Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

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UnLearnYourself
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Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by UnLearnYourself »

I have been having consistent daily internet outages at my home since we signed up for Comcast in Jan of 2017. They still persist. I have had literally a dozen service calls most recently with the Sr and Supervisor Technician and they cannot repair my issue. I have spent countless hours on the phone with them over the course of these few years...must be well over 30 hours total, if not more. Yet, they refuse to reimburse me until the issue is resolved.

At this point I am done and want to cancel. But if I cancel they will not reimburse.

Does anybody know how to get the attention of decision makers at Comcast? My situation is pretty extreme here and their traditional channels of customer service have absolutely failed me.

I just filed a complaint with the FCC. Does anybody else have any techniques or experience getting them to respond properly? This is just insane...
Turbo29
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by Turbo29 »

Sue them in small claims court for the value (pro-rated from the monthly rate) of the cumulative outage time?
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ResearchMed
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by ResearchMed »

UnLearnYourself wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 1:29 pm I have been having consistent daily internet outages at my home since we signed up for Comcast in Jan of 2017. They still persist. I have had literally a dozen service calls most recently with the Sr and Supervisor Technician and they cannot repair my issue. I have spent countless hours on the phone with them over the course of these few years...must be well over 30 hours total, if not more. Yet, they refuse to reimburse me until the issue is resolved.

At this point I am done and want to cancel. But if I cancel they will not reimburse.

Does anybody know how to get the attention of decision makers at Comcast? My situation is pretty extreme here and their traditional channels of customer service have absolutely failed me.

I just filed a complaint with the FCC. Does anybody else have any techniques or experience getting them to respond properly? This is just insane...
Try calling the Corporate offices, ask for office of [head honcho], but only need to get to the assistant there.

Mumble something about it being regulated, and this office is the last place you can think of to get some help...

Also, is cable regulated by your town? Go there, too.
And state regulators?

And good luck!
IF you can reach (i.e., "find") the right person (or one of them), wonders can happen!
Our town was incredibly helpful, quite surprisingly.

RM
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miamivice
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by miamivice »

I once e-mailed Charlie_Herrin@comcast.com to fix an issue. Maybe that will work for you?
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FlyAF
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by FlyAF »

Are there any Comcast customers out there that don't have a grievance? :oops:
PhilosophyAndrew
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by PhilosophyAndrew »

Some years ago I had repeated unsuccessful service calls to install cable cards for a TiVo. The head of the local branch office took over the case and worked hard on it until everything was working.

He was a pleasure to work with. I don’t recall how I initially got into contact with him — one of the technicians may have escalated the case to him.

Andy.
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RickBoglehead
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by RickBoglehead »

Try this - https://support.xfinity.com/svp-contact-form

It emails the office of Tom Karinshak, Executive Vice President, Customer Service. I used it many years ago (different person in role), and got a call from way up. When Comcast saw that I, and not that, had properly diagnosed the problem, senior execs locally gave me their contact info. I now have a very senior Engineering contact that when I use it people at Comcast jump. And that was via this line.

You can also try using the On It team at 266278. I use them, pushing 2 for promos, when my contract ends each year and they always get it renewed.
Avid user of forums on variety of interests-financial, home brewing, F-150, EV, home repair, etc. Enjoy learning & passing on knowledge. It's PRINCIPAL, not PRINCIPLE. I ADVISE you to seek ADVICE.
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UnLearnYourself
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by UnLearnYourself »

miamivice wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 1:39 pm I once e-mailed Charlie_Herrin@comcast.com to fix an issue. Maybe that will work for you?
That's what I'm talking about. I have a spreadsheet with 52 Comcast Execs listed on it with the intentions of finding their contact information and writing them individually. Charlie was #1 on the list so thanks for helping me get off to a good start!

This is all so absurd. But I am as stubborn as they come and absolutely refuse to fall victim to this massive corporation who preys on apathy from their customer base.
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UnLearnYourself
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by UnLearnYourself »

RickBoglehead wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 1:52 pm Try this - https://support.xfinity.com/svp-contact-form

It emails the office of Tom Karinshak, Executive Vice President, Customer Service. I used it many years ago (different person in role), and got a call from way up. When Comcast saw that I, and not that, had properly diagnosed the problem, senior execs locally gave me their contact info. I now have a very senior Engineering contact that when I use it people at Comcast jump. And that was via this line.

