Dear Help Squad,
I know you must get zillions of complaints about Comcast. Here is mine and I hope you can help. I have spoken to several Comcast people about these issues with no results. This all started on Sunday, May 3.
I just moved into my new home in Downers Grove and had a home inspection done. This is important information, as you will see.
Here are the issues:
1. A Comcast worker drilled a hole through the tile in my bathroom wall trying to run the cable line from the outside. He saw the hole was placed wrong and drilled another. The man vehemently denies that he drilled the hole. However, it is not on my home inspection sheet and I know it was not there before he came. The inspector would have addressed the defect in the report.
2. The Comcast worker ran a bright orange cable from my house to the telephone pole in my neighbor’s yard. It is now buried in both yards without permission from my neighbor. The orange cable is visible going down my outside wall in the backyard.
3. The cable he used on the west side of the house is black, while my house is white. Black was the wrong color to use.
On May 14, a supervisor was scheduled to inspect the damage, but Comcast was a no-show. My mom missed volunteer nursing that day to cover the appointment. I called that same day and was told there was a service ticket, but no record of an appointment for that day. The customer service representative said he would contact a supervisor and get back to me in 20 minutes. It has been four days.
What I need to happen:
1. The bathroom tile must be replaced. Matching is impossible. Comcast needs to pay for all new tile surrounding the tub.
2. The orange cable is now buried, but is still visible on my outside wall. I want it changed to white.
3. I also want the black cable changed to white.
All the work is to be at no charge to me. It is the Comcast installer’s inexperience or incompetence that caused these problems. If you can be my advocate, I would be so thankful. I want my baby to take a bath in the tub, but I will not get rid of the evidence until this matter is taken care of. Your service to the community is invaluable. Thank you!
Aubrey, Downers Grove
Within an hour of reaching out to Comcast Regional Vice President of Communications Jack Segal, Help Squad received the following response to Aubrey’s complaint: “I just read through [Aubrey’s] letter and of course will look into it right away, find out what happened and make sure we contact the customer ASAP.”
Help Squad gave Comcast a couple days to get the wheels in motion, then called Aubrey to check progress. Aubrey reported that she had been contacted by both a Comcast technical operations supervisor and a customer care service recovery specialist. She was pleased with the responses from both. Aubrey reported she had been refunded her installation fee, the orange cable had been switched to white and connected to another pole (no longer running through her neighbor’s yard), the black cable was replaced with white, and Comcast’s insurance provider was scheduled to contact her in order to replace the damaged tile.
Said Jack: “We have reached out and apologized for the damage done and for not addressing the problem sooner, and we have agreed to reinstall lines and cover repair costs. We’re sorry this happened, and have pledged to do our best to make things right.”
Help Squad asked Jack whether Aubrey could have done anything differently as she was obviously not obtaining resolution via the standard customer service channels. Jack replied that Aubrey had taken all the correct steps. “Our policy requires that technicians report job site damage to their supervisors immediately. Unfortunately, in this instance, the procedure was not followed.” He added that the January hiring of Wendy Liu in the new position of vice president of customer experience has placed a focus on “developing and refining back-end processes that impact the customer experience, [such as] … how we respond to catastrophic incidents; how we identify and help customers with ongoing service issues; and how we ensure our service installations go as smoothly as possible.”
Perhaps the focus is beginning to pay off. Until Aubrey’s email, Help Squad had gone four months without a single Comcast complaint!
Did a utilities company overcharge you? Did a boutique deny your request for a return? Are you the victim of fraudulent business practices? Is someone just exhibiting bad business behavior? Let Help Squad make the call for you. Send your letters, your complaints, your injustices and your story ideas to HelpSquad@pioneerlocal.com and we will do our best to help.
Cathy Cunningham is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.
@HelpSquadCC
