I'm a long time customer of Comcast, and have stayed as long as I have because it was fairly inexpensive when I initially signed up. I've wanted to change service many times, but I've stayed because there really aren't any other options available. It's basically the lesser of two major corporate evils, so here I am.
Well, for the past several months, my internet connection has been going out everyday, anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes. I called to see if I could get some sort of an explanation as to why this has been happening, and I was told that it appeared that the problem was more than likely their fault, but they would have to send a technician out to see for sure. Normally, I'd say great, do it, but here's where I'm uncomfortable...I was told that if the technician can't find anything wrong on their end, it would more than likely be a problem with our own cable or equipment in which case *I* would end up having to pay a service fee in order to have the technician come out.
That was one option. The other was for me to pay an extra $1.99 per month for insurance so that anytime anything went wrong the service fees wouldn't apply and the tech could come out anytime there was a problem.
I'm a bit miffed that they can't just guarantee their service without asking me to put out more money. Especially when I've been paying my bill on time every month, I've been a loyal customer, and have been dealing with the inconvenience of the internet outages yet still paying for what should be guaranteed service regardless of any extra fees that they try to tack on.
I guess when a company is one of very few evils, it's easy to just tell the customer how it's going to go down rather than appeasing a concern with an apology and perhaps a little bit of a discount for the time spent without the service.
I guess I could let the tech come out, but how can I trust that they are going to be honest about the whole thing? I really do not believe this problem is on my end (especially since they said it appeared it was on their end), and I can understand where they are coming from as far as charging someone a service fee if it's out of customer negligence. I get it. But does the customer service rep on the other line (after admitting that it's probably on their end) really have to speak to me in such a condescending tone when I balk at the possibility of having to pay for a service call?
I turned the service down....just in case I can figure out if it is on my end first. That way I'll be covered if they try charging me for something they couldn't find.
I just wish companies would treat their customers as actual people rather than a bags of money for the taking. I wish I could have guaranteed service without the threat of having to pay more. Where's my guarantee for honesty and integrity? Oh wait, I have to pay for that as well.
Customer service is dead.
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