You can also try using the On It team at 266278. I use them, pushing 2 for promos, when my contract ends each year and they always get it renewed.
Done. Submitted to him and the FCC within the past hour. I'm only getting started now...
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ResearchMed
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by ResearchMed »

Have you tried tweeting, to see if publicity about this isn't quite what they want?
Sometimes that can end up with a Direct Message exchange, to someone who "can do something".

RM
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RickBoglehead
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by RickBoglehead »

In my experience, the only way to success with Comcast is outside normal channels, including social media. Been there, done that.

In our prior house, we had an issue and Comcast proposed new cable from the street. I said "prove it. Put a new cable on my lawn and show that the problem resolves". It didn't. I kept pushing and pushing. Turned out to be all the boxes on their poles in a multi-mile radius were turned up to full, overloading the system. They had to climb each pole they had an amplifier on and turn them down.

In this house, we had issues only at night in the winter. My senior contact got me a tech who worked hours and could not find the problem. Gave me his home number and said call up to midnight when the problem is happening. Called at 10:15, he showed up in 15 minutes in his PJs with a coat over them, hooked up the equipment and sat in his truck watching his instruments. Saw the problem, came back the next day with a tech and via testing in pairs from one location to another found a piece of gear that was contracting in the cold and shorting out.

Lastly, had a neighbor with a cable that needed to be buried for 8 months (out of my sight on a side road). He mentioned it at our HOA annual meeting, I offered to call my contact. A team responded within hours, the 3rd party that buries cables (this was via conduit under a street) contacted me and promised it would be done within 3 days, it was done in 2. My neighbor was amazed.

Comcast is one of many companies where you have jump the hierarchy to get things done.

Oh, and I pay $19.99 per year for 25 MBPS service in two different locations.
Avid user of forums on variety of interests-financial, home brewing, F-150, EV, home repair, etc. Enjoy learning & passing on knowledge. It's PRINCIPAL, not PRINCIPLE. I ADVISE you to seek ADVICE.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by ResearchMed »

RickBoglehead wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 2:12 pm In my experience, the only way to success with Comcast is outside normal channels, including social media. Been there, done that.

In our prior house, we had an issue and Comcast proposed new cable from the street. I said "prove it. Put a new cable on my lawn and show that the problem resolves". It didn't. I kept pushing and pushing. Turned out to be all the boxes on their poles in a multi-mile radius were turned up to full, overloading the system. They had to climb each pole they had an amplifier on and turn them down.

In this house, we had issues only at night in the winter. My senior contact got me a tech who worked hours and could not find the problem. Gave me his home number and said call up to midnight when the problem is happening. Called at 10:15, he showed up in 15 minutes in his PJs with a coat over them, hooked up the equipment and sat in his truck watching his instruments. Saw the problem, came back the next day with a tech and via testing in pairs from one location to another found a piece of gear that was contracting in the cold and shorting out.

Lastly, had a neighbor with a cable that needed to be buried for 8 months (out of my sight on a side road). He mentioned it at our HOA annual meeting, I offered to call my contact. A team responded within hours, the 3rd party that buries cables (this was via conduit under a street) contacted me and promised it would be done within 3 days, it was done in 2. My neighbor was amazed.

Comcast is one of many companies where you have jump the hierarchy to get things done.

Oh, and I pay $19.99 per year for 25 MBPS service in two different locations.
Every now and then, we encounter someone like that special Tech Guy, although no one has ever shown up in PJs :happy
They just seem to *care* about doing a job well, and sometimes in tackling an unusual challenge.
VERY rarely are they still around when something else (or the same thing) goes wrong later.
I'd like to think they got promoted nicely, but for all I know, they were fired for taking too long with individual customers, which was, of course, part of the way they DID solve the problems!

I *always* make special contact with at least one person 'higher up' to give a very sincere compliment.
We feel free to complain when warranted, so we feel we should also do the "opposite", and reward good service, and beyond the individual when possible.
I learned years ago that sometimes - no always - the person being "complimented" can get some special recognition, including bonus or time off.

RM
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csmath
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by csmath »

Do you have a brick and mortar Comcast store nearby? I've found that standing in front of an actual Comcast employee in person can really get some progress when they know you're not leaving until satisfied. Of course, I'm just one data point and you may not have the same outcome.
Benbo
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by Benbo »

Had a similar issue with Verizon / Frontier. Many calls to their "customer support" line to no avail. I filed a complaint with the FCC, 2 days later a VP called me personally to fix my issue.

https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us.

