Grrrr.... customer "service"

[catnapper]

My friend and I had dinner a couple weeks ago. We were talking about bills and money and all that fun stuff. We both signed up for Comcast at the same time 4 years ago, and then both renegotiated our bills at the same time 2 years ago. She said she called Comcast last month and got her bill lowered about $50 a month. I finally got around to calling them on Friday to lower my bill too.

Here's the phone conversation with customer service:
me: I'd like to see what I can do about lowering my bill
CS (customer service): well how much lower would you like to go?
me: I see you're advertising $130 a month for the triple play including free HD for a year.
CS: Woah, I can't do that. That offer is only for new customers
me: Well, my friend called a couple weeks ago and they gave it to her.
CS: Well you're not quailified because you've had our service for 4 years.... then some blah blah blah that sounded like a script
me: So what can I do to lower my rate?
CS: Cut some of the services. If you can't afford the whole package then why have it?
me: I like the package the way we have it. We watch all the channels we signed up for.
CS: If you can't afford a Cadillac, why drive one?
me: (Stunnned) Excuse me?!?! Its not that I can't afford the package, its just that I don't think its fair! (thinks a bit....) How about you went to a restaurant. You saw they had a sandwich on special for $5 for you to try it. But since you had that sandwich last week, they want to charge you $12 today. Wouldn't you want to pay $5 for that sandwich?
CS: Thats not the same thing. We certainly do appreciate your business and hope to continue servicing you.
me: I don't think you will be. I'll call you back to cancel my service as soon as I have a competitor install something.

I hung up and called Dish network. They're coming today. Someone else will be here next week for phone and internet. I can NOT wait to call Comcast to cancel. I am certain they will be begging me to accept the discount I wanted.


Heee heee.... as I typed this, hubby was on his computer checking out jobs. He said there's a customer service position open at Comcast. I hope it was the idiot I spoke to on friday!

[smokey the elder]

Good for you, but if you got DirecTV we could each get a $100!

[Pinot's Mom]

I kicked Comcast to the curb years ago and went to DirecTV. It's a good decision to get rid of them. That conversation was awful, but not unbelievable to me.

[moosmom]

Good for your for standing your ground, Kim.

[pomtzu]

I think the same about Comcast as you do - crappy service and ripoff prices - and that's why we don't have them!

That CS person sounded out of line with her snotty comments tho. I don't think even Comcast would have approved of her rudeness!

[happylabs]

Yes, I ditched Comcast a few years ago for DISH. Their prices seemed to be more inflated than the others. There was some other charge issue I had with them but now I cannot recall what it was. DISH will work with you if you want to lower your bills. Also, I got free HBO and STARZ for 3 months awhile back when I called to see if they had any new promotions. I think it is all in who you get when you call.

[DJFyrewolf36]

When you cancel put in a negative report on their customer service too...I wouldn't have been as nice as you lol. I had problems with Comcast until I switched to the small business plan. I had to drop it though because we couldn't install here. Be warned, the canceling process is a real pain in the rear...at least it seems to be here.

[Medusa]

Wow! That so-called CS person was incredibly rude to you! I would've asked for a supervisor then and there. I had a bad experience w/CS of another business and I ended up cancelling my order as well. I wonder how these people get the CS jobs. They certainly have no phone and people skills.

[Taz_Zoee]

Wow! I've not had to experience that. But my boyfriend did switch us from Comcast to Dish a few years ago as well. I hope you will be happy with Dish. I've had to call them several times for things and have always had a good experience. Once I was waiting for the box to do something and the woman and I began talking about our dogs. It was great!

[happylabs]

Not to hijack your post, but it seems that generally, wherever you go these days customer service is lacking or non-existent.

[dab_20]

That's horrible! Personally, I cannot STAND Comcast. They charge wayy too much for what we get. Our internet is slow, when it's supposed to be fast, and they keep saying there is nothing wrong with it! They never seem to really care when we are having problems with the cable or internet. Right now my mom is the one paying the bill so I have no choice in the matter, but I certainly won't choose Comcast as my service provider when I'm on my own.

