Well fellas, Comcast finally did it. They broke me down to the point where I feel the need to share my story. Grab a drink, a snack, and buckle your seat belts. This is going to be a long one.

Over the last year, I have had several experiences with comcast and comcast customer support. I have been a comcast/xfinity customer now for almost 5 years. The service itself is quite adequate, no complaints there. But god forbid, you find yourself with a problem regarding any bit of your service, billing, or equipment. You will be met with the most unqualified, generally confused, slow, bird brained "customer support agent" in the world. If you can even call them that. Allow me to take you on a stroll through my personal experiences of the past year.

February 2020 - Day 1: My lease is up. New place secured. Moving day. Need to move my cable (first time doing so). Give Comcast a call. Work through the steps of getting to a customer service representative to help me with the movement of services. On hold for quite a while, long enough to comfortably step away from my phone. *Insert Stereotypical White Male's Name with Stereotypical Middle East/Indian/Asian call center voice* to assist me with the move. He's difficult to understand at times but is getting right to the point. He notices that there is a promotional plan that is the same as mine but significantly cheaper (same service, less money = win). We get it set up, sends me the link to verify the move an change of plan. Confirms with me that the new house is already setup for comcast services and is good to go. Perfect. Finish the move. Wasn't able to set up the internet that day, too tired from moving everything. Decided to just hit the bed. Next morning, internet time. Plug in my modem and here we go. Boom, no internet services. Checked and made sure all of the stuff was plugged in correctly, of course it is. Call comcast, wait on hold for 45+ minutes for a representative. *Insert Stereotypical White Female's Name with Stereotypical Middle East/Indian/Asian call center voice* to help me get someone out to find out what is wrong. Schedule a home visit in seconds. On hold for way to long for a simple scheduling.

February 2020 - Day 2: Knock at the door, comcast/xfinity repair guy here to help. Nice guy, friendly and quick to get to work. I'm walking around with him to find everything and see why it is not working. Chatting it up. We find in the basement where the previous comcast install guy did his work. Shoddy work at best. My repair guy fixes it up perfectly. Installs a new line right to where we need to be. Gets it lined up with clean cable management. He says that he will mark it has comcast's error and that I won't have to pay a repair/install fee. He says that all repairmen have the option to do it but usually decide whether to write it off if the person they did it for was nice. I thanked him for being so kind and quick to help us out. He goes on his way. Things are working fine.

March 2020: Time to pay the bill. I open up my xfinity app and i see something quite strange. No bill. Says it is all paid up. I was a bit confused but decided that maybe I was just off on m payment dates. No sweat.
Beginning of April 2020: Time to pay the bill. Xfinity app open, no bill. Now its two months in a row, seems sketchy. I considered that it was because of the promo I got back in february. Attempted to just pay money even though it said that I owed nothing, wouldn't allow me too.

End of April 2020: Checking the app, still nothing. Pick up the phone, its time to call comcast. Actually a person, whom I assume is from the United States (stereotyping still) picks up after 30+ minutes on hold. I explain to them that I am trying to pay my bill but my app is not showing me owing anything. She says everything looks good on her end an shes not sure why it would be doing that. She sends me to tech support to get it figured out. Tech support tells me that I need to update my app and sign out/sign in. End of call. I update, sign out/in. Still nothing. I guess it was just the promo.

May 2020: Checking the mail. Phat letter from comcast. Bead of sweat dripping down my head. Bring it inside, get it open. I should have known, huge bill.

This bill is three to four times more than what I usually pay. I'm reading through the charges, February services, March services, April services, a charge for using services in two locations, and an additional fee for install and repair. Now, before you go off on me. February, March, and April - I get it, I ain't mad. Nothing in this world is free. BUT! Services in two locations? No chance. Fees for install and a fee for repair? Yeah right. Couldn't pick up my phone quick enough. Get to calling comcast. To my surprise, I get another person who can pass as being in the United States (still stereotyping). I am explaining to her, this bill just is not right. I made multiple attempts to pay for my services, even contacting comcast about the issue. I understand that it needs to be paid, but being late is just not my thing. I live my life as 20 minutes early is 15 minutes late. I pay my bills. I went on to explain that I was not using my services in two locations. She couldn't understand that I unplugged all of my equipment, moved my services, and then went to my new house. Doing so is unfathomable for her. I also stated that I was not supposed to be charged for the work done to get the services working. I told her the repair guy made a note of it. She saw the note and agreed that I should not have been charged for it. She stated that I should pay the full bill and just be credited the difference in the future, no chance. It is about principle. I did everything correctly, played by the rules, asked for nothing. Whether it be $1 or $1000, I will not allow comcast to play me. I told her I was only going to pay for the months of service and that the rest will just need to be fixed by comcast. I told her to make a note of it because it has nothing to do with how I handled it and everything to do with comcast's own system. I told her to forward me to someone who can fix my paying/app issue. So she did.
The fine woman who picked up, an angel at the least of terms. She had to deal with me in my heated state, and solve an issue that others couldn't. Within seconds, she solved all issues that no one else could. She found that the fine gentleman from February, messed up. He did not transfer my service, he just started a new account and my new house and left the old one to run. Problem identified. She was able to get the accounts straightened up, make notes of credit where needed, and send me on my way. Relief. Paid what I owed. Smooth sailing ahead.