Best of luck.
123
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by 123 »

Just cancel and be done with them. If you feel you must "punish" them for lost service file an action in small claims court.

If you find an alternative service is not satisfactory or too expensive you can always go back to Comcast. It's possible if they redo your service from scratch all will be fine, but you won't know that until you go the complete cancel and return equipment route.
The closest helping hand is at the end of your own arm.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by ResearchMed »

123 wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 2:42 pm Just cancel and be done with them. If you feel you must "punish" them for lost service file an action in small claims court.

If you find an alternative service is not satisfactory or too expensive you can always go back to Comcast. It's possible if they redo your service from scratch all will be fine, but you won't know that until you go the complete cancel and return equipment route.
This could usually be a Plan B.

However, one incredibly exasperating time was dealing with cable for MIL, who was then ~97 (she's about to turn 99, and still eagerly watching TV when not playing bridge!).

Her ALF (Assisted Living Facility) only allowed ONE specific cable vendor (ditto phone), no exceptions allowed.
That was when I mumbled to the President's Office (assistant, not the Prez himself) not only the magic words "State Elder Affairs Office" (by actual agency name), but also that I had *already* filed a complaint, given the amount of time we could not get her service working, and also couldn't stop the billing (!).

Wow... did that get some serious service!

RM
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augustwest73
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by augustwest73 »

Try this email. Jumps the queue a bit. It worked for me last month.

ComcastExecutive_CustomerRelations3@comcast.com>
Mr. Rumples
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by Mr. Rumples »

I suppose most states have something similar to the route I had to take with Comcast in Va. While the Virginia State Corporation Commission doesn't regulate Comcast, they do have a section which deals with utility complaints. This section does send complaints to a contact in Comcast and in my case, I got immediate results. I was always loosing my connection when it rained. I found out other neighbors were loosing connectivity. In the end, the "nodes" on the pole were bad, but they rewired the house too. Are others also loosing their connection? If so, its not your house and they are sending out folks from the wrong department.

I also had called my county's emergency services to see what they said. Had the Va. SCC not worked, the County was going to take the issue up for me since it would affect my ability to pick up the phone and dial 911. (While the cell phone can handle a 911 call, the County told me it can't identify the specific house in our area.)
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JBeck
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by JBeck »

Social Media, blow it up.

Meaner the better :x
simas
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by simas »

may be I am confused - reimburse you for what? I would understand if you would demand not having to pay for the time service was in outage and I think you can get that. for the rest, I really doubt it. this is very large corporation that has army of lawyers that write the contact you accepted when you signed up (of cause you read it, right?).

personally, I would just cut the losses and move to a different provider that could get you reliable service...
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1789
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by 1789 »

I have never seen a company this bad in my life, including the time i spent in my home country. They were putting random fees on my account despite horrible service . My life quality changed significantly since i am done with them.
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Katietsu
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by Katietsu »

I only have what is written here to go by. The original post would not work well in my experience and I hope that dealings with Comcast have been more specific facts based. Statements like “consistent daily outages for over two years” would only work for me if accompanied by documentation. Otherwise, it sounds a bit melodramatic even though it may be true.

Anytime I have had an issue, I have kept a log of the date, time, details of issue. These details could include speed test logs for internet, the exact channel being watched on the exact TV for TV problems, or the exact recording for a cloud DVR playback issue. I have also documented the attempts to fix the problem, what was done and by whom.

There had only been one time, back when a new service was introduced before it was ready, that I felt I should get a refund and customer service could not authorize. I wrote to the Regional Director, included my documentation, and received the requested refund within days.

I know those who have posted on the Comcast forums and twitter that have received contact from a “fixer.” But be factual and firm not emotional.
Last edited by Katietsu on Mon Aug 26, 2019 10:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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bottlecap
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by bottlecap »

Have you done anything to exclude problems with your modem or router. It would be odd to have an outage localized to your home.
mountains
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by mountains »

Some of my friends have signed up for Comcast Business service (even though it's a residential address). What I've heard they had stellar customer service there and support staff that can actually diagnose the issue. It's more expensive than residential service but not insanely.
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by Trader Joe »

UnLearnYourself wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 1:29 pm I have been having consistent daily internet outages at my home since we signed up for Comcast in Jan of 2017. They still persist. I have had literally a dozen service calls most recently with the Sr and Supervisor Technician and they cannot repair my issue. I have spent countless hours on the phone with them over the course of these few years...must be well over 30 hours total, if not more. Yet, they refuse to reimburse me until the issue is resolved.

