Soxtalk's consumer thread

[kapkomet]

oh, it's good to see the love in here for Comcast, BTW.

[southsider2k5]

oh, it's good to see the love in here for Comcast, BTW.

 

And what happened to that free HBO you were gonna hook me up wit?

[LosMediasBlancas]

Comcast blows.

We had a tech scheduled to come out to the house and I specifically gave them my wife's cell # since she was gonna be at home waiting. Well guess who they called? I missed the call, but got a voice mail saying they had tried to reach us and now we had to re schedule. I called customer service and said, you guys called me only like 10 mins. ago, I missed the call, the tech can't be that far way, can he come back later? NOPE, they said we needed to reschedule. I asked why they called me and not my wife and they said because that is the phone number on the account. I was furious, but rescheduled and STRESSED for them to call my wife and not me.

One day before the next appt. I called them to find out which phone number they were gonna call and wouldn't ya know it, they were gonna call me again.

Comcast blows.

[RockRaines]

oh, it's good to see the love in here for Comcast, BTW.

They are both good and bad.

 

Their customer service doesnt know whats going on half the time.

 

The DVR HD box freezes all the time, im waiting for an upgrade.

The internet service has been great IMO.

On Demand is awesome

[SoxFan1]

TV - DirecTV

Internet - WOW

Cell Phone - Cingular

 

You cant fail with the 3.

[kapkomet]

Customer Service, is by and far, the 'worst' part of Comcast, and supported by what you all are saying here. They're trying to clean that up, and it's working in some places and not in others. It's too bad, because product wise, they're pretty good with what they offer. On demand, especially.

 

The tech issue, Los... they are seriously on that tight of a schedule. If they miss a window, they have to keep moving. The 'who to call' thing is the CSR's responsibility to get it right (back to Customer Service).

[AbeFroman]

The DVR HD box freezes all the time, im waiting for an upgrade.

 

I could not agree more. Every damn person I know has a DVR HD box that freezes. It pisses me off.

Edited June 20, 2006 by AbeFroman

[RockRaines]

I could not agree more. Every damn person I know has a DVR HD box that freezes. It pisses me off.

The main freeze issue that I have is delayed play or rewind. Also whenever I switch from HD to regular tv I get a flickering. This is fixed by simply pausing then hitting play on your dvr. The box is outdated for what they are offering.

[AbeFroman]

As far as cars go, I recently acquired a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California.

 

I must be honest here, I love driving it. It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

[RockRaines]

TV - DirecTV

Internet - WOW

Cell Phone - Cingular

 

You cant fail with the 3.

I loved directv, until I switched to Comcast because my condo association doesnt let us have dish.

 

Im not aware of WOW internet.

 

Im looking into cingular.

 

As far as cars go, I recently acquired a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California.

 

I must be honest here, I love driving it. It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

Nice Ferris Bueller reference.

 

 

As far as cars really go. I have had 3 jeeps in the past 10 years. I will not continue and get a 4th. I hate Chrysler products as they have all had so many problems. Now im torn between releasing my inner demon and picking up a rear wheel drive car (infiniti G35, Nissan Z, Mercedes CLK) or staying practical with an SUV.

Edited June 20, 2006 by RockRaines

[Balta1701]

As far as cars really go. I have had 3 jeeps in the past 10 years. I will not continue and get a 4th. I hate Chrysler products as they have all had so many problems. Now im torn between releasing my inner demo and picking up a rear wheel drive car (infiniti G35, Nissan Z, Mercedes CLK) or staying practical with an SUV.

Back while selling Vacuum cleaners, I ran into a couple of Mercedes dealers, and the general impression I got from them was that they felt the quality of their vehicles had declined when the company began introducing new models.

[RockRaines]

Does anyone use vonage for local phone service?

 

Back while selling Vacuum cleaners, I ran into a couple of Mercedes dealers, and the general impression I got from them was that they felt the quality of their vehicles had declined when the company began introducing new models.

Really? Hmmm. I really would like something that is less incline to have issues.

[Balta1701]

Does anyone use vonage for local phone service?

Really? Hmmm. I really would like something that is less incline to have issues.

Yea, in fact, even the current auto quality reports are showing the same thing. This is from a CNN piece from about 13 days ago, Google-Cached (the link is seemingly dead)

But Porsche was the only traditional German carmaker to land in the upper half of the list, as Mercedes and BMW -- names historically associated with the highest-quality automobiles -- all came in with below-average marks. Volkswagen finished third worst.

 

The results are particularly troubling for DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes unit, according to Prudential Equity Group analyst Michael Bruynesteyn.

 

"The launch of several new vehicles (R-Class, M-Class) likely contributed to the decline, although the severity of the drop off is an indication that there were probably quality issues with some of the more mature models, like the E- class and the S-class," he said. "Investors watching the turnaround at Mercedes should be very concerned." Top five (Based on problems per 100 vehicles) Bottom five (Based on problems per 100 vehicles)

 

Also, you might want to be careful about moving your phone service to something like Vonage right now, Congress may very well be on its way to quashing those VOIP phone services at the behest of the telecom lobbies, and they're facing a couple of copyright infringement suits right now. Things don't look that great for Vonage as a company right now.

[RockRaines]

Yea, in fact, even the current auto quality reports are showing the same thing. This is from a CNN piece from about 13 days ago, Google-Cached (the link is seemingly dead)

Also, you might want to be careful about moving your phone service to something like Vonage right now, Congress may very well be on its way to quashing those VOIP phone services at the behest of the telecom lobbies, and they're facing a couple of copyright infringement suits right now. Things don't look that great for Vonage as a company right now.

Thanks for the info.

 

I actually read that article on the quality of cars, and the survey that took. It re-affirmed my ideas that Lexus is still one of the top cars IMO, and I love the quality of japanese engines and build.

