Another Round with Comcast

As I wrote last week, it seems that for now I’m stuck with Comcast. Last week I also scheduled an installation for my new apartment, which was supposed to have happened yesterday (one week after making the appointment). I sucked it up and arranged to be home during the assigned 1-4 PM window, looking forward to having my own internet connection back and some quality TV to watch.

I received a call at 2:12 PM from the Comcast dispatcher saying that the technician had come to my apartment and that nobody answered when he knocked. They ended the call with something like “Better luck next time.” Who says that to a customer?

Of course I was mad, steaming to be exact. I immediately called the Comcast sales folks only to hear that the Comcast technicians are very overbooked with installations in DC, and they may no longer actually visit the apartment. Instead the dispatcher calls just before the tech is to arrive, and if you don’t answer the phone in the first few rings they assume you are not at home and reassign the tech to the next job. So in fact the technician never even came to my apartment, they were looking for any excuse they could find to reschedule me, and I was once again written off by Comcast as an insignificant customer… a peon whose money doesn’t really matter to them because there is nowhere else to go for cable service in my neighborhood. And for the record, the only call I got from the dispatcher was when they let me know that I “missed the appointment”.

At first they promised to have the tech come back out same day, perhaps later in the evening. They were unable to reach the tech on the “radio” because he was in a “bad area”, so they weren’t able to give me a specific time. I assume by radio they meant Nextel’s iDen service, and by “bad area” they were describing the huge dead spots in Nextel’s coverage throughout the entire region. I was told to wait for a call, and after an hour had passed I called them back instead. In my mind Comcast is like a bad girlfriend/boyfriend, and you should never wait by the phone for a call that may never come!

After a few further calls, I learned more about the scheduling process (they assign each job a series of “points”, and apparently my job has the max number meaning that I get bumped pretty low on the priority list and far back in the scheduling pool). I also learned that they never had any intention of coming back yesterday, that they were trying to “manage the situation amicably”. Sounds like a blow off to me!

After cutting through the rest of the crap, I learned the best they can do is to reschedule my appointment for the next available slot, which is next Thursday. I’ve decided that instead of waiting another week, I’ll call Comcast’s corporate headquarters again and talk with “Bob”. He didn’t provide much assistance on the last round with Comcast, but hopefully he can stir things up a bit.

EDIT: I called the Comcast Corporate offices at 215-665-1700 (asked for Customer Problem Resolution), and after I discussed the situation I was assured that Comcast could have someone come out today or tomorrow, and now I’m waiting for someone “high up” to contact me to make it official. I hate to sound cynical, but I’m not holding my breath.