I feel his pain. Where I live, your choices are Comcast or get the fuck out. No matter how much bullshit they pull, you have no choice but to move or accept a life with no high speed(relative to crappy American speed) internet.
Software Engineer Forced to Sell Home After Comcast Lies About Service
- Thread starter StewShearerOld
- Start date
This, a thousand times this.Smilomaniac said:
A part of me just doesn't understand why he wouldn't just move to a place that already has good internet. I understand that Kansas City is in tornado prone Kansas and that California looks like a horrifying mess of inflated prices desertification but there has to be places that are livable and have Google Fiber or the equivalent.
he doesn't need anything in writing. He made a legitimate call to the public utility inquiring about service. He was given clearly incorrect information and their own service logs and back this up. This is not one of those "well we didn't promise it in writing" situations. The call and the sales and service response count the same as a written statement. They are a matter of record. We know Comcast told him he could receive service because Comcast dispatched installers.Therumancer said:
We have a similar situation with Comcast in my neighborhood. Unlike all the other ultilities they refused to run cable through the neighborhood until it was 80% built out and occupied. As a result they came in 2 years after everyone else and started tearing up everyone's lawns claiming "eminent domain" as a public utility. Well that lasted about a week, until their installation crew only made it halfway through the neighborhood, cracked and caved in all but one driveway that they crossed, and then simply packed up and left abandoning the job unfinished. However their line division never reported this problem to the master system. So as far as their computers are concerned the entire neighborhood is wired. They keep trying to tell us how great their service is and we keep telling them that they never finished. Everytime a new buyer moves in they get a rude shock.
Allright so, futile disclaimer in an attempt to avoid being attacked: i hate comcast, hated being there customer and think they are an evil evil corporation.
However, in this circumstance, the guy is completely in the wrong here. I'm sorry but who spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home without making absolutely sure that it would meet your basic needs first. If internet is so important to your daily life that you have to move if you can't get fast enough connection why on earth would you take the word of two telephone customer service agents who are making close to minimum wage and will be providing you with the same information that you can find on Comcasts website. Would you just take the receptionist at the water and power companies word that the home has running water and a functioning electrical hookup? No your going to have the home inspected physically and professionally. At the bare minimum you have the cable guy actually come out and look at the place. In what universie do you take the word of two people with no particular technical expertise that probably live on the other side of the bloody country. This guy failed to do his due diligence and now he wants to play the victim.
Sorry i'm getting a little ranty. I work in a customer service callcenter and i have to deal with people who refuse to own up to their own stupidity every day.
However, in this circumstance, the guy is completely in the wrong here. I'm sorry but who spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home without making absolutely sure that it would meet your basic needs first. If internet is so important to your daily life that you have to move if you can't get fast enough connection why on earth would you take the word of two telephone customer service agents who are making close to minimum wage and will be providing you with the same information that you can find on Comcasts website. Would you just take the receptionist at the water and power companies word that the home has running water and a functioning electrical hookup? No your going to have the home inspected physically and professionally. At the bare minimum you have the cable guy actually come out and look at the place. In what universie do you take the word of two people with no particular technical expertise that probably live on the other side of the bloody country. This guy failed to do his due diligence and now he wants to play the victim.
Sorry i'm getting a little ranty. I work in a customer service callcenter and i have to deal with people who refuse to own up to their own stupidity every day.
Corruption is global (and human, at that). To assume that Europe doesn't have its fair share of outright unmitigated horse shit is kinda out there although I will concede the fact that America really wears its corruption on its sleeve.Adam Jensen said:
Ugh. As much as I hate to say it (and believe me, I absolutely despise Comcast) Morabito is going to have a tough time if he decides to bring this to court. Since I left working for the Government and went into working for business, one of the things I've found, again and again, is to always make sure you have e-mail or paper confirmation for everything, do NOT take a phone conversation as confirmation. Because as soon as the shit hits the fan, suddenly that person has a mysterious case of amnesia and doesn't remember that conversation and has no clue what you're talking about, and your word against theirs doesn't really hold up in court. Actually, now that I think about it, it was pretty much the same in the Government too.StewShearer said:
Atmos Duality said:
I was just trying to spread the word that there's at least two bad guys to this story, since some stories are leaving out CenturyLink's fare share. (Even the blog post barely touched that problem.) You have plenty more (quite interesting) first hand experience with Comcast's incompetence and slimy practices than me, anyways.
Fun Fact: I did get a call a few months ago for a job offer from someone at "Comcast," but knowing how my resume is Auto Mechanic and CNC Machining focused, with only minor mention of computer skills and home improvement/installer DIY experience, I figured it was a sub-contractor looking for somebody with enough basic skills, but could pay them less. My gut feeling made me not follow up on it. I didn't want to get involved with the mess of incompetence it could have been either.
It does in the first paragraph:Vivi22 said:
If your job relies on you having internet connection and you work from home, then having no internet connection is most definatelly a no-buy unless you are going to look for a new job on top of a new house.
See, in Europe we at least pretend its illegal.DerangedHobo said:
This is exactly the reason every time Charter expands into a area serviced by Comcast or Time Warner the latter companies loose a service area. I've had nothing but good luck with charter. The promised high speeds are delivered (at average speed during peak use, and at maximum in the dead middle of the night) and they bent over backwards once to install for me over a mile outside their current service area. Though they were expanding that way to get to the new housing developments.
