The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: franksolich on April 18, 2008, 06:29:42 AM
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3171827
Oh my.
The Joanne98 primitive just copied-and-pasted a news story here; not her original thoughts.
Joanne98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-17-08 04:52 PM
Original message
Comcast: Worst. Company. Ever.
Craig Aaron
Inspired by March Madness, the folks at the Consumerist blog recently set up brackets to determine America’s worst company. The tournament was still going on as this column went to press, but I’m not afraid to predict the winner.
It will be Comcast — in a rout.
Sure, you skeptics are thinking, “What about Wal-Mart? Exxon? Halliburton?†I’ll admit that we can’t (yet) connect Comcast to child labor, environmental destruction or Dick Cheney (although clearly you’ve never sat for seven hours on a Saturday waiting for a new DVR). But I’m not alone in my seething rage for the nation’s largest cable company.
The Internet is filled with sites — like ComcastMustDie.com, ComCraptic.com and ComcastSucks.org — dedicated to the company. Comcast customer Brian Finkelstein’s video of one of its technicians sleeping on his couch has been watched more than 1 million times on YouTube.
Then there’s Mona Shaw. This once mild-mannered retired nurse from northern Virginia (a square-dancing Unitarian, no less) got so fed up with Comcast’s lousy customer service that she went down to the local office armed with a claw hammer. Here’s the play-by-by from a Washington Post profile of Shaw:
Shaw storms in the company’s office. BAM! She whacks the keyboard of the customer service rep. BAM! Down goes the monitor. BAM! She totals the telephone. People scatter, scream, cops show up and what does she do? POW! A parting shot to the phone!
Shaw was arrested and earned a $345 fine, along with the admiration of millions.
Awful customer service is one thing. But what’s truly frightening are Comcast’s plans to turn the freewheeling, open Internet into something that looks like, well, cable TV.
Comcast is one of the leading opponents of “Net Neutrality†— the fundamental principle that prevents service providers from discriminating against websites or services based on their source, ownership or destination. Along with AT&T, Time Warner and Verizon, Comcast has claimed that Net Neutrality is just “a solution in search of a problem.†Well, here’s the problem: Last fall, the Associated Press caught Comcast secretly blocking popular — and legal — peer-to-peer file-sharing. First, Comcast denied it. Then it claimed it was just “reasonable network management.â€
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3605/comcast_worst_... /
I think what happened was that the Joanne98 primitive didn't pay her bill, and so service was shut off, and now the Joanne98 primitive is pissed.
IanDB1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-17-08 05:00 PM
Response to Original message
2. Verizon is worse than Comcast. They do all the evil things Comcast does, plus lets Bush spy on you.
Oh my.
Paint It Black (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-17-08 05:01 PM
Response to Original message
3. I'd love to see Comcast get bought out by Brighthouse Networks
Brighthouse might not be perfect, but I haven't really had many problems with them over the past few years. As a matter of fact, I've actually gotten pretty good service from them, and they've been very responsive whenever I've had serious issues with them.
notesdev (154 posts) Thu Apr-17-08 05:09 PM
Response to Original message
5. Tell me about it
Twice over the course of two years my Internet shuts off without warning, I call up, they tell me that my modem is registered to someone else. WTF? THEY installed the modem, THEIR people put it in, THEIR people turned it on.
A couple of months ago I called to cancel the cable TV part of the service, since I don't watch TV at all for six months out of the year. I figured, why pay for half a year of service, every year, for something I don't want or use? So I call to cancel it, and they make me an offer - they'll charge me only $5/mo. more than having Internet service only. I say OK since that's actually a net savings for me over paying full price for half a year. Next month, they charge me full price as if the call never happened!
So I plug the cable box in the other day thinking I'd see what's on the boob tube. Lo and behold, the cable box for which they (over)charged me displays on the screen "Not Authorized". It gives me a number to call. So I call, and wait on hold for an hour. Finally, I get frustrated and figure out a way to get it reauthorized through the automated menu system.
