The Comcast Circle of Incompetence
Apr. 9th, 2023 04:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperThe problem with dealing with Comcast is that the chances are good that whenever you need to get support whoever you are working with will do the wrong thing so that you get to repeat the process. This is bad for the people working for Comcast, because the person that you are dealing with will now have to put up with your frustration over the previous person having done the wrong thing. Let's head off to today's example.
Several months ago (I forget exactly how many), we went through a series of miserable chats and phone calls with Comcast support because the cable box in the bedroom was misbehaving. This resulted in me being sent *multiple* wrong cable boxes, all of which had to be returned, making a trip to the Comcast store to try to get the correct box (which I was told would be available in the store by the support rep I spoke to, but it isn't. The stores don't have the box that I need.), and generally wasting a whole lot of time and aggravation on my end trying to get things fixed.
Now the new cable box in the bedroom is misbehaving. It loses its little mind and forgets the entire setup so that it has to reboot itself and completely reload all of the information, repair the remote (which requires first unpairing the remote, because the remote is convinced that it ought to be able to talk to the cable box), and generally waste a whole bunch of time usually late in the evening when we would like to watch something and then go to bed.
Two weeks ago, I decided that I had had quite enough of this and contacted Comcast support via chat while waiting for the box to reboot itself. The person there said that they were updating the box and that I shouldn't experience this problem again.
Well, they were right in that I *shouldn't* experience this problem again, but of course I did, exactly one week later. This time, I spoke to an agent on the phone and explained that it was now time to send me a replacement box, specifically a *wired* 4K cable box, because the wireless box will not do, since it is sitting exactly as far as it is possible to be from the location of the cable modem in the basement *and* the software on the box will not let me connect to any of the wireless repeaters that I have arranged to extend the Wi-fi signal. I was told that I would in fact be shipped a wired 4K cable box and that it would arrive it two to three business days.
You will not be surprised (nor was I) to find out that no package arrived last week. Having a few spare moments today, I decided it was time to go to the Comcast website and look for information on my order. It turns out that is impossible. You'd think that wouldn't be difficult, but you would be oh so wrong. Instead I was told that I needed to call the Comcast number.
The Comcast phone robot that I had been told to call kept trying to get me to go to my cellphone and get on chat with someone (because, of course, I would want to go to chat when I had been told to *call*), but I stubbornly persisted and was eventually connected to the next poor victim who has the misfortune to be working for Comcast. I explained to him that I had been told that I should be receiving the replacement cable box in two to three business days and that time had more than elapsed, so he would now need to figure out what had happened to my order.
He reported that the order had been marked as "pickup in store". I suggested to him that was both wrong and impossible, because I had been told that my box would be shipped *and* the store does not in fact have the particular cable box (wired 4K) that I need, because they *do not stock it*. He agreed that was true and after doing the Comcast order verification dance (again), I have been assured that my replacement cable box will arrive in three to five business days.
We will see whether that's correct.
We will also see if the cable box in the bedroom decides that it needs to reset itself again tonight...
*sheesh*
Several months ago (I forget exactly how many), we went through a series of miserable chats and phone calls with Comcast support because the cable box in the bedroom was misbehaving. This resulted in me being sent *multiple* wrong cable boxes, all of which had to be returned, making a trip to the Comcast store to try to get the correct box (which I was told would be available in the store by the support rep I spoke to, but it isn't. The stores don't have the box that I need.), and generally wasting a whole lot of time and aggravation on my end trying to get things fixed.
Now the new cable box in the bedroom is misbehaving. It loses its little mind and forgets the entire setup so that it has to reboot itself and completely reload all of the information, repair the remote (which requires first unpairing the remote, because the remote is convinced that it ought to be able to talk to the cable box), and generally waste a whole bunch of time usually late in the evening when we would like to watch something and then go to bed.
Two weeks ago, I decided that I had had quite enough of this and contacted Comcast support via chat while waiting for the box to reboot itself. The person there said that they were updating the box and that I shouldn't experience this problem again.
Well, they were right in that I *shouldn't* experience this problem again, but of course I did, exactly one week later. This time, I spoke to an agent on the phone and explained that it was now time to send me a replacement box, specifically a *wired* 4K cable box, because the wireless box will not do, since it is sitting exactly as far as it is possible to be from the location of the cable modem in the basement *and* the software on the box will not let me connect to any of the wireless repeaters that I have arranged to extend the Wi-fi signal. I was told that I would in fact be shipped a wired 4K cable box and that it would arrive it two to three business days.
You will not be surprised (nor was I) to find out that no package arrived last week. Having a few spare moments today, I decided it was time to go to the Comcast website and look for information on my order. It turns out that is impossible. You'd think that wouldn't be difficult, but you would be oh so wrong. Instead I was told that I needed to call the Comcast number.
The Comcast phone robot that I had been told to call kept trying to get me to go to my cellphone and get on chat with someone (because, of course, I would want to go to chat when I had been told to *call*), but I stubbornly persisted and was eventually connected to the next poor victim who has the misfortune to be working for Comcast. I explained to him that I had been told that I should be receiving the replacement cable box in two to three business days and that time had more than elapsed, so he would now need to figure out what had happened to my order.
He reported that the order had been marked as "pickup in store". I suggested to him that was both wrong and impossible, because I had been told that my box would be shipped *and* the store does not in fact have the particular cable box (wired 4K) that I need, because they *do not stock it*. He agreed that was true and after doing the Comcast order verification dance (again), I have been assured that my replacement cable box will arrive in three to five business days.
We will see whether that's correct.
We will also see if the cable box in the bedroom decides that it needs to reset itself again tonight...
*sheesh*
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Date: 2023-04-10 10:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-04-11 04:25 pm (UTC)