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Comcast: throw nails in the road, open up a tire shop.

P

paulney

Diamond Member
We bought a house about six years ago. Previous owners had Comcast TV.

A few days after we moved in Comcast called us and asked if we wanted to continue TV service, and we said "no thanks". Since then we never had anything to do with Comcast until a month ago.

A month ago I ordered internet service and bought my own modem. They activated the service, I hooked up the modem - nothing, no signal. They can't provision it either. They send out a technician. Nobody warned me about a possible charge - they just handled it as if it was their service issue.

Technician comes over, goes straight for the demarkation box and removes a special plug they put on the cable to prevent any stealing of their signal. Then says: "you are all set" and leaves. I quickly check the service - nothing. Call him back. He shows up an hour later and this time goes for the distribution box somewhere in the neighborhood. Spends about 45 minutes there, and I finally have the service.

Fast forward to today - I get my second bill, and I get two charges:

$50 for the service call
$8 for the 'second call within the same day'

WTF. Let me get this straight: Comcast themselves intentionally created a problem on the line so that I could not establish service myself. The problem is completely on their side, and has nothing to do with anything on the interior of my house. Then they charge me to 'fix' the problem, and on top of that an extra charge because of their technician's incompetence? Way to go.

I called and bitched, and had the second charge removed, but they wouldn't budge on the service call. They even told me I got a great deal, because regular charge is $100, and I got half off! What a sweet bargain.

I should start a business like that, too. Maybe throw nails in the road and open up a tire shop or something.
 
Unfortunately for some it's about the only true option for high speed internet. I could get Qwest DSL service but I had them in the past and they left a LOT to be desired with outages and other issues. Had a few outage issues that lasted a few days. I don't frequently have issues with Comcast at least and the few that I have had were only for a couple of hours at most.
 
I wouldn't pay it. Tell them they can eat the charge, or shove their internet up their ass. You did your part. DRM on their end isn't your responsibility.
 
Every cable company does this. When you activate service they charge you an installation fee, covers the tech coming out, uncapping the box or whatever, and testing the line. Even when I just transferred service from one place to another they charged me $20 to do the same thing.

Whats even more awesome is sometimes the work order also contains a contract. That happened with directTV for me. I signed the work order that they installed the satellite, BOOM, 2 year contract for the equipment.
 
We had Comcast installed and it worked fine for a couple months. Then we started getting channels randomly dropping out on us. They sent out a tech, he tightened the wire into the wall socket, and everything worked again. Cost us $50 for someone to tighten a wire which we could have done ourselves if they had mentioned that as a potential solution.
 
cox didn't used to charge for tech support visits, but then they added a $3/month inurance option or $50 per visit charge. So after first time I called someone out and finding about this via the bill, I had them remove the service fee and give me the stupid insurance. I now make sure I have them visit at least 4 times a year to let them know how much I enjoy their mafia style insurance.
 
lol ATT tried to charge me 150 for something similar with my DSL. Who the fuck charges 150 just to have a tech come out for 5 min? Dude didn't tell me anything about a charge just installed a phone jack in the computer room and left.
 
deadlyapp said:
Every cable company does this. When you activate service they charge you an installation fee, covers the tech coming out, uncapping the box or whatever, and testing the line. Even when I just transferred service from one place to another they charged me $20 to do the same thing.

Whats even more awesome is sometimes the work order also contains a contract. That happened with directTV for me. I signed the work order that they installed the satellite, BOOM, 2 year contract for the equipment.
Click to expand...

Um, if they installed the satellite then doesn't that mean you signed up for it?

If so the contract was kinda shown when you looked online or such to get the guy to come out there.
 
lxskllr said:
I wouldn't pay it. Tell them they can eat the charge, or shove their internet up their ass. You did your part. DRM on their end isn't your responsibility.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. There was nothing you could do to make it work. Unless they told you about a standard "setup" charge for new customers this is complete BS. Call up and tell them you're going to leave, keep on griping until they put you in contact with the customer retention group, those guys actually have the ability to get rid of charges unlike most of the peons.
 
wow f* that.... i can see a $20 service charge as a standard for new customers or something but another $8 to come out because their tech is incompetent?
 
lupi said:
cox didn't used to charge for tech support visits, but then they added a $3/month inurance option or $50 per visit charge. So after first time I called someone out and finding about this via the bill, I had them remove the service fee and give me the stupid insurance. I now make sure I have them visit at least 4 times a year to let them know how much I enjoy their mafia style insurance.
Click to expand...

