Why Comcast customer service sucks

Below is a recent chat session I conducted with Comcast regarding two issues: 1) not receiving a valid PIN from them, and 2) a billing dispute. To provide the background, a Comcast rep came to my house and offered me "free upgrades" (1 year) to my Internet and TV packages. He said that my monthly bill would not increase and gave me a piece of paper stating as much. But when I received my bill it was higher than prior months, hence the chat request. Note that it took me threatening cancellation before they were willing to look into the issue. Enjoy...

analyst Ronald has entered room

Ronald: Hello Michael, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Ronald. Please give me one moment to review your information.

Michael: My Issue: Have not received a login PIN.

Ronald: It is a pleasure to have you on chat, Michael! I hope you haven't waited so long to be assisted. How's your day so far?

Michael: Never better.

Ronald: Nice to know that you're doing better, Michael.

Ronald: I see here that you have not received the log in Pin, is that correct?

Michael: Correct. And when I request one be sent it tells me it can't.

Ronald: Are you referring to the CPNI/ Security Pin, Michael?

Michael: Whatever this new login PIN is. Can't log in without it.

Michael: Or at least, I can't view my bill without it.

Ronald: I see. I can actually provide you the Pin however you need to be on the location where your Comcast phone service is installed since I will be calling the Comcast Phone number. Are you at home right now?

Michael: I am, but my wife is sleeping at the moment.

Ronald: Oh, because this is the fastest way that we can provide you the Pin since if I am going to resent the Pin it will take at least 5 days before you can receive it, Michael.

Ronald: However, we can only provide you the Pin once you are able to authenticate the account through your Comcast Phone number.

Michael: Go ahead and call.

Ronald: Before I call you, Michael. For security purposes, would you please provide the following information:

Name and Phone Number listed on the account as well as the last four digits of your Social Security Number?

Michael: ...

Ronald: Thank you for the information, Michael. Rest assured that whatever information shared between us will definitely be kept in confidence. We do thank you for entrusting your information with us.

Ronald: To set the proper expectations, the call is only to verify for your PIN and we are unable to answer any other inquiry that you might for your Comcast services or any other concern you might want to raise. If there is anything you want me to address for you further, please wait in chat so we can work on your concern.

Michael: I may have another question after I'm able to log in regarding my bill.

Ronald: Sure thing, Michael.

Ronald: I tried to call you on your Comcast phone number however there was no answer. I will attempt to call again kindly answer the call, please.

Michael: I do not use my Comcast phone #. I gave you the number to call.

Ronald: Michael, we can only call your Comcast phone number.

Michael: What a joke. You guys hooked up the new modem, gave me a Comcast # that I don't plan to use, assign me a PIN without telling we what it is, and NOW require me to hook up a phone to my cable modem? You're kidding, right?

Ronald: I understand that you are frustrated, Michael. I would feel the same way to if I were on your situation however the CPNI pin is an additional layer of security mandated by the FCC for customers who has phone service.

Ronald: And we can only provide you the Pin after we are able to contact you on your Comcast phone service. I hope you understand.

Michael: Call.

Ronald: You mean I will call you on your Comcast phone number?

Michael: Yes.

Ronald: Thank you so much for your understanding and cooperation up to this point, Michael. We really appreciate it.

Ronald: Thank you for answering the call and authenticating the account, Michael.

Ronald: Is there anything else I can help you with today?

Michael: Now I have a question about my bill. There is a non-recurring charge of $53.06. I want to know what that is for.

Ronald: Oh, for all your billing questions I will have to transfer you to our partner in Billing so that they can discuss to you the charges on your account.

Michael: Awesome.

Ronald: Great!

Ronald: I truly appreciate your understanding and cooperation at this point, Michael. Before I transfer your chat to my partner in the billing department, do you have other concerns for me today? I will be glad to assist you further.

Michael: Nope.

Ronald: It is with gratitude assisting you with your issue today, Michael. Please stay online while I transfer you to my partner in another department. Thank you for contacting Comcast and have a wonderful day!

Michael: You bet.

Ronald: Please wait, while the problem is escalated to another analyst

analyst Marieta has entered room

analyst Ronald has left room

analyst Ronald has left room

Marieta: Michael, thank you for giving me an opportunity to assist you.

