Thursday, May 12, 2016

Data Caps? Want a big slice of ISP Anal Rape? Comcast says take 2! Take the whole Goddamn pie they say!



Comcast loves to stick it to you, they do it 359 million times more than their entire work force fornicate with their spouses. They have a lot of workers and even though they don't give 1 fuck, that's a lot of fucks they dish out, fucking you over!

I would love you guys to take a look at this article, and the link to the original is here comcast wants you to suffer. So here's the content friends;

The Wall Street Journal has a great report about broadband data caps this week, revealing something everyone already knows: people really don't like the bullshit that huge broadband companies put them through. Through a Freedom Of Information Act request, WSJ found that consumer complaints to the FCC skyrocketed in 2015 as Comcast in particular started ramping up data cap experiments across the country. Complaints about data caps reportedly rose from 863 in the first half of the 2015, to 7,904 in the second half — and continued into 2016 with 1,463 complaints made as of mid-April. Of course people aren't happy about cable company shenanigans, but only a few companies can get away with it like Comcast can, which is one of the biggest reasons the United States' monopolistic broadband market is a huge failure.

The Journal points out what we've been saying all along: data caps, beyond being a flagrant money grab, are a threat to video competitors like Netflix that exist completely in the "over-the-top" network. It's probably the biggest and most obvious conflict of interest in the communications industry; Comcast, as a company that makes a lot of money off selling cable television to people, has huge incentives to make it harder for customers to enjoy pure internet services like Netflix. So schemes like data caps, which have already been used extensively in the wireless industry to reap as much money as possible from customers, exist solely to frustrate those customers — which is really an incredible situation in a country that ostensibly cares so much about the virtue of competition.

THE POINT OF DATA CAPS IS TO FRUSTRATE CUSTOMERS ENOUGH TO MAKE THEM PAY

"We everyday contribute to the use and growth of the internet," Comcast executive Marcien Jenckes told the Journal. "There is absolutely no anticompetitive belief or objective." That's such an obvious lie it hurts; Comcast's own Stream TV internet television service doesn't count against data caps. If data caps weren't anti-competitive, why would Comcast give its own internet service a privileged position? The answer is the same as it's always been: Comcast really hates actually competing with anyone.

The conversation about "net neutrality" can often quickly become a nightmare of semantics and pedantry — and ironically I suspect the cable companies have benefitted from it becoming a huge buzzword. That's what happens when you get caught up in drawing the boundaries around words and rules: you can forget what the point of the whole thing was in the first place, or struggle to think about the bigger picture. The big picture is still this: only a few huge companies control both the wireline and wireless networks that everyone depends on. They want to extract as much money as possible from those networks while suffering as little competition as possible. Again, for instance, that's why Comcast chose to try to dominate Time Warner Cable by buying it instead of competing with it.

Comcast told The Wall Street Journal it's "now actively considering substantially increasing" its data caps. Comcast created those data caps in the first place, likely knowing they would frustrate customers. It's no wonder Comcast and its peers want to grind the FCC into dust — it's the only way they can keep playing games with a critical public utility.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Comcast does dirty business like no other!



Gizmodo wrote a great article on how big of scumfuck's comcast is and I want you to enjoy It. Link to the original is here, BAM.

Comcast is notorious for being a bunch of raging dickholes that we’d like cleave from our lives. But the company is also, you know, the largest internet service provider in the United States, one that has strong stranglehold on a big chunk of us and that loves to cap the crap out of the one service you need every day. Comcast is also super, duper scared of any and all competition.

Years after attempting to prevent a small city at the edge of the Cumberland Plateau from building its own gigabit network, Atlanta has become a particular source of terror for Comcast. That’s where the company is freaking out because Google Fiber will be infiltrating homes in just a few months.

First, there was Comcast’s announcement of healthy competition. Just some truly spectacular internet speeds that were heretofore unknown from Comcast. Oh—but the gigabit speeds are only available in markets where cheaper, better services were already providing gigabit data speeds or planning to provide them shortly. Atlanta is one of those markets.

Then Comcast blanketed the home of Coca-Cola in fliers that advertised how its fast new internet services are waaaaay better than that lame Google Fiber crap everyone is praising.

All the Fucked Up Things Comcast Is Doing to Compete With Google Fiber
Okay...at least two of those claims are probably true. Source: Imgur
If you’ll notice way down at the bottom of the flyer there’s a note about Comcast’s claim of having faster wi-fi than Google Fiber. The test to determine speeds was performed two years ago, in 2014, by a lab that Comcast has done business with for years. Yeah, that’s probably accurate and unbiased.

