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Why I switched from Comcast to AT&T U-Verse

Why I switched from Comcast to AT&T U-Verse

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I’m not a big fan of the politics of the telecommunications companies (particularly with regard to the issue of net neutrality) but I’ve got to have connectivity. Since the days of slow dial-up, I’ve tried them all. I was hopeful about Comcast, but it was nothing but trouble from the start. The experience at the Comcast store yesterday (see the bottom of the post) only cemented my judgment.

  • In my area, Comcast pretty much had a monopoly for broadband services. That made me uncomfortable right away.
  • The service was rather expensive – even bundled – for the value of the features received.
  • The shared neighborhood connection was insufficient.
  • There were often so many errors on the line that service was significantly degraded.
  • My house was wired a long time ago, and there were problems with the setup that Comcast refused to address. I paid several times for their service people to come out and address these problems, but they wouldn’t deal with the root issues.
  • They sent some subcontractor in an unmarked vehicle out in the middle of the night to “upgrade” the street-level connection. Whatever it was, it made things worse. Yet another service call.
  • Suggestions made for improvement were ignored (as far as I can tell).

U-Verse just recently became available in my neighborhood. I must have grilled the salesperson for two hours or more on all the packages, features, possibilities. We are at the very end of the coverage area, so I had concerns about connection speed and reliability. The salesperson was a former real estate developer who had lost the business in the housing crash and was more intelligent and relaxed than is the norm for folks that end up going door to door. I enjoyed the conversation. He did say that I probably wouldn’t be able to get the highest speed, but I was happy with the next level down (12 MB), especially since it wouldn’t be a shared connection as with Comcast.

The technician that came to my house was very professional, and also flexible with regard to what needed to be done. Within a few minutes, he had established that there were several wiring problems, including the fact that there was a splitter on top of another splitter. We came to an agreement about what he would do to address that. He rewired part of the house (and he had the drill as well as all the other equipment on hand). He also set up the upstairs office with two boxes that would talk through the electrical wiring, allowing an ethernet cord to be used. This is great because it would have been difficult to pull another wire up there, and the wireless seems to have trouble reaching up reliably and at top speed. He could tell that I was savvy enough not to need the full technican setup on everything, so we took that charge off to help pay for the other things he was doing. He also made sure that we were actually *receiving* HD.

At the end of his time here, I had three tvs hooked up with their own individual boxes, two desktop computers hooked up, and a notebook computer set up on wireless. The phone was working fine, and I had set up my online options for everything.

Some things I particularly like:

  • The connection is faster, and I don’t have to reload pages in my browser anymore.
  • Each television has its own options settings, including dvr with lots of space to record, and personal channel favorites.
  • When the phone rings, it shows caller ids on the screen. No more getting up to answer robocalls or alumni donation requests.
  • I can set the phone up to ring on my cellphone at the same time (not just call forwarding).
  • I’ve got some 400 channels. I don’t have to pay extra for MSNBC or the Tennis Channel. And sooo many great movie channels! I never had Biography or History or National Geographic before. Yay!
  • I like the feature where it grabs your favorite channels and scrolls little screens on the right. It’s a lot easier than trying to find something through all those channels.
  • Lots of foreign stations to explore.
  • My voicemails can be emailed to me – a service that would only work once in a while with Comcast.

I’m very very happy with the services so far. We’ll see how it goes. There is no contract, and AT&T has good customer service, so it’s not a difficult decision.

The nail on the coffin? I drove to the nearest Comcast location after work yesterday to drop off my modem and box. I arrived at the door, carrying this equipment, at three minutes until six. A man came to the door and told me they were closed. I pointed out that it wasn’t yet six o’clock, and he repeated that they were closed. How rude! Of course, it might not have helped that it was Halloween Friday, and I was dressed as an old, tired poet (complete with deep blue velvet hat), but I drove all the way over there, lugged this equipment to the door before their closing time, and was met with a response that made me verrrrrry angry!!! Whatever you want to say about AT&T, they do have a better sense of customer service than that.

So, bye bye Comcast! I’ll be watching your migrating client base with a big smile on my face. You don’t care – and it shows!

Feedback for McAfee

Feedback for McAfee

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Some companies spend a lot of money to do client satisfaction surveys. I consider it a service to provide some valuable feedback.

A charge from McAfee appeared out of the blue on a current credit card statement. This charge was made on a card I hadn’t used in some time, one that I had vowed some time ago not to use. My husband pointed to the new – solitary – item. I had no explanation.

I spent a while on the website, trying to ascertain what it could have been. Finally, I tried their online chat.

It became clear almost at once that I was being charged a yearly renewal service fee (for how many years?) on the account that I had opened years ago under my old educational email address. If there was any reminder or notice about this yearly payment, I couldn’t have received it. Moreover, any such courtesy email – if it was sent (which I doubt) would have bounced. They would have received a bounced email, and my telephone number and address were on file.

So they just kept charging me – hoping, I suppose, that I wouldn’t catch it. I wonder how many other people have such charges?

I’ve had my current email address for several years now, and haven’t even had access to my other one since August 2004. I had stopped using that address for my primary email contact a few years before that. Who knows how many charges there may have been? I started from scratch with a new version last year after trying a couple of other products.

