Hello,
Last month, I purchased a TiVo Premiere. This requires me to return my dual tuner HD DVR/cable box to Comcast, and instead, obtain a multi-stream Cable Card (M-Card).
I contacted Comcast customer service during the week of November 22 to make this request. I was told that unlike upgrading from one cable box to another, which can be done in person at the Service Center at 900 Michigan Ave NE, requests for a Cable Card have to be handled by a technician coming to my home to install the card. I was told that would cost $16. Due to Comcast availability and my own travel schedule for the holiday, we set up an appointment for November 29 and took the day off from work to be home.
On November 29, the technician (we'll call him Tech #1) came to the house. After he'd been there for about 15-20 minutes, and gone out to his car twice (once for equipment, once to move the car due to parking restrictions), he told me that he would be unable to install a Cable Card because all of the cards he had with him "had been reported stolen by Comcast." He said "this happens all the time," and that Comcast "could authorize a stolen card." I asked him why he only discovered this at my home, and he told me that there's no way to know a card has been stolen until someone tries to install it. He left, and told me I would have to make a new appointment. I scheduled a second appointment for Saturday, December 4, so I wouldn't have to take a second day off from work.
On December 4, Tech #2 arrived. After 10-15 minutes of checking my coaxial cable connections from the wall and to my internet router (something that seemed irrelevant and that Tech #1 didn't do), he discovered that the four cable cards he had brought with him were all single stream cards, not multi-stream cards, and thus incompatible with TiVo (and not what I ordered). He then left and told me I would have to make a new appointment. I scheduled a third appointment for Monday, December 13 and took the day off from work to be home.
On December 6, Tech #3 called me from his car en route to my home. He asked what service he would need to provide. I told him he would be installing a multi-stream Cable Card. He told me that he didn't have any cable cards. That the warehouse had told him that morning that they were out of cable cards and wouldn't get more in until later in the week. I asked him why I wouldn't have been notified sooner that they didn't have the equipment I needed. He said he didn't know. He also told me that the request had been entered wrong from the beginning, that what should have been labeled a change-of-service request was instead labeled as something else. I didn't really understand everything he was saying. He went on to say that I should be very careful about returning my DVR to a technician, since "they could just walk off with it and tell Comcast they didn't take it." He then told me I would have to make a new appointment.
I then called Comcast and explained all of this. This time, I was told that I could just bring my DVR to the Service Center at 900 Michigan Ave NE and exchange it for a Cable Card. I explained that I had raised this possibility weeks earlier, and was told that only a technician could install a card. She said this wasn't true, and that I should go to the Service Center. I told her that Tech #3 had told me, earlier that day, that the warehouse told him they were out of cards and wouldn't have any until later in the week. I asked if we could call the Service Center to check whether they did, in fact, have any. She told me that they have no phone number and don't take incoming calls, and that I would have to take my chances and drive there. I did.
At the Service Center, I waited in line for about 20 minutes, and then explained that I needed to change my service, return my DVR, and get a multi-stream Cable Card. She agreed, took the DVR, and handed me a card. I asked if there was anything special I needed to do to install it. She gave me a paper with instructions on how to install a digital receiver and a phone number to call. I went home.
At home, I put the card in the TiVo, and called the number indicated on the paper. At that time, the TiVo began receiving most channels of television, but NOT the premium channels I subscribe to (HBO, Showtime). On screen, codes for the card were displayed with instructions to call my cable company. I called Comcast.
This time, Comcast asked me "how I got a card." I told her that I was told to go pick one up, I went, I picked one up, and took it home. He told me that none of that should have happened, and that only a technician could install a card. I asked whether I could read the codes/numbers that were on my screen so that I could complete the install myself. I was told that only a technician could do that. I asked whether it was true that all a technician would do is stand in my house, call Comcast, and read the same numbers over the phone. He said yes, but that the techs called a different number, not him. I asked whether I could call that number. He said no, they don't take calls from customers. He told me I would have to make another appointment. I scheduled an appointment (#4) for Thursday, December 9, and arranged to leave work early. I also asked to speak with a supervisor. I was told that no supervisor was available, but that I could put in a request for a supervisor to call me back within the next 24 hours. I put in that request.
I missed a call from the supervisor after 9pm that night (I was asleep). She left a voice mail explaining why a technician needs to install a card. (That wasn't my complaint, of course. My complaint was and is the entire process I've been through.) She left her first name, and a phone number. I called that number today, and was routed back to the general Comcast number. I had to put in a second request to talk with a supervisor, again. That call has yet to be returned.
While making the second supervisor request, I also explained to the service rep on the phone that I wanted to be sure that I was only charged the $16 installation fee once, and not four times, given all these tech visits and failed attempts. (At this point, I think the fee should be waived altogether, but that's beside the point.) She then told me that while I hadn't yet been charged anything for the three visits that had already taken place, the appointment now scheduled for the 9th would cost $30, not $16, because it was now a repair job, not a change of service install. I asked how that was possible. She explained that because I now HAVE the card, the visit is to fix a problem with that card, not install it. But of course that's not true. The visit is to complete the installation of the card, a card I only have because Comcast gave it to me, incorrectly, and told me to bring it home and install it myself. The notion that after ALL of this, I would have to pay MORE, is absurd.
More than once during this process I've been tempted to cancel all of my services from Comcast and call RCN. Please give me a reason -- any reason -- NOT to do that at this time.
Thank you.
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