user TWP has entered room

analyst Janet has entered room

Janet(09:26:39)>
Hello TWP, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Janet. Please give me one moment to review your information.

Janet(09:26:43)>
Hi there! How are you doing today?

TWP(09:26:34)>
hi, i forgot my password to my comcast.net email acct
i am providing the answer to my secret question
but it is saying that it is wrong
but i know that it is right
can you help me?

Janet(09:27:43)>
What I can do is reset the password for that email account on my end if that is okay with you, TWP.

TWP(09:27:31)>
yes, that's fine -- thank you

Janet(09:28:14)>
Before resetting the password, please allow me to verify security first.
May I have the account holder's full name, service address, and account number with comcast, please, so that I can pull up your account.

TWP(09:28:05)>
[Info redacted]

Janet(09:29:35)>
Thank you for the information. I will need a few minutes to pull up your account. Please hold.
By the way, may I know the username for this email account, please?

TWP(09:31:38)>
[redacted]

Janet(09:32:22)>
Let me reset the password now. Please hold.

Janet(09:33:18)>
For the system to allow me to reset the password, I need the 4 digit security pin. Do you have it handy?

TWP(09:33:13)>
the whole reason why i need the email acct is to access the email in which they sent me the PIN
so I hope you are joking
it is not possible that they can only email the PIN to the comcast email address and that they can only reset the email password with the PIN
that would create an impasse

Janet(09:35:36)>
I understand. Since you don't have the pin yet, what I can do is call you on your primary phone to verify security further. Would this be okay with you, Dov?

TWP(09:35:30)>
No, the whole reason why they had to email me the PIN was because I am on the road and not at home.
Why do you need the pIN to reset the password?
Do you have any doubt it is me?
i have all of my info
i can give you my SSN

Janet(09:37:50)>
Dov, I have no doubt that this is you, however, we have to follow the standard operating procedure when the security pin is involved as required by the Federal Agency.

TWP(09:37:40)>
well the standard operating procedure is stupid
if i am not at home, and i am not, then i cannot access my account
because the only way to get the PIN when not at home is by email
and the only way to get email when not at home is with the PIN
Can a manager bypass the PIN to reset the password?

Janet(09:41:17)>
We really apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. Even our managers are not able to reset the password without the pin.

TWP(09:41:16)>
how come your magical PIN is the ONLY form of verification you are willing to accept?
when the PIN is some random number that YOU made up without any request from me and then mailed to me
and will now only tell me by emailing me at my email address of TENTH importance which I NEVER check and never will
could you possibly think of a worse system?
there is a reason why Comcast is the worst company with the worst customer service in the world
you have been very friendly and i appreciate that
and i know you have to follow your rules and you didnt make the rules
but your company sucks

Janet(09:43:31)>
Your account protection is a priority to Comcast that is the reason why you need to provide the PIN to make changes to your account. I know how frustrating this is in your part but we would like you to understand that this is not a Comcast Policy but an FCC Regulation. It is under strict policy that we have to abide with this regulation. I appreciate your understanding in regards to this process.

TWP(09:43:41)>
there is no way that there is an FCC regulation to require the PIN to RESET AN EMAIL PASSWORD
every other company in the world can reset an email password with many other forms of verification
instead of some PIN that I didn't even select
if you tell me that the FCC requires a PIN to access my bill, fine.
but dont tell me that it is required to reset my email password
there is no way that is true
anyways, obviously you can't or won't help me
have a nice day
and tell your boss that their company sucks and i hate them

Janet(09:49:29)>
TWP, we can provide you the PIN right away once we call you on your primary phone. Please do chat back with us when you are at home.

Comcast sucks for many reasons - this isn't one of them.

I have had several issues with them in the past as well. They annoy me.
.... patiently waiting for FIOS in my town. Tons of towns around me have it and i can't wait but The township is in some dispute with verizon or some BS.

No need to get nasty with the person.

FYP

Being a douche to support personal will get what you want every time.

Totally reasonable to call you on your primary phone.

I concur with the above TWP, you catch more flies with honey. Getting all bitchy isn't going to help anything.

I think I posted one of my chat transcripts here once. It was like 20 minutes of me buttering the chick up to get to the same 'bang your head on the wall' place. For me the issue was the entire 'upgrade' of their DVR system. I'm not a luddite, I like new technology, but when you new technology is worse than your old technology in almost every way I'm not going to be a fan. It just stupefies me how you have something like the option to search by title across all of the future day's information on the DVR, and you reduce this to search by one letter on one individual day (meaning whatever title you are looking for you have to manually scroll through a list of every other title starting with that same letter on that day to find it) and call it progress. Or how with two clicks I was previously able to save an entire season of a program to the DVR and now that menu is way less intuitive and easy to use requiring almost twice as many 'clicks' (even though I have it down now ldo). Or that the sound on your new PPV/DVR channels is so horrendous I have to turn the volume on my TV to the max to produce a slightly below normal level of sound. These aren't minor gripes IMO. It is a system, that is noticeably worse than it's predecessor, and yet they rolled it out like its some grand thing. How decisions like this are made in corporations, I would like to know. I eventually wrote a letter to their corporate offices, but I doubt it was even read as I never received anything back and I still have the ****ty 'new' DVR menu system.

In conclusion, **** Comcast, I feel your pain OP.