Now, Comcast is finally deploying its gigabit service for $70 a month. That’s a fantastic price! That’s on par with Google Fiber! If you’re down with regularly dealing with the boil on the taint of America, it’s a fricking deal!

There is one hiccup. You have to sign a three-year contract to get the deal. Otherwise you’ll be paying $140 a month and facing a 300GB data cap—which you should smash rather quickly with your new firehose of an internet connection. You can pay to have the data cap removed, of course. Because capitalism is great. That will, however, bring your month bill up to $175 a month. And regardless, Comcast will probably hike up the price when the promo period ends, because that’s what Comcast does.

In a sense, though, this shit show is worth something. At the end of the day, Comcast is showing how healthy competition is for capitalism. It’s even playing a role in getting the government to intervene by creating rules to protect net neutrality and help end the age-old American tradition of telecom monopolies. So thanks for being a raging bunch of dickholes, Comcast. You’re making everyone else look like saints.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

75 year old woman arrested for smashing up Comcast waiting room with a Hammer!


Check out this incredible story of an angry older lady smashing up a comcast waiting room!
You can find the original story here - Woman Smashes up Comcast with a Hammer;

Mona "The Hammer" Shaw doesn't have any regrets about laying waste to her local Comcast office with said construction tool, bucko, don't you worry.
Once she got out of the handcuffs that August 2007 afternoon, and a story in The Washington Post made the 70-something retired nurse from Bristow a folk hero for fed-up customers everywhere, life has been sweet.\
She's lost 45 pounds. She and her husband of nearly half a century, Don, work out at the gym and she's got some buff biceps. They still take in dogs from the local shelter and are active in their Unitarian church.
And, oh, people still call her "The Hammer Lady."

Her celebrity began when Comcast couldn't provide her steady service of its Triple Play option, which combined phone, cable and Internet service. After the Shaws' many complaints, Comcast cut off service entirely. She went to the office to speak to a manager, Comcast had her wait two hours and the manager left for the day. The next Monday morning, it was hammer time. Shaw demolished the customer service rep's monitor, keyboard and telephone. While people ducked under desks and called the cops, Shaw bellowed: "Have I got your attention now?"\
Sure, she got tossed into the squad car, but what of it? After the story about her exploits ran, the charges were dropped. There were hundreds of calls and letters, endless pats on the back from friends and neighbors, and complete strangers sent her money to pay legal bills (she donated it all to the local animal shelter).


Dr. Phil flew her out to Los Angeles, limos and airfare and hotels included, for a show on vigilante justice. "I was the vigilante," she says proudly. Three years later, people still cite her as the image of fed-up consumers -- CBS News came down in November for another piece.
Meanwhile, Don gave her a golden brooch of ... a hammer. She wears it everywhere. They had T-shirts made up, a picture of her and her red-and-black steel hammer on the front. On the back, her do-we-still-have-a-problem-here-missy question of the customer service rep.
"I have had so much fun with this," she says.
The only real downsides were that her 95-year-old mother-in-law "thought I'd lost my marbles," and she had to pay her lawyer $2,500 for services that she thought were somewhat less than exemplary. (No hammer was involved in the billable hours discussion, however.)
On a recent sunny afternoon, she and Don received a visitor in their modest ranch-style house.
After an hour of catching up, there is only one question left. Who is your cable and Internet service provider these days?
A pause. She clears her throat.
She has Verizon for the telephone service and Comcast for the Internet. "To tell you the truth, I have fewer problems with Comcast than I do with Verizon."
Uh-oh.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Jason has a good story, take a moment



Hi, I think this may be worthy of adding to your blog.  Thank you for doing this!

It is good to communicate with like-minded people who have been getting shafted by Comcast’s evil business practices. The sad part is that their technology is good.  Their Engineers are probably even good people.

But their business practices are so bad that I refuse to be Comcast customer any longer.  When you don’t want to pay for the fastest data available because a company's leadership is swine that really makes a statement, doesn't it? It *is* time for the government to step in, their business practices are simply CRIMINAL.   What a shame that an organization with good technical people is being destroyed by malicious marketing and (I think illegal) business practices.

I would like to listen in on one of their strategic meetings where they discuss how they are going to fleece the public.  It would go something like this:

"We are already raking in millions of dollars by over charging customers, how can we make even more money ?"

"Let’s force the general public to pay for our voice over IP service by forcing them to upgrade their cable modems and then brake their ability to use their own routers!  Then, when they call us to say their internet does not work we will ADD triple play to their service WITHOUT PERMISSION, and send them our own cable modem and router.  So now the customer will pay more money for a service they don't want, AND we have infinite revenue because we are forcing the customer to 'rent' our equipment.  What is the return on investment for that?  Oh, the rent will pay off the equipment in a few months and the customer will be left with that extra monthly cost forever!"

