Complain about a product or service

Comcast Internet Service

• Bandwidth limits • Installation • Peer-to-peer networks • Pricing • Reliability • Speed • Spam blocking --- News • Comcast Blocks Subscribers From Some Services • Comcast Cuts Off Heavy Internet Users --- •Cable TV •Telephone Service

It's a brave new world, all right -- with cable companies trying to provide cable TV, Internet and telephone service. You have to be pretty brave to actually rely on any of these, as the complaints in this section indicate.

Cable companies have acquired a reputation for being prone to blunders, but for pure disaster it's hard to beat Marc's tale of woe. And Comcast Internet has developed some nasty little habits -- like blocking home networks.

Some more recent complaints ...

Richard of Fair Oaks, CA February 2, 2010

I called Comcast on 1/6/10, 1/8/10, 1/9/10, and a few more times after that. I reported that the internet was not working. Having had this problem befoe, I reset my modem per the Comcast instructions many times but still no internet. It's funny how during this outage my television service still worked correctly but I only received intermittent service on my internet. Once again I called to report that the problem was still occurring intermittently. I explained to them that one of their techs had been here and that he checked the modem and the wiring and there was nothing wrong with them (at least that is what he told me). They insisted they would have to send someone out again. I responded that I felt it was unnecessary but if you do, I don't want to be charged.

They sent out another technician who agreed with me that it appears to be a problem at either their server or one of their nodes. Additionally, he informed me that some of my other neighbors approached him and reported to him that they were experiencing outages also. Within 24 to 48 hours after his visit, the internet service was working without any intermittent outages and has since worked extremely well.

In my opinion, what Comcast has done is borderline illegal. If I were a lawyer and had the wherewithall to investigate this issue, I'm sure I'd find that in this instance there was a problem either at the server or node as the technician had stated. However, Comcast will not even investigate my complaint. They won't let me talk to anyone higher than a supervisor. I asked the supervisor and the call center rep to provide me with the history of my calls and the notes taken. Although they did note that there was an outage, they refused to waive the fee they had charged me. Supposedly, because the technician stated in his notes that the resolution could have been handled over the phone. Therefore, according to the call center reps, the customer will pay for the service call (that I did'nt want).

Carol of Denver, CO January 28, 2010

Comcast Internet installer lied to me. Conned me into high-speed Internet connection, good for a certain period of time under an introductory offer. He told me when the introductory offer ended, I would need to call Comcast and have another technician come out to disconnect the high-speed Internet connection, and that I would have to pay for the service call.

I call Comcast customer service, they said that was not true. I believe Comcast in Denver is extorting customers. I am on unemployment, and I need my computer to look for jobs online. This type of coercion is nothing more than an act of a bunch of thugs who have hijacked the Denver Internet community.

Peter of San Jose, CA January 20, 2010

I had Comcast cable installed in Sept of 2008 for tv and internet. The cable installer needed to install an M-card into my Tivo for it to work with their system. The first card the installer tried did not work, however the tech wrote that number on my work order before testing that. He then took that card out and put a 2nd card in it's place and lightly crossed out the first number on the work order.

Jump forward 6 months. I start getting a 50 unreturned equipment charge on my bill for the 1st card (the one I never received). I call and they say, "ok, we'll do an inventory check and get back to you. Meanwhile don't pay that portion of your bill." They never got back to me. I had to go through it all again the next month, and the next. Getting angry I asked that they do something about this. So they agree to send a tech out to my house to physically check my equipnment. Fine by me. The tech comes out, understands my situation, makes a call and the charge isn't on my next bill. Yeah! success.

Oh wait...jump forward another 6 months. I get a mysterious phone call from "Comcast equimpent recovery group" or some such. They want to know about a cable card I still have that they want back (with the original serial number from the one I never got). I explain the whole story from above and the guy says, "OK, thank you" and assures me when I ask that it isn't an issue. Next bill... 30 unreturned equipment charge on my bill again. (strangely the equipment now costs less).