The thing is. Comcast and especially Time Warner charge outrageous ammounts of money for the sort bandwidth Charter was offering a decade and a half ago. Charter also constantly reinvests in their service areas bt; expanding service, improving stability, and increasing speeds/bandwidth. A smart idea for a company that sells it's unlimited broadband internet service as hard as Charter does. So every time they adopt a new service area that Comcast, or Time Warner(now the same company as Comcast incidentally) they kick the old guard out by providing better service at better prices. Though I've heard horror stories about Charter customer service, it usually boils down to the customer screwing up, not Charter Communications.
The thing is. Comcast and especially Time Warner charge outrageous ammounts of money for the sort bandwidth Charter was offering a decade and a half ago. Charter also constantly reinvests in their service areas bt; expanding service, improving stability, and increasing speeds/bandwidth. A smart idea for a company that sells it's unlimited broadband internet service as hard as Charter does. So every time they adopt a new service area that Comcast, or Time Warner(now the same company as Comcast incidentally) they kick the old guard out by providing better service at better prices. Though I've heard horror stories about Charter customer service, it usually boils down to the customer screwing up, not Charter Communications.
This was the corporation that got into it with Netflix, claiming that it was to blame in a dispute over service problems, basically faulting Netflix for being too popular.
This was the competing telecommunications corporation that thousands of people are leaving for services like Netflix, which are the future beyond the miserable, expensive, outdated cable television model.
This was the competing telecommunications corporation that was offered, by Netflix, a server holding the most popular Netflix titles in cache in order to streamline service to clients and alleviate network load. Comcast refused.
This was the corporation that demanded (and successfully won) a shakedown agreement; Netflix paid-up in a deal with Comcast after an ugly dispute.
This was the corporation that, somehow, fixed everything just days after that deal, which would have necessitated enterprise-level upgrades that could not possibly have been completed in that time period.
Just remember, these are the guys against new internet rules, too, and they have a lot of money for gift baskets for politicians.
This was the competing telecommunications corporation that thousands of people are leaving for services like Netflix, which are the future beyond the miserable, expensive, outdated cable television model.
This was the competing telecommunications corporation that was offered, by Netflix, a server holding the most popular Netflix titles in cache in order to streamline service to clients and alleviate network load. Comcast refused.
This was the corporation that demanded (and successfully won) a shakedown agreement; Netflix paid-up in a deal with Comcast after an ugly dispute.
This was the corporation that, somehow, fixed everything just days after that deal, which would have necessitated enterprise-level upgrades that could not possibly have been completed in that time period.
Just remember, these are the guys against new internet rules, too, and they have a lot of money for gift baskets for politicians.
The big jerk in that whole mess was Cogent who wouldn't pay higher fees to Level 3(the BACKBONE of the internet) due to all of the bandwidth they were using with netflix which was over 80% of their bandwidth usage.AgedGrunt said:
As someone who worked for an ISP for 3 years (no, not a national one) I can tell you that this is business as usual. The customer service people (who are actually sales people) are taught to simply agree with whatever the customer asks for. The idea is you tell them anything you need to get them to sign up and then let the actual technician (me) deal with the details. The company I worked for was small and our CS reps were pretty well trained but I would still routinely get customers who were beyond our service area or who were told they could have extra services and special work done. Stupid things like running lines through a chicken coop or burying cable in their yard to run to their gazebo or whatever. Take a look at my truck, do you see a ditch witch ************?!
Every time you call the call center and scold the rep they say "Oh no I never said that, I have no idea why they thought you would do that for them." Yeah, sure, right buddy. I could get the manager to go through the call recordings, and maybe someone would get a slap on the wrist or we'd have yet another "training session" where we had to specifically list out all the work we won't do for people, but at the end of the day the management wants accounts and that means saying "yes" to customers.
So with my company being small and fairly well run yet still having this has a massive problem, I can tell you that a company like Comcast where the reps 100% do not give a shit it's a humongous problem. There is simply no accountability; most of the techs are actually contractors so management doesn't really care what they do, and the reps are in another state and could give two shits about you and your stupid house.
If you want to know if comcast services an area you better do the research yourself. That means asking the neighbors, checking for lines, and looking up previous residents, not trusting their service reps who are paid to lie to you.
Every time you call the call center and scold the rep they say "Oh no I never said that, I have no idea why they thought you would do that for them." Yeah, sure, right buddy. I could get the manager to go through the call recordings, and maybe someone would get a slap on the wrist or we'd have yet another "training session" where we had to specifically list out all the work we won't do for people, but at the end of the day the management wants accounts and that means saying "yes" to customers.
So with my company being small and fairly well run yet still having this has a massive problem, I can tell you that a company like Comcast where the reps 100% do not give a shit it's a humongous problem. There is simply no accountability; most of the techs are actually contractors so management doesn't really care what they do, and the reps are in another state and could give two shits about you and your stupid house.
If you want to know if comcast services an area you better do the research yourself. That means asking the neighbors, checking for lines, and looking up previous residents, not trusting their service reps who are paid to lie to you.
Comcast needs to die. It's only competition (Verizon as I understand it) are happy walking side-by-side instead of going into competition with them. The pair also make it impossible for anyone to form a viable competing company (unless people are happy to pay more, to get less, to support a new company).
Someone needs to crowd fund something better, or get some organization to slap these guys silly.
Someone needs to crowd fund something better, or get some organization to slap these guys silly.
