comcast must die

I was so pleased when I saw that segment this morning. I must have gotten that mischevious twinkle that makes my husband very apprehensive as he said, "dont get any ideas now".
Yesterday my husband went to our Spfld Vt, newly aquired Comcast office to exchange a bad box and return a 3rd box. We are cutting costs and decided our family can live without a 3rd connection. We've had good experiences with this particular office but we only give credit to the office itself... not the company. the same girls used to work for Adelphia.
So, they told us Verizon is leaving the area and they have a great deal for phone/internet/cable, and so on. Oh, and BTW they are hiking the rates as soon as everyone is converted from Adelphia to Comcast. HUH????
Here's our situation: We dont have other cable companies here in this little town of Charlestown, NH (and surrounding area). We had no choice when Adelphia sold to Comcast. Our particular property is set in a deep valley so satellite would be a joke. Besides, what I've seen of satellite, I'm not impressed.
We dont have DSL option here either. Its not offered in this part of town. Cant say FU and drop cable as we dont even get the old fashioned UHF here. Some of you may recall the old rabbit ears option. lol.
Right now we haveVerizon with unlimited long distance, which is very good with teenagers. Isnt there something we can do? I mean, can Comcst really hike our rates (for profit, not inflation costs) like this. Is there any grandfather clause in place? I just sit here and say WTF!? Anyone?


reply f they're smart, listen. Jeff Jarvis points us to Bob Garfield (Co-host of NPR's On the Media) who has started a blog called Comcast must die. His aim? To get Comcast customers to vent their issues and frustrations openly with the hope that Comcast will listen, clean up their act and create an oxymoron - a good cable company. In fact, Garfield invites people to include their customer number when they post. Jeff Jarvis posts his wishlist for a great cable company and two of them top my list as well: "Let me choose what channels I get," and "offer wi-fi all over my town and to come to roaming agreements that let me get wi-fi anywhere I travel."All will be clear, such as this most illuminating excerpt:

Ever wonder why anytime you request a supervisor that the CAE tells you that we will need to get your information and have one call you back, or we ask if you allow us the opportunity to assist yo.?

The reason for this is that we have escalation measures set in that a customer cannot speak to a supervisor unless the supervisor feels that he or she must take the call. Beyond that, it's the CAE's problem to calm down and take care of the customer. Usually the call may be taken away if the supervisor is listening to the CAE's phone call and see how irate the customer is, and that no matter what the CAE says a customer refuses to get off the phone unless they speak to a supervisor.

So if anyone was wondering why they can't just request a supervisor...then there is your reason. I actually think this is horrible and deplorable. If a customer wants to speak to a supervisor then they should do so...but only having one supervisor maybe a problem as well.

It's as if he was listening to my whole drama unfold. No wonder so many residents of the Bobosphere have weighed in with their own Qualmcast loathing. If all goes smoothly with the 1s and 0s, they will have an outlet by Friday afternoon, when comcastmustdie.com goes online.

Comcast Alise Munson is right on describing the call -center atmosphere. I was also a rep that advanced into management (at MCI). MCI realized that team supervisors spent the majority of the workday handling customer complaints instead of coaching and developing team members. MCI developed an Executive Supervisor department (which I was one) that gave employees the authority of a supervisor but without the hassle of managing a team. Supervisor-requested calls were immediately forward to the department. It lessened the workload for team supervisors but increased the stress level for Executive Supervisors ten-fold.

Call centers can solve a lot of their problems by attracting top-level employees by paying top-money instead of low-wages. �AMY ROBINSON, RICHMOND, VA

This has nothing to do with your post.
I was listening to Weekend America and heard a hilarious piece on the Van Halen tour by John Moe.
Jennifer and I looked at each other and said, "This guy is just like Bob Garfield." Watch out, the guy is copping your licks.
Mark Stivers �Mark Stivers Stivers, Sacramento, CA

I found this commentary amusing. While this reply is not Comcast specific it still does apply. As a former customer service rep, that advanced to a customer service supervisor(not with Comcast), I must say these few things. Remember these are just my thoughts and opinions.

When you call and ask for a supervisor before anything is said the rep on the phone should hear "I need someone to care about my problem/concern". If the rep is willing to step in front of your "speeding train" and ask something like "Really I'd like to try to assist you, will you give me the opportunity?" then I think that person can do more then a supervisor ever could. The reps that care will know what can be done even if they don't have the power themselves. They can go to the supervisor and get permission to make it right. The rep that cares can do, and often knows more, then the supervisor. Remember the supervisor is really there to make sure the person shows up to work on time and to motivate them to do the job efficiently. I've never worked in a call center where management didn't keep a close eye on the length of a call and want to make it shorter. Rolling over and giving a supervisor on first request tells me that agent isn't really ready to provide legendary customer service, that agent just wants you off the phone to make their stats look better for call handle time. I've found that most supervisors are only moderately knowledgeable about the products that they service.

Now when the call deteriorates into an argument/confrontation, then the customer asks for a supervisor, the rep doesn't want to get in trouble and will make excuses. This makes it hard to get resolution if your "ambassador" feels threatened. As a customer in this situation, if you can step back, let the person know you aren't out for a personal attack on them when asking for a sup, you may find it easier to get assistance. No one likes to get chucked under a fast moving bus. Once you have the supervisor on the phone then you can get your issue out that you called for. Once that is resolved then discuss how the rep didn't provide your with good service and the supervisor can handle that issue.

Now to address supervisor unavailability. It happens. Supervisors need lunches/breaks time to up-train and motivate employees. Sometimes they are already handling a customer issue. I'm only one person to MANY reps all at once. Sometimes I'm answering technical questions, sometimes I'm explaining a billing ledger to a rep for clarification. Let the rep do the job on the phones putting out the fire, and let the Supervisor make them better reps.
~Alex �Kurt Weis, Milwaukee, WI

It just isn't going to go away no matter how hard Comcast tries to ignore it. Employees starting to step up is a sure sign of issues to come, and that's what I think the real issue is here. I don't think any of what's revealed here is surprising, in fact I would imagine these issues don't even begin to scratch the surface of poor business practices happening behind the curtain.

