Open Complaint of Comcast

So...on Wed 11/26 Matt calls Comcast to request the $25 'economy internet package' we have seen offered on TV and on postcards to our mailbox. Seems easy enough. They give him a confirmation number and tell us what our monthly bill will be for the TV and internet combined. Say I can pick up my free self-install kit to go with the modem we purchased from Amazon. There will be a phone number to call to connect our service once I have it hooked up. Easy enough, eh?

Pick up kit on Friday. Very friendly at the office. Get home. Install modem. Pop in the Comcast CD to install the internet. All is smooth until I get to a screen that tells me to choose my service level so they can configure my modem. Only problem is, they list a $42 and a $52 service. Okaaaay, now what. No phone number in box that says "call here to connect!" So I call their general number. I go through EIGHT people and am on the phone for an hour, being switched from all departments, most of which have no idea why I was transferred to them. Finally get a guy who tells me to select the $42 service to configure my modem, but he does see on my account the confirmation for the economy internet and it will all be fine, I'll be able to get online and will be charged the correct monthly amount.

While that was a horrible experience, at least I had internet.

For a week.

Matt calls me this past Friday because he turned on the computer and the internet won't connect. I give him a few things to try and we determine it has to be on their end, seeing as how the internet was fine on Thursday and we didn't do anything to the computer since then except turn it off overnight.

So he calls comcast. They say there is no internet on our account; that we are only subscribed to TV. Excuse me? How the heck did I use it for a week if I "don't have internet"? It's not like you can magically connect to Comcast's internet. They said they could send a technician out on Saturday, but only after Matt insisted because he had work to do online (which he really did...sheesh). They said between 10-1 so we sat around at home even though we had errands to do. Then a bit before noon they call and say due to weather they will be later, 1-4. Okay fine. We run our errands in a quick hour, eat lunch. They call at 3 to say they can come at 6. Which we couldn't wait for as we had my Christmas party from work.

So they wasted my entire day, we don't have internet, and they have very inconvenient service hours and we aren't home this next Saturday either. Meanwhile, you know they now have internet on our account even though we can't access it. ARGH. So if they ever do come, surely they will try and pin it as our fault, which is $50, and not their fault which is free to us. But seriously. We did nothing to make it stop working. It's them, no question. So now I am trying to play with things and uninstall all of the Comcast software but to no avail. Now it gives weird error messages about my operating system not being correct, etc. I think not.

I think what happened is even though that guy said it would be fine to configure my modem with the $42 option, someone noticed it and saw we weren't getting the level of service we are signed up for and cut us off. But I'm having trouble restoring my computer back to the previous state before comcast arrived, so I'm not sure if/when I can fix it. We really want internet, and this is the most economical option. Plus, I don't want the hassle of returning an opened modem to Amazon, nor having to drive back to the Comcast office with my install kit. This is some of the worst service EVER.

ETA: Checked our account online today. yup, as of 12/6 it says we are being billed for economy internet for 12/5-1/6. I think not! If I can't fix it tonight they are going to hear from us to say that they cannot bill us until they come out and set it up for free since they are the ones that broke it.