Have to vent/have to bitch

debbie in seattle

debbie in seattle

Senior Member
Location
Seattle
Tried calling Comcast/Xfinity this afternoon to talk about our 'plan'. I was on hold for 2 hours!!!! While waiting I had an online chat with customer care, which couldn't help me and I was told I needed to call them! I also googled contacts for executives for Comcast and emailed someone. I was beaten, hung up, 2 hours was enough for me. I have been beaten.
 

On hold for 2 hours?? That's ridiculous.. Terrible customer service! I would have either been fuming or asleep.
 

That's like the experience I recently had with Frontier Communications(formerly Verizon), regarding my over priced/sub-par DSL service. The customer rep, told me "just a sec...." and put me on hold....an then just left[apparently] because they closed at 7PM. :shrug:
 
debbie in seattle said:
Tried calling Comcast/Xfinity this afternoon to talk about our 'plan'. I was on hold for 2 hours!!!! While waiting I had an online chat with customer care, which couldn't help me and I was told I needed to call them! I also googled contacts for executives for Comcast and emailed someone. I was beaten, hung up, 2 hours was enough for me. I have been beaten.
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I would try calling at different times in the day; they may be less busy early in the morning. I would never have held on for 2 hours; I would have hung up after 10 minutes and called back at another time. That's just my experience now a days.
 
I wouldn't have 2 hours to spend on the phone. I'd have hung up and called another time and kept calling until they helped me on my terms.
 
WOW! That company must be terrible all across the US! I have a friend that until 2 weeks ago, was paying more than $300 a month for her internet and tv. It kept going up in price and her service was being out as much or more than it was on. She wouldn't be out of service for just a few minutes it would be for hours and sometimes days! She finally cancelled and went with another company. When they asked her why she as cancelling, she told them "She got tired of paying such ridiculous prices and still didn't have any service most of the time!"
 
If the utilities in your area start planning on installing Fiber Optic service, sign up. Our local electrical co-op has strung Fibre throughout our rural areas over the past year, and we switched to that service months ago. It is Super! We have the best TV picture we've ever had, the phone is crystal clear, and the internet service gives us flawless 100MB (upload & download), for $135 a month....which is $45/month less than we were paying for landline/internet/Dish Network, before. There were a couple of minor problems, in the early weeks, lasting for less than an hour...but they have Local staff and technicians that quickly respond to any concerns.
 
Comcast is notorious in my community. But just as bad is PBS!

Several years ago, I agreed to donate monthly, during one of their fund raisers. I've decided that they've gotten enough of my money for now, and would like to discontinue the automatic charge to my credit card. No way is that possible! Their web site offers all kinds of ways to increase your donation, or start a new one, but nothing about decreasing or cancelling. I've tried calling several times. No matter what time of day, I always get a recording telling me to leave a message, and they will get right back to me. Of course they haven't.

I guess I will have to close out that credit card account, or ask the bank to close it and give me a new number. What a nuisance.
 
debbie in seattle said:
Tried calling Comcast/Xfinity this afternoon to talk about our 'plan'. I was on hold for 2 hours!!!! While waiting I had an online chat with customer care, which couldn't help me and I was told I needed to call them! I also googled contacts for executives for Comcast and emailed someone. I was beaten, hung up, 2 hours was enough for me. I have been beaten.
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My problem with them was rhe same as yours and why I switched to ATT Uverse last year.
 
Sunny said:
Comcast is notorious in my community. But just as bad is PBS!

Several years ago, I agreed to donate monthly, during one of their fund raisers. I've decided that they've gotten enough of my money for now, and would like to discontinue the automatic charge to my credit card. No way is that possible! Their web site offers all kinds of ways to increase your donation, or start a new one, but nothing about decreasing or cancelling. I've tried calling several times. No matter what time of day, I always get a recording telling me to leave a message, and they will get right back to me. Of course they haven't.

I guess I will have to close out that credit card account, or ask the bank to close it and give me a new number. What a nuisance.
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Your bank can handle it, one way is to just issue you a new card number/credit card. I have always avoided using automatic charges to a credit card or bank account. I have used automatic monthly dispersements from my checking account because I have full control of those as to the amount, for how long, and I can terminate or change any of that as I desire.
 
I am in the process of doing that right now, DP. I do have a few other accounts that are automatically paid from that card, and I am switching them to another card. When it's down to just PBS, I will close out that account.

It's too bad that people are punished for donating by having to go through such contortions to stop the donation. I will never do an automatic donation again.

P.S. I'm curious, how do you control the amount coming out of your checking account, if it's an automatic dispersement?
 