What I do think is problematic is that their most important ambassadors, their employees, don't believe in the company. (Shameless plug to our thoughts www.cword.org). To truly make a difference Comcast simply has to start befriending people rather than antagonizing them. They have to figure out what they believe in so their employees can believe and start making more friends. They need to start finding small ways to adjust the business. They need to start changing to start making friends. �Evan Slater, Atlanta, GA

If Comcast must die then there are many other companies that need to be destroyed or ripped to shreds.
A - I find their service to be much better than what the previous companies were; not great but much better.
B - The number of companies whose only concern is to sign you up, phone companies in particular, is a bit much. The honeymoon is great but hell after that. �RAUL GODOY, MIAMI, FL

We have had numerous cable companies in our city over the years and while not perfect...Comcast has been SOOOOO
much better than the others. If COMCAST must die... then who has a better track record.... who will provide better service? I suspect there is no one out there to fill the bill. �B L Neeley, KNOXVILLE, TN
Was traveling for the past few days, as one does in September, in Bulgaria. It was nice. The telephones worked.

No such luck at home, where my wife has been haunted by the Ghost of Comcast.

As you may have read, we were the victims of an incomplete, haphazard and faulty installation of phone-cable-broadband service, and then we were victims of an indifferent, dishonest and hostile "customer service" process. At one point, with my blood pressure spiking and an episode of tachycardia, I feared for my health.

I don't wish to die of Comcast.

But because I blogged about this, and because I am a major, major multimediocrity, Comcast executives fell all over themselves issuing press releases, having vice presidents call my home, sending supervisors to fix what was broken and basically giving me all the attention you'd never receive, because you can do them no harm. While I was gone, my wife reports, she was practically harrassed by phone by Qualmcastic employees looking after our wellbeing.

But the phones still don't work. Whenever we hang up on a call, a few seconds later the phone rings again -- with the connection that was never closed. Our house sounds like the back set of a telethon.

But today I got yet another call from Qualmcast. It was a young woman named Michelle doing what seemed to be a random customer-satisfaction survey on our (nightmare) "Comcast Triple Play" installation.

"On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being best best how would you rate your service?" she asked.

"Zero," I said. There was a prolonged pause.

"May I ask what the problem was?" she continued, and I explained. She apologized and offered to connect me to someone who could help. Why not? I was curious if the routine follow-up would yield any results. "You will be on hold," she explained, "and it will be silent on the line for a moment."

"OK," I said. "Thank you."

What followed was 20 seconds of silence. Then, a rapid busy signal. Qualmcast, apparently for reasons no more sinister than its utter incompetence, had hung up on me.


22 Comments

I think you're doing yourself a "major" disservice here, Bob; at the very least, you are a major, major, major multimediocrity... . Very interesting read, but very sorry for your frustrations. I hope the problems go away -- and that they're not catchy.... Cheers! - RD �ROGER DARNELL, BOONE, NC

I was lucky. Having enough with AT&T Internet, I decided to switch to Comcast. I tried twice to reach a sales representative but both times I was on hold for ~30 minutes and then hung up. Obviously, after the second try I decided that if their sales people could not answer the phone within thirty minutes to sign up a new customer, it must be hell for existing customers to get anyone on the phone. �Christopher Bankston, Cordova, TN

I have had similar problems with Time Warner. I do not have an option of using another service provider in my area. A company that essentially has a monopoly in an area needs to fix their problems. Yet, they do not. Non-sense. I feel you Bob. �GREG COGHILL, NEW YORK, NY

fortunately, WOW becam available in our area about 6 years ago. They are great. When I die my tombstone will say: Dennis Murphy "I hate Comcast". �Dennis Murphy, Rochester Hills, U.

And then there is entirely another vista where Comcast can ruin your life; it is the Comcast Blacklist Nightmare (Google that for some fun reading).

We are a franchise company and communicate via e-mail with a broad cross section of potentially interested franchise prospects. Twice our company has been blacklisted by Comcast though we only respond to inquiries and send no spam of any type and our servers are well protected and have all of the correct protocols. It can take hours to find someone at Comcast who will even acknowledge such a list exists and many more hours and in one case almost three months to get off the blacklist and be allowed to communicate with Comcast customers.

So once those Comcast customers finally do get their e-mail up and running, there is an ongoing slice of the world that can't communicate with them... �Al Stonehouse, Ventura, CA

Bob, great that you visited my country and the phone connection was running smoothly. But do not think we do not have problems with the phones and Internet connection and having to fight a former monopoly with still-in-the-communist-mentality of caveat emptor administration which is hopefully replaced by young and professional customer service representatives. The question is what will happen if you just unplugg the phone and leave it quiet for a while, take a walk, do some sports, go outside and realize that actually they are doing you a favour-taking off the pressure of our modern 24/7 availability. There are still places in Bulgaria where we do not have cell phone coverage and when I happen in such a place I start to appreciate it. Technology and connection to the world is important, but there are more important things like several million people in Africa having no telephone in their homes or no home at all. Why not write about this inconvenient truth. Meri, Sofia, Bulgaria �mari alex, Burgas

I have had Comcrapstic high speed internet for a year and a half since they are the only provider available to me. Every time it rains my service goes down. I have called them 8 times and each time I get a different excuse but the best was when they told me if I walked around my neighborhood and got the names and account numbers of 7 other neighbors that were also having trouble, only then would they replace the lines. One service tech actually said to me "just consider yourself lucky you don't have our cable, it's even worse". The mere mention of the word Comcast sets people off and everyone has a horror story. Why do our city officials who handle contracts allow this to continue?

Mike Martin, Dunwoody GA �Mike Martin, Atlanta, GA

Bob - can you gives us a good faith disclosure that you are not receiving compensation or inducements from another provider of video & broadband services? �Oliver Boulind, New York, NY

I absolutely love this series. As an inhabitant of NJ, we are given no alternative but Comcast. The best is when you call to report a problem and they get angry at you for NOT accepting their Triple Threat Deal. Then they come over, barely speak English, and leave a mess for you to clean up. Five days later, you are back on the phone with the same problem. Please keep this series going! �Nicole Smith, New York, NY

I think a sitcom could be developed out of all this... community of
of young folks having to spend all their free time struggling with Comcast. Each week with a different frustrating scenario.

David, Mount Kisco, NY �David Leedy, Mt. Kisco, NY

Comcast is the worst. I have had them out more times than I can count. Each rube blames the other rube. My question is what can we do since they are a licensed entity to stop the madness. �Bill Trammell, Chicago, IL

When do the DirecTV "comcastia syndrom" spots come out? ;-) �Sean Trapani, Savannah, GA

I'm not American, but I say: Vote Bob for President!