[kokopup]

I have DirecTV and consider their CS as Very good. They have offered discounts to me over the years without asking.

My internet is with ATT Uverse and I will have to say their CS is the worst I have ever seen. When you call you will have to describe your issues first to some stupid voice recognition software that understands nothing. After going through 4 or 5 CS people being transfered and dropped a few times you will finally give up in disgust. I have yet to call that I did not spend half a day playing CS tag only to still have issues. I am stuck with ATT since they are my only option.

The last time I had a service man to repair my Uverse internet service after he left I found my phone service was out. I called and reported the problem several times. After a week of waiting for phone service I went into the mangled mess he left in the service panel and repaired the problem myself. I have yet to see a service man.

[Catlady711]

Comcast is great at the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

Quite a while back I called to downgrade my package (which was identical to my mom's across town but her's was $10 cheaper than mine) According to Comcast's website I should have been dropping only 3 channels with a savings of about $15 per month. They told me there was NO charge to downgrade. Then we get into it over the fact their website listed those 3 channels as a separate package, but the lady on the phone is telling me I'd have to drop about 1/2 my package because one is required for the other. After alot of pointless arguing I say fine, drop me down to the next level of service.

Time goes by, I get my next bill, at the LOWER rate, AND there's a $20 charge on it for 'technician visit' to downgrade. Aside from the fact they told me that there was NO charge to downgrade, I still had all my regular channels during that time so I KNOW that NO technician came out to the pole out back!!

Well I called, was on hold about 1/2 hour, finally got a person and complained ALOT about that charge, and the guy agreed to drop the fee.

Time passes, next bill arrives, I still have ALL my channels, and at the lower rate, but now there are TWO 'technician fee's' on my bill!!!

So now I spend another hour total on the phone between hold and arguing with people over the double charge. The lady tells me that the guy messed up and instead of deleting the charge, added another instead. Ok fine, she'll drop the additional charge, but will not take off the first one either. I repeated that I was told there was NO charge to downgrade! (Of course I didn't tell them I still had all my channels while paying the reduced rate though)

Time goes by, I get another bill, again at the reduced rate, minus the double charge but the $20 technician fee is still on there, and now it says 'past due' for that charge!!! By this time I'm HOT!! I spend another hour on the phone and another 2 hours online with their service people who all tell me the first person who told me no charge to downgrade was lying. (I should have told them their techs were ripping them off since I know they never came out, but I kept my mouth shut).

So in the end I finally paid the bogus $20 'technician fee'.

However for the next 13 MONTHS I had my full cable package at the lower tier rate!!!!! ROFL

So once that finally caught up and the channels dissapeared down to what they should have before (I checked, no tech fee then), I decided to downgrade my package to the bare bones of network only cable. The lady said they would 'flip a switch' at the office and everything would be changed by that evening.

Time passes, bills come, at the new reduced rate, (NO technician fee this time) however cable channels remain as they were for the next 8 MONTHS!!!

So considering for a total of 21 months I was getting more channels than I was supposed to but at a reduced rate, can't say that I regret the time I had wrapped up in calls, or the measly $20 charge I paid. It served them right, and I enjoyed the channels while they lasted.

Moral of the story: sometimes you can benefit when one hand doesn't know what the other is doing.

[catnapper]

Wow! That so-called CS person was incredibly rude to you! I would've asked for a supervisor then and there. I had a bad experience w/CS of another business and I ended up cancelling my order as well. I wonder how these people get the CS jobs. They certainly have no phone and people skills.

That freminds me.... I asked to speak to her manager. She said "I don't have a manager, I have a supervisor" Oh. My. God. I statred at the phone as if to see if I heard right.

We still haven't called to cancel because the phone company is sending us a modem. I refuse to pay $150 hookup charge when everything is here to connect myself