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Ike: Comcast and the hurricane


HtownWxBoy

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So today while using my car as a power source my boyfriend was able to deduce that although we don't have power, we also don't have cable or internet. He asked me to get Comcast to credit us for not having either service since the hurricane hit... I told him he was crazy for thinking Comcast would credit us, especially since our power is still out... well, guess I was the crazy one. :wacko: ha ha ha Just came across this article while bored at work.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories...22/daily16.html

Not sure if you have to actually call them or email them or if they will know who didn't have power and just credit your bill... I am going to call just to be safe!

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I'm spitting mad at Comcrap. I still don't have any services and they told me they can't send someone out because my zip is classified as 'Outage', even though all power was restored days ago. Some neighbors with other providers were up and running within 24 hours. BatRastards.

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I have power, but haven't had cable or net access since Ike. Well, I sorta have cable access, but not all channels are available and the ones that are, are near-unwatchable due to static (at least I have analog cable - if it were digital, I'd probably not be getting anything at all). When I called to report it, the CSR told me this was a sign of a weak signal. My aerial drop is partially down in the backyard, but the cable itself doesn't appear to be damaged - a service tech was supposed to be out yesterday to check it but never showed up, and when I called last night, was told that my appointment had been rescheduled to Thursday.

Looking at the status maps here on Comcast's site, however, it looks like my area still has significant node outages, so maybe that's the problem.

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We were on the phone with them today and even though it has been down since that Friday night (6pmish) and only came back on Monday ~5pm (immediately after I purchased a Verizon air card so I could get online, lol). They said they'd only credit 5 days, even though it was down for 10 days.

Should be interesting.

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I called Comcast yesterday... they are crediting me for 16 days w/o cable or internet which is exactly how many days I was without it... not bad. :)

interesting indeed. Apparently electric bills will not reflect all the days we've had w/o power because no one was reading meters. It will be up to you and your middleman to argue over exactly how many days you had no power. Should be fun.

I am confused. :huh: I didn't have power for 2 weeks... so obviously my meter wasn't running those two weeks... when they read the meter next will they not see that?

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I sent an e-mail to Comcast requesting the credit for days without service. I got my power back 5 days before cable came back. Comcast sent back an e-mail saying I needed to open an online chat session with a service rep or call them. No way was I spending hours on the phone so I went online. The person I was chatting with said they could only authorize up to a $25 credit and mine was going to be bigger than that so I had to copy and paste the e-mail Comcast sent to me before she would give me the full credit but, I finally got it.

As for power if you buy electricity from someone other than CenterPoint then most of your bills are estimated as they only true up to the meter about once every six months. I use TXU and my last bill went through September 12, and said it was an estimate. If the next one is an estimate I'm sure it will be high and unless I negotiate a deal with them I won't see the effect of the power outage until the next true up.

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I sent an e-mail to Comcast requesting the credit for days without service. I got my power back 5 days before cable came back. Comcast sent back an e-mail saying I needed to open an online chat session with a service rep or call them. No way was I spending hours on the phone so I went online. The person I was chatting with said they could only authorize up to a $25 credit and mine was going to be bigger than that so I had to copy and paste the e-mail Comcast sent to me before she would give me the full credit but, I finally got it.

As for power if you buy electricity from someone other than CenterPoint then most of your bills are estimated as they only true up to the meter about once every six months. I use TXU and my last bill went through September 12, and said it was an estimate. If the next one is an estimate I'm sure it will be high and unless I negotiate a deal with them I won't see the effect of the power outage until the next true up.

I was only on the phone w/ Comcast for like 10 minutes yesterday... was really simple... it didn't take long at all.

I buy electricity through Reliant... I guess we will see what happens.

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I was only on the phone w/ Comcast for like 10 minutes yesterday... was really simple... it didn't take long at all.

What number did you call? I've been calling them repeatedly to ask them about our lack of internet service (though we have cable), and every time I bring up the credit for the cable outage issue, they just tell me to "wait until everything is back on line, and then we'll talk".

They're pissing me off.

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What number did you call? I've been calling them repeatedly to ask them about our lack of internet service (though we have cable), and every time I bring up the credit for the cable outage issue, they just tell me to "wait until everything is back on line, and then we'll talk".

They're pissing me off.

1-800-COMCAST. They did tell me the first time I called to wait until both my cable and internet were back up before I called about the credit... which I did... but both time I was able to talk to someone within a few minutes of calling... no long wait at all.

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What number did you call? I've been calling them repeatedly to ask them about our lack of internet service (though we have cable), and every time I bring up the credit for the cable outage issue, they just tell me to "wait until everything is back on line, and then we'll talk".

They're pissing me off.

You want the credit before you know when the service is back? How can you know how much credit you get until after the lack of service ends?