This whole tragic state of affairs is taking on Shakespearean proportions. It ressembles my own tear-stained (OK, I exaggerate slightly on that last point) attempt to get the UK's desservedly much-maligned telecoms + broadband provider , TalkTalk, to properly setup their euivalent broadband/telephone service and maybe even provide a degree of customer support worthy of the name. It took months of phone calls. But to this day, they never ever EVER responded to any of my emails pleading for help.

Gavin, UK �Gavin Lennon, London

As bad as it can be sometimes, Thank God for Time Warner (that should show the state of things for Internet connectivity). �Bo Pittman, Charlotte, NC

I, too, have had huge frustrations with Comcast. Too many incidents to count, but I did actually blog about one of the incidents, where I was basically ON HOLD FOR THREE HOURS waiting for someone from Customer Service. The story is pretty hilarious - if you want to read about it, visit
By Edtopgun (not verified) - Fri, 10/19/2007 - 10:05am.

I was disappointed and discouraged with DirectTV and Bellsouth. Thought I would give Comcast a chance. They gave me a window, 8AM to 11AM. I changed all of my morning appointments to PM. I called 11:30 AM they said installer would arrive within 1/2 hr. E-mailed corporate office in Philly at 2PM e-mailed corporate office south east branch. Installer arrived at 2:30PM. I used to be an independent cable installer in the early 80s and if I left a job-site the way mine was left, sloppy install, no instructions. I would have lost my contract. The doesn't seem to be anymore concern for the public or pride in Workmanship. The biggest problem today is "no matter where you turn, it's the same" I wish we could purchase the equipment ourself, install it ourself without paying these outrageous fees to inconsiderate corps.


Actually, I have no deathwish for Comcast or any other gigantic, blundering, greedy, arrogant corporate monstrosity, What I do have is the earnest desire for such companies to change their ways. This site offers an opportunity -- for you to vent your grievances (civilly, please) and for Comcast to pay close attention.

I advise you to include your customer number in your post; this will give Comcast the chance to contact you and work on your problem. If it does so, I encourage you to post an update, giving credit where credit is due. Meantime, be aware you may be the target of online fishers trying to get personal information from you. DO NOT REPLY TO EMAILS CLAIMING TO BE FROM COMCAST. Deal with them only by phone.

Congratulations. You are no longer just an angry, mistreated customer. Nor, I hope, are you just part of an e-mob. But you are a revolutionary, wresting control from the oligarchs, and claiming it for the consumer. Your power is enormous. Use it wisely.

-- Mid-August. Triple Play (TV, phone, broadband) service ordered. Phone ported from Verizon. 11-2 p.m. installation window set for Sunday, August 28th.

-- August 28. Installer does not show up at 11. Or 12. Or 1. Or 2. Or 3. Or 4. Or 5. After a call to customer service and 15 minutes on hold, Comcast promises to investigate and call back. Comcast does not call back. In second subsequent call, Comcast promises to call back to reschedule. Three calls in all. Total time on hold: 40 minutes. Nobody ever calls back. Total time waiting for installer: 6 1/2 hours. Sunday squandered.

-- August 29. On 4th call to customer service, Comcast reschedules installation for Sunday, September 9, between 8 and 11 a.m.

-- September 9. Installer shows up on time at 9 a.m. At 12:30, installer leaves to get a drill bit from a nearby service tech's truck. Five hours later, he is still missing. He has failed to connect one TV, and 2 of 4 phones do not operate. He has also cut off half of existing DirecTV service.

-- Comcast customer service asks for "a quick moment" to investigate. Fifteen minutes later, they return to ask for "one more moment." I am on hold for another 32 minutes. During that, I use another line to call customer service. I ask for a supervisor. I am not permitted to speak to one. I am told somebody will call me back. Nobody calls back. Customer service operator on first line takes me off hold in minute 50 to tell me a tech is on the way. I tell her I have been on hold for a total of 48 minutes. She says I haven't been. I ask for a supervisor. I am told I'm not permitted to speak to one. One will call me back. Nobody calls. I miss a 4:30 p.m. appointment. I have a dinner commitment at 6:30 p.m. At 5:40 the installer shows up. I am leaving the house in 34 minutes.

-- Incredibly, Comcast calls to ask if he showed up. I learn that the installer has lied and told his boss my job was finished when he left. I say he arrived after a 4 hour and 10 minute disappearance, but he can't finish the job in time. I ask to have the job rescheduled. No, I can't. She can only make sure he's arrived. She can't reschedule. I beg. I plead. I am placed on hold.

-- Finally, a supervisor gets on the line. Her name is Carol Webb. She is the first Comcast employee to volunteer an apology. "I am dumbfounded by what has happened to you," she says. She says first thing in the morning she'll make everything right. She sounds sincere. But mark me down as skeptical.

In any event, the damage has been done. They have ruined two weekends and screwed up half of my telecom services. I will shake them down for as much free service as I can get, then drop them at the first opportunity. And they deserve it. They deserve much worse.

Is this company so frantic to seize market share on voice and broadband that it is willing to disrupt customers' lives, fail to appear, repeatedly lie to them, walk out on them and then treat the customer as if he or she is a nuisance?

Well, we shall see. This is the Listenomics age. We will not take it quietly.


59 Comments

I work for Comcast in MD. You people are the reason half of us employees hate our jobs and 95% of us hate all customers. You are disgusting and pathetic. First of all, our residential services are for entertainment purposes only. Stop being cheap bastards and pay for the business services if you're running a business out of your home. If you were smart and did what you're supposed to do when you receive a contract of some sort, you would know that we have NO obligation to fix your downed services within a few hours...residential services are guaranteed a time frame within 24 hours, and it doesn't have to be one you like or take...it just has to be available. So when you get fired from your half ass job at the newspaper because you were too cheap to pay up, we can and should laugh in your face. Second, there's NO reason why you should NEED cable to survive! Read a damn book, do a puzzle with your family. What did you do 10 years ago when you couldn't get online because your dial-up modem wasn't working? YOU FOUND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO! Find something else to complain about, please. I can answer any complaint you have. #1:Why are your techs late? Well they're late because you dumb freaking people don't mention half of your problems when on the phone with customer service scheduling the tech...so when the techs get out to the jobs, they almost always take longer than expected...resulting in the tech being late to other appointments. #2:Why am I on hold so long? Because you people call for each and every thing! Your TV is not Comcast's responsibility. Comcast is responsible for Comcast equipment...not your shitty Sony that suddenly stopped having sound. When the sound cuts off for 3 seconds, comes back, and it's still working--don't call in! You're making life harder on yourself! And you're making life harder on other Comcast customers who have a VALID reason for calling in. Oh another thing...half the time the problem with your cable is the shitty wiring that was previously installed in your home, NOT COMCAST'S RESPONSIBILITY! haha! You bought an old dilapidated house with old funky internal wiring. That's your problem, do NOT call into Comcast and scream til you're blue in the face. We can fix it, but yes, you are going to be charged. Why? Well like I said-NOT COMCAST'S EQUIPMENT! I came across this site full of pathetic people posting pathetic stories on accident...and I'm glad I did. You have all given me even more of a reason to talk down to you when you call in. Oh, and those promotions you would get if you were nice? Yeah--no luck in hell now. Hope you guys are happy! �Amanda Johnson, Pasadena, MD