 

That sucks about vonage, i was seriously thinking about switching.

[Balta1701]

That sucks about vonage, i was seriously thinking about switching.

My suggestion would be to wait a while, maybe a couple months, just to see how the legal/congressional problems go. Go to Google News on occasion and search for Vonage. Oh, and IIRC, they also may still not have 911 service through those systems, so you might want to be prepared for that.

[Steff]

I loved directv, until I switched to Comcast because my condo association doesnt let us have dish.

 

Im not aware of WOW internet.

 

Im looking into cingular.

Nice Ferris Bueller reference.

As far as cars really go. I have had 3 jeeps in the past 10 years. I will not continue and get a 4th. I hate Chrysler products as they have all had so many problems. Now im torn between releasing my inner demon and picking up a rear wheel drive car (infiniti G35, Nissan Z, Mercedes CLK) or staying practical with an SUV.

 

 

 

Pass on the Mercedes. They've gone to s*** in the past several years. Mass production has resulted in quality in the crapper. I love my BMW - though it's personal pref. And the warranty and CS is unreal.

[AbeFroman]

Nice Ferris Bueller reference.

 

just check out my screenname

[RockRaines]

Pass on the Mercedes. They've gone to s*** in the past several years. Mass production has resulted in quality in the crapper. I love my BMW - though it's personal pref. And the warranty and CS is unreal.

Thanks for the suggestion. What model Bimmer do you have? I was lookin at the 330's but someone told me their quality has declined as well.

[DePloderer]

I have a problem with my newspaper not covering the White Sox more...

Er...same here.

[kapkomet]

The main freeze issue that I have is delayed play or rewind. Also whenever I switch from HD to regular tv I get a flickering. This is fixed by simply pausing then hitting play on your dvr. The box is outdated for what they are offering.

It could be the plant where-ever you are, but more likely the box.

[LosMediasBlancas]

Customer Service, is by and far, the 'worst' part of Comcast, and supported by what you all are saying here. They're trying to clean that up, and it's working in some places and not in others. It's too bad, because product wise, they're pretty good with what they offer. On demand, especially.

 

The tech issue, Los... they are seriously on that tight of a schedule. If they miss a window, they have to keep moving. The 'who to call' thing is the CSR's responsibility to get it right (back to Customer Service).

 

 

If they allow a 2 hour window per household and I missed the call by 10 mins., they still had an hour and 50 mins. before the next house was scheduled. Or do they over schedule, like 5 homes in an hour?

[Steff]

Thanks for the suggestion. What model Bimmer do you have? I was lookin at the 330's but someone told me their quality has declined as well.

 

 

 

I got the 325xi. Mainly because it has the same engine as the '05 330 - the '06 has a few more horses but not enough to warrant an additional $8K. As well the '05 330 xi (which is all wheel drive so it can be driven in the winter) I test drove in the snow in January and the wheels were s***. They changed them on the '06 325's. Stay far away from the 5 series. The "dial" they feature (it's on the center divider between the front seats and controls everything in the car - radio, temp, nav, etc..) has had a ton of trouble. I found this to be the main beef with the '06 models. It's also an accident waiting to happen since you have to look away from the road to make any changes.

The safety features are the same as the '05's with the addition of the side airbags above the doors. I also got a year of Sirius free (had to pay for installation of the hardware - which BMW offset with extra car mats, and some other "goodies") and it also has hands free bluetooth so I was able to download my phone info to the car and I just press a button and converse via the car radio.

I absolutely love it. For the price it was far more worth the value then the Lexus and Infinitiy models we were looking at.

If you decide to go with an SUV though, take a look at the Montero Limited. We got one of those last November to replace our Jeep and have falled head over heels in love with it also. It's full of surprises for being a Mitsubishi.

[SoxFan1]

I loved directv, until I switched to Comcast because my condo association doesnt let us have dish.

 

Im not aware of WOW internet.

 

Im looking into cingular.

WOW = Wide Open West. It's high speed internet and relatively cheap. We had the internet/cable combo for like $42 a month and then got DirecTV when the had the 4 room deal.

[DABearSoX]

My Major League Baseball package on Comcast was out yesterday and I called and they "sent a signal to my box" saying that it would work. Well it didn't. I called back and they can't send someone out until Friday morning to check on it. Plus my high speed internet signal has weakened as well. They refunded me for the days that I won't have my baseball games though, which is probably only a buck a day. Bastards.

 

 

Watch out, when i had a comcast guy come out to fix our HBO they switched out our box to a new one.......now I have been getting charged for an extra box for like 5 months. I keep calling and they keep saying were still looking for it......

[kapkomet]

Watch out, when i had a comcast guy come out to fix our HBO they switched out our box to a new one.......now I have been getting charged for an extra box for like 5 months. I keep calling and they keep saying were still looking for it......

ok, now that I'm not at work... listen. You people who are having problems, call in and ask to talk to either a supervisor, or one of the CSR's who deal with special problem accounts. Most of the time, that will get your issue taken care of.

 

As I said, Customer Service is a HUGE problem. In my market, people b**** like crazy about the same sorts of things. And those perceptions are hard to overcome.

 

As far as the scheduling, pretty much the way it works is they have to keep moving. If they are going to be there at the beginning of the window, and they can't get you, they keep moving. They're supposed to, if they have time, come back around IF they are in your area. They are most of the time on a fixed route and if they pass you up and are on the way to the next call, it really can jack with their schedules. To YOU, it's a two hour window. To them, it's 6-8 installs a day, sometimes more in the summer months depending on your market. Some installs take 15 minutes, some take two hours, depending on what they walk into. Hopefully that helps you understand. I know it's frustrating.