In all fairness, a reread of the transcript allowed me to see that I did misunderstand something. I was reading quickly, and scanned “charged” as “changed.” I thought they were asking when my email address changed, but I think they were actually trying to find out the date of the credit card transaction. I don’t have access to the bill this evening anyway, so I couldn’t have given it to them. The misunderstanding contributed to my frustration level… but that was my own blind spot in the communication.

There is still quite a bit for someone to go over in an improvement planning or strategy session, if they are so inclined.

I’m not fond of the on-line chats for many of the bigger companies. I don’t know what the set-up is, but I often get the distinct impression that it is automated and that I’m not actually in contact with a person. Often, the conversation doesn’t pass the Turning test.

I think the transcript speaks for itself. It has been lightly edited for security, confidentiality, and glaring typos.

Please wait while we find a customer service representative to assist you…
You have been connected to Andrew Ne(*).
Andrew Ne(*): Thank you for contacting McAfee customer service. How may I help you today?
Heidi N(*): I am writing to question the recent charge on my credit card bill
Andrew Ne(*): Heidi, I’ll be happy to help you.
Andrew Ne(*): Please go ahead with your issue.
Heidi N(*): I got no advance notice of such a charge and no receipt If it was a renewal, I would have preferred for the charge to be on another card.
Heidi N(*): Do you have access to the record of the charge?
Andrew Ne(*): One moment please, while I look up your account details. I appreciate your patience.
Andrew Ne(*): Heidi, I see that you have valid McAfee products registered under the e-mail address hei(*).
Andrew Ne(*): May I have your billing address for verification, please?
Heidi N(*): (*)
Andrew Ne(*): Please provide me the complete address.
Heidi N(*): (*)
Andrew Ne(*): Thank you very much for the information.
Andrew Ne(*): I see that you have McAfee Internet Security Suite valid till 10/15/2007. And you have purchased the software on 10/15/2006.
Heidi N(*): Yes, so why was there a charge?
Andrew Ne(*): May I know the date when your account charged recently?
Heidi N(*): My account didn’t recently change. I promised my husband I wouldn’t use that card, but there is a charge from you on the last bill. I got no reminder or advance notice and I would like a reason for the

Currently experiencing network delays, one moment please….
Network connection re-established.

Heidi N(*): charge. It was thirty-something dollars. I would also like to credit that and process the charge, if it is valid, on some other card.
Heidi N(*): But so far I don’t have the explanation for the charge.
Heidi N(*): Questions?
Andrew Ne(*): I will do my best to resolve your issue.
Heidi N(*): I would appreciate your doing so.
Andrew Ne(*): I will let you know the reason for you the charges.

Andrew Ne(*): May I know the date when your account charged recently?
Heidi N(*): OH, please. Is this a person?
Heidi N(*): Please let me chat with your supervisor.
Andrew Ne(*): I appreciate your patience. May I place you on hold while I escalate your chat?
Heidi N(*): Manager. Supervisor. Person in charge there. Human.
Heidi N(*): Yes. As soon as possible please.
Andrew Ne(*) has left the session.

Please wait while we find an agent from the CS-McAfee Tier2 Escalations department to assist you.
You have been connected to Brad Ju(*).
Brad Ju(*): Thank you for contacting McAfee Tier 2 Escalations. I would like to take two minutes to review all of your previous interactions.
Heidi N(*): Brad. Please read the above transcript.
Brad Ju(*): If I understand you correctly Heidi, you would like to know why you have charged recently?
Heidi N(*): Yes, that is the primary question to begin.
Brad Ju(*): One moment please, while I look up your account details. I appreciate your patience.
Brad Ju(*): Heidi, I see that you have valid McAfee products registered under the e-mail address hei(*).
Heidi N(*): Yes, as you see from the above.
Brad Ju(*): Do you have any e-mail address ending with lear(*)?
Heidi N(*): I used to, but I graduated two years ago with my PhD
Heidi N(*): My primary address is hei(*)
Brad Ju(*): Please let me know lear(*) full e-mail address.
Heidi N(*): Again with the scripting machine. Please escalate me to Tier3
Heidi N(*): Human chat, please
Brad Ju(*): Heidi, I see that you have been charged under the lear(*) McAfee account for the renewal.
Heidi N(*): hn(*) has not been my address is two years.
Brad Ju(*): Yes, I am human.
Heidi N(*): Do you mean to tell me you’ve still been charging me?
Heidi N(*): I bought a whole new version, full price!
Heidi N(*): The scripts make it appear that you are using an elementary artificial intelligence. Repetition. Lack of understanding.
Heidi N(*): I would like any charges make after my graduation date in August 2004 to be refunded.
Heidi N(*): I would like you to combine the records with my current information.
Brad Ju(*): I completely understand your frustration and will be more than happy to help you.
Brad Ju(*): Before I can provide you with the account details that you have requested, I need to follow some security guidelines to ensure your account integrity. Please bear with me while we go through the process.
Heidi N(*): I will comply with your procedures, but this is not good customer service.
Brad Ju(*): I see that account has been setup with McAfee Always on protection under the hn(*).
Heidi N(*): That would have had to have been more than 2 years ago.
Heidi N(*): If so, probably yes.
Heidi N(*): But I upgraded, bought the complete new version
Heidi N(*): It gave me a lot of trouble, and it’s heavy, and it shredded a bunch of my files.
Heidi N(*): Now you say that I’ve been getting charges on a card I haven’t used in some time. If you are married, you can understand my concern. Especially if this is a bogus charge.
Heidi N(*): Which it certainly appears to be.
Brad Ju(*): Since your account was setup for McAfee Always on protection under the hn(*) McAfee account and it has been auto-renewed on 1/5/2007.
Heidi N(*): Not acceptable. Do we need to escalate to another Tier or something to get this resolved?
Heidi N(*): I’ve been signing in with hei(*) for a while.

