The Glorious Incompetence of Comcast
Jan. 18th, 2025 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperComcast/Xfinity continues to defy all records for incompetence.
After I placed the order for the replacement set top box to replace the broken one that they sent me to replace my broken set top box, they didn't actually *ship* it. After waiting over a week for a shipment notice, I fought my way through the Comcast menus and got to talk to another agent. She did not know why my replacement box hadn't shipped, nor could she figure out how to *make* it ship. So she ordered another set top box to be sent to me. I once again emphasized that I needed a 4K wired set top box and she promised that was what would be shipped. (The *best* thing about Comcast's approval process for this sort of transaction is that it does not make it possible for you to *see* what has been ordered for you.)
The box finally arrived on Thursday night while I was on my way to Ball State with K. When I got back late on Friday night, I felt that the best thing to do was to try installing the replacement to see if it was the right thing.
It didn't *look* like the right thing. I tried looking up the model number on line, but the *best* thing about Comcast's page showing you the models of set top boxes is that it has absolutely no useful information about what the parameters for the box actually *are*. So let's set it up.
And after going through the lengthy setup process, I checked the resolution and found this was indeed an HD box, not a 4K box. Of course.
For those counting, we have the original failed box, the replacement failed box, the box that did not ship but which seems to be being counted against the boxes on my account, and the wrong box. There are also two working boxes for the other two TVs. This is a lot of boxes.
I tried going in through the chat bot, but it would do nothing for me because of a mysterious outage in my area. Since I was seeing cable (at the wrong resolution) on my TV, I was fairly confident that this was complete bull. Ok, let's try calling the phone number.
(By now, Gretchen was desperately trying to crawl off to sleep. I was not helping.)
After fighting with the phone tree to get it to connect me to an agent ("Wouldn't you like to use our chat bot?"), it eventually put me in the queue and I waited for several minutes to talk to someone who -- almost before we could get started -- pushed the wrong button and connected me to an internal Comcast number that could not help me at all, because it is for technicians. They connected me back to some other line, which then hung up on me because "The store is closed."
I called back, fought with the phone tree *again*, and was eventually placed into an even longer queue to connect to an agent. The first thing I did was give her my cellphone number to call back at. Happily, we were not disconnected, and let another 4K wired box has in theory been ordered.
Of course, it has not yet shipped. Maybe it will. Maybe it won't.
The next morning, they asked me to take a phone survey. So I told the bot what had happened.
You will not be surprised to hear that no one has contacted me about this and I am thinking that it is likely that no one will.
Because at Comcast, our incompetence and your frustration are our most important products!
After I placed the order for the replacement set top box to replace the broken one that they sent me to replace my broken set top box, they didn't actually *ship* it. After waiting over a week for a shipment notice, I fought my way through the Comcast menus and got to talk to another agent. She did not know why my replacement box hadn't shipped, nor could she figure out how to *make* it ship. So she ordered another set top box to be sent to me. I once again emphasized that I needed a 4K wired set top box and she promised that was what would be shipped. (The *best* thing about Comcast's approval process for this sort of transaction is that it does not make it possible for you to *see* what has been ordered for you.)
The box finally arrived on Thursday night while I was on my way to Ball State with K. When I got back late on Friday night, I felt that the best thing to do was to try installing the replacement to see if it was the right thing.
It didn't *look* like the right thing. I tried looking up the model number on line, but the *best* thing about Comcast's page showing you the models of set top boxes is that it has absolutely no useful information about what the parameters for the box actually *are*. So let's set it up.
And after going through the lengthy setup process, I checked the resolution and found this was indeed an HD box, not a 4K box. Of course.
For those counting, we have the original failed box, the replacement failed box, the box that did not ship but which seems to be being counted against the boxes on my account, and the wrong box. There are also two working boxes for the other two TVs. This is a lot of boxes.
I tried going in through the chat bot, but it would do nothing for me because of a mysterious outage in my area. Since I was seeing cable (at the wrong resolution) on my TV, I was fairly confident that this was complete bull. Ok, let's try calling the phone number.
(By now, Gretchen was desperately trying to crawl off to sleep. I was not helping.)
After fighting with the phone tree to get it to connect me to an agent ("Wouldn't you like to use our chat bot?"), it eventually put me in the queue and I waited for several minutes to talk to someone who -- almost before we could get started -- pushed the wrong button and connected me to an internal Comcast number that could not help me at all, because it is for technicians. They connected me back to some other line, which then hung up on me because "The store is closed."
I called back, fought with the phone tree *again*, and was eventually placed into an even longer queue to connect to an agent. The first thing I did was give her my cellphone number to call back at. Happily, we were not disconnected, and let another 4K wired box has in theory been ordered.
Of course, it has not yet shipped. Maybe it will. Maybe it won't.
The next morning, they asked me to take a phone survey. So I told the bot what had happened.
You will not be surprised to hear that no one has contacted me about this and I am thinking that it is likely that no one will.
Because at Comcast, our incompetence and your frustration are our most important products!