Comcast.. service and billing issues

[HTX]

Since October 13th of this year I have been in a black hole with them over both issues. I've probably spent 10 hours on the phone with CS, I've had 4 techs out here and two "re wire" guys. Nothing has been fixed

My accounting tells me they owe me $185.00, they think differently. I finally talked to the Houston Department Utilities responsible for regulating them along with electric, gas and whatever and they tell me they have a secret number to the upper echelon and are forwarding my complaint. I'll hold my breath for a day or two...but if (when) that fails I am bound and determined move forward with legal action.

I've been to www.comcastmustdie.com but it looks like they are shutting down or at the very least changing their focus after claiming victory for their cause. Other than that I can not find much information on how to go about identifying who you address letters to, who you would name in a suit or serve papers to for Houston Small Claims Courts etc.

Has anyone else been down this path?

[Mr. Chenevert]

Not with Comcast, but I have taken companies to small claims court over relatively small amounts of money.

The cases never make it to trial. A company rep calls you before trial and asks what it takes to settle. If you are fair, they send you a check before the court date and everyone is happy.

Just find a nearby justice of the peace and submit the short paperwork and processing fee. Its very easy.

[jm1fd]

Another potential tactic is to find some low, low level grunt that works at ComCrap and serve them with the lawsuit papers. A famous example of this is someone serving papers to a Dell mall kiosk employee. Employee didn't pass along the info, company didn't show up to defend itself, company lost.

[TexasVines]

I did tech support 2 separate times one for @Home which included Comcast and once directly for Comcast....though I say for @Home and Comcast both were actually 3rd party suppliers of support services (Stream and Convergys) but you are instructed to tell the subscribers you work for Comcast (or any of the other MSOs for @Home)

The support agents should be able to give you the address and number for the legal department of Comcast

I believe it is

Comcast

1500 Market Street

Philadelphia, PA 19102

ATTN: Legal Department/Arbitration

more than likely if you read your latest subscriber agreement you have been opted into arbitration unless you specifically tried to opt out

I see little chance that you will ever get any actual money from them for a number of reasons and even if you do I can just about guarantee that it will cost you a great deal more in legal fees unless you are a lawyer....and if you are a lawyer I think you would probably know this and just ditch Comcast and find a way to bill a client for 15-20 minutes and get your $185 back

can I ask how you came to the amount of $185?

also you will get ZERO response form any city or government organization

if it was still @Home and I had the same "tools and authorities" as in the past and I still had the job I could probably get you hooked back up and running or tell you what the issue is almost for sure

once it was just Comcast there were extreme limits on what anyone could do and it really hampered customer service (which was and is Comcast's plan)

IMO Comcast is the worst of the worst for internet and Cable Companies in general are the worst ISPs because they do and forever will view the internet as something like Cable TV....IE something you can live without for days at a time and a play service for browsing crap.....Telcos are much better ISPs....I have only had Cox as a cable ISP and they sucked and I used to toy with the techs until the issues got to where I dropped them.....I have never had any real issues with a Telco ISP and the few I have had were resolved nearly immediately and or as soon as a larger network was fixed....and I only remember that one time and AT&T was open about it being THEIR issue and how large it was

I am no Comcast apologist, but I see you getting ZERO real satisfaction from them....you will NEVER get a check from them and the most you MAY get is an offer of free service or billing credits

Lastly if you even mention to a tech at any level that you are recording he call they will disconnect....if you mention legal action to a tech they will refer you to the legal department and disconnect

I just looked through my pile of Comcrap training materials and there is no address for the legal department or phone numbers.....I used to have a collection of direct higher tier support numbers for all the major Cable MSOs in the USA left over from my @Home days....if you would like I can see if can dig them up and I know most still work and they will be shocked to hear you as a subscriber on the line, but thy will be your last resort for any REAL support...some of them were the types of numbers where you heard someone actually pick up a phone and just say "hello" Vs. someone in a call que coming on and giving a spiel....they are also the types of numbers where as recently as last year people on some forums got extremely mad at me posting them.....because they go to the NOC and higher and are closely guarded

I would be glad to answer any and all further questions about your billing issue and your service issue if you have them.....I was pretty damn good at getting people hooked back up when I had the tools and authority....unless it was an issue with the plant itself, but even then I could narrow down the issue very closely....so if you would like to tell me what is up I would be glad to read it and offer advice

My advice on the billing is you will only get an offer of credits at the most, you will ONLY be offered credit for the actual MINUTES you were down, you will get nothing form the legal department in the way of satisfaction, and you are probably opted into arbitration

[HTX]

TV, thanks for the info.

If I can take them to SCC I want to do it here which means I need to serve someone local. Finding that name and address is the real PITA.

I'm not sure how they got to 185.00 either but the short version of f that fee is that for the past 5 years or so I just send them an auto draft for the services I buy above the basic cable subscription that my HOA includes in our association fees. In June of this year Comcast dropped me from that role for no apparent reason. In October they cut service for non payment. I called tech support thinking it was a tech issue. Turned out it was not lol and yeah, I should have been checking the bill every month. Anyway, CS said only way they could turn service back on was for a payment in that amount, which I did. Service was turned back on in minutes but about a third of my station no longer worked, on both the basic list and premium level. The next day I confirmed that my HOA was current. I called CS back but by then they had already credited my account for the error. November rolls around and my auto debit sent another preset payment. I called again about the service problem and what they wanted to do about the 185.00 I paid. CS said they did not have a credit for 185.00, only for about 45.00. At that point I started asking for an accounting of how the funds had been applied. It's gone downhill since then.

As for the service issue I did find a new to me number (713 462 1900) that got me to a live secretary not CS, I described my service issues and she connected to a guy named Derrick in Philly. His words were "yeah you are between a rock and a hard place" meaning my property is beyond the scope of a residential rewire but below the level Comcast will send a commercial rewire crew out for. Said he would see what he could do and get back to me. I have not heard from him since.

On another Comcast note. Did you know that if you have a tech issue with a box or a remote and they suggest that you bring it in for an exchange and you do that Comcast will bill you 1.99? Did you know that if they tell you at CS a tech needs to come out it will result in a 24.95 charge if they think the problem is on "your side of the cable" unless you agree to an additional 1.99 per month on your bill?

Damn good thing I work from home

[TexasVines]

sorry I was mainly thinking internet

this is the reason I don't do preauthorized billing

there is every chance if you do find someone local be it TV or internet that they will actually not be COMCAST they will still be third party installers even if the truck has Comcast all over it and or they will be "Comcast Houston" or some other division or shell company of Comcast set up for tax, legal, liability, and franchise reasons so serving them will probably not get you to who is really taking their money

this issue is much different than I thought it would be I figured it was a straight service issue when it sounds like it is really an issue with their horrible billing and mixing in the HOA probably makes it impossible for anyone to figure out.....I would probably not drop this as well.....but I still believe you are opted into arbitration so I would start with a letter to the legal department looking to start the arbitration process and then Comcast will have to answer and if you go into arbitration at least they will be forced to come with a fill accounting of their billing which will probably be impossible for them to do since their back office software is garbage

I would just send off a certified letter to the above address in my other post and start in with the arbitration since I am sure you are opted into it and I am 99% sure that there will be a legal firewall between anyone in the local office and the actual parent company for a number of reasons....including protecting them from exactly what you are looking to do

[HTX]

I'm willing to go through the arbitration process, I really do think I am in the right on this one. I'll send the certified letter and let you know what happens

[Mr. Chenevert]

You can serve papers via certified mail.