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Tech Frustrations Blog

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

3/9/2017

13 Comments

 
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​Monday morning our Internet went out. We’d seen an Xfinity truck on our street, so figured they were working on the problem and it would be fixed soon. After about four hours, we called to see what we could learn. We learned that they already knew that our service was out, and they were waiting for us to call so that they could schedule an appointment to come out and fix the problem.

We also have phone-service through Comcast/Xfinity, and it was out too, so it’s possible they thought they couldn’t call us. (Although they later proved they knew our cell phone numbers). My husband scheduled the first available appointment; 9:00 am the next morning. But that wasn’t good enough for me. I called them back. At least five times. Here’s what they told me (over the course of those calls):
  • There was no way they could start fixing our problem until the next day.
  • They might be able to fix our problem over the phone immediately.
  • The problem was not inside our home (so we wouldn’t even know that a service tech would be at our house the next day).
  • The problem was inside our home (so the service tech would need to come inside to investigate).
  • The problem was with the modem (which we own) and they would replace it for free if we took our existing unit to the local Comcast store immediately. (My husband insisted this was impossible.)
 
Boy was I frustrated. This was a real Tech Frustration! As I talked with the string of customer service reps, I tried being understating, persuasive, frustrated, angry, very nice and pleading. Afterward I even Tweeted (tagging Comcast). To their credit, they responded to my husband’s re-Tweet and tried to make amends (without changing the service call time).
  
I finally gave up trying to get everything (or anything) repaired that day. Our Internet was out. Our phone was out. And for some strange reason, the TV worked but only for one channel; HGTV (the last channel we were watching, I assume). My husband is not thrilled about watching HGTV on a good day, and while I like to watch it, I don’t really want to watch it exclusively. So we decided to “gamble” and risk losing even HGTV by rebooting the set-top box. At that point we lost HGTV too.
 
It was jarring to realize how many things come to a complete halt without Internet access. Years ago I remember taking a class at work about managing “Millennials”.  We were told that the Internet was like air to them; they can’t live without it. I think I’ve joined them! Thankfully we still had working cell phones so we weren’t cut off completely.
 
In the end, while the friendly technician was inside our house the next day, we learned that the guy in the Xfinity truck we’d seen the day before was responding to a concern they had about “noise on the neighborhood line”. He isolated the “noise” to our house and then shut off our Internet, TV, and phone service. Without telling us. Thankfully he was able to fix the problem pretty quickly.
 
During my fit of exasperation the day before, I asked my husband what options we have for other providers. He said there is no other company that can provide the Internet speeds we have today via Comcast. How can this be true? Isn’t that a monopoly? Why isn’t fast Internet treated like a utility?

​I don’t like how dependent I’ve become on Comcast and don’t know what to do about it.
13 Comments
Kelsey Sprowell
3/9/2017 12:50:27 pm

Take this with a grain of salt because (and I know this is odd) I've only ever had truly excellent customer service from Xfinity - but please, for the sake of all that is good and holy, stay with them. We switched to CenturyLink here in the Springs for about six months because they offered a deal I literally couldn't refuse, and it was THE WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. OMG. SO AWFUL. I somehow got us out of their contract and back with Xfinity, and every time I turn on the TV, I smile. I'm so glad to have them back.

But we've never lost internet service and I think that would make me lose my mind, too. So.

Reply
Kathy Haselmaier link
3/9/2017 03:21:41 pm

Kelsey, that is good to know! Thanks for possibly preventing me from making things worse. (It wouldn't be the first time I'd done that ;)

Reply
Bruce Lundeby
3/9/2017 01:04:23 pm

I'd suggest filing a PUC complaint. I can't prove that it made a difference but ever since I was involved with a valid ISP fair access complaint with our DSL internet provider I get excellent support. I've placed a service call at 1:00 am, called to let them know things are ok at 7:00 am, and had them insist on coming out to double check at 11:00 am. Also, I had a nice chat with the tech about his measurements of how much the last 1 - 2 inches of twist maters in RJ-45 punchdown connecters at that visit. He was complimenting my wiring.