The main problem with getting Comcast to fulfill an appointment is that the majority of the installers are contractors and not Comcast employees. �AMY ROBINSON, RICHMOND, VA

Bob, I pretty much signed created a profile on AdAge simply to comment on your story. While I was furious at Atlanta's local telecom provider and it's awful job of installation that went similar to your but a little less dragged out, it only lasted a little while. Then I read your article and the memory brought the anger back, better than ever. Charter Communications is who provides all the schmucks who don't get Comcast in the Atlanta area with an even worse product, because you are referred to the service first (upon move in to a sponsored apartment area like mine) by a brochure that tells you to call the local rep. I did that and all was well. For 40 bucks (a promo rate that lasted a year, which sounded alright) I got blazing fast 5 meg internet. Installation was maddening since they too wasted a weekend of mine. I was so happy to wait since I was finally going to be connected to the world. No such luck, no phone call. I called the rep, who was in the grand canyon, and she actually did it all straightened out. The installation came a week late, but oh well. Things were going fine...until the bill came. 40 bucks grew up...it became 58. Well, sir, we're showing that you don't have any other services with us, and for that we charge an extra 10 or 15 bucks. I can't remember which amount it was, it may have even been more it's been so long ago. This fee is not marked down in any of the literature I have. It wasn't mentioned AT ALL by the useless, clueless and apparently "missing" rep; I called her with a very blunt message about this issue, she never called back. Good thing she's in sales. I've had ex-girlfriends call back after WORSE sounding messages. I squeezed the customer service person, or thing, since she sounded dead-ish, for a mere 20 dollar credit, which was only a one time thing, since "now, sir, you're informed of the full cost, and it's your ability to cancel service if you so wish." To Comcast and Charter I say this: enjoy your monopolies while they last, for they won't. To customer service and sales reps I say this: do your damn jobs and "serve" the "customer", because as horribly unqualified as you sound and undoubtedly are, you -too- are human and know the feeling of being ripped off. Maybe internet service is a hassle you have the perks to avoid, but auto mechanics are still out there. Ha! For that matter so are building contractors, and repairmen...plumbers...PC-buying...bedding and furniture salesmen... �John Chiappone, Burt, NY

My Comcast disaster story involves the attempted interface between Comcast and my favorite old (new) technology, TIVO.

I was an early TIVO user and advocate, some would say fanatic. I had three TIVO boxes and only gave them up when I switched to HD TV's. They degraded the signal so much the other benefits were not worth it. So I switched to the Comcast DVR. Same as TIVO, right? Not even close. Although it did record in HD, the interface was clumsy, I never saw the end of a live event, and I was constantly missing programs I thought I had recorded. Comcast makes a bad DVR.
Then I saw a review of the new TIVO HD. I read everything I could, and then called TIVO to see if it worked with Comcast. "Absolutely", they said. It works great with Comcast. You need to get two "cable cards". Uh-oh. ..I called Comcast to get the cable cards and the operator said they did not work with TIVO. "Are you sure?" I asked. "TIVO told me they did work." So back to TIVO. "Oh, you need to talk to a supervisor. The best way is for the three of us to get on the phone together. I would be happy to set up that call if you would like." So I got on a three-way call between two companies that hate each other and me. Very strange.

After some coaxing by the TIVO rep, the Comcast supervisor admitted that the cable cards did indeed work with TIVO, but we needed to set up a service call to get them installed. Now, let me tell about a different experience I have had with Comcast repair and installation technicians. They ALWAYS show up on time at my house. I think it's because they know exactly where I live. They have been to my house nine times; no kidding, nine times. There's the inside the house guy who never talks to the outside the house guy. The cable guy, the internet guy, the phone guy.... And nobody talks to anyone else. They keep coming back to fix stuff the other guy messed up.

Back to TIVO. On the allotted day, at roughly the allotted time my repair technician, a guy with whom I am on a first name basis, arrives at the house. His greeting to me was: "I hate cable cards, they never work." "Why do you want TIVO?" "The Comcast DVR is great.""This will never work.""Did you know you can't get a program guide with cable cards?" I said, "Hi Joe, let's give it a try." Comcast must LOVE this guy, I'll bet he's employee of the month.

Installation of cable cards involves plugging the cards into two slots in TIVO, then calling a super-secret number and reading a bunch of numbers to the rep on the other end of the phone.After a lot of banter between the cable guy and the rep, with the cable guy repeating: "This is never going to work", I started seeing channels appear on the TV. Once that happened, the cable guy was out of my house like a circus clown shot out of cannon. His last words were: "Good luck with that mess."

Man I love TIVO. I'm getting all my shows, never miss the end of a live event and there is even a bunch of new stuff that comes over the internet. TIVO is back, and it's better than ever.

The really unfortunate part is what Comcast has done to poor TIVO. Here's a company that should own the world, but can't get out of its own way from a marketing standpoint. I know as a media guy I'm supposed to hate TIVO, but have you seen the new internet stuff you can do? It's really cool.

