Comcast - a soap opera

Dear Comcast.

I’m experiencing the very same connectivity problem for at least 4 months and you still didn’t solve the problem. My connection keeps dropping, sometimes every hour, sometime every minute, many times a day. I’ve talked to customer service about 30 times, and you sent technicians to my home at least 8 times. The modem was replaced at least 4 times, as well as the power source. Now I have not only connectivity problems but also wi-fi problems due to your new all-in-one modem/router - which according to your own technicians has known wi-fi issues.

At some point you reached the conclusion the problem was the wire itself, and you said it must be replaced. Mr. Roberto, technician, promised to come back to solve the problem as soon as his supervisor figure out if my apartment building was under contract. He never came back. He never answered my calls. He never returned any voice mails.

Then you sent another technician, who came to my home only to say: “my supervisor, Mr. Jesse Fort, wants to let you know that there is a network problem, not only with your unit, and a ticket was opened to the network team".

Two weeks later, on Sep 13 2012 I sent the following mail to Mr. Fort:

“Hi Mr. Fort

2 weeks have passed and I haven't heard from you. My modem keeps resetting, so I assume nothing was fixed so far. What's the current status?”

After a week, no reply, so I called the customer service again, asking about this supposed network team ticket. Nobody was able to find such ticket, so the customer service opened a new ticket and I was supposed to receive a call back. Nobody called me. I called again and the customer service said the network team closed the ticket. So the ticket was reopened and I was supposed to receive a call back. Nobody called me back again. I called again and asked for a technician, so at least I can talk face-to-face to someone.

Then Mr. Alan came, and I asked him about the supposed network issue. He called his supervisor, Mr. Rick Russelle, and they said there was no network issue. I asked him: “so they lied to me?”, and he replied “yes”.

Mr. Alan then came to the same conclusion: the wire must be replaced. He promised his supervisor, was going to call me back as soon as he figure out if my apartment building was under contract (again, the same story). At some point Mr. Russelle called me to say that he was going to check if my building was under contract and said he was going to call me again in 15 minutes. I’ve waited 3 weeks. In those 3 weeks, I’ve sent e-mails and left at least 2 voice mails. In the customer service, nobody was able to contact him.

So, since I had his business card, I got my car and drove to the address in the card - 3760 Haven Ave, Menlo Park. I knocked on the door, but nobody opened. I thought of pass through the gate when it was opened for some truck to pass, but I got afraid someone could misunderstand me and call the police. So I called the customer service again, while in the parking in front of the building. I spent literally more than 1 hour in the phone. I begged for them to ask to Mr. Russelle or Mr. Fort come to talk to me, but they said they were not able to talk to anybody in the building. So, in the end, they promised someone was going to call me back in 24 hours.

That week was funny, because every 24 hours I had to call the customer service because 24 hour ago the same customer service promised someone would call me in 24 hours but, as usual, nobody called me back.

By the way, at some point I was charged 50 dollars for “residential trouble call”.

In one of these calls, I was able to talk to a supervisor, Mrs. Criselle (not sure how to spell), extension 292349, who promised she would take care of this and call me back in 24 hours. In fact, she did - to let me know that someone was going to call me back in another 24 hours.

At this point, I had the first glimpse of hope. I received an e-mail reply from Mr. Jesse Fort on Oct 15 2012 (1 month and 2 days after my e-mail) saying:

“Good afternoon.  I just wanted to let you know we have a contract in place at your complex.  I have turned over a request to have our MDU rewire team to rewire the building, not just your unit.  Thank you.

Jesse Fort
Tech 2692
Supervisor, Install/Service
Menlo Park F.F.O.”

So I replied to him:

“Sounds good, but since I'm waiting for months, I should ask: when? I've just talked to my property manager and nobody contacted him so far.

Thanks”

Since he didn’t reply after 9 days, I called the customer service again and asked to talk to Mrs. Criselle. Unfortunately, I tried it twice, but both times they said the extension number was invalid (it was supposed to be 7-digit) and there was no supervisor called Mrs. Criselle.

Well, yesterday I called again, telling the whole story one more time and asking: “please, you know what the problem is, so fix it, I’m begging you”. So another ticket (CR302095938) was opened and someone was supposed to call me in 48 hours. So far, nobody called me.

Now the cool thing is, I’ve checked my bank statement and noticed an unusual charge from Comcast (I have automatic payment enabled). So I’ve checked my Comcast statement and, guess what? Comcast charged me AGAIN 50 dollars for “residential trouble call”.

Well, now I called the customer service again, hoping at least you can give me back my money, and asked to talk to a supervisor. The guy put me on hold. After 15 minutes, the call dropped. I called again. Another guy put me on hold again. After a few minutes, he said “my supervisor (Mr. Darrell) is busy, please give me your number and he will call you back”. Well I’m waiting for a half hour. In this meanwhile, I wrote everything I remember since the first time I called Comcast 4 months ago regarding to this problem, so the next time I call the customer service, instead of telling the whole soap opera again, I can simply say: look, I’m tired of telling the same story over and over... please, go to this blog and read it.

Marcelo Bukowski de Farias
Palo Alto
October 27, 2012