Marieta: I understand that you have a question about the non-recurring charge posted on the recent bill, is this correct?

Michael: Yes.

Marieta: I can definitely pull up the account now and review the details and breakdown of the charge in question so that we can assist you best.

Michael: I actually have a couple questions. Firstly, I was offered a "free upgrade" of my services at no additional cost. I now have a paper bill that shows I owe $199.10. The Comcast website says I owe $179.10. Both of these costs are higher than my previous bill.

Marieta: Let me go ahead and pull up your account first so that we can check on these concerns.

Marieta: May I please have the name of the account holder, full service address and the phone number that is associated on the account?

Michael: ...

Marieta: Thank you for the information. Please give me a minute or two to pull up your account.

Marieta: By the way Michael, while waiting, I'd like to remind you about the Comcast Customer Guarantee – it's our promise to our customers to provide you the best customer experience and stand behind our products and services.

Marieta: As part of our Comcast Customer Guarantee, we have redesigned our bill to clearly show a summary of the current month's charges as well as a detailed breakdown charges for each product.

Marieta: I have the account pulled up. To ensure the integrity of your account information, may I please have the last 4 numbers of your SSN?

Michael: ...

Marieta: Thank you. Moving forward, I am checking further on the account.

Marieta: I apologize, this is taking more time than usual. Would you mind waiting for a minute or two while I finish it? I would deeply appreciate it.

Michael: Whatever it takes.

Marieta: Thank you! May you please provide the details of the non-recurring charge, $53.26 in which you are able to see online?

Michael: You're asking me to provide the details?

Marieta: I understand that you are seeing the item charge on the online account summary, correct?

Michael: Yes. My bill was not supposed to increase.

Marieta: Michael, please be informed that included on the current bill are partial month charge and partial credit adjustment for the change made on 01/02/2012 and 01/08/2012. Also,it includes 2 PPV movie charges.

Marieta: There is also a one time fee of $25.00 but this will be credited on your next bill.

Marieta: Effective next billing period going forward, your monthly bill will be $150.00, before taxes and fees.

Michael: The paperwork I received shows my bill being $139.99/month. Not $150.

Marieta: The $139.99 rate is only for the Triple Play bundle package for your cable/phone internet services, which is HD Preferred Plus XF bundle plan.

Marieta: That does not include the modem fee, equipment rental fees, Univ. Connectivity Charge and Regulatory Recovery Fees for phone services plus taxes and fees.

Michael: So you're saying my total bill, including fees, is $150?

Marieta: Yes, that is correct.

Marieta: I can provide you the breakdown.

Marieta: Please give me a minute or two.

Michael: That's about what I was paying before, so I'm OK with that.

Marieta: Cool! This will be the amount that you will be paying next month going forward.

Michael: Let me look at one thing, hang on.

Marieta: For this month's bill, it includes PPV movie charges and the installation fee of $25.00.

Marieta: Surely.

Michael: But I'm being credited for the $25 install fee, right?

Marieta: The credit that will be posted on the next bill is $20.00. Therefore, you are only being billed for $5.00 installation.

Michael: I wasn't supposed to be billed any install fee. It is crossed out on the paper I received.

Marieta: May I please ask if the change on the bundled plan where a free installation was offered done over the phone or through a chat session?

Michael: It was done in person. A Comcast rep showed up at my house and made this deal.

Marieta: What I am seeing here is that you were given a discounted installation. Instead of paying $50.00, the account was only charged for $25.00.

Michael: There is nothing on this piece of paper that indicates an install fee. The rep told me there would be no increase to my bill.

Marieta: Michael, since the free installation was offered by a direct sales representative, we would advise you to contact our local office so that they can validate and review of the deal offered to you.

Marieta: We can only rely on what are being offered in comcast.com website through chat.

Marieta: I can provide you the contact number of the local office or the address so that you can visit personally and present the copy of the paper work provided by the direct sales agent.

Michael: Why do I have to go out of my way and waste my time clearing up your screw up? I have a piece of paper right here in front of me. Comcast is not honoring their own document! If you cannot resolve this then I will strongly considering dumping Comcast. I will not waste my time.

