Comast. It just gets better and better.

Since last week, technically, 11 May, I have been trying to find out from Comcast how much it would cost to drop our land line and just have HDTV and high speed internet.  Since then, I have received e-mails from Andrea Burton, Elisa Stagliano, some person named Victor R., from the "Comcast City Desk, as well as a post on this blog from Mark Casem whose title is "Comcast Corp., National Customer Operations (Mark can be reached at We_can_help@cable.comcast.com).  And let's not forget the "Online Sales Representative" named Chris who reached out to me to "help" me last weekend, but the only help he could give me was to upgrade my service, not meet my needs.  I also have been playing phone tag with Andrea since last week.  She seems to call me whenever I am not available and when I call her, my call goes straight to her voicemail.

I remained hopeful as I am an eternal optimist, but an e-mail exchange I had with Andrea makes me think that Comcast is just not capable of the most basic customer service.  Maybe Deirdre is right.  Maybe we should look for an alternative to Comcast, but they are essentially a monopoly here.  See the e-mail string below:

Deirdre Honner	4:59 PM (3 hours ago)
from:  Deirdre Honner dhonner@gmail.com to:  Paul Kratochwill cc:  "ESL Department, Michigan Region" ,  we_can_help@comcast.com,  We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com date:  Tue, May 15, 2012 at 4:59 PM subject:  Re: Comcast Cable Billing Inquiry
to me, ESL, we_can_help, We_Can_Help

This is unreal.   Let's look at AT&T.

Deirdre Honner

On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 4:28 PM, Paul Kratochwill <plkrat@gmail.com> wrote:

Andrea,

Why would I be penalized for dropping the digital voice service?  I signed not contract with Comcast, why can't I add or drop services as I see fit?  If I want to drop digital voice but keep my current HDTV and interenet access, what is that cost per month?

Paul

 

On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 3:35 PM, ESL Department, Michigan Region<MichiganRegion_ESLDepartment@cable.comcast.com> wrote:

Dear Mr. Kratochwill,

At Comcast our goal is to ensure customer satisfaction.   As the Executive Customer Care Specialist for Comcast, my responsibility is to ensure that all customer concerns are handled promptly and receive a satisfactory response. 

I am sorry you were not available today to take my call at the alternate phone number you provided. I apologize for any inconvenience.

I understand you wish to remove the Comcast Digital Voice service from your package. By removing this service, you will lose the bundled discount you are currently receiving. Thus, your services will be billed at the current retail rates.

Listed below are some options:

Option#1

$20.49* Limited Basic

$9.95* HD Service

$1.99* DTA Adapter

$58.95* Blast Internet Service

$7.00* Modem

Total $98.38* monthly before applicable taxes and fees

Option #2

$29.95* Digital Economy  

$9.95* HD Service

$1.99* DTA Adapter

$58.95* Blast Internet Service

$7.00* Modem

Total $107.84* monthly before applicable taxes and fees

Option #3

$64.25* Digital Starter   

$9.95* HD Service

$1.99* DTA Adapter

$58.95* Blast Internet Service

$7.00* Modem

Total $142.14* monthly before applicable taxes and fees

For additional assistance with the channels available within the various levels of service, please refer to the channel lineup card I have attached to this email for your review.

Please contact our office at 734-331-1217 at your earliest convenience if we can be of assistance, between the hours of 9:30am and 5:30pm Tuesday through Saturday. We look forward to hearing from you.

Andrea Burston

Office: (734) 331-1217

Fax: (734) 254-1861

Executive Customer Care Specialist

ESL00595069

DISCLAIMER: *Some restrictions including franchise fees, taxes and other fees may apply. Offers are subject to change without prior notice. You may choose to cancel your service at any time. A franchise fee will be added to all applicable Comcast services. A monthly FCC administrative fee will be added to your statement. A deposit may be required if service is shut off for non-payment. The response contained in this message is intended for the addressee only and may vary from other responses depending on geography, promotional campaigns or other factors. If you are not the intended recipient of this response, please delete this message. Any unauthorized use or dissemination of the information contained in this correspondence is prohibited.

There is no rhyme or reason to the "packages" that Andrea sent to me.  The channel listing and price sheets are inscrutable, and it appears that if I drop my phone service before some date in the future only know to Comcast, my monthly cost will increase.  This just gets better and better...