Customer Service HELL

Friday, February 2nd, 2007 | Pete Stuff

So this week has been one of those weeks where any interaction I’ve had with companies providing services has gone wrong…

Lets start with Comcast… Fucking Comcast… I got a shiny new HDTV and a new Gen 3 TiVo about a week and a half ago and to go with it I decided to order Digital Cable (I had DirecTV but they dropped TiVo – but thats a different rant).. Well I scheduled a service apointment for last Saturday from 12-2pm. I’ll skip the gory details but suffice it to say they never showed up after many phone calls and waiting around till 6pm that night for them.

So I reschedule for Wednesday over lunch (another 12-2 apointment). Well this time they show up and install the cable however of course they forgot the CableCards I need for the new TiVo. The service guy points to his invoice to show I didn’t ask for it to which I reply ‘I didn’t write your invoice – all that shows is that the person I set up the apointment with didn’t listen when I said VERY CLEARLY that i needed 2 CableCards’. So he proceeds to promise that his supervisor would come by by 5pm that night to deliver the cards. Well 6pm rolls around and no cards.. So I call to see what gives and they tell me that since its 6:05pm they can’t call the supervisor and I just have to set up another apointment.. (Imagine steam coming out of my ears). So I have to set up an apointment for this saturday cuz I have a JOB and can’t be there thursday or friday…

So today i’m driving to work and thinking ‘can’t I just swing by their office and pick the cards up rather than sitting around all day saturday (2-6pm) wondering if they’ll show or not’… So I call comcast and ask to which the guy says ‘Sure – you can just go by the comcast office in sunnyvale and get them’. Sweet… So much easier and I can use my TiVo tonight. So I show up to pick them up and the poor woman at the counter tells me ‘We don’t have the hardware here – the operators have been told not to send customers here’…

This is when my head spins around and I come completely unglued. I start nearly yelling at her about the cascade of fuckups i’ve been through. I know full well there is nothing she can do but i’m at a loss as to who I can talk to who can actually make sure something happens… So now I just getta sit around saturday afternoon and HOPE that they get it right this time. My bet? either they don’t show up at all, or they show up with 1 card instead of 2..

And then there is the Shower Glass folks for my remodel – I’ll keep this one short.. Short story is its 2 Months late and I still don’t have a shower in my house. They’ve used every excuse from ‘we can’t measure till the tile goes in’ to ‘we don’t schedule appointments until the glass has been deliverred’ to ‘the glass showed up but one piece was cracked’ to ‘we forgot to order the hinges’ to ‘turns out the chanels we cut don’t fit’…. AHHHHHHHH… I don’t care about any of that shit – it all boils down to DO YOUR FUCKING JOB… So now monday is the current date they’re supposed  to do the install – but I don’t believe it for a minute…

So thats been my week.. My blood pressure is through the roof and I’m very likely to rip someone’s head off if they look at me funny.. And all because I’m an individual consumer that actually expects that people do their job but one that has no pull to make sure that they actually do..  So I have to sit here and take it while grunting ‘Thank you sir may I have another’..

So right now Comcast and E—- Glass are on my shit list. Can’t wait to see who’s next.

Sorry.. I promise the next post will be friendly… I just had to rant…

5 Comments to Customer Service HELL

God of Biscuits
February 2, 2007

I have comcast and haven’t needed a cablecard yet, but when i was asking about the TiVo Series3, comcast was pleasant and told me that the cards would be free, but that an comcast installer would have to do the work. the logic was that cablecards are easier for them to support than set-top boxes.

I have a comcast DVR with a totally crappy UI. It’s Windows ME to TiVo’s Mac OX Tiger. TRUST. On the plus side, they’ll be refitting comcast DVRs to use TiVo software. Maybe that’s the way to go? Return the Series3 you bought, and go with a comcast DVR?

Geno
February 3, 2007

I am there will you and Comcast. I just spent 2 weeks, 3 appointments (two that like you didn’t happen) and about 15 phone calls. To finally get On Demand, HBO, and all my HD channels to work at the same time.

And echoing Jeff’s comment, yes the Comcast DVR sucks. But who knows when they will start rolling out the Tivo software to their DVR’s. I can’t get a concrete answer about that…

Pete
February 3, 2007

Ugggg.. Well they just left from appointment 3 and still I don’t have a working TiVo.. Seems they couldn’t get the cable card working… Uggg.. Just shoot me.. unfortunately I just can’t wait for the Comcast TiVo and I really don’t want their DVR (if its anything like their service I wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot pole.. So here I am.. weeks later and no TiVo..

I’m gonna cry..

Wes
February 4, 2007

So sorry to hear about all of your vendor travails. I swear I tell friends about experiences I’ve lived through (strikingly similar to yours), and they haven’t had nearly the level of problems. But when I discuss it with a Californian, the person relates to it completely.

Is it a California thing?

I’m in San Diego.

pas
February 6, 2007

I hear the same thing – it definitely seems to be a California thing – I don’t hear the same thing from others elsewhere but i hear it from nearly everyone here… To be fair – my General Contractor is a good guy.. schedule and budget issues there to be sure but he really does seem to try.. the other folks.. ugg.. shoot me now..