I am half afraid I'm going to be punished by Comcast even more for posting this but I wanted to get some idea if my experience is close to what any one else might be getting from Comcast right now.
In short, my wife and I tried to upgrade our service from digital basic with local HDTV to digital plus on a promotion with a premium channel for 3 months. At that point, we had to wait TWO weeks for the tech to come out to 'fix something on the line' to enable the added channels even though we were already receiving a mixed batch of non HD and all the networks in HD. At some point in the recent past, we had TNTHD, ESPN HD, and even Discovery HD without any changes being made to the line.
Anyway, that two weeks was this past Saturday. Of course, the end time of the service window (2-5pm) came and went, we called at 5:10 and were told the tech would be out within 30 minutes. At 6pm, we received a call stating that the tech had a family emergency. Apparently the Comcast office in the greater Miami/Fort Lauderdale area has only one service tech and he has a sickly family member. The lady on the phone tried to get me to reschedule for Monday: "Uh, I work". Okay then he will be there next Saturday. I gave the phone to my wife and she proceeds to get very upset with the agent who proceeds to get very upset with my wife. When they have settled it, we have an appointment for this coming Saturday. So, after dinner guests left, my wife asked if I could hop on to Comcast.com and start a chat with an operator. I wait about 15 minutes (not had because it gives me time to check out Dish and Directv) and I am then connected to a gentleman in India (I presume from the name). I start with "I am noticing a lot of HD channels being picked up by other carriers." I have "I see sci-fi, TLC, Bravo have been added to" ready to send but the operator, in a microsecond, seeing my question is about HD, copy pastes the standard reply "I'm sorry but we do not have any information on when new HD content will be added. I suggest you contact your local office for more information" I was stunned. I replied: "It is a shame that in 2007 you are unable to provide clear answers to your customers. It is a shame that you are so secure that your customers are unable to leave, that you don't even make an effort to say something constructive." Anyway, you must know how it proceeded from there. There were things such as "I am sorry you are frustrated, blah blah". I finished this conversation quite cordially (and the operator WAS very nice) confirming our upcoming service appointment. The operatore looked at my account and said "I see you have an appointment scheduled for Oct. 6th from 2-5 pm." Me: Uhhhhh. Him: Is that correct? Me: That was today, and you missed it. Him: I'm sorry about that. Would you like me to reschedule. Me: I already did. Him: That is the only appointment I show on your account. Me: Amazing! So we would have waited next Saturday as well for nothing? Him: I'm sorry about the confusion. Let me check the schedule. A few seconds pass and he offers me a time slot for Sunday. Me: Tomorrow? Sure. Him: Okay Sunday the 7th between 2-5pm. Is there anything else....
So, we figured the first operator did not key in the account because we were upset that Comcast did not make our original appointment and made up some lame excuse about it. Fine, more power to her.
So, to avoid sitting around like chumps on Sunday, just around midnight, my wife starts another chat call. She has a long conversation with a lady and asks if we have an appointment scheduled for Sunday. The lady confirms it and my wife starts outlining the problems we are having and asking about any promotions (consolation prizes) they might have. The lady is confused about the topic of conversation and her and my wife soon realize the service call we have for Sunday (that the second operator signed us up for) is for NON-WORKING cable TV. He put the call in as "customer has no picture, no sound" ! Of course, the lady informs us that the service tech would only be equipped to check that issue and would NOT be able to help us with upgrading our service so we can reschedule for the correct service. FOR THE 26th of OCTOBER! So now, we are 5 weeks invested in going from Digital to more Digital. I seriously look at the satellite options even though I know we CANNOT install dishes in our community.
Now, to be fair, the lady offered us a good promotion for that date but I am now skeptical that the service tech will even show up on the 26th. If he does, we get to stick with Comcast and send them more money. If he doesn't, we will have paid TWO cable bills without receiving our upgrade, with Comcast knowing we can't leave because we cannot install Dishes and DSL is awful in our neighborhood. Either way, Comcast wins, and they know it.
I don't expect any solutions here, but I needed to vent. If everything goes well on the 26th, I will come back and post but from the last 3 weeks of service, I don't expect we're ever going to see that incredible package we're just been offered. More than likely, Comcast is giving us the runaround for another pay cycle.
I wish Verizon was bringing their fiber optic service to South Florida soon but I expect it will be 2015 before that happens. Comcast seriously needs a kick in the pants from real competition that is not stifled by community regulations, and they have a luxury in this regard in South Florida that they would not be able to get away with in any other part of the country.
I actually had similar situation with DTV It was around this time 3 years ago This is a very busy season and many providers are very understaffed.
Just to let yo know CableTV do not charge for family HD channels most other providers do. Make sure yo ask Comcast about i/o triple package if that is offered in your area. This is what I got now and I love it. Customer service still sucks but I'm happier than DTV.
All providers are still missing many HD channels. It will take several weeks to get all HD broadcast.
King Tapeman Thanks for your reply. It's not just a matter of the incredibly long waits for service. It's being lied to by everyone. Having no one show up due to a family emergence was a terrible lie. Being promised a make up appointment and finding no such appointment was booked is a terrible lie. Being set up for non-working service was a lie and a waste of both mine and the tech's time. And now, we're literally being offered a package at something near 40% of actual cost. One more thing: I would ask Comcast about the i/o triple package if I thought I would get a straight answer, not jeopardize my scheduled service call in 3 weeks, and actually be able to get that package (if I wanted it) withing the month.