So, as an end to the story, my cable bill is all screwed up with these people coming to the house all the time. I'm not surprised they can't get it right. My wife called to straighten out the bill and at the end of the conversation she asked the rep if she had heard of TIVO. "Yes", she said, "That's for satellite." �Carl Kotheimer, New York, NY

Thanks Bob for starting this movement for fairness - I've come across these postings on other sites in our Worldwide Web... they treat their employees like $H!T so it's no wonder that this top down mentality is carried over to us consumers. Perhaps these comments will humanize the issue in this desensitized corporate controlled world. We need a REVOLUTION to fix this imbalance. So thanks for starting it with your mega-platform.
Time Warner is just as bad. Pretty much word for word the same thing happened to me when I went for the All-In-On/All-My-Money package. A no show, hours on the phone. No call-backs. Phone service that still didn't get turned on for weeks (they kept explaining that the order was entered wrong - but still not fixing it). To make matters worse, they only credited my around a week's service. If you want everything combined, it's a monopoly and they have you by the balls. I don't see this changing. - L.F. New York, NY �Laura Fegley, New York, NY

I have had similar experiences with Comcast. The first tech showed up on a Saturday and didn't even work for Comcast!! They had outsourced the repair to some joker that spent most of the time chatting on his cell phone. Monday I called Steve Burke's. I told the receptionist I was calling about HIS CAR and she put me through to his office immediately! Problem was solved within a few hours after they sent out a supervisor and lead tech together. I received numerous follow-up phone calls and a card from Philadelphia. Anymore I go straight to HQ with problems. �xcargrl xcargrl, Tucson, AZ

So glad i'm not the only one!
At our house, we've turned their word "comcastic" into the household word for crap/nonworking/ineffective/useless/shitty/etc. �April Biddle, Wilmington, DE

Try ClearWire for your internet. Much much better and you don't need installation from a technician. Just plug and surf! �Juan Reyna, Austin, TX

amen �Chris Fanning, washington dc, DC

I have had the same experience with Comcast recently. I would love a "do it yourself" kit to hook up cable. If some idiot who can barely tell time can do it, why can't an idiot like myself do it?!? �I Adriano, Chicago, IL

Bellsouth is just as bad. I ordered DSL and they came out and turned off my phone then switched it to my neighbors and I finally had phone and dsl a few after I was supposed to. Mike, Fort Lauderdale. �Mike Ritz, fort lauderdale, FL

Bob -- Had the same experience here in Bethesda, MD and wound up with more than 6 months of free service. Switched to FIOS for web & DirectTV after my free period ended. I had been a Comcast customer in PA & MD for over 7 years! They lost me forever. Have now switched to FIOS for TV service as well and it has been fantastic. �Tim Regan, McLean, VA

Comcast mixed up some of my bills by always tacking on an extra 10 dollars here and 20 dollars there. They were always fast to make it up with heavy discounts and credits IF I called in, but I can't help but wonder how much they're getting from customers who aren't paying attention.
Also, cancelling is a nightmare. Don't dare misplace the receiver set or you'll owe Comcast an outrageous figure just short of $850. Don't forget the remote - that's another $45. May God have mercy on your wallet if you have multiple receivers.

Installation, now that was pleasant for me. In Boston I received an installation appointment scheduled a full 2.5 weeks away. The wait was a bit torturous but the installation person was courteous enough to call my cell early in the day to notify me about when he'd be showing up during the scheduled 3 hour time block. He promptly did the job and I'll add - was pretty good looking. I know that tale belongs on "Ripley's believe it or not" given Comcast's track record but its true! �Tonya Towles, Reading, PA Choose a tag -- something easy ("Comcast Service") -- and suggest folks tag their own blog posts and videos with same. Make sure there's a subcategory area for it in Technorati. Flickr photos of any damage done in walls. YouTube videos, with responses. Etc.

- Form a Comcast Service group in Facebook. Add a voting application.

- Send this post to equity analysts who follow Comcast.

- Start a "dollar a minute rebate" campaign for every minute someone's kept on hold by customer service. Also have free month of service added for every day a tech doesn't show up during the appointed hours. �Dorian Benkoil, New York, NY

Had similar issues with telco service in Seoul and Shanghai ("we came, no one home!") but PCCW in Hong Kong was fantastic... until it was time to move. Great phone/iptv/broadband but three months after I had cancelled my service, I was still getting billed and getting scary warning emails! Although I had actually gone in person to their customer service center to cancel and had a receipt to prove it, I was told there was no record of this transaction on their computers! Unbelievable but true. Needless to say, I never paid. �Ken H., Bangkok

I have to agree w/other comments about the poor comcast experience and, in the spirit of adding something positive to the universe, echo the positive experiences with both DishNetwork and Verizon FiOS. Totally professional, courteous, and refreshing after my dealings with Comcast. Too bad they're not putting the same energy into their customer experience as they do into their advertising creative. �Robert McCullough, Collegeville, PA

I had the same experience with Comcast in Washington DC. I had just moved there and had zero TV in my new apartment. I killed an entire day off of work with no comcast appointment arrival. I was accused of not being home. Rescheduling took another week. I literally had to buy a rabbit ear antenna to temporarily get some kind of TV in my home.
I have never had any experience close to this from Time Warner NYC.
Their interface is incredibly inferior to TWC as well. And they cost more. �Rob Meeker, New York, NY

RE: Use of the word "jihad" and the date. You'll note this piece was written and posted two days ago. �Ken Wheaton, New York, NY

Use of the word 'jihad' in the title of this silly rant (today of all days) was thoughtless! �JENNY Sangiamo, NEW YORK, NY Eventually, some new ISP will be to Comcast, Verizon, AT&T what Toyota and Honda are to Ford and GM. As consumers we should not accept this service. Even if we have to keep buying it. WOM is powerful and if enough people say something sucks, eventually Virgin or Google will come in with an alternative. �GEORGE TANNENBAUM, NEW YORK, NY

I certainly hope that the title of this piece was unintentional. To post hopefully innocuous death threats and calls for Jihad on or even near a date which in our nation's history is blackly marked by such violent outpourings of emotion should be considered inappropriate at best. I understand that the everyday toils of life can be frustrating, but if lacking cable service is your biggest problem, you should be joyfully counting yourself among the most fortunate of mankind. �Andrea Diede, Edmonds, WA

Two weekends?!?! Count yourself lucky! A year ago when we moved to Atlanta, from Dallas, I logged more than 12 hours just in phone calls trying to resolve errors.

Where possible, I have "fired" Comcast. But there are not a lot of options.

If you want results and real customer service, you have to stop dealing with their "customer service", which 9 times out of 10 is contracted out to a third party. The reason why you keep getting the run around, is that the technicians are also contracted third party companies, but not the same companies as customer service.

If you want results, go to the top. Do not write to them, but call BRIAN ROBERTS, CEO / CHAIRMAN. Call corporate headquarters at 215-665-1700 - corporate HQ is in Philadelphia, PA. I did this in Dallas, and while I did not obviously speak with Brian, I did reach an executive assistant in the executive offices who then did all the phone calling and facilitating to solve my problem.