At this point I am done and want to cancel. But if I cancel they will not reimburse.

Does anybody know how to get the attention of decision makers at Comcast? My situation is pretty extreme here and their traditional channels of customer service have absolutely failed me.

I just filed a complaint with the FCC. Does anybody else have any techniques or experience getting them to respond properly? This is just insane...
I used to have problems with Comcast. I tried everything. Then, I realized that I was the customer in our relationship - paying for a service. I then permanently discontinued our relationship.
simas
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by simas »

the forums (i.e. dslreports) are full with people posting bad experience about EVERY major consumer ISP. it is just such is the business model. The bigger the ISP , the worse the experience (ATT, Comcast, Verizon, etc.) .

we pay peanuts, they hire …. consumers are not getting what they are not paying for
SandysDad
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by SandysDad »

One of your issues is that Comcast residential has NO SLA (service level agreement). In other words, legally you are out of luck.

However there is an easy way to get their attention. File for “binding arbitration “ in your case. Per their customer agreement they have to pay for this. They don’t want to pay and will resolve your issue once you file.
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by Katietsu »

Duplicate
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southerndoc
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by southerndoc »

mountains wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 6:40 pm Some of my friends have signed up for Comcast Business service (even though it's a residential address). What I've heard they had stellar customer service there and support staff that can actually diagnose the issue. It's more expensive than residential service but not insanely.
It's about 3-5 times more expensive. Gigabit internet was around $500/month instead of $120/month.
PhilosophyAndrew
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by PhilosophyAndrew »

I wished Comcast offered that service where I live: my choices are .25Gb download for $90 per month or 2Gb download for $300.

Off topic question: Do you find the Gb download a practical improvement over sub-Gb packages you may have used in the past?

Andy.
southerndoc wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 11:40 pm
mountains wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 6:40 pm Some of my friends have signed up for Comcast Business service (even though it's a residential address). What I've heard they had stellar customer service there and support staff that can actually diagnose the issue. It's more expensive than residential service but not insanely.
It's about 3-5 times more expensive. Gigabit internet was around $500/month instead of $120/month.
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8foot7
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by 8foot7 »

PhilosophyAndrew wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 5:58 am I wished Comcast offered that service where I live: my choices are .25Gb download for $90 per month or 2Gb download for $300.

Off topic question: Do you find the Gb download a practical improvement over sub-Gb packages you may have used in the past?

Andy.
southerndoc wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 11:40 pm
mountains wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 6:40 pm Some of my friends have signed up for Comcast Business service (even though it's a residential address). What I've heard they had stellar customer service there and support staff that can actually diagnose the issue. It's more expensive than residential service but not insanely.
It's about 3-5 times more expensive. Gigabit internet was around $500/month instead of $120/month.
There is no need for any household to have gigabit service.
#1 typical consumer routers are unable to handle that level of throughput so they will simply chop off the top end of the pipe’s capabilities
#2 a 4K live stream requires only 50 Mbps, just 5% of the capacity of a gigabit pipe
#3 even a household of 10 users all streaming 4K simultaneously needs 500 MBps max
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RickBoglehead
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by RickBoglehead »

Most consumers have no clue about how much bandwidth they use or need. A recent article in the WSJ demonstrated that most consumers use a fraction of what they pay for. https://www.wsj.com/graphics/faster-int ... -worth-it/

We have 25 MBPS speed in both homes, and it's perfect for us - streaming TV via PC with two tablets, two phones, and two other computers. Rarely are all devices active, but no issues at all. And $19.99 per month.
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PhilosophyAndrew
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by PhilosophyAndrew »

It’s safer to say “no current need” — technology advances quickly.

When my wife started an academic job in 1995, the It staff setting up her office computer confidently informed her that she had no need for a web browser because humanists don’t need to use the World Wide Web!

Andy.

8foot7 wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 7:00 am
PhilosophyAndrew wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 5:58 am I wished Comcast offered that service where I live: my choices are .25Gb download for $90 per month or 2Gb download for $300.

Off topic question: Do you find the Gb download a practical improvement over sub-Gb packages you may have used in the past?