Ha! My kind of thinking! 😀

What "reasons" do you come up with to have them come out?
 
You know, these kind of things you make one phone call to them and they're more than happy to take them off.

I never paid for truck rolls / service calls, even if they were blatantly caused by my fault.
 
Zeze said:
You know, these kind of things you make one phone call to them and they're more than happy to take them off.
Click to expand...

Except they didn't.

I called and bitched, and had the second charge removed, but they wouldn't budge on the service call. They even told me I got a great deal, because regular charge is $100, and I got half off! What a sweet bargain.
Click to expand...
 
lxskllr said:
I wouldn't pay it. Tell them they can eat the charge, or shove their internet up their ass. You did your part. DRM on their end isn't your responsibility.
Click to expand...

"DRM?" Seriously? It was a little device that blocks the frequencies used by the modem. Also, it was physically disconnected at the tap.

Nothing to do with DRM.
 
Ichinisan said:
"DRM?" Seriously? It was a little device that blocks the frequencies used by the modem. Also, it was physically disconnected at the tap.

Nothing to do with DRM.
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It's exactly DigitalRightsManagement. It's the very definition of DRM. DRM doesn't have to rootkits hidden in your purchased software. It can be hardware, or anything else...
 
lxskllr said:
It's exactly DigitalRightsManagement. It's the very definition of DRM. DRM doesn't have to rootkits hidden in your purchased software. It can be hardware, or anything else...
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DRM is DIGITAL.

A filter has nothing to do with bits and data.
Likewise, physically disconnecting from the tap has nothing to do with bits and data.

Sheesh.
 
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Ichinisan said:
DRM is DIGITAL.

A filter has nothing to do with bits and data.
Likewise, physically disconnecting from the tap has nothing to do with bits and data.

Sheesh.
Click to expand...

Seriously?! A filter has nothing to do with bits and data?? If that's the case, his internet would have fuckin' worked with the filter in :^S
 
lxskllr said:
Seriously?! A filter has nothing to do with bits and data?? If that's the case, his internet would have fuckin' worked with the filter in :^S
Click to expand...

The same kind of filter can block a range of frequencies used by ANALOG channels.

Specific frequencies and bands may be allocated to modems and digital channels, but the device itself is NOT DIGITAL.

Also, "Rights Management" restricts content you have already received, or restricts what you can do with the content as it is received. Content can be distributed however they want. DRM has nothing to do with this.

Would you say that a valve to turn off your water or something that blocks reverse flow is "DRM?"
 
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Ichinisan said:
The same kind of filter can block a range of frequencies used by ANALOG channels.

Specific frequencies and bands may be allocated to modems and digital channels, but the device itself is NOT DIGITAL.
Click to expand...

Who cares? I believe that's beside the point.

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G
 
Ichinisan said:
The same kind of filter can block a range of frequencies used by ANALOG channels.

Certain frequencies may be used by modems and digital channels, but the device itself is NOT DIGITAL.
Click to expand...

The /device/ doesn't have to be digital. DRM is a control of some kind, that restricts digital technology.

Aside from the fact that I'm correct, though it is a VERY minor stretch, it was a throw away comment in the first place, as I assumed most would take it :^S

Wikipedia said:
Digital rights management (DRM) is a term for access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to limit the use of digital content and devices. The term is used to describe any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that is not desired or intended by the content provider.
Click to expand...
 
lxskllr said:
Wikipedia said:
Digital rights management (DRM) is a term for access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to limit the use of digital content and devices. The term is used to describe any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that is not desired or intended by the content provider.
Click to expand...
Aside from the fact that I'm correct, though it is a VERY minor stretch, it was a throw away comment in the first place, as I assumed most would take it :^S
Click to expand...

The use of content [you've received, or as you receive it]. It doesn't have anything to do with blocking you from receiving it.
 
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