The Comcast Conundrum
Reihan’s struggle against Comcast is every person’s struggle. Or at least every blogger in the DC area’s.
Some day, I plan to write a full-length, filmed musical about one man’s struggle to defeat Comcast. Hopefully, it will end with our hero triumphant, a beautiful lady in his arms while he downloads a movie to his new Netflix box, which has triumphed in the video-on-demand market and become a benevolent monopolist.
Tonally, I imagine it will be something like the future scenes from Terminator 2, but with an undercurrent of Judd Apatow-style pro-slacker spirit. I’ll do the book, but, naturally, Reihan will write the song lyrics. I’m hoping James Poulos, a brilliant musician, will score it. David Edelstein will dig it, and use the word “delirious” in his review. A.O. Scott will find things to like, but will say (probably accurately), that it’s not as good as Sweeney Todd.
Until this happens, I propose some sort of (peaceful) guerrilla warfare against the cable overlords at Comcast, who have yet to be able to provide me with consistent OnDemand service, and who tend to respond to service calls from my friends by not showing up. If anyone’s boyfriend or girlfriend did this, it’d be over pretty much immediately. All Comcast customers are scorned lovers with no place to turn. It’d be tragic if it weren’t so damn rage-inducing.
I’m hearing one of the songs. “Secret secret! I’ve got a seCRET!”
— Matt Frost · May 20, 09:00 PM · #
Up until last summer I had Comcast digital phone service (now replaced by digital voice). My phone went out in late July. I reported the outage by e-mail. Comcast said to call. I updated my e-mail, clarifying that my telephone was out of service, therefore, I could not make a phone call. Surprisingly in metro Atlanta, I live in an area where cell phone coverage is extremely spotty. We finally set up an appointment for a service call. The Comcast guy showed up an hour before scheduled (and therefore before I was home), and said that nothing was wrong. Two more service visits scheduled, both of which Comcast blew. Finally, on the fourth service call, someone showed up who actually knew what he was doing, took responsibility, and restored my telephone service. While he was at my house, he tried to call Comcast on his cell phone. “My cell phone doesn’t work here.” No shit, Sherlock. It only took 10 days to get a working telephone.
In all fairness, their digital voice service (VOIP) has worked flawlessly. Nevertheless, I would rather have a root canal than endure a Comcast service call.
— Selden · May 21, 11:21 PM · #
I have had serious problems with Comcast in the past. I now have satellite TV and Verizon DSL. Is there an organization which advocates on behalf of consumers in Montgomery County, MD for cable services/internet?
— A. Mathew · May 22, 01:17 AM · #
I apologize for the trouble. I would like to assist in creating the right experience for you. Please send me an email and my team and I will work to make it right for you. Please include a link to this page, the phone number on the account, and a good contact number.
Thank you for the opportunity to assist!
Frank Eliason
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com
— ComcastCares · May 22, 02:06 AM · #
I had Comcast for broadband, Cable TV & phone. I dropped phone quickly. Very poor voice quality that they couldn’t correct. After 2 years, finally dropped the other 2 in favor of DTV & Qwest. Concast has great advertising and a lousy product with even worse service.
— Bob · May 22, 07:02 AM · #
I personally have never had a problem with Comcast’s customer service. The couple of times that I have had service outages Comcast has fixed the issue quickly and pleasantly.
My parents, on the other hand, not so much. They eventually switched to DirecTV because Comcast couldn’t figure out why their Digital Comcast service kept failing. They still have Comcast interenet service, which, for me, you would have to pry from my cold, dead hands before I gave it up.
— Brett · May 22, 10:51 AM · #
I moved to Indianapolis a year ago and at the time Comcast was the only provider available to me. The Comcast installer came an hour outside his 4 hour window (5pm) and smelled terrible. After discovering I noticed he smelled his armpit and explained that he had just spent 2 hours in a hot attic and now had to endure walking around in “ball soup”. He then proceeded to string coax across the top of my deck for people to trip on rather than underneath. He refused to fix this and it took another month to finally get another technician to my house to make this 10 minute fix.
To add insult to injury the credit card I used to setup my automatic payments was expire 6 months after my service began and even though I updated the comcast website A MONTH before expiration it took Comcast’s billing department 3 MONTHS to use the new CC# all the while I received threats of being referred to a collection agency.
3 months ago I went with AT&T’s UVERSE service and couldn’t be happier.
— Clare · May 22, 11:38 AM · #
Don’t know about Montgomery County but RCN cable services Wasington DC. I have not had a service problem with them and have phone, internet, and basic cable. Not sure how they would respond if something did go wrong because nothing ever has. I like their basic cable lineup better than my friends who have Comcast – I still get AMC, Fox Movie Channel, and Turner Classic Movies on my basic cable. As far as I can tell, none of the above are still available on Comcast basic in the DC area.
— Mark · May 22, 02:43 PM · #