Andy.
southerndoc wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 11:40 pm
mountains wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 6:40 pm Some of my friends have signed up for Comcast Business service (even though it's a residential address). What I've heard they had stellar customer service there and support staff that can actually diagnose the issue. It's more expensive than residential service but not insanely.
It's about 3-5 times more expensive. Gigabit internet was around $500/month instead of $120/month.
There is no need for any household to have gigabit service.
#1 typical consumer routers are unable to handle that level of throughput so they will simply chop off the top end of the pipe’s capabilities
#2 a 4K live stream requires only 50 Mbps, just 5% of the capacity of a gigabit pipe
#3 even a household of 10 users all streaming 4K simultaneously needs 500 MBps max
TheDDC
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by TheDDC »

RickBoglehead wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 7:54 am Most consumers have no clue about how much bandwidth they use or need. A recent article in the WSJ demonstrated that most consumers use a fraction of what they pay for. https://www.wsj.com/graphics/faster-int ... -worth-it/

We have 25 MBPS speed in both homes, and it's perfect for us - streaming TV via PC with two tablets, two phones, and two other computers. Rarely are all devices active, but no issues at all. And $19.99 per month.
I beg to differ on this. There is absolutely a need with the current technology out there, even for the average consumer. The problem is that most consumer broadband services delivered to the home are "asymmetric". So that while the advertised download speed is high, the upstream capability is low. In order to get a higher upstream speeds you would want to go with a gigabit plan. In the Comcast world that brings you up to 40 mbps upstream. Why would a consumer want that capability? Faster speeds to transmit, NOT receive, data (photos, movies, etc.) With the advent of DOCSIS 3.1, there is now a greater possibility of having symmetric broadband one day. But until then one would need to max out their plan to get something closer (but nowhere near) symmetric speeds.

To the OP: What model of cable modem do you have? How many channels? The channel capability is expressed as A X B where A is downstream channel, and B is upstream channels. Most new modems are DOCSIS 3.1 compliant and are 32 X 8. The higher the channel count, the better, as it helps balance the timing and data across your cable company's head end equipment to help with load congestion. If you are on a congested node, there is a high enough noise profile that the behavior observed could match your experience. If you are renting a modem, demand a new one, though Comcast is usually pretty quick to give you a new one. If you own your modem (which I do), it may be time for an upgrade. With the increase in rental fees, the break even is around a year (unless it's a voice modem, in which case it's closer to two).

-TheDDC
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megabad
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by megabad »

UnLearnYourself wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 1:29 pm I have been having consistent daily internet outages at my home since we signed up for Comcast in Jan of 2017. They still persist. I have had literally a dozen service calls most recently with the Sr and Supervisor Technician and they cannot repair my issue. I have spent countless hours on the phone with them over the course of these few years...must be well over 30 hours total, if not more. Yet, they refuse to reimburse me until the issue is resolved.

At this point I am done and want to cancel. But if I cancel they will not reimburse.

Does anybody know how to get the attention of decision makers at Comcast? My situation is pretty extreme here and their traditional channels of customer service have absolutely failed me.

I just filed a complaint with the FCC. Does anybody else have any techniques or experience getting them to respond properly? This is just insane...
Your situation doesn't seem extreme. It seems normal to me. In my experience:

1) You will never be able to reach anyone that can help by phone, they can only schedule service calls
2) Said phone operators will not retain any info from your last call, will attempt to charge your for all service calls and will not pass along any info to techs
3) The local offices are even more worthless than the phone folks
4) You will need to diagnose and narrow down the problem yourself
5) Once you have, you will need to submit countless service calls until you get a tech that can fix at a time you can be there to help (I had to point out the pole with the problem and actually walk the guy to it)
6) You will praise said tech all the while knowing he/she is not an actual Comcast employee
7) I actually got a credit back for a few months after all this and was shocked (as in mouth wide open when I saw my account)

I did not try social media or emailing executives but I can't imagine a monopoly business with a terrible reputation would care much at that level either. I hope I am wrong though.

If you have the ability to cancel, you are in better shape than most. Most folks signed a contract and can't do this. If you have another reasonable competitor you are also in better shape than most. I did not have either of these options so count your blessings.
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UnLearnYourself
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Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by UnLearnYourself »

Katietsu wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 5:12 pm I only have what is written here to go by. The original post would not work well in my experience and I hope that dealings with Comcast have been more specific facts based. Statements like “consistent daily outages for over two years” would only work for me if accompanied by documentation. Otherwise, it sounds a bit melodramatic even though it may be true.

