Comcast: Worst. Company. Ever.

[Joanne98]

Craig Aaron
Inspired by March Madness, the folks at the Consumerist blog recently set up brackets to determine America’s worst company. The tournament was still going on as this column went to press, but I’m not afraid to predict the winner.

It will be Comcast — in a rout.

Sure, you skeptics are thinking, “What about Wal-Mart? Exxon? Halliburton?” I’ll admit that we can’t (yet) connect Comcast to child labor, environmental destruction or Dick Cheney (although clearly you’ve never sat for seven hours on a Saturday waiting for a new DVR). But I’m not alone in my seething rage for the nation’s largest cable company.

The Internet is filled with sites — like ComcastMustDie.com, ComCraptic.com and ComcastSucks.org — dedicated to the company. Comcast customer Brian Finkelstein’s video of one of its technicians sleeping on his couch has been watched more than 1 million times on YouTube.

Then there’s Mona Shaw. This once mild-mannered retired nurse from northern Virginia (a square-dancing Unitarian, no less) got so fed up with Comcast’s lousy customer service that she went down to the local office armed with a claw hammer. Here’s the play-by-by from a Washington Post profile of Shaw:

Shaw storms in the company’s office. BAM! She whacks the keyboard of the customer service rep. BAM! Down goes the monitor. BAM! She totals the telephone. People scatter, scream, cops show up and what does she do? POW! A parting shot to the phone!
Shaw was arrested and earned a $345 fine, along with the admiration of millions.

Awful customer service is one thing. But what’s truly frightening are Comcast’s plans to turn the freewheeling, open Internet into something that looks like, well, cable TV.

Comcast is one of the leading opponents of “Net Neutrality” — the fundamental principle that prevents service providers from discriminating against websites or services based on their source, ownership or destination. Along with AT&T, Time Warner and Verizon, Comcast has claimed that Net Neutrality is just “a solution in search of a problem.” Well, here’s the problem: Last fall, the Associated Press caught Comcast secretly blocking popular — and legal — peer-to-peer file-sharing. First, Comcast denied it. Then it claimed it was just “reasonable network management.”

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3605/comcast_worst_company_ever/

[Matariki]

1. Anyone know any good broadband alternatives?

especially one with decent voip?

[dchill]

4. Not if you're in PA. Just Google Rendell Comcast...

See some of the reasons he's not regarded as "Best Dem Ever" in this state.

[Ian David]

2. Verizon is worse than Comcast. They do all the evil things Comcast does, plus lets Bush spy on you.

[truedelphi]

12. But according to one of the VP's they have plans to do

Just that:

http://tinyurl.com/4om8kz

[Ian David]

16. Oh, fuck Comast then. n/t

[Hugabear]

3. I'd love to see Comcast get bought out by Brighthouse Networks

Brighthouse might not be perfect, but I haven't really had many problems with them over the past few years. As a matter of fact, I've actually gotten pretty good service from them, and they've been very responsive whenever I've had serious issues with them.

[truedelphi]

17. What area of the country does Brighthouse serve?? n/t

[notesdev]

5. Tell me about it

Twice over the course of two years my Internet shuts off without warning, I call up, they tell me that my modem is registered to someone else. WTF? THEY installed the modem, THEIR people put it in, THEIR people turned it on.

A couple of months ago I called to cancel the cable TV part of the service, since I don't watch TV at all for six months out of the year. I figured, why pay for half a year of service, every year, for something I don't want or use? So I call to cancel it, and they make me an offer - they'll charge me only $5/mo. more than having Internet service only. I say OK since that's actually a net savings for me over paying full price for half a year. Next month, they charge me full price as if the call never happened!

So I plug the cable box in the other day thinking I'd see what's on the boob tube. Lo and behold, the cable box for which they (over)charged me displays on the screen "Not Authorized". It gives me a number to call. So I call, and wait on hold for an hour. Finally, I get frustrated and figure out a way to get it reauthorized through the automated menu system.

I could go on and on and on about these people. The thing is, their customer service call center people are pretty good, it's the people behind the scenes who really screw things up.

[elehhhhna]

6. DId they mention Comcast's lack of background checks on techs in

Chicago a few years ago? The rapists, I mean.

[lapislzi]

7. Hear, hear!

Not only do they suck, in my area, they are the ONLY show in town. If you want cable TV or broadband, it's Comcast or nothing. Take it or leave it. No competition. Total monopoly. Don't get me started on these bozos. I would rather stick burning spears in my eyes than telephone them to resolve a problem of any kind--and there are frequent problems with their non-service.

:grr:

[BlueManDude]

8. There is no cable competition here in Boston.

[juno jones]

9. Dropped comcast, they kept consistently over billing us

and our whole internet system would crash if we tried to download anything...even things we'd paid for. Seems they don't like people sending and recieving large files no matter what the reason...at least if you're not paying for their super-duper commercial service.

We're doing Quest DSL for internet now, but we may be stuck when Mr Feb decides he wants TV again (ie football season) because the only competion to comcast is direct TV and being a renter, I don't want to deal with the logistics of hooking up a dish at my place.

[burythehatchet]

10. I dumped COmcast with glee about 6 months ago

I reminded them that I pay them about 1500 per year for their (lack of) services. I'm glad to be vindicated in that there are so many others experiencing the same.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Their broadband service has been okay for me (knock on wood) but

I have dropped their TV service down to the lowest of the lowest tiers after they removed some of my favorite channels AND moved some of the others into the pay-only tier.

I realized that I was hardly watching the upper channels, so I canceled them. The only ones I miss are Turner Classic Movies and the Weather Channels. The rest are turning crappier by the week, judging from what I see in the listings.

As someone on another board noted, all the cable channels seem to be going after the same "slack-jawed, armpit-scratching demographic."

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

13. i have comcast cable and the biggest advertiser seems to be

Comcast.

[AlCzervik]

15. yup, i see their ads all the time for regular home service and business service.

[magellan]

14. Comcast closed port 25 on us a few weeks ago, no warning

Suddenly we just couldn't send emails. I spent hours on the phone with them, certain they'd done something, but every so-called tech told me it was the fault of our email program. Load of bunk. I had to hunt around on the net for a few more hours to discover the problem myself, and it was easily worked around -- ONCE I KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON.

Comcast, worse than useless. We don't have much choice here though. DSL is crap compared to cable. And with little to no competition allowed, there's no incentive for anyone to provide a good service at a competitive price.

THANK YOU CONGRESS.

[Snarkturian Clone]

18. Comcast is based on my city. Warning: big fucking image.

This is their monolith:



They hold so much sway in Philly that we still can't get Verizon FIOS service even though there's a hub in town. Don't even try calling customer service.

[Uncle Joe]

19. If they're against Net Neutrality, I'll have nothing to do with them.

Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Joanne