Thank you Comcast

Thank you Comcast for finally pissing me off enough to actually register for a personal blog. While I have a list of things I want to blog about, it was you, wonderful Comcast, that made me take the time out of a very busy day to finally create a personal blog.

So what did comcast do? Where do I start? Let’s make a list:

1. Billed me $250 for my “triple play” package.  How does it make sense that buying three services from one company makes you end up paying more for each? The “$99” for all 3 thing is a myth apparently.

2. My HD DVR is functional about 10% of the time. The rest of the time changing channels is a time shifting experience in itself.  Hit the up arrow and wait 1 minute or so to see the result. After swapping out the box 5 plus times, I give up, their set top boxes simply suck.  Only option is to buy a TiVO box and service and then badger Comcast into coughing up a cable card.

3. Every customer service interaction with them is surreal.  DTMF phone tree doesn’t let you speak with a real person, and asks you questions like which service your billing question is about (cable, Internet, voice).  If you’re going to sell me 3 services under one company’s name, for god’s sake – act like one company! I don’t give a shit that you organize yourself differently.  My $250 bill is the problem, not the individual components of it. Then you finally get someone on the phone who is at best indifferent, but generally unknowledgeable and completely unapologetic for the exorbitant prices and appalling service.

If it wasn’t for live sports, I would 100% cancel my service with Comcast and finally buy a media server.  As it is, I’m actually thinking about switching back to At&t and getting a satellite, now that’s bad…..

Update 1 – I responded to Comcast’s comment below and they called to try to help resolve. They were not that friendly though and promised a follow-up call yesterday that never came…..

Update 2 – Consumerist, who has Comcast facing off in the finals of the worst company of America, posted a PowerPoint presentation supposedly by a Comcast employee showing why their customer service is atrocious.