Anytime I have had an issue, I have kept a log of the date, time, details of issue. These details could include speed test logs for internet, the exact channel being watched on the exact TV for TV problems, or the exact recording for a cloud DVR playback issue. I have also documented the attempts to fix the problem, what was done and by whom.

There had only been one time, back when a new service was introduced before it was ready, that I felt I should get a refund and customer service could not authorize. I wrote to the Regional Director, included my documentation, and received the requested refund within days.

I know those who have posted on the Comcast forums and twitter that have received contact from a “fixer.” But be factual and firm not emotional.
After nearly 3 years of issues with no resolution, emotions run a bit hot. One of their Sr Techs cited seeing a minimum of 60 service interruptions and as many as 160 PER DAY at my address. They only admitted this on literally my 12th service call. Is it my role to have equipment to meter and chart that? I pay them without delay every month. I hold my end of the bargain. Me expecting uninterrupted service is not melodramatic, in my opinion.
Topic Author
UnLearnYourself
Posts: 605
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2011 8:19 pm

Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by UnLearnYourself »

SandysDad wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:29 pm One of your issues is that Comcast residential has NO SLA (service level agreement). In other words, legally you are out of luck.

However there is an easy way to get their attention. File for “binding arbitration “ in your case. Per their customer agreement they have to pay for this. They don’t want to pay and will resolve your issue once you file.
Interesting angle. I'll have to unpack this a bit to understand just what it means and if deploying this strategy makes sense for me in the future.

For now I finally reached a Sr Supervisor who was willing to look at the facts and they reimbursed me for my past 3 months of monthly charges, and then I promptly cancelled my Comcast service entirely.

I found a great deal on a hotspot provider that has yielded me zero interruptions in my service in over 2 weeks of experimental use. So this will be our permanent source of internet and I have 100% cut ties with Comcast. Good riddance.
Topic Author
UnLearnYourself
Posts: 605
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2011 8:19 pm

Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by UnLearnYourself »

megabad wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 10:23 am
UnLearnYourself wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 1:29 pm I have been having consistent daily internet outages at my home since we signed up for Comcast in Jan of 2017. They still persist. I have had literally a dozen service calls most recently with the Sr and Supervisor Technician and they cannot repair my issue. I have spent countless hours on the phone with them over the course of these few years...must be well over 30 hours total, if not more. Yet, they refuse to reimburse me until the issue is resolved.

At this point I am done and want to cancel. But if I cancel they will not reimburse.

Does anybody know how to get the attention of decision makers at Comcast? My situation is pretty extreme here and their traditional channels of customer service have absolutely failed me.

I just filed a complaint with the FCC. Does anybody else have any techniques or experience getting them to respond properly? This is just insane...
Your situation doesn't seem extreme. It seems normal to me. In my experience:

1) You will never be able to reach anyone that can help by phone, they can only schedule service calls
2) Said phone operators will not retain any info from your last call, will attempt to charge your for all service calls and will not pass along any info to techs
3) The local offices are even more worthless than the phone folks
4) You will need to diagnose and narrow down the problem yourself
5) Once you have, you will need to submit countless service calls until you get a tech that can fix at a time you can be there to help (I had to point out the pole with the problem and actually walk the guy to it)
6) You will praise said tech all the while knowing he/she is not an actual Comcast employee
7) I actually got a credit back for a few months after all this and was shocked (as in mouth wide open when I saw my account)

I did not try social media or emailing executives but I can't imagine a monopoly business with a terrible reputation would care much at that level either. I hope I am wrong though.

If you have the ability to cancel, you are in better shape than most. Most folks signed a contract and can't do this. If you have another reasonable competitor you are also in better shape than most. I did not have either of these options so count your blessings.
Perhaps normal by their standards, and the standards the general public has grown to accept from them, and many other large corporate entities. To me it's absurd and I am stubborn enough with enough stamina to keep pushing back.