I do my duty and call Comcast to inquire (also about why my bill is nearly twice the previous month, oh that's "because you must pay full price now and there are no incentives to keep you anymore", I cancel the TV portion, but they say my internet cost will go to 70/month without the TV part so I end up paying for basic 15 which makes my bill less than 70, but not by much. BTW Basic TV i already get over the antenna with better quality. So I'm paying for service I don't need or use now just to keep my internet.) Anyway on with the story...

So they say, "our records show you have a card that belongs to us." I say "yeah, the one I'm using" they say "no, the other one", I say "what other one?" they say "ok, we'll check our inventory to see if we can find it. If we don't you will owe us. Meanwhile ignore the 30 portion of your bill." Now they will not ever find that card. I'm sure it was lost by the installer and will never see the light of day again. Now I'm back to where I started a year ago (oh yeah, but for 20 less now.)

This is the way a NEW CUSTOMER has been treated. This company may not be a monopoly by the pure definition, but it acts like one. They even told me I should get my internet somewhere else if I don't like their prices. OK then. I have already contracted for DSL at 1/3 the price for about 1/2 the BW (that is the most I can get, so yes Comcast has a monopoly on any speed higher). I'm looking forward to calling and cancelling my account as soon as the DSL goes live. I'm not looking forward to the runaround I'm facing about the phantom cable card I supposedly have. Like I'd want an inactive cable card. Like it would have any value to me at all.

Did I mention that I was supposed to get a "free" cable box with my original order, but since I opted for the smaller, cheaper cable card only, I had to pay 2/month for that. I hate Comcast, I only ordered because I was offered a reasonable rate. I always said when the rates go up, I'm gone. Evil evil company. Yes every arguement comes to this.... Evil like Nazi evil.

You know what word is the most sarcastic way ever devised to say "fantastic"? You guessed it "Comcastic." I said that to a customer service rep in a joking way and was told that they would hang up on me if I kept using abusive language. I had to mute my phone so they wouldn't be offended by my hysterical laughing.

Mike of Greensburg, IN January 20, 2010

Upon moving into into my new residence I contacted Comcast to connect my internet services to my new home. Coming from an area which Comcast has competition, which here there is none via wires of any kind, i notice a very slow speed when downloading simple drivers for a printer. I tested the speed via a couple of web sites including comcast's speed test site and found that at times the download speed was running at dial up specs.

I sent them a copy of the speed tests and also reminded them that there is a competitor gearing up to provide service in my area. I also stated that with this happening they should make sure that there services where running at tip top shape. Within a day, the speeds, download and upload, increased dramatically. It stayed that way for a couple of months. They always want to "suggest" it is the complaining parties equipment. Even their web site targets the consumer's equipment and don't even suggest that their lines are not performing. Even when I talked to them the same thing and wanted to charge for a service call.

My brother is an IT guy who provided me with the internet speed test sites to keep an online log. Well my service tanked again. Will not even come close to support VOIP service. You would think that with comcast's own speed test site they would have it set up to "flag" when somebody does these tests which shows a degradation of service. But no!

I dread having to deal with again. There again lies lack of innovation on their part. Why because more times then not, they don't have to. Lack of competition.One of the biggest problems with Comcast is that in some areas, smaller cities and towns, they don't have competition which a family or a business is stuck with what them if they want anything other then wireless internet via cell phone or satellite. Which is pricey.

In these same areas, even their CATV is pricey as well. They have a captive consumer group. Well as soon as I get notification that this new company is good to go, so am I. Frustration mostly. However there are things such as downloading software and drivers takes way longer when the speed degrades. Time is money. I am having to refurbish a couple of computers and do software downloads for certain devices. Not to mention the service packs etc.

Dana of Hailey, ID December 7, 2009

I did a credit report recently and found a collection from Columbia House for 198.94. I questioned that on the form and then received a notice from National Credit Solutions. I have not ordered from Columbia House, I never received anything. The NCS account person (Elizabeth) was extremely rude and wouldn't discuss it other than to say I needed to make a payment. She suggested that going to arbitration would take a long time, while paying it would be simpler. This is a fraud. From where I don't know.

