Hands down, Comcast is the worst company I’ve ever been forced to deal with.
Two weeks before our move to Atlanta, I called Comcast to set up our HD cable and Internet service. After finally being connected to a rep, I spent forty-five minutes trying to step the clueless rep through the process of creating a new customer account.
The extent of her incompetence surpasses anything I’ve ever encountered. I explained we were moving to Atlanta in two weeks; she responded by asking for “the address of the house in Atlanta we would be moving from.”
“We’re moving to Atlanta,” I said. “We don’t live there yet.”
“Okay,” she said, “where do you live now?”
“Jackson, MS.”
“Oh … you’ll have to call our Jackson office for new service there.”
It was as though she had never, in her life, heard the words new and customer used together in the same sentence. After a half-hour of patiently leading her through the entire customer registration process, I asked her to read my order — new HD cable, HBO, and Internet service — back to me.
“Basic cable, the Encore movie tier, and VOIP phone service,” she said proudly.
I asked for another rep, but she insisted that she could get things right and refused to transfer me. By the end of our forty-five minute conversation, I was absolutely exhausted.
But the worst was yet to come. After all this, my Comcast rep ended the call by saying, “Okay, we’ll have your cablevision turned on by September first … and your Internet will be installed by the end of September.”
“What?!?!” I spluttered. “I’m calling two weeks in advance … and you’re telling me you won’t install cable until two weeks after I arrive … and that I’ll have no Internet service for a month?!?”
“That’s right. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
I had some ideas about what she could do, but I didn’t share them.
Do I need to tell you, by the way, that my install date came and went …without Comcast showing up at all? When we called in to check on the situation, we were told that there was no record of my earlier call … no appointment for my address … and that we would have to wait an additional three weeks for an installation.
Update: While I’m well aware that a lot of people in Atlanta seem to hate PurDigital, my frustration with Comcast prompted me to call PurDigital to ask about their service. While they don’t offer an HD cable solution in my building, they do offer high-speed Internet service … and could get an installer here within one business day of my call.
I signed up with PurDigital on a Saturday, and had a fast, reliable Internet connection by Monday. Meanwhile, Comcast is still missing in action … and since we’ve discovered we can get 11 HD channels — including all four major networks — off the air with HD rabbit ears, we may decide that we don’t need Comcast at all.
“Hands down, Comcast is the worst company I’ve ever been forced to deal with.”
Same here – with the possible exception of short-lived startups whose shortcomings soon led to their demise anyway. Knowing you have to call Comcast customer service is a sinking feeling.
Welcome back to Atlanta, btw.
Comcast came to install our cable today only 15 minutes late. That is all the good news about this appointment. He was surprised to find that we did not have cable service because he could not install the cable cards with out us having service. He called and got permission to install our service. Three hours later I tell him to take the cable cards and get out. I called customer service to request another technician which can be arranged in 3 more weeks. Don’t know that we will want Comcast at that point in time.
Clyde