P!P Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 Comcast Repair Complaints Surge Company Blames Verizon as Montgomery Customers Stew By Cameron W. Barr Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, July 17, 2005; Page A01 Erin and Scott Mirsky had been waiting for days. As darkness settled over their Potomac cul-de-sac, they lit up their two-story ranch house like an all-night diner. A Comcast technician was supposed to arrive between 5 and 8 p.m. It was after 10. The Mirskys' lights beckoned: This is the house. We're awake. Please don't go away without restoring our Internet access. As the hour neared 11, Erin called Comcast customer service -- the last of several such calls she made that evening last month. The representative, she recalled, told her that the technician had "just" tried to call them and could not get through. "That is a lie," she replied. He asked how she could know such a thing, because he'd had her on hold for quite a while. A management consultant who has a graduate degree in telecommunications, Erin fumed. The Mirskys live comfortably, with twin baby boys, two jobs and two cars, but the frustrations of the technological life can raise the blood pressure. Because she has caller ID and call waiting, she informed him, and because she's not an idiot. The representative apologized. If the Mirskys would agree to reschedule, he would make sure a technician would come to their home first thing the next day. Irritated but still hopeful, the Mirskys went to bed. The next morning, after two weeks of sporadic outages in their $540-a-year high-speed Internet service, Scott would be told that no technician was scheduled to visit. Some Comcast customers in Montgomery County say the company is pushing them beyond the limits of consumer endurance. But Comcast says a rival, Verizon, has cut hundreds of Comcast lines in Montgomery and caused thousands of service disruptions in its haste to create infrastructure to compete in providing high-speed Internet access and other services. Comcast calls itself the nation's leading provider of cable services, with 21.5 million subscribers in the District, Maryland, Virginia and 33 other states. Telecommunications giant Verizon rolled out its fiber-optic, "to the premises" service in Montgomery this year and is expanding to other parts of Maryland. It also is launching the network in Virginia and a dozen other states. Verizon spokeswoman Christy Reap conceded that "it's been impossible . . . to pursue a construction project of this magnitude without hitting lines and causing accidental damage to other people's utilities." Complaints on the Increase County officials say that last month, 265 residents filed complaints about Comcast with Montgomery's office of cable and communication services, up from a monthly average of about 100 since the beginning of the year. Comcast serves more than 220,000 subscribers in Montgomery. Officials in Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties do not report increases in complaints about Comcast, but company spokesman Jim Gordon warns that service disruptions might occur there, as well. "The 'build out' has been more robust and more active in Montgomery than in the other two jurisdictions, but it's ramping up," Gordon said. Comcast wrote Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) in late June, asking the county to "order Verizon to stop work until the County is able to evaluate the situation." Duncan made no direct reply, but on Thursday, a county official wrote the state's Public Service Commission, requesting an investigation of "Verizon's practices." "It's not at all surprising that we're hearing from the incumbent that they are suffering as a new kid on the block is attempting to roll out a service," Jerry Pasternak, a Duncan aide who handles cable matters, said of the Comcast letter. Christine E. Nizer, a spokeswoman for the Public Service Commission, said: "There are times when lines do get struck. That's just a reality of digging." Gordon could not say whether the Mirskys' troubles were caused by Verizon, but he conceded that a Comcast contractor incorrectly diagnosed their problem, resulting in a canceled technician visit. "We certainly apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused the customer," he said. High-Speed Frustration The Mirskys said that they first noticed trouble with their Internet access June 11 and that they waited until June 17 to call Comcast. A technician was scheduled to visit June 23, according to Erin's log of her recent dealings with the company. On June 20, a Comcast representative called to say that the problem had been fixed and that their service appointment had been canceled. Scott told the company representative that their access was still spotty, he said, and he requested that the technician come as planned on the 23rd. That night, they lit their house brightly and waited. After the technician failed to show the next day, Scott went to a Comcast office to pick up a new modem. The couple spent several hours on the evening of June 24 installing the modem and talking to Comcast technical-support personnel. The couple and Comcast personnel tried to work through the complexities of firewalls and the couple's wireless router. Whatever the reason, the new modem and the tech-support-assisted tinkering failed to restore their Internet access. Comcast did agree to credit their account $40 for the two missed appointments and $45 for the cost of a month's Internet access, which the Mirskys purchase as part of a bundle that includes television service. A Comcast tech-support worker told Erin, she recalled, that the problem was with the couple's Dell computer. She was eager to have her Internet access restored that evening to allow her to work from home that weekend and save a trip to her office in Tysons Corner. The suggestion that the problem was not Comcast's infuriated her. "Listen," she recalled telling the Comcast worker, "if you transfer me to Dell, my next call will be to cancel this service." In the end, she didn't cancel. But she did drive to Virginia that Sunday to check her e-mail and do some work at the office. Four days later, without a single actual visit by a Comcast technician, the Mirskys' Internet access was restored -- seemingly by itself. "It's alive," Erin joked. The final frustration occurred last week, when Comcast's bill arrived. The Mirskys' anticipated $85 in credits did not appear on the statement -- only $45 worth. And there was a charge of $65.94 listed as an "online adjustment." Erin got back on the phone. The Comcast representative heard her out, she said, and then said: "Uh-oh." He put her on hold while he did what he called "some magic." When he got back on the line, he said he had turned the "online adjustment" into a credit. Erin is waiting to see what appears on the August bill. "I really like the service," Erin said of the technology that Comcast provides. "But when it goes down, it turns into a fiasco. Anytime you have to call them, it's a runaround." Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...229.html?sub=AR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modena Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 Christine E. Nizer, a spokeswoman for the Public Service Commission, said: "There are times when lines do get struck. That's just a reality of digging." Amen! Comcast needs to suck it up and be more competitive and more reliable if they expect to keep their customers. In my area, Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, Verizon has speeds of up to 3mb download (via DSL) while Comcast has 5mb download. Comcast also costs $21 more per month for the extra 2mb! Verizon is deploying their FIOS network in part of the metropolitan area where I live which I believe could bring Comcast to their knees. For $15 less per month you can get the same service that Comcast offers through Verizon and for $5 less you get 3 times the download speeds that Comcast offers! I had a similar problem a few months ago when I tried out Comcast?s High Speed Internet. When I called to schedule a hook up date I informed them they would need to send a line tech to run a cable from the box on the street to my house, since I personally cut the line 8 years ago while pulling up a tree stump. I was told it would be installed on the following Friday. 4 hours after the line tech was supposed to show, 2 contractors showed up and informed me they couldn't install the cable Internet because I would need a line tech to install a new cable ... no freaking crap! So two weeks later the line tech finally arrives. I inform him of our underground irrigation system, which he proceeds to break in 3 different spots. He came back the next day, 3 hours after he said he would be there to fix the problem, which I appreciated very much. Most other people would have left it and told me off in that situation. Another two weeks pass and the cable installer finally arrives only two hours late! He tries to tell me he is there to install cable television on 3 TVs and I just about knock the guy out, out of pure frustration. After arguing with him, he decides it would be in his best interest to do what I asked him to do in the first place. So after more than 5 weeks of waiting, I finally had 5mb cable Internet service. Was it worth it? No way! I couldn't justify $55 a month for shoddy customer service and Internet speeds that I really could live without. I ended up reactivating my 1.5mb Verizon DSL and I am extremely happy I switched back. I did a little research while waiting for the service to be installed and found out that when you call 1 800-COMCAST, you are basically only talking with a ?secretary? that makes appointments for the 3rd party contractor (I think this is correct). The ?secretaries? have absolutely no control over what the contractors do, they can only schedule and cancel appointments. Please correct me if I am wrong regarding this; I would like to know what goes on in Comcast?s brain! When I asked to be compensated for the time I was without Internet service and all they could do was give me credit on the account if I were to have stayed with them past the promotional phase (which was 2 months at $19.99 per month). Comcast?s crappy customer service seems to stretch coast to coast. I am very biased regarding this, perhaps I am only one of the few to be treated like this in the area. That doesn?t change my perspective though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rishid Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 Comcast is such a ****ty company. Cable and phone providers just have a monopoly. They raise costs and don't care about the consumers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chmsant Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 yeah service has been really spotty lately here. I'm getting quite upset with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nexus Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 I have had Comcast Cable Modem for 3 years (Eastern WA. State) now and only lost my connection 4 times. I've had really good service and good download/upload speeds. I will say they are expensive in comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strekship Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 Comcast sucks. As soon as fiber comes to my area im switching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokar Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 if your problem cant be solved by doing a power cycle on your cable modem and/or rebooting your computer, then you are in for HELL with comcast's tech support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BinaryDemon Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 Ive had comcast 4 about a year in miami n its been really smotth n fast, ive only lost my connection once. I had a problem connecting when i first got it, i called them n two days later they were there to run a new line. After that no problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HalfLing Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 At least its better than SBC crapo dsl...my **** tops out at 80k download...I dream of comcast which pushes 300k download in my area, but its an extra 10 or 15 bucks a month... Jake- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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