Hell is warming up

03/01

me: mmm… good deal comcast has - for $99 bucks i get cable, phone and super fast internet access
me: calling comcast - did not get through to a customer service agent. well, ok i will try later

03/07

me: let’s call again - they might pick up sometime - after all it is mid week and it is the middle of the afternoon. how many people can be calling to set up new service?

30 minutes later i am chatting with a customer service rep from comcast.

me: $99 cool sign me up
rep: okay - let me take your info
me: info, info, info
rep: thanks, thanks, thanks

me: what is the setup fee?
rep: $99 for the phone setup
me: oh no - i don’t want to pay $99 for that - i already have a phone. let’s just do the cable and internet
rep: well -that is more expensive, blah, blah, blah,

[...]
20 minutes later of fruitless conversation abou the different options.
this is when i realize that a marketing person was deeply involved in making it really difficult to get a good deal if it is not the $99 bucks deal - i get the idea, but c’mon people. pricing models should make customer’s life simpler not a living hell [...]
me: i will sign up for all the services if you wave all set up fees
rep: okay - deal - no charge for the set up of the phone line
me: excuse me, no charge for any setup
rep: right …. sight!

[...]
20 more minutes of information gathering
again - the rep asking for the same information i already gave him before
[...]

rep: thank you very much. your account has been set up. we are waving all the setup charges for your phone line and …..
me: sorry, no, all setup charges
rep: yes sir, that’s what i meant
rep: you will be getting the modem within 3 to 10 business days.
rep: once you receive the modem call us back to schedule an appointment so that we can get a technician to install to modem at your house.
me: any day will work just fine - i am working from home these days
rep: great - how about 03/12
me: sounds good.
rep: thank you - you are all set
rep: the technician will be there between 8 AM and 2 PM. the usual crap but what can you do, right?
me: that’s fine.

Real hell starts

03/12

technician never came
me: as a good geek i get on the chat customer service
everything seems to go okay. they find my case and they tell me that the technician will come tomorrow between 2 pm and 8 pm.

03/13

technician never came and i am starting to get pissed off and stupid that i changed from at&t to comcast. afterall my at&t service was slow but reliable. i had DSL and a standard phone line.

03/14

ditch the internet for customer support and call comcast
spend another 60 minutes talking to them and giving them all the information they have asked for 2 times already
this time i schedule an appointment for the weekend for 03/18

03/18

technician comes late - sets up the modem, tests the phone, internet connection and cable. all works fine according to him. he leaves.

[disconnected my AT&T line and plugged it into the comcast modem]

me: i take the phone dial my wife’s cell number and rings rings rings and never connects - wierd, i think, but hey might be her phone. i call my cell phone - same deal

i call my home number from my cell. it rings, rings, rings, and freaking nothing.

turns out the phone cannot make or receive phone calls.

me: this should be easy to fix. let me call tech support …. [oh my god! hell gets worst]

technical support is not 24 hours. I call they are not there.

[as of today I have no way to make or receive phone calls from my home line]

Anyway no big deal - afterall we have our cell phones.

03/19

[still not able to make or receive calls]

me: call customer support to try to fix the problem. spend about 2 hours testing the modem [which i have already done several times] and explaining the issue. they seem to think i am making this up - or at least that is the way it feels.

03/20

[still not able to make or receive calls]

comcast: we are working on it - there is an outage in your area. it should be fixed within 48 hours

03/21 -
[still not able to make or receive calls]
03/22 -
[still not able to make or receive calls]
03/23 -
[still not able to make or receive calls]
03/24 -
[still not able to make or receive calls]
03/25 -
[still not able to make or receive calls]

03/26 -
[still not able to make or receive calls]

me: came back from business trip
call comcast and there is no explanation

03/27 to 04/07
[still not able to make or receive calls]

Hell gets dangerous

wife: let’s go for a drive - it is so beautiful outside
me: okay - let’s go
wife: there are not a lot of cars outside - kind of strange
me: yeah …
[cell phone rings]
friend on the phone: did you hear? there is a fire in a chemical plant nearby your house and the county is advising to all residents to stay in doors because the fumes can be dangerous

[...]wife and friend chit chat[..]

turns out the county was sending automated phone calls to all residents in the area.
we did not get the call because our home phone doesn’t work

meanwhile our cell phone bill duplicated during that month.

04/01 to 04/15

several calls to comcast. all of them fruitless.
the folks running the customer service desk to don’t know their customers.

04/22

after over a month of no phone service we get a call saying that our phone has been fixed.
indeed it has.

04/28

get email from comcast with a bill for over $350 dollars for 1 month of service
call comcast about my bill.

turns out they were charging me for the setup, technician time and other hidden service charges

$99 for phone line setup
$29.99 for carrier transfer
$120 for cable set up [i already had cable]
$100 for the modem [ i am leaseing the modem not buying it]

05/01

all reimbursements went through.
me: AT&T did cancelled my service but did not cancel my billing. I was being charged for services i did not use. took 2 calls of about 40 minutes each to fix the issue.

Real Cost of Issue with Comcast and AT&T

About 15 hours of talk time with customer service reps
15 h * $60 [average hourly wage] = $900
Over 4 weeks of not having a phone = $500
Health hazard not avoided = $? [potential health hazard]
15 h * $ 25 [average hourly for rep] = $375
Reimbursements for setup fees and senseless overcharges = $300

Cost to Comcast: $2,075 and one dissapointed blogger who decided to share this with the internet

What in the world is wrong with Comcast and AT&T!

If you would have given me better service (not great just better) from the begining I would have signed up for the top cable package and the fastest internet connection. I was ready, but now I can’t wait to get out!