If that doesn't help, then be patient. It is only a matter of time before cable is an outdate technology. I was so happy to hear about AppleTV, as it is the first foray into a new delivery method for television content.

If you do find a way to rally the troops, I have been thinking for a year about taking out an ad in the NY Times or the Wall Street Journal, and writing a "Dear Brian" letter, explaining why I have not only fired Comcast, but why I will never invest a dime in their stock. �Patty Urban, Dallas, TX

I feel your pain as well. Comcast was so terrible that I switched to iTunes and DVDs for my television viewing and don't regret it. Plus I save a ton of money. Unfortunately I had to keep Comcast for my cable modem service, but I won't give them a penny more than I need to to get online, and the sooner I can switch to FiOS, WiMAX, or something else the better... �Daniel Silverman, Cambridge, MA

I also have phone/TV/internet with Time Warner Cable in Torrance, CA, (they swallowed up Adelphia, as Comcast did elsewhere.) I recently got a new TV so I called TWC from my office to make sure I could go swap out my cable box for a new HD cable box at the Santa Monica office close to my work; instead of the office in Torrance closest to my house. They put me on hold for ten minutes, and then said, "Yes", no problem, you can swap boxes at any location. You can guess the rest. Drove to Santa Monica TWC office and was told, "No", you have to go to the office closest to your house. What a waste of time.
I wrote an angry letter to the President of TWC two weeks ago, with no response, and now I am adding to the pile of unsatisfied customers.
Whatever happened to Good (or even tolerable) Customer Service?!?! �Mitchell Liday, Los Angeles, CA
This article about sums it up. At least I have one other option; AT&T and the Dish Network. I know, DSL is not as good as cable but at least I have more than one choice of service providers. If At&T does not work out, then I can always go to free wifi coffee shops for internet and back to reading books for entertainment. No one said purchasing a service was mandatory and television is not a necessity. �Kevin Malek, Oakland, CA

They are THE WORST. thank you Ronald Reagan. �Paula Guthat, Detroit, MI

Yikes - sounds like my experiences in all but one instance. I originally had Comcast cable TV and Internet services (fefore that was someone else, and before that ...). Cocmast started out many years ago as a conscientious service provider.
As the time grew closer to their buy-out from TimeWarner, the service deteriorated. Once the buy-out was completed, and after numerous ads telling me I was going to love TimeWarner, I found that out of all the carriers I've had over the past 20 years, TimeWarner was perhaps the pitifully worst. After 1 year I bailed (although I still have their internet service at a reduced price). We're totally happy with DIRECTV, - although it is not without its problems - but here's the point:


The service providers (all of them) spend most of their money buying out other providers. Each wants to dominate everything you bring into your home - phone, TV and internet service. instead of spending money on infrastructure to provide a higher quality product, they spend it on interest. As consumers we are getting more choices, which ultimately will be the reason things improve. Until then, no matter who the provider is, I'm afraid we'll get more of the same type of customer service that is described in this example. Come on FCC, Congress and other lame-o's - deregulate the industry, get you fat butts out of their business and allow the free market to develop competitive and quality products.

WD Santa Clarita, CA �Wayne Dell, Santa Clarita, CA


Comcast is THE WORST. It took three service visits to install our bundle. The first time the repair man was 45 minutes late, making me wait a total of 4 hs, 45 mins (I am still waiting for the $20 credit I was promised 3X as part of their OTG, "on-time guarentee"). He did not check to see if the cable box worked before he left. It did not. Neither did the phone. The second service man said he was not trained to fix the phone, only the cable, but he did not have a new cable box - what do they keep in that van for service and installation calls?! After a third visit and probably four hours on the phone and 12+ hours waiting for repairmen, our cable was set up. And this is the truncated version of the ordeal. I would give DC DMV higher marks (anyone who lives in DC knows this is low). Wish I had other options, but since I rent, they are limited. -K. BAYER, WASHINGTON DC �K Bayer, Bethesda, MD

Getting cable television is wasted time that leads to wasted time. I get netflix and pick things up off itunes when I know I want to watch something. Comcast's service is bad for the whole Ad industry. L Spencer, Los Angeles, California �Leigh Spencer, El Segundo, CA

I'm thinking about having t-shirts printed up that say "I am a Comcast Survivor." I'd probably get rich selling them in the Bonita Springs, Fla. area where I live. When we moved to our new house in February, I decided to take advantage of Comcast's heavily-promoted "special offer" of $33 a month each for internet and digital phone service (cable tv is provided by our homeowner association.) I had no gray hair at the time. Now my hair is almost white. In my 55 years, Comcast is, unequivocally, the WORST, most INEPT company with which I've ever dealt. It took two days (two separate installers) to install the equipment -- requiring me to stay home both days to let the Comcast people in "between 1 and 5 pm." The internet worked for a week, after which I could only get a "Welcome to Comcast" screen that wouldn't allow me to go any farther. Luckily, I was able to pick up a neighbor's wireless internet signal. The phone line was down for 5 of the first 20 days; when I called (on my cell naturally, once waiting more than an hour to speak with a human who, it turned out, was, in the "billing" department and said she didn't know why the call had been routed to her -- she guessed it was because there were so many complaints their customer service agents couldn't handle them), I was informed they didn't know when the phone service in our area would be resumed because there were equipment problems. When my first bill arrived, it was for nearly $200. Comcast billing personnel informed me their installers had installed the wrong internet equipment, for which I was being charged. A supervisor finally conceded there had been a mistake on their end which, she said, happens often because someone in the local office who takes orders doesn't quite understand the differences between Comcast's various services. When I would call the internet service line, as I did almost every day, the people on the other end were clueless and said the internet should be working. Some of them questioned why the installer had installed the make and model of modem he had chosen, saying it was the weirdest configuration they had ever seen, and asking me why I specified that. I replied that all I had requested from the git-go was internet service and I assumed Comcast knew what equipment needed installing. I could go on and on but that would give me flashbacks and I'm trying to forget the nightmare so suffice it to say I finally --after three months -- called Embarq, which had provided service to our old home (poorly I might add -- I was glad to be rid of them when we moved but little did I know what was in store for me) and they came out and installed high-speed DSL and unlimited telephone service -- at a cost of only $3 per month more than Comcast. I hugged the Embarq installer as if he were liberating me from prison. He said he spends his days servicing former Comcast customers who are fed up and are going back to Embarq. When I took the equipment Comcast had installed back to my local Comcast office, there was a line out the front door of people doing the same thing. Those of us waiting in the line exchanged Comcast horror stories. Once I had my receipt for the equipment, I ran to my car, rolled up the windows and whooped with glee and relief. Oh yes, I almost forgot -- one time Comcast came out to shut off a neighbor's phone and cable service but cut our lines instead. And I would be remiss not to mention that, in the three months I was a Comcast customer, I received numerous "customer satisfaction" surveys by phone (they called my cell -- a good thing because they probably couldn't have reached me had they called on their line because it rarely worked) and by mail. Each time I responded that Comcast was the WORST company ever. Last but not least, every time I called, I was asked for my home phone number. Each time agents replied they had no record of that number! A horror show. �Tom Dryden, Norwalk, CT