I could go on and on and on about these people. The thing is, their customer service call center people are pretty good, it's the people behind the scenes who really screw things up.
elehhhhna (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-17-08 05:11 PM
Response to Original message
6. DId they mention Comcast's lack of background checks on techs in Chicago a few years ago? The rapists, I mean.
lapislzi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-17-08 05:24 PM
Response to Original message
7. Hear, hear!
Not only do they suck, in my area, they are the ONLY show in town. If you want cable TV or broadband, it's Comcast or nothing. Take it or leave it. No competition. Total monopoly. Don't get me started on these bozos. I would rather stick burning spears in my eyes than telephone them to resolve a problem of any kind--and there are frequent problems with their non-service.
BlueManDude (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-17-08 05:54 PM
Response to Original message
8. There is no cable competition here in Boston.
junofeb (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-17-08 06:17 PM
Response to Original message
9. Dropped comcast, they kept consistently over billing us and our whole internet system would crash if we tried to download anything...even things we'd paid for. Seems they don't like people sending and recieving large files no matter what the reason...at least if you're not paying for their super-duper commercial service.
We're doing Quest DSL for internet now, but we may be stuck when Mr Feb decides he wants TV again (ie football season) because the only competion to comcast is direct TV and being a renter, I don't want to deal with the logistics of hooking up a dish at my place.
burythehatchet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-17-08 06:26 PM
Response to Original message
10. I dumped COmcast with glee about 6 months ago
I reminded them that I pay them about 1500 per year for their (lack of) services. I'm glad to be vindicated in that there are so many others experiencing the same.
Lydia Leftcoast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-17-08 06:32 PM
Response to Original message
11. Their broadband service has been okay for me (knock on wood) but I have dropped their TV service down to the lowest of the lowest tiers after they removed some of my favorite channels AND moved some of the others into the pay-only tier.
I realized that I was hardly watching the upper channels, so I canceled them. The only ones I miss are Turner Classic Movies and the Weather Channels. The rest are turning crappier by the week, judging from what I see in the listings.
As someone on another board noted, all the cable channels seem to be going after the same "slack-jawed, armpit-scratching demographic."
GreatCaesarsGhost (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-17-08 07:25 PM
Response to Original message
13. i have comcast cable and the biggest advertiser seems to be Comcast.
chimpsrsmarter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-17-08 08:10 PM
Response to Reply #13
15. yup, i see their ads all the time for regular home service and business service.
magellan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Apr-17-08 08:08 PM
Response to Original message
14. Comcast closed port 25 on us a few weeks ago, no warning
Suddenly we just couldn't send emails. I spent hours on the phone with them, certain they'd done something, but every so-called tech told me it was the fault of our email program. Load of bunk. I had to hunt around on the net for a few more hours to discover the problem myself, and it was easily worked around -- ONCE I KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON.
Comcast, worse than useless. We don't have much choice here though. DSL is crap compared to cable. And with little to no competition allowed, there's no incentive for anyone to provide a good service at a competitive price.
THANK YOU CONGRESS.
You know, to me, "Comcast" is just a name, nothing more. Big corporations don't generally operate in Nebraska, because the market's too small and the distances too great.
And so I have no idea if the primitive complaints are valid or not, but because they're primitives, well.....
It does strike me however that the primitive comments about Comcast could be comments of decent and civilized people regarding the government (instead of the corporation), and since the primitives so admire the government, surely they shouldn't have any problems with the ways Comcast does things, emulating the government.
I dunno.
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I use ComCast and it's never deprived me of an opportunity to piss-off a hippy-crite.
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I love Comcast. I never have a problem with them and I have them for phone, cable, and internet. In fact I think if the DUmmies hate Comcast I will buy stock! :tongue:
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I think it depends on where you live. As with all utility services. At least that's been my experience in all of the different places we've lived. Add to that the fact that DUmmies don't understand the concept of personal responsibility and you can see why they get so angry.
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I think it depends on where you live. As with all utility services. At least that's been my experience in all of the different places we've lived. Add to that the fact that DUmmies don't understand the concept of personal responsibility and you can see why they get so angry.
Bing!
I'd H5 you, but I already did that 7 minutes (or so) ago . . . so, :-*
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Comcast works just fine for my father. His Internet is lightening quick and his PC handles a live video stream just fine, where mine stops and rebuffers ever five freakin' seconds. If Comcast serviced my area, I'd get them lickety-split.