Marieta: We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause you. We need to course this through the local office as they are the authorized team who handles offers from our direct sales representatives.

Michael: I have been to the local office. There's typically a line out the door and they're frequently unable to resolve issues. Customer services is horrible.

Marieta: We at Chat Support team can rely on deals and offers in the website.

Michael: Unbelievable. Who do I contact to cancel service?

Marieta: We are sorry to hear about you deciding to cancel the current service subscription.

Marieta: Here is what I can do for now, I will check if we will be able to contact the local office about your concern and see what we can do from our end.

Marieta: Would you mind holding for 2 minutes while I work on this for you

Marieta: *?

Michael: Wow. I threaten to cancel service and NOW I receive customer support? Your company has a strange way of doing business.

Michael: By all means. Please resolve my issue without further burdening me.

Marieta: It is our goal to provide you the excellent customer service that you deserve as a valued Comcast customer, that is why we will exhaust all means to help you.

Michael: Oh that's right, the "customer guarantee". Why didn't you offer to help initially?

Marieta: I was able to offer help by coursing the concern to the right department. We have specific departments who handles every issue and since the offer for a free installation of the service upgrade was done by the direct sales representative, the local office is the authorized team who handles this.

Marieta: I have contacted the local office and they will review your concern and validate the adjustment request of the installation charge billed. Once reviewed and validated, the adjustment of the $5.00 will be posted on the succeeding bills, approximately 1 - 2 billing cycles.

Michael: Let's see, I actually have it right here. It states, "We will resolve routine issues in one visit or give you a complimentary service." This is my one visit. Billing is a routine issue. I don't want to deal with "teams". I want to deal with one person and not given the runaround.

Marieta: We perfectly understand where you are coming from, Michael but please also understand that we have specific departments who caters each and every concern of our customers.

Marieta: Chat Support team can only rely deals and offers which are found in the website.

Marieta: For door to door offers, this is being handled by our local office teams.

Michael: Every company has departments. You work in the customer support department. Why can't you provide the support?

Marieta: That is because the free installation offered to you was not done over the chat session or in the comcast.com website and was offered by a direct sales support.

Michael: Is it any wonder why Comcast has a bad rep for customer support? Look at what you make the customer go through. Offer them something for free, then screw it all up, then make them do the runaround. Unacceptable!

Marieta: I have contacted the local office and they will review your concern and validate the adjustment request of the installation charge billed. Once reviewed and validated, the adjustment of the $5.00 will be posted on the succeeding bills, approximately 1 - 2 billing cycles.

Michael: How about representing yourself as ONE COMPANY and not different segments of the same company that don't communicate?

Michael: I would like this entire chat session sent to your management.

Marieta: We understand how frustrating it can be when we are offered for something free but a charge amount was posted on the bill. We have already communicated with our local office team and the adjustment request of the $5.00 installation charge is currently being worked on/

Marieta: After validation, the credited amount will be posted on the succeeding billing periods, approximately 1-2 billing periods from now.

Michael: Thank you. It's too bad it got screwed up in the first place and it took a long chat session and the threat of cancellation to get it worked.

Marieta: You are most welcome.

Michael: I'm sure I am. Good day.

Marieta: We appreciate entrusting the matter to us, Michael. All vital information was taken into consideration and concern is now worked on. There are no additional steps needed from you as we will take the matter from here.

Marieta: I'm glad I was able to help you. Do you have any other questions or concerns I can help you with today?

Michael: Thank goodness, no I do not.

Marieta: It is with gratitude to have you on this chat and I appreciate the opportunity you've given us today to resolve your concern. Enjoy the rest of your day and take care.

Marieta: Thank you and Goodbye for now,Michael.

Marieta: Do you want to watch full TV shows and movies online? Go to http://www.xfinitytv.com Thank you for choosing Comcast as your cable TV provider and have a great day! Comcast appreciates your business and values you as a customer. Our goal is to provide you with excellent service. If you need further assistance, you can chat with one of our Customer Support Specialists 24 hour a day, 7 days a week at
http://www.comcastsupport.com/videochat To close this chat, please click the end session button at the top of your chat window.