I am tickled by these posts. There are very few institutions in this society that inspire the hatred I feel towards COMCAST. I too, wasted an entire Saturday at home in Jersey City waiting for the installer to show up. Of course, he never did, and when I called to inquire - the operator said he came by and nobody was home - a blatant lie. Customer service offered nothing for my inconvenience - I wasn't even given priority in rescheduling. I hung up and immediately ordered DIRECT TV - COMCAST CAN KISS MY ASS! �J. Fagen, NY, NY

Uh, I guess I'm an exception. I have both Comcast cable and internet service, and whenever I've had a problem with either, the Customer Service folks have been able to help me over the phone. Granted, they do constantly call me to try to get me to switch my phone service to them, too. However, the doorbell system in our building is tied to the phone service, so if anyone gets VOIP service, they can't use the door buzzer. I found that out at 2 am when an inebriated friend of one of my neighbors kept buzzing my apartment to get let in. I refused to do so since I didn't know her. Ended up having to call the police to get her to stop, and told the building manager about it. They told the other tenant to either get off the cable phone service or work out some other way to get their friends into the building without bothering somebody else. That's why I won't go VOIP. �Linda Mathy, Chicago, IL

I have had similar issues with Comcast. Over a month to get a cable hook-up and each time they arrived they were more than a day late, no explaination, and kept bringing a single DVR tuner when I kept requesting a Dual. Each service repairman swore he brought a dual. Having to wait another 2-3 weeks for them to come out and change out the single for a dual. They did this for six months before finally bringing me a dual tuner. I spent my entire work days waiting for them to show and they never did, never picked up the phone, and never returned a call. Funny, the only thing they ever did on time was cash my check. �Robin Collins, Austin, TX

yeah, like everyone else I lived through comcast hell with loss of service, knucklehead installers making the situation worse, multiple visits from 'technicians' breezing through my house for minutes at a time, and then the signing ritual. Ever look at those after they jam them in your face before they run out the door? False start and stop times, undecipherable work descriptions, etc.

So I left the country and moved to Germany -- the land of precision and efficiency. Right. T Mobile, called TCOM here must have taken the US playbook but layered it with rules, lots and lots of rules. Install lead times is months and when questioned about why "zeese are zee rules!" If you call 'customer service' you are charged 13 cents per minute including wait time. How is that for rules! As long as there are monopolistic providers you will find basically the same crappy situation no matter where you live. �Edward Kensinger, Munich

This is why I moved to DirecTV years ago. (although I am stuck with Time warner for my broadband). DirectTV's service on the phone is outstanding - they can do a lot from HQ without a visit, and when I have needed a visit (only twice in 10 years) our local service people have been on time and competent. �SUSAN STOEV, PITTSFORD, NY

Those Comcastards! �Rob Wallace, Bethel, CT

Actually, I signed up for Verizon FIOS back in March. They upgraded me from a DSL package I had for a few years, and installed new fiberoptic cable from my old copper wire service. I could not be more satisfied with the installation and service. They showed up when they said they would, they explained the installation process, were reasonably neat in drilling holes, running cable, and caulking the gaps in the holes when finished. A technician came on a Sunday (a day after the installation was finished) to review the internet and phone service features (I did not get their TV service - we prefer the local news coverage channel Cablevision provides). When I did have questions, particularly with speed issues, I called customer service, and they were helpful, courteous, and overall terrific, and solved the problem to boot. �Julius Picardi, Floral Park, NY

I actually have a pretty good track record with Time Warner Cable in NYC. However, when I moved into my new apartment a year ago I had a nightmare experience with Verizon for my home phone service. Without going into details, it took a few weeks to sort out (included a tech that supposedly showed up to do the install but didn't need to come to my apartment to make sure it worked - it didn't).

I have learned my lesson and will not bundle all my services with one company to prevent digital isolation when something goes wrong. �MATT GERSHNER, NEW YORK, NY


A consumer Jihad is exactly what is needed. Perhaps what should be done is to buy the web domain ComcastMustDie.com and establish a blog so that all of the folks that have been screwed by Comcast can tell their story. You could put a link to the new Comcast Jihad website and release a press release to drive traffic to the site. The anger and disgust expressed there would be huge.

There is no doubt that Comcast is a serial abuser of its customer's time of the worst kind, much like the much maligned Home Depot, only worst. Given the depth and pervasiveness of this abuse one can only assume it is an intentional tactic to increase profits at the expense of customers.

Perhaps if the noise gets loud enough, they'll run Brian out on a rail much like Bob at Home Depot. Of course, he'll probably be a much richer wiesel like Bob, even given the massive amount of abuse afflicted on customers.

Bob Babcock- Atlanta, GA �Steve Babcock, Roswell, GA

We are going through a similar nightmare right now. We have had 3 visits by these incompetent fools, who installed the WRONG box twice and it started overheating. Then they were supposed to call us back, they didn't. After multiple more calls by us, we make yet another appointment for 6PM sharp for yesterday. The morons show up at 4:00, no one is there and they leave. We called back to speak with the person who made the appointment, and guess what? It's his day off! Tonight (yeah right!) they are scheduled to show up again (5th attempt) to put in the right box. Third world countries do better. Why do we allow these JERKS to remain in business. LEts get these complaints to the people who need to see them at Comcast. In any other industry, this would not fly. Why does it fly with this one?
Jill Tanenbaum, Bethesda, Maryland �Jill Tanenbaum, Bethesda, MD

