Chapter 1

Denver, Colorado

It was an exciting and stressful time. My wife had just accepted an executive position with a company in Nashville, Tennessee and she had to start early in October 2013. I work from home so I was able to handle a lot of the moving tasks. We called Comcast to let them know we were going to disconnect our service in Denver and start new service in Nashville. The Rep said that was not required; Comcast could transfer our service for us and we would be up and running before we unpacked. She even told us we could take our equipment with us to save time. We were delighted. We said yes.

Chapter 2

Driving To Nashville

My wife arrived in Nashville in October (she had to live out of a hotel for several weeks) and began house hunting. She found a few houses and we narrowed it down to two while I was visiting Nashville. After I returned to Denver we decided on the house we wanted and began the process to buy a new house. My wife returned to Denver and we closed the sale of our old house. We wrapped up things with the movers (pun intended) and my wife flew back to Nashville. My wife contacted Comcast and scheduled the installation of Comcast cable, Internet, and security at our new home on November 9, 2013. A few weeks later I packed three dogs (Cocker Spaniels), one friend, and a plastic tub full of Comcast equipment and drove to Nashville. For two glorious days we did not have any problems with Comcast.

Chapter 6

And The Hits Keep On Coming

Throughout the adventure we continued to receive bills from Comcast. One bill included a charge for approximately $450 for unreturned equipment (the same equipment we brought from Denver that was incompatible with Comcast Nashville, and that the Nashville Technician took with him). I called the corporate offices for help; I was passed on to Lionel. Lionel could not help me with the Denver equipment, which had to be done by someone in the Denver area. I received a call from the Denver office and, after a lengthy discussion; she said she would just mark the equipment as lost. I told her the equipment was returned, it was picked up by the Nashville Comcast Technician and all she had to do was call the Technician; however, she did not want to take the time so she simply marked it as lost, not returned. Lionel was more of a problem tracker than a problem solver. He took my information and went off to research the problems. Initially, Lionel was responsive—although he did not fix anything. I called Lionel a week or so later and left a message that our problems were not solved. When Lionel (the problem tracker) did not return my call I called him back; I called him on December 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th and left messages each time. He finally returned my call when I was unavailable (I suspect they were watching) and left his phone number for me to call him back ... as if I was going to fall for that trick again. Comcast informed us that we would receive various credits on our bill. We did receive credits, unfortunately, we have no idea if the proper credits were applied nor do we know if our billing is correct today. We cannot afford the services of a forensic CPA, so, we must trust Comcast. Given all else that has transpired we are leery.

Chapter 3

Uh Oh

We closed on our new house in Nashville on November 8, 2013. November 9, 2013 came and went and Comcast was a no show. We called Comcast and were told that they did not have us scheduled for installation on November 9th or for any other day in the foreseeable future. We were told we could have a new appointment on Tuesday, November 12th; a minor setback, but we could live with a minor delay. My wife told the Comcast Customer Representative that the Technician needed a gate code to enter the property. The Customer Representative said that they could not take the code in advance, however this was not a problem because the Technician would have instructions to call us from the gate. To be safe, my wife gave Comcast two cell phone numbers (hers and mine) for the Technician to call.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013 came and went with no visit or call from Comcast; I was home all day, no phone calls, no doorbells, and no knocks at the door. When we contacted Comcast they told us that the Technician arrived at the gate but could not gain entry so they left. We told the Customer Representative that we supplied Comcast with two cell phone numbers and we were surprised that they could not find a way to call one or both numbers. The Comcast Customer Service Representative informed us that the Technician's work order only has room for one number and they use the number associated with the account (my wife’s cell phone number)... apparently you cannot request to add a second number to a work order. We were then told that the next available installation slot was on November 20, 2013. I asked to speak to a manager and received yet another runaround. I was stuck with a November 20, 2013 installation date. We confirmed that Comcast had the correct number to call.

Chapter 5

Installation Day: What Else Could Go Wrong?

Finally the Technician arrived. He called my cell phone (somehow we were able to get it on the work order this time) and I gave him the gate code. The Technician showed up at our house, put on his blue shoe covers and set to work. He looked at the cable boxes we brought from Denver (the boxes Comcast told us to bring) and said they would not work; apparently they are set up for a different type of network connectivity. He went to his truck and brought out 2 DVRs and 2 digital cable boxes that looked as if they had been beat to heck. He told me I was his last stop before his truck was reloaded and that if I wanted newer/different equipment I had to take it into a Comcast Service Center. After installing the equipment the Technician installed our home security system. When it came to the motion sensor I said that we had three dogs (he saw the dogs) and I was concerned that they would set of the alarm. The Technician said it would take a big dog to set off the alarm; he installed the motion sensor. At my request (and an additional cost of $50) the Technician installed another door sensor. The Technician marked on his copy of the work order that he received the returned equipment from me, gave us some instructions, and bid us a hearty farewell.

