My recent Comcast experience
A quick background, for the last 2.5 years I have been using a cheap Dell media center PC as my DVR system. It has worked great in the past and i really like the interface. However, this summer i bought a new 52″ HDTV and got HD service from Comcast. As one might expect the output from the Media Center PC to the new TV was very poor over s-video or VGA so upgraded the video card and now over HDMI the monitor looks crystal clear, as it should. That said the Comcast picture quality (SD) is pretty poor in my area(a lot of washed out channels). I’ve experienced this in all the buildings I’ve lived in the DC area for the last few years (so it wasn’t anything new). With OK SD input into my Media Center PC (yes, Microsoft also degrades the picture quality) the TV output even on HDMI was pretty poor on a big screen. Not the mention the age of the Media Center PC (its starting to go) and the fact I’ve been paying for HD service and use it infrequently (as it requires changing over to a different box) I decided to buy a TiVo HD.
Last week:
My TiVo arrived and I scheduled a visit from Comcast to install the required Cablecards to receive encrypted and HD channels. The install was schedule from 9am to noon on Saturday. Prior to Saturday I setup the TiVo as recommended and made sure it was up-to-date.
On Saturday the installer arrived at 1:15pm an hour and 15 minutes late without a notice phone call. )Wow, what’s new Comcast late again. At least this time it wasn’t 4 hours late like last time.) The installer ended up butching the job. He installed one card and before he tested it he tried to install the second card. Upon inserting the second card the TiVo began a cable company required firmware update to the cablecard. The tech not wanting to wait up to an hour to see the update complete removed the card, despite the warning message to the contrary, and re-inserted the card. Again the TiVo tried to update the firmware. Not wanting to wait the installer left to take care of another call in my high-rise (which was fine by me), upon returning a half hour later the card was still “updating”. Guess what… he didn’t want to wait. So he called in the details of the first card to activate on the Comcast network. He said it was activated, but we couldn’t test it because the second card was still “updating”. The tech said to just let it update, and give him a call to activate in on the network, and took off. He also left with my old working HD box (I should not have let that happen).
Two or so hours later the card was still updating the firmware. At this point Google had told me the card is not going to work. I removed the card and tried to test the first card. Guess what…. no channels came through (except for broadcast channels).
So the installer has left with my working box, did not test the first card and now i have two bum cablecards and no working cable (beyond basic). A call to Comcast to explain the situation didn’t get me very far. They were respectfully and sympathetic but the best they could do is have a truck roll on Thursday (a full 5 days away) until then I will be without most all cable channels, including the Redskins game and Entourage. Frankly i found that to be unacceptable, they should have been significantly more responsive to fixing a problem they created.
After hearing this and upset at Comcast I started looking into alternatives. My first thought was Verizon Fios, after being pelted with mailing and flyer’s for their service (I live in a high-rise they have pre-wired for Fios, (I know what was i thinking not going with them to begin with)). After pricing out their services with all the specials they were offering I could get faster* Internet, more channels, more HD Chanel’s, a DRV for my bedroom, and the significantly better picture quality* for $40/mo less than Comcast and to top it off they said they could install on Monday. So I made the jump, and Verizon is scheduled to install my Fios service on Monday. We’ll see if 1) they show up 2) its as good as its promised. But that will be for another post.
My main motivation for switching was not the difference of 4 days, in the grand scheme of things that’s not as important, I still would like cable (that I’M PAYING FOR) this week to work (especially since no one in this economy is making deals so work is pretty slow and i actually get to have a life this week). The motivation was to stop putting up with the extremely poor customer service I’ve received from Comcast. Nearly every experience in dealing with them has been problematic. They have always been late to appointments, needless hassles with billing problems that take months to resolve and a general lack of effort of the majority of the Comcast people I’ve dealt with.
Hopefully, Fios will be a better solution. It may end up not being, but who knows. I can always go back to the craptastic service Comast has offered me if Fios doesn’t work. But trying something new is worth a shot especially with all the good things i’ve heard about their service. I will report back with my Fios experiences.
In all fairness, after complaining on Twitter and writing an email (after having ordered the Fios service), i did receive response from Comcast that would expedite a resolution, supposedly on Monday, which is nice even if it is a little to late. It is refreshing to see that a few employees actually care about the customer experience, but that’s the exception not the rule in my experience.
* indicates a marketing promise, although i have witnessed the Fios service at friends.
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