The New Deal With Comcast

“Worse than getting a mortgage!” That’s a direct quote from Helaine after her conversation with a Comcast. She then proceeded to tell me about the dizzying array of packages and prices.

Customer service. It seems to be MIA in modern day America. How often is a customer left happy after a transaction and does the merchant care.

Tonight’s cautionary tale concerns Comcast. Even though I will leave this transaction paying less per month I leave upset.

Stef is done with college, working here in Connecticut and living at home. “Why don’t we have HBO?” she asked, confusing our home for her ‘HBO included’ dorm room.

Hold on. She had HBO in her room? We had a TV… a single black and white TV in the basement of my dorm. It had rabbit ears and could barely get anything through the snow. I watched 20 minutes of TV during my brief college tenure. She had HBO! Good grief!

Where were we?

“I’ll pay for it,” Stef added. And with that Helaine went to calling Comcast to make arrangements.

“Worse than getting a mortgage!” That’s a direct quote from Helaine after her conversation with a Comcast. She then proceeded to tell me about the dizzying array of packages and prices.

Helaine took notes as she moved along with the CSR. My wife is nothing if not organized. She had copious notes.

The conversation finally ended with Helaine agreeing to take HBO and Showtime, keep the service we already have and pay about $35 less for the first six months. After that we continue to pay less, just not as much.

Our end of the deal was committing for two years. I get it. Comcast is worried about AT&T’s U-verse. Surprise, it won’t be here in the next two years.

At this point I was feeling pretty good. It didn’t last.

Today the official agreement came in the mail and SURPRISE it was different than what Helaine had agreed to. In this new agreement we lose another $10 off the discount in the second year. That’s $120, not an inconsequential number.

Helaine called Comcast tonight. The rep admitted sometimes the package is sold and the agent ‘forgets’ to mention this second year adjustment, but there was nothing she could do. It’s their absolutely lowest price. Why am I not satisfied?

We signed up. We are still saving money every month for the length of our two year agreement, but I’m not happy with Comcast. My only solace is, they’re the loser in this deal getting less each and every month.

If we would have been given the right price to begin with I’d be happy as a pig in s**t. This seems to be a textbook case of how not to win friends and influence people.

3 thoughts on “The New Deal With Comcast”

  1. When I called for Comcast service in Florida,since we have a HD TV, I told them I wanted HD service. The woman said “OK, I need you Social Security number.” When I asked why, I was told they needed to run a “credit check”, before I could get it. ??????????????????????????

    Explain that one

    John

  2. Ironic….I just had the same conversation with Comcast and my spouse (along with other friends) about how the utilities are worse than used car salesmen.

    I called Comcast to try and reduce our monthly $110.96 bill by ditching ‘Music Choice’ for $2 a month – I know, not a big deal – the CSR said that was part of our digital package and could not be dropped. HOWEVER, it was my lucky day! After I was put on hold so the CSR could ‘see what they could do’ they came back with teh Digital Prefered Promotion for $58.99 (including taxes) – the exact same service PLUS free HBO. Same as you, we have to sign a 2-year agreement and the price goes up $10/mo. in the second year. We have no desire to attach a dish to our house, so AT&T won’t be providing our TV service anytime soon. What do we have to lose????

    Next up, AT&T. I called to bitch about no longer being eligible for a monthly ‘thank you’ credit of $20 every month and simply said “I’m not paying $96.91 for a phone we don’t use more than 2-3 times a week. Magically, the CSR came back on the line with the ‘great news’ that we are eligible for the same package for $51/mo. Sign me up.

    A couple of phone calls, 30 minutes of my time, and we saves over $90 a month….I’ll take it. Although the haggling is a bit absurd. What would Blumenthal think about their business practices????

  3. I’m pretty sure we were the first people in our neighborhood to get U-verse … I scheduled installation the minute it became available. The subsequent phone call to Comcrap cancelling my service was the most joyous one I have ever made in my entire life. I’d been waiting literally 15 years to make that call. Comcrap is the most vile company in America, bar none.

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