"You know the best part of that?  There was nothing wrong with the equipment we forced the customer to dispose! Haahaa! What idiots these ‘customers’ are."

"Great idea, but why should we stop here?  Next, we should force the customer to purchase more, ahhhh, what shall we call it….  'quadruple play!'  We will force them to add security to their home, otherwise we won't offer them data any more.  Or we could break their TV service until they pay for all the service we want to shove down their throat.  Remember when television was free because it was broadcast over the air?  And the broadcasters still made money due to advertisements? LOL we are making all that money and then some."

“Great ideas, everyone!  How else can we screw over our customers?  Providing  terrible out-of-country customer service over the phone and unprofessional installation service!”

Fuck you, Comcast.

Friday, February 12, 2016

C. Gann is pissed, and why wouldn't you expect that?



I saw your page, and read through a few of the posts. After doing so I have decided to send you a copy of the email I sent today regarding a billing issue that has not yet been resolved, so it might be added to your page!

 I might mention that part of the billing error was a result of the installation technicians reporting that they installed jacks in my house (a cost of $35.00), when they did not, as my house is completely pre-wired with outlets in every room.

A second part of the billing error was due to being billed ($99.00) for a failed self install, however while the technicians were here they informed me that they must electronically activate each jack separately and must be within a few feet of the jack to do so! This confirmed that I would not have been successful in a self install whether service at my house was active or not!

The rep that I first dealt with credited me  the $35.00 without question, when I explained there were no new jacks installed. Then after hearing what I was told about the self install she said the best she could do was to credit me for 1/2 of the $99.00.  So I was told to deduct $85.00 from the amount due on my current bill, as the adjustment.

For the following 2 months the bill failed to credit me for the full amount, this generated past due reminders, and threats of late fees and/or interruption of services,  which in turn prompted follow-up chats with the reps. Each rep referenced the notes made to my account by the previous one, as well as the chat transcripts.

Each consequently assured me the adjustment had again been made,my account was up to date,and I had a -0- balance owed!  They each repeated the instruction that I should deduct the amount from the printed bill accordingly.

 I had assumed that this would eventually work itself out, but then I read a story similar to mine where the customer was actually turned over to collections, which of course negatively effects a credit report!  So in attempt to be pro-active in protecting my credit and my uninterrupted cable and internet service, I collected all the possible email addresses I could find for Rick Germano and decided to send out the email below.

Please feel free to post all or part of this communication for others to see!

Respectfully
C Gann

____________________________________________

ATTENTION: RICK GERMANO and COMCAST BILLING MANAGEMENT STAFF
FROM: C. GANN
RE: ACCOUNT NUMBER: ******************

Mr. Germano,

I don't know if this email is monitored or not, but assuming it is....

I would like to convey my complete disgust with the current incompetence of your billing department!!

The issue of this "past due amount" has been resolved on three separate occasions over the past 6 weeks!!!!

Yet  I am still receiving these warnings of my account being over due!!

I will not waste more time contacting the chat representatives, as it is not them making this ridiculous mistake!!

 It is the billing department that continues to produce and send out these messages!

I suggest the billing staff be instructed to adopt a practice of first researching the notes made to one's account before taking any further action, under the assumption that I owe Comcast anything at this time!!!!!  

Considering each time I have had to address this issue it takes at least an hour of my time, besides causing me extreme and undue stress, anxiety, and fear of losing my cable and internet service,

I believe it is Comcast that owes me for wasting my time!!!

I would appreciate an immediate response from the Mr. Germano, and/or a senior manager of the BILLING department, acknowledging  the error, confirmation that immediate adjustments have been made to my on line account activity page, and confirming I will not be charged undue late fees, or the tax and fees that are based on the assumption a larger balance amount is owed (as I have been the past 2 months).

In an attempt to locate a valid email address for Mr. Germano I did an internet search, and what I found was astonishing!  I found this exact same issue written about on numerous web pages, many of them more then five years old!!  I guess I can take some comfort in the knowledge that I am not being singled out with this recurring billing issue, yet I have much concern that after so many years of this happening to numerous customers a standard practice for resolving this problem is not in effect!

I submit that incorrect billing be included in the 'Customer Satisfaction Guarantee' that is publicly promoted by Comcast! Only then will the standard of excellence be raised to a satisfactory level!

If this is not resolved immediately, I may have to reach out to my internet community for advice from some of those folks that have already been through this, on how to get the billing department to do the jobs that my ever increasing Comcast bill pays them to do!!