Brad Ju(*): Do you like to get refund for the recent charge on 1/5/2007 and use the McAfee product purchased on 10/15/2006 under the e-mail address hei(*)?
Heidi N(*): Yes, and also refund for previous charges if I was not updating the software.
Heidi N(*): I am pretty sure that I used Norton for a least a year.
Brad Ju(*): As per our terms and conditions, we guarantee that McAfee Customer Services subscriptions will make your computer more secure. If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, we offer a full refund within 60 days of purchase. However, you are now outside that 60-day time frame. It is also our policy that we do not provide partial refunds.
Heidi N(*): It was an even heavier drag on my system.
Brad Ju(*): I can able to refund only the recent charges under your account. Is okay for you?
Heidi N(*): Again there is a lack of understanding of the situation. Wou
Heidi N(*): Fine, that will be enough to placate my irate husband for the moment.
Heidi N(*): I just swallow any other yearly charges that you could not have notified me about since I could not access mail at the lea(*) address?
Heidi N(*): The emails would have bounced.
Heidi N(*): I am sure that you can track this.
Brad Ju(*): Heidi, I understand that your purchase was processed through the McAfee Store. In order to request a refund for this purchase, please contact the McAfee Store directly at 1-800-310-2980.
Heidi N(*): I do not want a refund for my purchase. I want a refund on the yearly charge on my old, inactive email account for a product I haven’t owned in years. I have the current security center program now.
Heidi N(*): I want to continue to use it (I Think), but this recent charge appears to have been made for some old account service
Heidi N(*): It is on the current bill, not the end of last year
Brad Ju(*): Heidi, I understand your concern, your initial purchase of the McAfee product under the e-mail address hn(*) is from online store. You need to contact online store to get refund for the renewal charges under your old account.
Heidi N(*): ok.
Heidi N(*): Please stay with me while I check what you say by calling
Heidi N(*): I am timing the response.
Brad Ju(*): Heidi, please take your time.
Brad Ju(*): Heidi, I have not received a response from you in the last two minutes, in order to provide maximum assistance to all our other customers, we will be unable to continue this chat if I don’t receive a response within the next two minutes.
Heidi N(*): They do not have access to my online renewal. You have given me inaccurate advice.
Brad Ju(*): Please give me a moment to research your issue. Thank you for your patience.
Heidi N(*): They gave me the number of 408-992-8xxx
Heidi N(*): They are closed, and directed me to the website.
Heidi N(*): Perfect catch-22. Congratulations. I’ll be posting this script on my blog.
Brad Ju(*): I do understand your frustration. I will be helping you in the best possible way.
Heidi N(*): Is there someone who has more authority there to help in a slightly better way?
Brad Ju(*): Under these circumstance, I am processing you refund for the recent renewal under your account hn(*).
Brad Ju(*): Please give me a moment while I process your refund. I appreciate your patience.
Brad Ju(*): As requested, we have refunded the McAfee Always on Protection charges of $39.99, which will be credited to your account within 3 – 5 working days, or before you receive your next credit card statement. Your reference number will be CS23xxxxxxx.
Heidi N(*): Will there be any further charges on that card?
Brad Ju(*): The McAfee Always on Protection feature for your account under the e-mail address hn(*) has been canceled. Your account will no longer be automatically renewed.
Heidi N(*): And my current account under hei(*) will still be maintained through Oct 2007 without further charge, correct?
Heidi N(*): You haven’t canceled that one too, right?
Heidi N(*): I have to make sure I don’t have to contact customer service again
Brad Ju(*): Yes, you have active account under the e-mail address hei(*) till 10/15/2007.
Heidi N(*): To clarify, I want my current account to remain active, but my earlier account to be canceled.
Heidi N(*): YES! Woo-hoo. Thank you.
Heidi N(*): Now my husband can calm down about this.
Heidi N(*): We were about to pull all of your products off our personal and work computers.
Brad Ju(*): I would like to recap what we have been working on today to ensure that you are comfortable with resolution that I have provided. You wanted a refund for the McAfee product that was auto renewed under your old account; I have refunded it, and cancelled your auto renewal feature. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Heidi N(*): No. I am glad that (although it took serious effort and time) your mistake has been rectified in part.
Heidi N(*): I don’t really expect anything more. But you might pass this script along.
Heidi N(*): It contains valuable feedback for your company.