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You want the credit before you know when the service is back? How can you know how much credit you get until after the lack of service ends?

That's why they ask you to wait until it's all back up and running... then their computer shows how long you were out of service... then they can calculate how much they will credit you.... that's what they did w/ me it was easy and quick.

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TODAY IS DAY 17 WITHOUT POWER. I brought up my TV and cable modem for a few hours last week w/ my neighbor's generator and it actually worked. If that action voids the credit I was supposed to get, I'm gonna be pi$$ed.

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TODAY IS DAY 17 WITHOUT POWER. I brought up my TV and cable modem for a few hours last week w/ my neighbor's generator and it actually worked. If that action voids the credit I was supposed to get, I'm gonna be pi$ed.

Just don't volunteer that info to Comcast and I think you'll be fine. In theory you were without service anyway since you weren't able to partake in their offering.

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Just don't volunteer that info to Comcast and I think you'll be fine. In theory you were without service anyway since you weren't able to partake in their offering.

I doubt they'll pay a credit for the time the power was out. They don't give a credit when my TV or PC are broken.

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I doubt they'll pay a credit for the time the power was out. They don't give a credit when my TV or PC are broken.

They are giving credit for the entire time your power was out - since you wouldn't have cable/internet during that period - I just finished my "online chat" with them - it took a while - but got $35 off my bill. They asked me how long my service was out and calculated my credit.

There is a bit more at this link: http://www.click2houston.com/investigates/...162/detail.html

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They are giving credit for the entire time your power was out - since you wouldn't have cable/internet during that period - I just finished my "online chat" with them - it took a while - but got $35 off my bill. They asked me how long my service was out and calculated my credit.

There is a bit more at this link: http://www.click2houston.com/investigates/...162/detail.html

Dang! That's incredibly generous of Comcast.

Edit: Wow, I just spend 2 minutes on the chat thing and got 2 weeks credit for cable TV and internet.

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Which came back first?

Cable

Satellite

Phone line (for DSL)

Pick the one that survived the storm, or came back first and make that your provider.

My cable was up when power came on. My mom's satellite dish is still pointing at empty space. I haven't had a phone line for 8 years.

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I doubt they'll pay a credit for the time the power was out. They don't give a credit when my TV or PC are broken.

They are crediting me for all days I was w/o cable and internet, including those days when the power was out. They said it came to 16 days... $80 or so.

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I guess I'll get to play this game with AT&T.

Never lost phone service during or ofter the storm until last Friday. Still waiting on a service call. There is still a very faint dial tone, but lots of weird noise in the line, and we appear to be crossed with at least one other phone number. Anybody ever experienced something like that?

No DSL, pooh. :angry:

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Never lost phone service during or ofter the storm until last Friday. Still waiting on a service call. There is still a very faint dial tone, but lots of weird noise in the line, and we appear to be crossed with at least one other phone number. Anybody ever experienced something like that?

Dial tone? How 20th century.

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Never lost phone service during or ofter the storm until last Friday. Still waiting on a service call. There is still a very faint dial tone, but lots of weird noise in the line, and we appear to be crossed with at least one other phone number. Anybody ever experienced something like that?

sounds like the lines got wet. my parents used to get this all the time. here's some other info we got at work.

CABLE AND COMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS

T-Mobile is topping off pre-paid cell phones that were running low at no charge to make sure people don't run out of service, and it has suspended collections calls in Houston and Galveston.

Sprint is waiving roaming fees, call-forwarding, late fees and overage charges for customers who use more minutes or text messages than they're allowed between Sept. 9 and Oct. 11, said spokeswoman Kristin Wallace. The company is also offering free call-forwarding service and Sprint has suspended collections calls and service disconnections.

AT&T has suspended all disconnections and collection activities. The company is providing free local and long-distance calling in all of its retail stores, and is offering free Wi-Fi service to anyone at all area Barnes and Noble locations, said spokesman Dan Feldstein. AT&T will work with customers on their billing on a case-by-case basis. AT&T also offers its customers rollover minutes, allowing them to absorb a month in which their usage is heavier than normal.

Verizon Wireless is giving one month of free service in the 409 area code and has suspended collections calls in the Greater Houston area, said spokeswoman Gretchen LeJeune.

Verizon which provides landline phone service in several cities around Galveston Bay, has suspended collections calls and disconnections, said spokesman Lee Gierczynski.

Comcast has suspended disconnections and collections, said spokesman Ray Purser.

Time Warner Cable, which provides cable service for Beaumont and parts of Southeast Texas, has credited customers' accounts back to Sept. 12 and will extend credits until service is restored, said spokesman Gary Underwood. The company also is not disconnecting customers or making collections calls.

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