Chris of Portland, OR November 12, 2009

Routine false advertisement of broadband speeds. Theft of services. Failure to provide adequate fiduciary protections sworn to during oaths of office. I believe that delays incurred through illegal tapping of communication flows amount to theft of services and that inadequate monitoring, lack of penalization for failures to perform on the part of regulated companies in the face of continuous consumer complaints amounts to violations of the oaths of office of those elected to protect consumers rights.

H. of Richmond, IN November 12, 2009

I am useing a free wireless internet service. Comcast is blocking this service with a page that wants you to sign up with their service and will not let you leave the page.

Joe of Melrose, MA October 28, 2009

Recently, my email account, along with all data contained therein, was deleted without any notification. This occurred on a current account with an excellent payment history. It is truly remarkable that any service provider would delete the email account of a paying customer and then refuse to restore the data. Within my account, I had ongoing correspondences with my mortgage provider, with contractors who are being paid thousands of dollars to renovate my home, with other service providers, and I had information about upcoming travel plans. Remarkable.

My understanding is this occurred basically because Comcast employees working the phone lines are not equipped to handle anything unusual, however basic. In my case, I asked for an additional service to be provided at a new address. So, I was paying Comcast twice for service at two addresses. Apparently, despite my insistence that this was not a transfer order, and despite additional instructions from the Comcast employee who performed the installation service at my home that this was not a transfer order, the new account was initiated as a transfer from my previous address. Immediately after initiating my new service, the service at my old address was terminated. When I complained, a new account apparently was started at my old address, but my email address and data were missing.

I will spare the other embarrassing details of customer service, such as the deletion of another email account of mine at the new address prior to the creation of an account that was a misspelling of my name. I won't even mention the messages left on my voice mail about "the new tenant" who wanted to move into my newly purchased house. I complained enough to get a work order to fix this problem and reactive my email account with all its data. Nothing ever happens on this work order, but when I call to inquire, I am assured that this is still an "open job". I think it will always be an "open job" where nothing happens.

Jeff of west bloomfield, MI October 13, 2009

Comcast High Speed Internet is not high speed. It takes 1 minute to load 6 mb that is .1 mps not the 20 mps that is advertised. Nobody at Comcast can help Save your money get dsl

David of Waldorf, MD October 6, 2009

On Friday, October 2nd, I contacted Comcast on the phone to inquire about upgrading my internet service from my existing speed to the 50 Mb/second service. For those that do not know this requires a cable modem that is DOCSIS 3.0 compliant. My existing cable modem is not DOCSIS 3.0 compliant, so I knew I needed a new cable modem. I am fully capable of installing equipment and getting line check information.

I asked the Comcast representative on the phone what was required, and her initial response was that my service area was not upgraded to to 50 Mb/second speeds. I informed her that it was as I knew someone in the area that had the service. She said she had to check and would call back.

Five minutes later she called back and confirmed that, indeed, the service was available. She also informed me that it would cost 99/month, it would require renting a modem from Comcast at a monthly fee, and would require a 29.95 installation charge. I told her that I didn't want to pay 29.95 for someone to come in a disconnect my existing modem and hook-up a new one as I could do that. She refused to waive the charge, and I told her that would cost Comcast 99/month of lost revenue.

Researching on Comcast's website showed that the service fee was either 9.95 or 99.95 to connect to the 50 Mb/second service. I have no idea where the 29.95 fee came from. Later on that same day I made a post on Comcast's forums detailing my phone call experience. George, from Comcast, read the message and responded immediately that he would help.

On Saturday, with George's suggestion, I had purchased the required modem and emailed George the MAC address. By Monday morning George had done a line test (remotely), I hooked up the new modem, and George provisioned it (remotely). By 10:30am on Monday I was running at the increased speeds with no installation fee.

So, it appears that Comcast does have representatives that go that extra mile to make things right. I can understand the fees for those that are not able to do the installations. However, Comcast should be able to work with their customers to get them the service they want without unnecessary fees when those customers can do without a representative coming to the house.

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