Totally reasonable as a first option. Totally reasonable as the ONLY option? I think not.

Also, for the record, I was very nice and polite at the outset. It was only after it became clear that I was caught in the Comcast trap of unhelpfulness that I got pissed off.

Also, there is prior context that this whole thing came on the back of the fact that:
1. I only needed to access my bill because they had un-enrolled me from auto-billpay for no reason and I now needed to re-enroll
2. They had been billing me incorrectly for months, so I had just spent a while on the phone getting them to fix the bill which was fairly drawn out and painful
3. The only reason why I needed to contact customer support was because when I tried to reset my password on my own they told me that my mother's maiden name was incorrect so they couldn't reset it. Obviously my mother's maiden name was not incorrect....

so comcast is responsible for you remembering your password, not putting the wrong answer to your security question, you not knowing your security pin, and you not being at home so they can verify the account.

Would you prefer they just give this information out to anyone posing to be you?

Comcast gives you an unrequested email address with an unselected password protected by an unselected PIN which they physically mail to you. If you are, say, on a prolonged trip, please tell me how I could have access to any of that? Or to my home phone?

So according to Comcast, and apparently to you as well, if you travel you cannot access your Comcast account. Interesting policy decision. And of course much more important account information, say at your bank, does not need any unselected PIN to access it and can be verified by your SSN or other personal info.

Edit: Yes, I would like it if they would agree to reset my email account password for anyone who knows my full name, address, Comcast account number, mother's maiden name, and SSN. If someone has all that info and all they try to do with it is reset my comcast.net email password, I'd be very very happy.

so they just installed this now while you weren't home?

Or did you sit on your ass and not take care of this while you were home and now complain about it?

What is really chapping my ass about Comcast right now (Atlanta) is their extra-special digital transition. The national transition already occurred, but Comcast is supposedly doing even more for its customers and is rolling out a souped up transition in a couple weeks.

The catch: you MUST get digital converters for every TV that doesn't have a cable box. Comcast will give everyone two for free, but each additional converter is $2 per month. Doesn't matter if you have a digital TV. Doesn't matter if you already got a digital converter using one of those government vouchers. Those won't work.

So, for months and months and months, Comcast advertised in commercials and on its site that if your TV's are plugged into cable, regardless of the type of TV, you were good and didn't need any additional equipment. They still encouraged people to buy digital TV's, though. But now, all that is out the window. You have to get Comcast's converters. On top of that, you won't be able to watch HDTV with them - you have to get an HD cable box (I can watch several channels in HD on two of my HDTV's that don't have boxes).

The information about not needing additional equipment is still on Comcast's site:

http://www.comcast.com/dtv/currentcustomer.html

It's all just so dumb.

In the meantime, they also owe me almost $100 from an overbilling issue.

And you would be right back here bitching about how Comcast sucks did not do enough and someone hacked your email then reset your PW on you stars account and emptied it chipdumping @ 25/50, oh wait that would be PD and we would not have to listen to it here. But never the less there would be a Stars Sucks post somewhere.


You should be happy that they are making it diffacult for you to reset your password.

I've never understood why people use the e-mail service through comcast.

Well this is awesome I ordered comcast yesterday.

Wow, this post is so idiotic on so many levels. They hack my Comcast email, which has nothing in it. Obviously has no connection to my Stars account. Even if someone DID hack my email address connected with my Stars account, of course they still could not access that account because I have the SecureID obviously. And this is because STARS DOES NOT SUCK. If the people who ran Stars, ran Comcast, I would not be making this post, I guarantee it.

Obviously I do not do that. If I did, I wouldn't need them to reset my password since I would know it.

I noticed the billing error now while I wasn't at home, which caused me to realize they had un-enrolled me from auto-billpay, which caused me to need to sign into my account.

I am rarely at home. I travel for work. They installed this a few months ago.

I've never had a problem other than my free Wii was delayed because no one moved it along only to find out that so many people signed up that they basically gave Wiis to no one unless you bitched.

When the problem is not getting a free Wii, it's not a big deal. When the fact that they made promises that they were either too unethical or too incompetent to keep is indicative of the way they run their business, that is a big problem. Notice how many people in this thread have been overbilled by them? You should go back and check your bills... And promising Wiis and then not delivering on that promise to a large number of people could have serious legal ramifications...

I have had Comcast and TW. Both are awful. They offer internet in the 7-10mbps range for the same price that FIOS offered 20mbps. It would often be down or just randomly disconnect through the day. Sometimes, the speed would even dip to 1/4th what it was supposed to be. Of course, there were no problems according to them.

That being said, I switched to FIOS. No downtime, constant speed no matter what, way more channels, same price. Way better, would never consider going back.

once she starts spouting stuff like "required by the Federal Agency" I think it's OK to treat her as a lying bitch.

Oh yes. TW was absolutely no better. I also wish I could get FIOS, but can't. In their defense, though, my internet connection from Comcast is reliable and fast.

I usually don't get emotional about hating companies because I just take it as a given that customer service is basically an oxymoron, but I absolutely hate Comcast. Come to think of it, I really, really hate Time Warner too. Yay monopolies!

Edit: Why does every cable company insist on me telling a computer my name, zip code, place of birth, birth date, favorite color and mother's maiden name, then proceed to re-ask every single one of those questions when I get a real person on the line????