As I noted in my previous post, my wife and I by a stroke of dumb luck found a wifi hotpot for only $30 a month that we are leasing via her father's non profit business cellular provider. This provides us adequate bandwidth and after testing for a few weeks we found it to be virtually flawless. And it is mobile so we can take it on the road or vacations and extend our usage. We have officially cut ties with Comcast, after a few more hours of battling them yesterday I finally escelated the situation to the point they issued me approx $95 credit (nearly 3 months of billing) and we said our goodbyes. I hope that it is a long time before I ever sign up with them again...
cherijoh
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Location: Charlotte NC

Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by cherijoh »

ResearchMed wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 2:26 pm Every now and then, we encounter someone like that special Tech Guy, although no one has ever shown up in PJs :happy
They just seem to *care* about doing a job well, and sometimes in tackling an unusual challenge.
VERY rarely are they still around when something else (or the same thing) goes wrong later.
I'd like to think they got promoted nicely, but for all I know, they were fired for taking too long with individual customers, which was, of course, part of the way they DID solve the problems!

I *always* make special contact with at least one person 'higher up' to give a very sincere compliment.
We feel free to complain when warranted, so we feel we should also do the "opposite", and reward good service, and beyond the individual when possible.
I learned years ago that sometimes - no always - the person being "complimented" can get some special recognition, including bonus or time off.

RM
I absolutely agree. When someone goes above & beyond they deserve recognition.
softwaregeek
Posts: 951
Joined: Wed May 08, 2019 8:59 pm

Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by softwaregeek »

Can you switch to DSL? Also, in some areas fixed base wireless may be an option. And viasat is a viable option for some, but not the best choice due to latency. 150 a month to viasat gets you unlimited satellite broadband at 50mbps.
Nowizard
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Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:33 pm

Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by Nowizard »

Those of us who use Comcast are conflicted folks! We typically dislike the service but are either concerned another source would not be better or have the primary channels we want. It is a complicated service to provide, and some problems are going to occur. They know they are one rank above or below used car salesmen, but they probably figured that into their business model.

Tim
BobTexas
Posts: 259
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 10:56 pm

Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by BobTexas »

UnLearnYourself wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 12:32 pm
Katietsu wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 5:12 pm I only have what is written here to go by. The original post would not work well in my experience and I hope that dealings with Comcast have been more specific facts based. Statements like “consistent daily outages for over two years” would only work for me if accompanied by documentation. Otherwise, it sounds a bit melodramatic even though it may be true.

Anytime I have had an issue, I have kept a log of the date, time, details of issue. These details could include speed test logs for internet, the exact channel being watched on the exact TV for TV problems, or the exact recording for a cloud DVR playback issue. I have also documented the attempts to fix the problem, what was done and by whom.

There had only been one time, back when a new service was introduced before it was ready, that I felt I should get a refund and customer service could not authorize. I wrote to the Regional Director, included my documentation, and received the requested refund within days.

I know those who have posted on the Comcast forums and twitter that have received contact from a “fixer.” But be factual and firm not emotional.
After nearly 3 years of issues with no resolution, emotions run a bit hot. One of their Sr Techs cited seeing a minimum of 60 service interruptions and as many as 160 PER DAY at my address. They only admitted this on literally my 12th service call. Is it my role to have equipment to meter and chart that? I pay them without delay every month. I hold my end of the bargain. Me expecting uninterrupted service is not melodramatic, in my opinion.
If it so bad why haven’t you canceled and gone to a different provider? You’ve had it for 2 and a half years with constant problems.
gtd98765
Posts: 952
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2017 3:15 am

Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by gtd98765 »

If it so bad why haven’t you canceled and gone to a different provider? You’ve had it for 2 and a half years with constant problems.
Unfortunately in most of the US only one or two providers are available. We only have Comcast - fortunately it works for us. Verizon theoretically offers DSL service to our residence but it does not in fact work - although Verizon is happy to collect money for the non-service.

I am hopeful that in a few years there will be fixed wireless or other options available to more people in the US so there can finally be some competition in the internet service industry.
Grantley
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Location: Philadelphia suburbs

Re: Comcast Grievance - How to get their attention?!

Post by Grantley »

Comcast is notoriously bad. I have a friend who would accost Brian Roberts (Chairman) in the men's room of the Four Seasons Hotel restaurant. But it worked. Write a letter to Brian Roberts or David Cohen (Sr EVP). That should work. My daughter was having real problems with Comcast, so I told her if they still wouldn't solve the issue, tell them your father knows Brian Roberts and he will call him to resolve it. They immediately gave in and fixed the problem. (I met him once and he wouldn't know me from Adam.)
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