Sunny said:
I am in the process of doing that right now, DP. I do have a few other accounts that are automatically paid from that card, and I am switching them to another card. When it's down to just PBS, I will close out that account.

It's too bad that people are punished for donating by having to go through such contortions to stop the donation. I will never do an automatic donation again.

P.S. I'm curious, how do you control the amount coming out of your checking account, if it's an automatic dispersement?
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I set it up for the monthly amount, when it starts, and when it stops through the bill paying application on my banks web site. And I can change any of that whenever I want. I did that on my car note. Most other things, but not all, can be setup so they send your monthly statement to your bank and they show up on my banks web site; I then tell them how much of that to pay and when to pay it.
 
Hi Sunny - I'm only guessing here but I think they must be using "online banking". I use it all the time and pay 99% of my monthly bills that way. It is safe(at least the "safest" of the digital transfer modes that are out there), convenient (if you enjoy using your computer for such things), you don't have to "file" the proof that a payment was made (should you be challenged) the bank keeps all those records but you have total access to them, and YOU are in charge - you can schedule a regular monthly payment to anyone and if you want to stop that payment you can do that quickly and efficiently via your computer "bill pay" service with your bank - and in an emergency (e.g. your computer or your wifi connection is not working at the moment) you can place a telephone call to your bank and they will execute the stop-automatic payment instructions for you. Hope that helps, rebecca
 
NEVER EVER use those automated credit card options. STOP THEM TODAY. You don't understand what they really mean. You give the company, whom you supposedly owe a fixed amount/month, the permission to charge you ANY amount at ANY time. If that company wants to charge you the limit on the card, the credit card concern HAS to pay it. You gave permission to do that!!!! DUMB ASS!!!I found that out, when my trash collection company, which gets $29/month, took out $800;and skipped town. I called the bank to cancel the charge. But since I gave my permission to give them any amount at any time; by law, they had to pay it. Guess who had to pay back the $800. DON"T USE THOSE $#@(&%$#@ automatic charge options.
And what do you think is going to happen, if your credit card is ever co-opted. Do you know how easy it is to change the payee on those automated charges? It takes four clicks- C A S H
 
fuzzybuddy said:
NEVER EVER use those automated credit card options. STOP THEM TODAY. You don't understand what they really mean. You give the company, whom you supposedly owe a fixed amount/month, the permission to charge you ANY amount at ANY time. If that company wants to charge you the limit on the card, the credit card concern HAS to pay it. You gave permission to do that!!!! DUMB ASS!!!I found that out, when my trash collection company, which gets $29/month, took out $800;and skipped town. I called the bank to cancel the charge. But since I gave my permission to give them any amount at any time; by law, they had to pay it. Guess who had to pay back the $800. DON"T USE THOSE $#@(&%$#@ automatic charge options.
And what do you think is going to happen, if your credit card is ever co-opted. Do you know how easy it is to change the payee on those automated charges? It takes four clicks- C A S H
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Now I only have Netflix on automatic pay on a credit card. But my card company allows you to stop these payments, or dispute them, by calling the credit card company. The card company can block automatic payments for you. I was able to get back the money that had been taken out after I stopped a subscription (not Netflix, another company). Additionally, the bank can close the account you have given authority on, and open another account for you, which solves the problem of continuing charges.
 
Fuzzy, that sounds horrible. My credit card company immediately puts a freeze on any disputed charge, and gets to work investigating. I can't imagine holding the customer responsible for any amount the company wants to charge them!

I only use the credit card for regular payments, always the same amount, agreed upon in advance. So maybe you're talking about another kind of payment.

In the case of PBS, I really don't think they are a bunch of crooks. They've just made it difficult for anyone to terminate regular donations, maybe deliberately, maybe not. It's a pretty despicable way of raising money, no matter how deserving they think they are, but it isn't really theft.
 
When I contacted my credit card bank-( a really good credit union), they said since I set it up that way, they had to pay it out. They didn't have a choice. I could file fraud charges with the police, but frankly the cops won't do much if it's under $3,000. It has to do with the statute of limitations.
As far as kid programming, PBS is the undisputed star. Personally, I'm tired of the BBC programming. Others may love it. But I think it's disingenuous to show what is essentially a commercial; but with a wink it isn't.
 
Just moved and the ONLY TV service allowed in the apt. complex is Comcast. They have a lock on it. Live here and watch TV, you must use Comcast. My last service was with DIRECT via satellite and their service - while not cheap - was great. DVR capabilities were enormous, use and recordings easy and quick. Never any problems except an occasional re-boot after storm.

With Comcast, frequent outages, poor DVR capacity, difficult/confusing remote usage and very expensive.
 

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