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Comcast works just fine for my father. His Internet is lightening quick and his PC handles a live video stream just fine, where mine stops and rebuffers ever five freakin' seconds. If Comcast serviced my area, I'd get them lickety-split.
Knowing the Joanne98 primitive (not personally, of course, but through simple observation of her on Skins's island), it looks to me as if she was behind on her bill, and they shut off service.
Apparently she paid the bill--she's back on Skins's island--but probably it had to be in cash or money order only, no checks, and probably there were penalties and other fees charged her.
And so the Joanne98 primitive is pissed off, as if it's their fault.
By the way, her male heir just got out of prison down there in Texas the other week, and she was all agog and excited about it, after which no more bonfires about his homecoming (the last one lit had involved his pending homecoming).
Tennessee wanted him on a felony; I don't know how this deal works, but after leaving prison in Texas, would Joanne98 Jr. been sent to prison in Tennessee?
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Comcast works just fine for my father. His Internet is lightening quick and his PC handles a live video stream just fine, where mine stops and rebuffers ever five freakin' seconds. If Comcast serviced my area, I'd get them lickety-split.
Knowing the Joanne98 primitive (not personally, of course, but through simple observation of her on Skins's island), it looks to me as if she was behind on her bill, and they shut off service.
Apparently she paid the bill--she's back on Skins's island--but probably it had to be in cash or money order only, no checks, and probably there were penalties and other fees charged her.
And so the Joanne98 primitive is pissed off, as if it's their fault.
By the way, her male heir just got out of prison down there in Texas the other week, and she was all agog and excited about it, after which no more bonfires about his homecoming (the last one lit had involved his pending homecoming).
Tennessee wanted him on a felony; I don't know how this deal works, but after leaving prison in Texas, would Joanne98 Jr. been sent to prison in Tennessee?
It would seem to me that, if the Tennessee authorities knew about the male heir of Joanne98 being in prison in Texas, they would be waiting at said prison when said prisoner was released by Texas. So, yes--he could be in a Tennessee State Prison as I type.
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^kind of what I was thinking. His hosts in California may have even arranged the introduction :-)
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I have it here in coastal Georgia; it is not the best cable provider I've ever had, but the programming isn't that much worse either. I don't use them for ISP, and their service has unpredictably been turned off for no reason at times (no reason besides contracted installers who can't figure out they're turning off the wrong stuff, or failed update pushes to the box, or other such non-reasons, that is).
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Comcast works just fine for my father. His Internet is lightening quick and his PC handles a live video stream just fine, where mine stops and rebuffers ever five freakin' seconds. If Comcast serviced my area, I'd get them lickety-split.
Knowing the Joanne98 primitive (not personally, of course, but through simple observation of her on Skins's island), it looks to me as if she was behind on her bill, and they shut off service.
Apparently she paid the bill--she's back on Skins's island--but probably it had to be in cash or money order only, no checks, and probably there were penalties and other fees charged her.
And so the Joanne98 primitive is pissed off, as if it's their fault.
By the way, her male heir just got out of prison down there in Texas the other week, and she was all agog and excited about it, after which no more bonfires about his homecoming (the last one lit had involved his pending homecoming).
Tennessee wanted him on a felony; I don't know how this deal works, but after leaving prison in Texas, would Joanne98 Jr. been sent to prison in Tennessee?
Thanks for that update. I was wondering how the homecoming went and I didn't see any posts from her about it.
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I have occasional problems with Comcast - occasional slow internet - heavy pixelization of Television broadcasts but they are only intermittent and usually resolve themselves pretty quickly.
That being said, Id dump Comcast in a heartbeat for FiOS -- once its available here. Which I suspect will be by the end of the year.
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I have Comcast TV and internet. A couple of weeks ago my cable modem went out and there was a tech there with a new modem within about 90 mins. after I called customer service. They checked the connection outside the house while they were there and tweaked or changed something that increased my download speed by another 1-2 Mbps. They replaced the Time Warner/Roadrunner service we previously had. No problems with them so far.