Sincerely a very dissatisfied Consumer!!
C. Gann

Friday, January 22, 2016

Julie doubts Comcast's integrity



I am guessing this tale is par for the course.  We recently renovated our basement, including the television and entertainment center.  I went to our local Comcast service center to exchange our cable box for a DVR box.  The wait was two hours, which I did not have.  Instead I had the DVR shipped.

The DVR box was installed but never worked properly.  A lemon.  My contractor said at least one in three that he sees is.  We spent time trying to figure out whether it could be fixed and ultimately had Comcast send another box.

The second box was installed but Comcast said they were having a problem in my area and could not send an activation signal.  My contractor called them back later in the day and still they were unable to send the signal.  I called the following day and told the automated prompt I did not want to do a survey.  A woman in the Philipines took me through the usual protocol then concluded she needed to send me to the "Activation Department."  I was forwarded to an automated system then placed on hold for a representative.  While on hold, a disembodied voice announced it could not process my call and I would have to call back.  I had been on the phone for over 20 minutes before getting disconnected.

I called back.  This time I elected to do the survey.  I was put through to Chris in Voohees, New Jersey who had a much better understanding of the problem we were experiencing.  He said the box had never been entered into the system and therefore could not be activated.  He would contact the appropriate department and get back to me.  He called me back and said the department had done what it needed to do.  But we still did not have a signal.  He would look into it further and get back to me.

That evening I retried his voicemail that he had figured out the issue, it should be resolved, and call him back (he gave me an extension number) if it was not.

Still no cable.  I called Comcast but could not find any prompt which would enable me to input Chris's extension.  Instead, it sent me back to the Philippines (again, I had pressed "2" because I did not want to participate in their survey).  Another 20 minute phone call that led nowhere.  The same insulting protocol I had already heard numerous times and obviously had tried.  And no one could locate Chris.  I hung up and called back, this time pressing "1" to participate in the survey.  This time I was transferred to a call center in Newark, Delaware and the gentleman was able to locate Chris and send him an email.

Chris called me back within the hour.  This time I would need a service call.  We set it up for the following day between 11 am and 1 pm.  My daughter was home to let the technician in the house.  I pulled in as he was about to leave.  He said the problem was another bad box.  He had installed a third one and was able to receive the signal.  I should not have trusted his words, I should have made him show me the entire system was in fact working.

That evening I turned on the television and the familiar "no signal" appeared.  The problem was in fact NOT fixed by the service visit.  I call Comcast immediately and ask for a supervisor.  This gentleman was the most belligerent of any of the numerous Comcast employees to whom I spoke.  He could not explain the issue, was unapologetic for wasting my time and set up another service call for Monday between 1 and 3 pm.

I tempted fate and placed another call, hoping to be directed to a local call center.  Instead, I was back in the Philippines.  I asked Robin if she would confirm my Monday appointment and try sending a signal to the box.  Not only did my appointment not exist, the Monday 1-3 time was no longer available.  I set up an appointment for Tuesday between 7-8 am.

On Monday I received an automated message asking me to call "Advanced" Technical Support at a number I had never seen.  This time I was routed to India.  After 10 minutes, the call was disconnected (not by me).  I called back and a gentleman took me through another routine protocol that took over 20 minutes and did nothing to resolve the problem.  I still need a service call.

Tomorrow Comcast will come between 7 am and 8 am.  If this technician cannot get a signal to my television, I will have him take the box and leave.  We will adjust to not having cable television in our basement.  My installer spent about four hours trying to get this problem resolved (at $125 an hour) and I've spent about three hours just this week trying.  Comcast is not worth it.  Their monopoly and shabby customer service ought to be better regulated.  I hope anyone who has alternatives takes them.

Good luck.

Friday, January 8, 2016

Mark just switched cause comcast's a Bitch!



Sir:
I have been on comcast internet/email service for over 20 years and cable for about 15 years.  My wife and daughter, son, etc. have been nagging me about the $250+ bill for a couple of years.  Even with gradually increasing bills over the past few years, I was somewhat satisfied with the service.

But, with an offer from DirectTV at about 1/3 of the cable bill, I called to ask for a new deal.  A very unqualified service rep took my call and offered me a very good package. That was the start of the problem.  No call back.  No call for the service update.  Interrupted service. ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE.  I was hung up on multiple time.  Every time I called back I had to answer the same questions.  I told them I was going to record the conversation and the person said that they would not allow it.

Comcast should go out of business.  I will take a lower level of internet or TV service rather than deal with that crap.

-Mark