Reply
Kathy Haselmaier link
3/9/2017 03:28:19 pm

That's interesting insight, Bruce! I'll have my IT guy (aka "Jim" ;) look into that!

Reply
Jim Haselmaier link
3/9/2017 03:33:25 pm

Bruce - what sort of speeds do you get from DSL?

Maybe I'm making decisions today based on data that is outdated.

Thx.

Jim

Reply
Don Calder
3/9/2017 01:39:39 pm

Unfortunately, the art of talking to a customer in any business has been greatly diminished in my lifetime, which is 80 years.

It is difficult to hire people that will show up and possess customer skills. They were not taught and never experienced great service. (Yes, there are exceptions)

I've seen Xfinity try hard lately, but be hampered by their own employees. We've all experienced companies who have outsourced control of customer service. I think your experience is the new normal.


Reply
Kathy Haselmaier link
3/9/2017 03:27:07 pm

Having been on the other side of phone (responding to complaints) I do appreciate how hard it is to deal with complaining customers. I assume that Comcast customer service reps, like those at other companies, are pressured to process the calls as fast as possible. Often in these roles, the employees are competing with their co-workers for jobs. Measuring (and rewarding good) customer satisfaction helps a lot. At the end of the day, as consumers, we're only willing to pay so much for services and the companies have to work within that cost envelope. And I agree that customer service skills are not taught (by parents) the way they were in the past. Sigh ...

Reply
Jim Haselmaier link
3/9/2017 03:24:34 pm

We were watching a x-country ski race (online) while visiting some friends last weekend. It was a 50K race - so obviously pretty taxing. At one point the British announcer said "He looks like a goldfish gasping for air!" :-D That's how I felt when all three of our services - TV, Phone, Internet - went down.

I have such a love/hate relationship with Comcast. 99% of the time the internet service is rock solid and extremely fast. But there is that 1% of the time where you need them to do something. Those are typically horrific.

I don't think it's a monopoly to have the fastest service. It's a monopoly to have the only service. And we definitely have other options (Century Link, Rise, probably others). But from a speed perspective they're not even remotely close to Comcast.

Reply
Kathy Haselmaier link
3/9/2017 03:30:04 pm

Are you saying that Bruce Lundeby has slower Internet than us, Jim?! I find that hard to believe.

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Adair Calder
3/10/2017 05:22:53 am

Sometimes it appears the only solution is no solution at all. Just wait it out and go read a book..........if it's day light! Or go for a walk. The more dependent we are on all this stuff, the worse it is.

Reply
Kathy Haselmaier link
3/10/2017 06:44:35 am

Yep!

Reply
Commtech link
3/10/2017 08:15:29 am

If you have an xfinity local office, always, ALWAYS go there in lieu of going through the phone system. The majority of the CSRs in our call centers across the world do not understand the maintenance side of things when we 'pad' out houses for noise.

The Tech who padded you guys out for noise should've been more proactive in getting in contact with you guys or at least door tagging your room in regards to why you're services were limited.

To be fair, this is a very common thing that happens. Noise (our signal being reflected back onto us) is a huge occurrence that causes massive damage to services within a 6 block radius. Things like gold splitters, coax fittings not installed by us, poor wiring, loose coax fittings at the splitter or back of equipment causes this reflection and starts confusing the node (which handles internet traffic) to be confused and services become affected.

I'm in the belief that as long as customers understand somewhat how our system works, can better understand why services may go down and are unlikely to be upset.

Technology isn't perfect and neither is the system ISPs build.

Have a good day and thanks for your business.

Reply
Kathy Haselmaier link
3/13/2017 09:06:15 pm

Thank you so much for this advice and insight! I appreciate it.

Reply



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    Kathy Haselmaier

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