About five days later we both had to leave the house at the same time; so we set the alarm. Within 30 minutes the dogs set off the motion sensor. This happened three times; each time resulted in a call from the Comcast security center. It took about a week or two to have Comcast come out and remove the motion sensor--I don't believe I was given a $50 credit. Shortly after the Comcast Tech left one of the digital cable boxes (an old square one) quit working when it heated up and one of the DVRs would lose its picture or present a screen of colored bars if you bumped into the table upon which the equipment sat. A call to Comcast resulted in two options: 1) scheduling a visit from another Technician; or, 2) taking the equipment to a Comcast Service Center and swapping it for newer equipment. I went to the service center and waited in line for 30 minutes. I handed the equipment to the representative who gave me two boxes. I did not notice at the time that the representative gave me two digital boxes, not a digital box and a DVR. I later called Comcast and they said I could take it back to the Service Center or order it online. I wonder if their online help is a good as their Telephone Service Representatives.

Chapter 8

The Future

We will watch our Comcast bills to see if we get charged for something we did not order, request, or receive in error. Our only hope is that our Comcast bill is correct (not sure if everything is bundled properly or not) and that we do not have problems with our current equipment. We still need to swap a digital box for a DVR; however, I really do not want to go to the Comcast Service Center; as I said earlier, I wonder if their online help is a good as their Telephone Service Representatives.

Chapter 4

You Have Got To Be Kidding

I work from home and I require Internet access. I could not wait until November 20th. I tried using my phone as a hotspot at home and in some coffee shops for a few days; however, the bandwidth just was not good enough. It was at this time I had a flash of insight; why not install the equipment from Comcast and perform a self-install via phone! I did just that and I was able to get a DVR running. We had cable TV but no Internet access. I called Comcast to see if they could activate our Internet connection. They were able to get me up and running. At the end of the call they said they would have to reschedule my November 20th installation because they had to unbundle our services to activate our Internet connection. You have got to be kidding. I called the relocation team and spoke to the Customer Representative who helped us in Denver (the one who told us to take our equipment to Nashville and told us we would be up and running on November 9, 2013). She informed me that she could not talk to anyone in the Nashville office about our installation problems; she recommended calling 800-COMCAST. You have got to be kidding; the relocation team cannot help you beyond taking your order? I called 800-COMCAST and explained my story from the beginning; as it turned out, every time I called in I had to start my story from the beginning. You have got to be kidding. We finally got a new appointment scheduled for November 21st; why, well, because I was persistent and that was the best Comcast could do; after all, I went and self installed my cable box and got my Internet access running before the Technician showed up. As an aside, during this time I had a heated discussion with a Tier I Manager; I had the audacity to ask to speak with her Supervisor and I was informed that she (the Manager) was the problem solver and her job was to solve 100% of the customer complaints that reach her. I then asked who she contacted when she could not solve a problem. All of a sudden she got quiet. After a lengthy pause it was as if a recording was restarted; she said that it was her job to solve 100% of the customer complaints that reach her; that's her job, she researches and solves problems. You have got to be kidding.

Chapter 7

Seriously

On Sunday, January 19, 2014 our Comcast email accounts were turned off. My wife called Comcast on Monday, January 20, 2014; she was told that our email accounts were not transferred from the Denver account to our Nashville account. Not to worry Comcast said ... “we will have your accounts up and running within 24 to 48 hours.” Friday, January 24, 2014--96 hours later--our email was still not working. My wife called Comcast and the Customer Service Representative said that he would escalate the ticket but it would take 24 to 48 hours to resolve. On Saturday, January 25, I called Comcast and talked with a Customer Service Representative. I immediately asked her to connect me to her manager; she wanted me to repeat the story to her so she could help me fix my problem; she reluctantly connected me to Terri, her Manager. When Terri came on the line I asked her if she was a Manager and she said no; I told her to connect me to her Manager. For the next 15 minutes (from 8:31 to 8:46 AM) I listened while Terri IM'd with her Manager. I know this because: 1) I timed the event; 2) I could hear the IM tones; and 3) I asked Terri if she was IM'ing with her Manager to which she said yes. After 15 minutes Terri transferred me to Kyle. Uh Oh. Wait. I was cut off during the transfer (this is a common feature of the Comcast phone system). Having experienced this in the past I knew that Kyle would not call me once I was cut off. I called back in and eventually talked with Monica (she claimed to be a Manager). I repeated part of the story and asked Monica to read the notes on the account; Monica said we would be up and running in 24 to 48 hours. I said that I wanted to talk with someone in Tier II support and Monica said that Tier II support could not take phone calls or receive email. Tier II support must be in a small office located somewhere in 1949. I informed Monica that if I did not hear from Tier II support by 12:00 PM CT I would create a website dedicated to our problems. 12:00 PM CT came and went without a call from Comcast. I immediately started development of this site. Tier II support called later in the evening and said our email was working. My wife tried to open her email account and it did not work. The technician made a change or two to a system and My wife's email was fixed. To be safe we checked my email and it too was working. Had my wife not answered the call we would still be without email. As I said earlier, Tier II support called well past the 12:00 PM CT deadline I imposed; so I created this site, afterall, a promise is a promise.