Comcast No Service, No compensation, lost income, Customer Service Out of Country Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Over 3 years ago I had Comcast services installed in my home.  At the time I wasn't using my internet that much but still had troubles with it going in and out.  I called the Customer Service Center time after time.   As as many of you know who have Comcast Service the call goes through a call center in a different country.  I press one for English and what a joke.  I spend 20, 30, 45 minutes to an hour on the phone with someone who can't understand a word I am saying and likewise.  They have be standing on my head unplugging things and turning things on and off only to return to the phone and say "we are going to have to send a tech out."  I have wasted hours and hours of my time with their customer service center (if you can call it that) only to have a tech sent out to my home.  They looked at my internet service which happened to work fine at the time they were here.  They would also unplug something or reboot something and say that its working now.  Well, it wasn't and hasn't for almost 3 years.  

Several months ago I started working at home to make extra money so I could take care of my mother.  My internet was constantly going in and out. This time I meant business.  I needed my internet fixed.  I called the customer service center, stood on my head, talked to techs at my home and months go by and I am fighting to get my service going. Meantime I am having to pay my bill as if nothing is wrong.  I lost money-I lost Jobs-I lost credibility with the companies I work for because I couldn't get my reports in on time or when I got them in they were incomplete because the service was constantly going in and out.  I would call the Customer Service Center enter all my personal information to talk with someone only to have to do it again and verify everything all over again.  I would tell them my service was out, I had them confirm with me that my service indeed was out, I would then tell them to document it in my file that I had no service.

One day I get a phone call from Comcast.  I had forgotten to pay my bill.  No problem I said, here is my credit card information pay the entire amount.  What happens, I am out on the job one day while my mother who is deathly ill is at home alone and find out she has no phone service.  If she had fallen or started bleeding (due to dialysis) she could have not picked up the phone and called 911 because Comcast had lost a payment.  They lost a payment they called me for and I paid over the phone with a good credit card.  I apologize to my customer and left the job site immediately and went to a local Comcast office. I told them my phone was out.  They told me that it wasn't.  I ask them to pick up the phone and call and if my mother answered I would gladly leave.  They wouldn't even do that.  They said it wasn't disconnected.  I told they the recording I got when I called my number said the number had been DISCONNECTED.  What part of disconnected do they not understand.  I had to come home and make sure my mother was OK since she now had no way of getting help if she needed it. I called the customer service center and ask them the same thing. Please call my number and if it says anything but disconnected I will leave you alone. They wouldn't do that either.  They insisted the phone was not disconnected.  When you call a number and get a recording stating the number has been disconnected, it's disconnected.  I finally get someone to admit that it was disconnected and that my other services were going to be cut off because I hadn't paid my bill.  I told them yes I had, I showed them where the money was taken from my account on the exact date and the exact time.  Do they offer to allow me to continue my service until the payment has been found, NO.  They still insist that I make another payment to replace that one until they find it.  I told them NO WAY I could do that.  I don't have the money.  I just dropped the issue, went and got my mother a cell phone and transported the numner.  She can hardly see and use the phone but at least we know she can dial 911 in the event of an emergency.

I have ask Comcast to give me credit for that amount since I had to stop payment on it and during the time I lost jobs and money.  Money I really needed very badly to purchase a stair lift so my mother could get up and down the stairs.  I send the CEO an email and he can't respond himself to a simple email, he has one of the customer service people call me.  The customer service person said that there wasn't anything they could do about it.  They apparently gave me something in the neighborhood of $70 credit towards what I would consider at least $1000 loss.  What really gets me is while in the local office one day exchanging my modem because I was told to since my internet didn't work, a lady came in and had a question about her bill.  The guy in the Comcast office said we're sorry about the confusion, here is a $20 credit for your troubles.  The lady had no troubles, her bill was just wrong. Had they it been an ongoing thing I could have understood, but she wasn't even upset and they gave her $20 credit.  I guess it was to make themselves look good since there were several customers in the office.  Had they given me a $20 credit every time I called about my internet being down I would be happy too.  

Finally I sent the CEO an email and literally begged him to please get my services fixed.  I told him I was losing money daily because I couldn't get jobs which are posted hourly and you have to accept them as soon as they are posted or you lose them.  I was up till 4am many mornings having to enter information time and time again because I would get bumped off and lose all my work.  Then I would have to be up in 3 hours to help get my mother ready for dialysis and head off to earn a few dollars myself to pay for her care.  

Finally at 730 one morning there were two technicians show up at my home and wanted to work on my system.  I told them that was fine.  Little did I know they actually monitored it all day long and discovered the problem still wasn't fixed.  It was the wiring outside the home where they initially installed the cable.  They had to rewire it from the road to the house.  After about 2 weeks they finally came back and buried the cable that was just laying across the yard.  This was an issue they could/should have fixed from day one but didn't.  

Now they are telling me that I owe them over $300 or my services will be disconnected.  I called and explained the situation to them and they really didn't care.  Why should they care.  They are one of the largest companies around.  They are now trying to monopolize the Cable/Internet services and then they don't have to care.  We are going to be forced to talk with someone overseas who doesn't care either.  You are going to have to spend an hour on the phone with them only to be told a tech should come out.  O, and try calling Comcast.  You can't get a local person.  I remember the good ole days when I could call the number I had memorized and talk with someone at the local center.  Not anymore.  Whoever made the decision to outsource their customer service should be kicked in the rear very hard and hopefully to the street.  

I watch Comcast commercials and turn the TV off anymore when one comes on.  I have been so stressed over this that I have lost sleep and been a nervous wreck.  I told them that without my internet service their bill wouldn't/couldn't get paid because that was how I made a living.   Well, Brian Roberts doesn't care about any of the customers.  People do not have options for service providers and that should be illegal.  And if your service is out they should at least credit you for every day that you do not have service.  I didn't even ask for every day, I just ask for help with the last few bills when my service being out made a difference in my income.  The difference being there was no income.

I really wonder what these corporate guys whose salaries are in the millions would do if the tables were turned.  There are some things we say we wouldn't wish on our best friend.  But I would love to see how they would act if their services were down for months and months continuously.  Lucky for them they have the resources and clout to get the repairs done quickly.  The average person doesn't. They have to rely on someone in Bangladesh to figure out their problems and fix them.

I am not sure what I am going to do. Paying the bill isn't an option because I don't have the money.  As I have stated over and over again, I lost jobs and money because of not having service.  I really wish that people would band together and get a class action suit against companies such as these and make them pay when the issue is on their end and it's not fixed in a timely manner.  Timely meaning a few days, not a few months.

To those at Comcast, please bring your jobs back to the USA.  There are many people right here in the US that can use these jobs. Why are you sending our jobs and our money overseas?  This makes no sense at all.  And I really wish Americans would take note and decide to only deal with local people who provide local services.  I have tried to be nice about this and had to get mean.  My last call to them I was told that I was pretty much out of luck.  Back in my day we took a man at his word.  If he said he got home from the store and his milk was sour, we gave him a fresh gallon of milk and a freebie for the next time they were in the store.  

Pray for this country for the good ole days are gone and how it's all about making the all mighty dollar.  Some people don't care who they walk over to make that dollar either.