week had passed and I needed home phone service for working remotely, I contacted Verizon and got a dial tone and a working line in less than 12 hours.  I called at 8am and it was on by 7pm.  Simple.

I might even bundle other services with Verizon.  I can get a constant download speed (even though cable is faster, it can slow down depending on how many people in the area are sharing the connection) and DirecTV (FIOS isn’t available in the area yet).  And their bundle price for all three was less than Comcast’s promotional price… so we’ll see.  The only thing I don’t like is the contract with DirecTV.  Granted, I can take it if I move… we’ll see if I can get that dropped in order for the signing of service.

At the end of the day, I’m back to essentially my old plan for cable and internet and the rep that I spoke with was very nice and understanding and did all she could to make sure I was happy and not disconnect my other services.  Which I’m obviously thinking about but haven’t done yet and not sure if I will.  So, kudus to their retention team.