# Comcast - who runs their customer service dept and why is he still employed? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 26, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-who-runs-their-customer-service-dept-and-why-is-he-still-employed/744296 "2016-01-26T20:26:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-who-runs-their-customer-service-dept-and-why-is-he-still-employed/744296/21 "2016-01-28T02:48:53Z")
In Montreal, we have only one cable company (Videotron) and I get both cable, DVR, and internet from them and it is honestly a pleasure to deal with them over the phone. I rarely even get put on hold and the call people really do know what they are doing. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-who-runs-their-customer-service-dept-and-why-is-he-still-employed/744296/22 "2016-01-29T03:05:03Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I hesitate to say this for fear of jinxing it, but my wife and I recently moved to a new house where the only Internet option is Charter Spectrum, so after much consideration, soul-searching and careful weighing of the pros and cons, we decided to go with them. > > And so far, the experience has been… almost painless(!!?) I placed the order online, the installer came the next day (right on time, after calling ahead as promised), hooked it up, left and gave us a follow-up call that night. We consistently get over 60Mbps downstream (compared with the 18Mbps we had with AT&T U-Verse), and in three months have only experienced a temporary outage on one day. The bills have been for the correct amount. > > I sense your skepticism. Trust me, nobody is more shocked than I am. This is not what I’ve been trained to expect from many years of dealing with Internet, phone and satellite providers, where there is always, \*always \*at least one fuckup somewhere along the line, the only questions being how many, how major, and how quickly and satisfactorily they get fixed. > > Granted, they do send occasional nag letters trying to get us to add a TV package, and I haven’t gone through the service disconnect process with them, but so far it’s like a beautiful dream of competence that I don’t want to wake up from. > > Now if you’ll excuse me, I must return home, where I fully expect to find my Internet service out, my house in flames and my credit card laden with multi-thousand-dollar charges. And of course, they’ll have no record of me in their system. I used to have Charter. As you say, their service and the quality of their signal is very good. But they DO want that money out of you. They offer a great deal when you first sign up, but then afterward, they don’t have such great deal any more. And they sneak additions to your bill in whenever they can. Watch your cable bill like a hawk. Basically, both Comcast (my present provider) and Charter want to make $150-200 a month from every subscriber they have. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-who-runs-their-customer-service-dept-and-why-is-he-still-employed/744296/23 "2016-01-29T04:49:31Z")
One of the reasons I love being in Hong Kong. Fiber right to my apartment and download speeds that I’ve seen top out at about 468Mb (only because I’m cheap and don’t spring for the full Gigabit package). One of the benefits of being in a densely populated area. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-who-runs-their-customer-service-dept-and-why-is-he-still-employed/744296/24 "2016-01-29T05:00:55Z")
Comcast just took away my mother’s favorite channel and told her she can get it back if she signs up for another tier for an extra $9 a month with a whole bunch of channels that she doesn’t want and that have nothing to do with the channel they took away. I called them the other day because our cable was out and the first thing on their phone tree was, “If you’re calling about that channel we took away, press 1”. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-who-runs-their-customer-service-dept-and-why-is-he-still-employed/744296/25 "2016-01-29T08:34:43Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > These threads are always funny to me. I’m not at all denying anybody has had bad experiences with them but in 8 years as a Comcast customer I’ve never had a negative experience (other than them being too expensive). > > They’ve solved all technical issues quickly and efficiently, they showed up for installations and removals at the agreed on time and when the last install required a lot of rewiring they did that quickly and well. > > Kind of like how I’ve really only had good experience with United and all my terrible flying experiences have involved Southwest. > > The Customer Service Gods just look upon me differently than everybody else apparently. There’s always that one guy… ---
**Author:** ![NJ22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4af34b/32.png) [@NJ22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NJ22)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-who-runs-their-customer-service-dept-and-why-is-he-still-employed/744296/26 "2016-01-29T18:23:37Z")
I had a technical issue the other night and could not see any channels. So I called comcast and the csr tries one thing to get the service back on and when that didn’t work she says “guess I will have the technician come out to you” I told her, “how bout you give me the technician cell phone number and resign from Comcast” ---
**Author:** ![NJ22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4af34b/32.png) [@NJ22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NJ22)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-who-runs-their-customer-service-dept-and-why-is-he-still-employed/744296/27 "2016-01-29T18:24:46Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Comcast just took away my mother’s favorite channel and told her she can get it back if she signs up for another tier for an extra $9 a month with a whole bunch of channels that she doesn’t want and that have nothing to do with the channel they took away. > > I called them the other day because our cable was out and the first thing on their phone tree was, “If you’re calling about that channel we took away, press 1”. That’s why I don’t see TVland anymore because its in a higher tier ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-who-runs-their-customer-service-dept-and-why-is-he-still-employed/744296/28 "2016-01-29T18:49:09Z")
Back when Internet cable service was just beginning I had to have a static IP to keep my iMac happy. Dead asleep one night at 2:30am I get a call from a Comcast tech telling me I had to unplug my modem it was interfering with another customer. I was so groggy I got halfway through doing it before it occurred to me he had called at 2:30am. Cue much sputtering and apologies. Many other problems over the years. I don’t mind paying for a service I enjoy; I don’t believe people are obligated to give free or cheap entertainment. But I do expect decent treatment. Will never go back. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-who-runs-their-customer-service-dept-and-why-is-he-still-employed/744296/29 "2016-01-29T18:59:31Z")
I’ve always had pretty good service from Bright House Networks (the local TWC subsidiary). They always give me the “we’ll be there between 6am and 9pm” nonsense for installations but otherwise their service is excellent. The only really odd thing is that they’ve been misspelling my name for 13 years, though I’ve corrected it with them five times. Oh, and their website requires a _ridiculously_ convoluted password. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-who-runs-their-customer-service-dept-and-why-is-he-still-employed/744296/30 "2016-01-29T20:02:33Z")
My comcast story: I signed up for e-billing since I do not need a paper bill cable ever. However… Comcast now sends me an e-mail saying my bill is ready, click the link to see the bill. Clink link and log in to your account… here is where the problem started. Comcast decided for security purposes they needed to reset my password every 30 days, and you need to call if it expires. Which meant a call to comcast support every month to reset my password just to pay my bill. :smack: So I resorted to just paying what the last bill was and if they ever change my rates I will never know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comcast-who-runs-their-customer-service-dept-and-why-is-he-still-employed/744296.md?page=1)