November 2020: Two months until it's time to move. Considering cutting cable to save costs and get a better internet package. Going to call comcast to get some estimates on what is available for me. After 45+ minutes on hold, *Insert Stereotypical White Male's Name with Stereotypical Middle East/Indian/Asian call center voice* to provide me with some information. Cannot, and I mean at all, understand a word this dude is saying. I've got a nice new iphone too. Chilling at home, no reason I cannot hear him. Sounds like he is playing the telephone game with 5 other employees to speak to me. Tell him I want to know prices of other internet packages. He tells me one, 1, O N E package and price and then begins the process to cancel my service asap. I decided that this dude does not know what is going on and gave up. I told him to have a nice day and hung up the phone.

December 2020: For some weird reason, enough faith in the system built up in my and I decided to give comcast another call. The next person could not be as incompetent as the last. I just need prices. Let me assure you, I could not have been more wrong. Picked up my phone, decided to schedule a call so I wouldn't need to wait on hold. Genius idea. Time goes by, phone call comes. I pick up. I am introduced to November's agent's blind, younger, illiterate brother. This guys accent was almost fake. It was almost as if a racist was attempting to doing a bad accent as a joke. And for whatever reason, we were just not going to work. I explained that I needed prices, and he was dead set on canceling my current services.

Naturally, I calmly told him that I was just going to hang up and I did. 5 minutes go by, and this guy has the nerve to call me and say we got disconnected. I quickly told him that I hung up on him and proceeded to hang up again. I about had enough with comcast customer service. I do my own research online, find a package that I find to be suitable. I told my girlfriend that we are going right to the store so they cannot escape and use a hold button to protect them. COVID is going to have to watch out, because I am coming out.

I get to the store, game face on (IRL photo above). Check in, and I am paired with Jorgia. A worthy opponent. Our battle will be legendary. I break it down for Jorgia. I explain to her that I am fed up with comcast customer support. I tell her that I am moving in 2 weeks. I want to transfer my services on January 15th. And that I want to change my services to a specific internet package. Jorgia is quick. She knows what she is doing. She speaks a simple okay, doesn't need to research anything. Already knows the package I want. She says all she needs is an address. Wow, she's good. Address entered. Date, given. Package, picked. She shows me the break down of my bill, okay. Read the terms, signed off on it. She gave me her business card just in case I need anything in the future. Easy as that.

Me and my lady get back to the house. We both had long days. It was time to finish it off with some relaxing netflix, perhaps binge one of our favorite shows. Get the TV on, click on netflix. No internet connection. Weird. Maybe the tv was just taking a bit longer to connect. Take a look at it, its connected to the network. Grab my phone to take a look at our network info on the xfinity app. Sign in. The app says I have no services attached to my account. Steam blowing out my ears. Pure rage boiling over in my chest. Incorrect bills, I can deal with it. Language barriers and hold times, I'll get over it. No internet, unthinkable. Now more than ever, COVID has me working from home. As a 24y/o with a full time job that requires internet, I am connected 24 hours, 7 days a week. No time for this now. Comcast on speed dial at this point, 10 minute hold time, not bad. Woman answers, can understand. I tell her what is going on. She goes into the system, and sees that Jorgia from the store, didn't set the move for January 15th. She set it for right now. I'm appalled. WE discussed it, she knew what was needed. And she was confident it was right. The agent canceled all my services and canceled the move. She sets me back up with the plan I had at the address I'm in. Sends me a confirmation to my phone. Its $15 extra a month. I said to her, this isn't right. She said that it was more because I was previously on a promotional plan. I explained to her that I was not going to pay more because comcast messed up. Perplexed, I asked her if she sees where I am coming from. She agrees that it is messed up. She says that I will need to speak to a different department called "customer retention". I told her I will speak to whoever to get my plan/money, it's principle. I thank her for her help and she sends me on my way. Short hold 5-10 minute hold. To my surprise, I am greeted by an even less understandable woman than the previous two male agents. I give her a chance, I am on my last straw. I explain everything to her. The store, the move, the plans, the internet outage, the previous agent. She understands and gets to work. 10 minutes go by, she gets my attention. She apologizes and says that she cannot find the promotional package I had. I calmly apologized to her, and stated that I did not care. I explained that I refuse to pay for someone else mistake. I told her that I did not care if she had to get a supervisor, another person, a team, or put me on hold. But my issue would be solved. She understood that I was not backing down.

She tells me that she is getting help from her team. I understand and sit around. Optimistic. 10 minutes go by, not on hold but not much sound other than typing from her. She apologizes here and there for the wait, I am patient. About 20 minutes go by, she's ready. She gets my attention. I am ready to hear our solution. She states that there is nothing she can do with my package because my account is pending due to a transfer on January 15th. I've lost all hope. I explained to her that I don't want to change my plan to the promo on the 15th. I just want the pricing now. She states that is not something they can do. I tell her to just credit me the difference in pricing. Once again, not something they can do while pending a transfer. I am appalled. I ask her, so if I call back on the 15th, I'll be credited? She says yes. I said, you need to make a note that on January 15th, when I call, they just credit me my money. I don 't want to explain a single second of what is happening. She said she will do so. Call end.

Moral of the story: What do you get when you allow a multi hundred-billion dollar company to monopolize one of the most important resources in today's world for an entire region? You get trash customer support , a disconnect between consumer and company, and a owner so rich that they are problem pleasuring themselves to the sound of crying children emanating from the 3 meter tall dresser they got off of Wayfair for $50,000. Check back in on the 15th to see how this goes.