If having Internet and/or streaming services accessible in an around your home is important to you, then you might be interested in reading about my latest experience with Comcast’s Xfinity Internet and Mobile services.
I want to begin by saying, Comcast’s Xfinity Internet has been the most stable and reliable service that we have used. I give Comcast high marks for their technology, ease of installation and the quality of its cable/network support staff. The men and woman who perform the hands-on work, inside and outside your home. The phone support/call center experience can be downright awful. More about that shortly.
If you are reading this article on my website, then you can, if you choose, read about other Internet service provider nightmares I’ve experienced. If you are reading this article on any of the dozen or so places it has been posted, you may find this and other articles at rjbutler.com. I am a writer, not a designer, so no haters please.
Now about Comcast’s Xfinity Internet, and how their own phone support/call center experience may eventually lose them hundreds of thousands of customers. Let’s use my story as an example. Please feel free to write to me if you’ve had a similar experience.
In September of 2023, after T-Mobile’s 5G Home Internet failed to deliver a usable service, I switched to Comcast’s Xfinity Internet service. My service was working within minutes of plugging in Comcast’s equipment. The future was looking great. I was blissfully happy, at least for a little while.
Then the indication that something sinister was a foot, arrived in the mail. It was the Comcast Xfinity bill. I had setup the payment to be auto-billed to a credit card, and setup paperless billing, to avoid receiving a “paper” bill.
To add to this unsettling turn of events, I discovered that Xfinity had raised our monthly rate from $53.99 to $64.99. We didn’t request a change in our plan, and we didn’t agree to any changes in the “terms of service”, so why were we suddenly having to pay an additional $11.00 per month?
This problem was eventually addressed, and my monthly billing was returned to the original $53.99 per month. It took several calls, emails and social media posts to help Comcast see the error of their ways.
I was happy again! For a brief time, all seemed well. Then it happened again.
For some reason, “paperless billing” was reset on my Comcast Xfinity account. I contacted support through Xfinity’s website, and within a short time “paperless billing” was restored.
Next, the Xfinity representative pitched me an offer to save $10.00 per month on my Internet bill by bundling Xfinity’s mobile services. Here are the bullet points;
• Save up to $10/month off on the internet, with Xfinity mobile
• No Contract + $0 upfront fee + keep your existing number and phone
• Not have to worry about the contract with your current service provider
This sounded attractive. But I was concerned that by agreeing to the offer as presented, my existing Internet plan would be changed. When I challenged the Xfinity representative about changes to my current Internet plan, here is what he said; “Yes, there will be no changes in your services.” I am quoting from the actual transcript of the service call. Due to space considerations, I will not post the entire transcript here, but if you are interested, you may read the whole transcript on my website, rjbutler.com
In the transcript, there are several entries where I specifically tell the Xfinity representative that I am currently under contract with another mobile provider, and asked each time whether signing up with Xfinity mobile would present a problem. The representative indicated that switching from my mobile provider would not be a problem.
I agreed to switch my mobile provider to Xfinity mobile. It was the wrong decision. Despite my careful evaluation of the offered service, and copious questions, I still ended up as quite the sucker.
The new SIM cards arrived within five days. I have two phones. As feared, the new SIM cards would not activate. The reason? The phones, under contract, were locked. I called Xfinity mobile to inform them that they were wrong about being able to switch to Xfinity mobile, and was told that the mobile order was canceled, and told not to return the SIM cards. Problem solved, I thought.
More misery.
On 3/22/2024, I received an email informing me that my credit card was charged for my Xfinity Internet service. What was unusual was the amount. Instead of the usual $55.89, my bill was now $70.91, an increase of about $15.00. A notation on my bill stated, “Regular monthly charges have increased as a result of service change(s) made to My Xfinity plan.”
Remember, the earlier quote by the Xfinity representative, who said, “there will be no changes in your services.”
Since I switched to Comcast’s Xfinity Internet service, I have never changed my initial plan, or agreed to have any Comcast Xfinity related service representative change my Internet plan. And yet, Comcast insists that I requested billable changes to my account without providing me one shred of evidence that I authorized the change.
Oh yes, and what about the Xfinity mobile service that I canceled after receiving false and misleading information from the Comcast Xfinity representative? Well, I was just billed $27.20! This for a service I canceled.
Incompetent customer service representatives are going to do the greatest damage to Xfinity and, in turn, Comcast. That is a crying shame! The technology is brilliant! But for Comcast and Xfinity, it will be a death of a thousand cuts. All because it just can’t manage reasonably competent customer support services.
It shouldn’t take a mind like Einstein to figure out how to remove charges and services that I didn’t ask for or authorize, and return my monthly billing back to $55.89. I just need one competent person at Comcast or Xfinity to do the right thing. Then place a sticky note on my account to warn everyone else to stop screwing around with my account.
Click here to view the call transcript
This Post Has One Comment
This all sounds so familiar. I was a customer for about 6 years and there were constant billing and account problems. I wish I would have been reimbursed for the countless hours, effort and frustration I experienced calling, emailing and using their online site to correct the reoccurring issues. At times I also visited the local office presenting bills and transcripts hoping for better service. I got conflicting information and advice. Finally switched to Verizon but it seems we are captive consumers out here with internet, tv and landline service limited to those two. I view ads for RCN, Service Electric and others with envy.