I haven't had any issues with Comcast yet but I haven't changed service or done anything different. I just watch our bill go up each month or so it seems. Services is the same. Hmm? I had an experience with Charter One. They disconnected my parents cable service because they said that my parents were getting divorced. They had us confused with another neighbor who had the same sounding last name but the spelling was different. Attention to details is not their strong suit. They lived on the same road but different number. I'm arguing with customer service about the fact that my parents were not getting divorced and they have us confused. I did not know about the neighbor with the similar last name nor that they lived up the street from us. I found out later. I kind of thought this was the case but the woman on the other end would not entertain this notion and look into the matter. She just wanted to argue. I got them to write an apology letter because we were so angry with their arrogance. They could never make a mistake. The apology letter was bizarre because they didn't accept any responsibility for their error. They could have been politicians. It was like, we are writing this letter because it was requested but we don't see how what we did was wrong. It was something to that effect. How about you can't read or pay attention to details? It was not us and you turned our cable off. Some driver crashed in front of my parents house and caused power to be out during Christmas and the weekend. My stepchildren came over and there wasn't tv. The horror! I don't care but it keeps them happy and from having to hear, we're bored because they won't bring stuff with them to do because they are too lazy. I can only do so much. I am only the stepmom. I would pack stuff but I just can't do that or I would. Charter One is just as bad as Comcast. I'm not impressed with Time Warner either. It just goes to show what we think will be true is often not. Competition can make things worse because once services are equal, the only thing to differentiate is price. That's not good for anyone because customer service is cut. We need to get rid of the neocons who want to keep everything the "same." They are in perpetual denial. �Michelle Contois, Fitchburg, MA

Guy was late, put the cable box in the living room, the modem in the bedroom, had me sign a piece of paper... all without saying a word AND not giving me a copy of what I signed, which ticked me off to say the least. Since I am not technologically inclined, my roommate and I had to call them back for another guy to come out and hook it all up. We waited for 6 hours... he never came. The guy who actually did show up the next day claimed we couldn't get cable in our bedrooms... bs if you ask me. At least he got the internet working. The other guy had left us a broken modem... which he would have found out if he bothered to hook it up, like he is paid to do! We asked for a refund for all installation fees and three billing statements later we actually got it. I actually think they overcompensated us! Seriously, if there was anyone better around, I'd switch in a heartbeat. - E Armstrong, Dallas, TX �E ARMSTRONG, Irving, TX

God bless you for speaking the truth. My weekend project is filling in the holes Comcast punched through my house and did not fix. �Keith Berlin, Portland, OR

I am increasingly convinced that the cable/internet/phone service cabal is the repository for all of the ignorance, incompetence and idiocy in the world not currently spoken for by the current occupant of the white house. That they have the unmitigated gall to use the word "service" in reference to what they do is a grammatical crime against humanity.
Comcast and their ilk would seem to have taken to heart (assuming they have one) the you'll-get-nothing-and-like-it approach first popularized by banks a few years back. Of course, as any smart drug dealer will tell you, when you've got something people think they need, you don't have to be nice about providing it. �Charles Youel, Minneapolis, MN


It happens all over the world, all the time.
Patricio Cavalli
Buenos Aires, Argentina �patricio cavalli, bs as

It's not much better with Cablevision here in New York. I've got the same "Triple Play" package....sounded great but the reality is: after 2 years my phone still doesn't do all it's supposed to. Call Waiting is a LOUD CRASHING SOUND that interrupts any call I'm on. Leaving me and the person I'm talking to to scream "Hello? Hello? Are you still there?" Cablevision's answer: "Your phone must be too close to the cable." Almost every single call I make breaks down into pulsating interruptions. So instead of hearing " How are you today?", I hear "-ow -re -ou -day?". I hang up and redial nearly 100% of all calls. Cablevision's answer: "We don't see any problem, maybe you need to disconnect your converter and plug your phone into your computer." Huh??? And speaking of my computer, they "ugraded my service" and the result is slower than ever service and the web pages are too large for the screen. I have to manually adjust them now. Their response after not being able to fix it "It must be your computer.". Not true, my computer is more than adequate to handle anything. Oh, and if anyone can get the Auto-Callback feature to work, let me know. They have never been able to get it up & running. Their response? "Oh, it's not working?". Makes me miss the old days of NY Telephone. �P M, new york, NY

Have had my "just one moment" with Comcast - just as I did with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint & many others. I think it's nature of the beast - lingering monopoly /civil service mentality, too many acquisitions, breakups & recombinations in a brutally competitive price-driven market. Give it more time - like another 30 years.
Bennett Zucker �BENNETT ZUCKER, NEW YORK, NY

Just remember, the goverment broke up the old AT&T so they would have competition and the public would get "better service." �BERNIE OCONNOR, OREFIELD, PA

The worst part is that their competitors (e.g. Verizon) are no better. Customer service is a bitter pill for these companies -- one they'd rather not swallow. �Malcolm Faulds, Boston, MA

Wait till it all settles down, then expect blackouts...sorry, I mean "service interruptions." I mean phone, TV, Internet all down at once. Happened once when my AT&T cell service was also down. Digital solitary confinement. Suggest dumping the phone at minimum. Forget the free service. Run while you can. �STEVE MELTZER, CHEVY CHASE, MD

why doesn't goodby resign the business? �GEORGE TANNENBAUM, NEW YORK, NY

You got an appointment on a Sunday?!?!?! I had to take two half days off work because the guy who was supposed to show up on the first appt didn't and then was found sleeping in his van. �T Miller, Greensboro, NC

Is there a Comcast customer who hasn't been through Bob Garfield's pain??? A friend of mine has a multi-chapter story that is on par with Garfield's. Their service provider network is in drastic need of overhaul. Perhaps the right hand and left hand should talk once in awhile. Trish Orman, Pueblo, Colorado �PATRICIA ORMAN, PUEBLO, CO

I canceled my subscription last Fall. They cut my cable with the explanation that, '...some people in your neighborhood are not paying for their service, so we cut off the whole Wrigley neighborhood and then reconnect those who call us up...' Nice. After 3 weeks of waiting to get reconnected, I received about $150 worth of service as compensation and then canceled as soon as I could. It astonishes me that they spend so much money on advertising and so little on customer service. �Steve Carli, Chicago, IL

This must be your first experience with Comspastic service? Otherwise your shock and anger would be replaced with resignation and disgust. We see the ads all the time offering great deals to new victims, I mean subscribers...but Heaven help you if you're a current subscriber. What amazes me is that thirty years in, cable marketers can't come up with anything better than a teaser rate, followed by a rolloff of subscribers once the teaser rate goes away, followed by another teaser rate. How about this, Brian: instead of spending all that money on postcards, hire enough people to answer the phones and solve some problems? �CHRIS BERGMAN, CAPE CORAL, FL