So just when you think Eugene was as bad as customer support could get, you experience Comscam support.
We had a storm last night. Knocked out my internet. Called them up this morning and let them know what happened. As usual, I'm speaking to some foreigner most likely in another country. Outsourcing FTW right? Can barely understand the guy, he tells me the usual non-sense they always say, which were things I had already done before I had called, but I did it anyway a second time. "Unplug it and replug it", "Hold the reset button", "Pray to Allah". So then after nothing works, he says "hold on". I hold on for about 2-3 minutes and then I get hung up on.
So I call back. This time it's a chick. She seems a bit more competent but it's still a foreigner, hard to understand. Same BS. Check the plugs, reset, herp de derp. Then she says "Well unplug your router and leave it out for an hour and that should fix it." So she hangs up, I unplug it, wait an hour, plug it back in. No internet.
Call #3. Yep, you guessed it, another foreigner in some middle eastern sweatshop. "Hurr durr is everything plugged in?" in that highly annoying Indian accent. Is your Mom plugged in? So then he tells me we'll need a technician. Who will be here next Sunday. So I ask him if we'll have to pay for this entire week of no internet, he avoids the question so I ask to speak to a manager. He gives me another phone number and we hang up.
Call #4. It's not the manager, simply another call center, still probably in the middle east somewhere. "We can fix it over the phone right now but it costs $80." WTF? I tell her I don't have $80 to whip out my butt at this moment to fix some issue that should be free of charge, XFINITY already costs an arm and a leg as it is. So I hang up. 4 calls, no help.
And then I do what I should've done from the beginning: fixed it myself. I remember that I had another router in the attic, I take it out the box, plug the thing in, pop the CD in, everything installed easily and internet is back on. Took like 5 minutes. So yes Comscam wanted to charge me $80 ( on top of the $190 that's already due this month ) just to walk me through like, a 5-step process to get my internet up and running.
Just wow.
ID:1330555
 Jul 21 2013, 7:51 am
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Jul 21 2013, 8:16 am
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Wissam
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Not surprising.
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Vrocaan wrote:
It has "scam" in the name. What were you expecting? I was expecting to talk to an attractive American woman in her late twenties who can speak fluent English, which is how Comscam depicts their customer service reps in their commercials. | |
They're idiots for not being able to diagnose the issue, but to be fair, it sounds like the problem was on your end (assuming you weren't renting the router from them).
The $80 thing almost sounds like a scam, like he forwarded you to some guy's living room in the Ukraine (especially if they asked you to pay it over the phone instead of through your normal bill). The fact that they couldn't diagnose the issue but were willing to take payment to "fix it over the phone" is another big red flag in my mind. Most support staff are trained to not make any promises. Anyway, all that said, I've had similarly frustrating experiences with Comcast's customer support. Actually, customer support in general. I only call them as a last-ditch effort if I can't solve the problem myself. I kind of wish they would just do text-based communication, especially for the more technical stuff. But I guess if you're having internet problems that's not an available solution. | |
I actually worked for "comscam" for two years and was there when they implemented this policy. Sadly the agent did nothing wrong in accordance with Comcast policies. Anything outside of their modem is considered your "home network" (i.e. the router) and it is your responsibility according to them, the agents with those you pay 80$ for being the exception, aren't trained to troubleshoot it.
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This router came from Comscam, both the original one and the one I had in my attic, which was another thing that was pissing me off. Now they tried to act like it didn't belong to them. It's funny because when I look at my Amazon and eBay purchase history ( which is where I get all my computer stuff ), I don't see a Netgear router in there. They even had the Comscam dude set it up for us, I watched him take a router HE BROUGHT along with the modem, plug the stuff in and then say "okay, you're set to go". Now suddenly Comscam acts like they have nothing to do with this router, and it needs to be some special $80 fee in order to get it fixed.
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Yeah like I said, I was there when they implemented the policy. It is freaking terrible. At the same time they implemented it they started expecting us to deliver this huge essay at the end of every call.
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