Media Columnist Launches ComcastMustDie.com
Site Offers Forum for Customers to Vent
By Steve Donohue -- Multichannel News, 10/8/2007 4:50:00 AM
Giving Comcast subscribers an online forum for complaints about the cable TV operator, media columnist and radio commentator Bob Garfield launched Web site ComcastMustDie.com on Friday.
The Web site debuted about four weeks after Garfield first penned a column headlined “Comcast Must Die,” in Advertising Age. Garfield’s screed, which detailed difficulties he had with Comcast, its customer service department and field technicians while trying to obtain digital telephone service at his Maryland home – evolved into a seven part series that castigates the nation’s largest cable company.
Garfield, who also hosts the program “On the Media” for National Public Radio, teamed up with Bart Wilson, CEO of Santa Fe, N.M., real estate marketing firm Voyager International, to create the Web site.
Wilson said he registered the ComcastMustDie.com domain name after reading Garfield’s column. Wilson, who subscribes to EchoStar’s Dish Network, said he and Garfield are not looking to make money with the Web site.
Garfield wrote in his first post on the Web site that the forum offers Comcast subscribers an opportunity to vent grievances, and for Comcast to “pay close attention.”
“Actually, I have no death wish for Comcast or any other gigantic, blundering, greedy, arrogant corporate monstrosity. What I do have is the earnest desire for such companies to change their ways,” Garfield wrote.
Comcast senior director of corporate communications Jenni Moyer said local Comcast teams in Maryland, where Garfield is a subscriber, worked to resolve problems with his service after his initial column.
“With respect to the Web site, we recognize that it shouldn’t take a public event for people to get customer service,” Moyer added.
Comcast counts 24.1 million cable TV customers, 12.4 million high-speed Internet customers and 3.5 million voice customers. Moyer said Comcast customer service agents have 225 million “interactions” with customers each year.
“I can’t overstate how important it is that we get it right for all of our customers. That’s why we’ve been so focused on making changes in how we deliver service, and we’ll continue to stay focused on that,” Moyer said.
About 45 comments had been posted on ComcastMustDie.com by Monday morning. Most of the comments were criticisms of the cable operator from Web surfers claiming to be current or former customers.
One anonymous poster said he recently cancelled Comcast for DirecTV service, and that he soon planned to add FiOS Internet.
Another anonymous poster said he “never had a problem with Comcast,” and that his Internet connection “is always blazing fast.”
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I think Comcast is the worst service EVER! Every month is a game with their billing.
Take caution if you don’t look at your bill or if they say there is a missing payment. Your paying something you shouldn’t be
I always pay my bill on time yet one day I come home and my service has been shut off?
When I call and ask why they say we didn’t pay our bill. I sent them all the proof of payment
And the service was turned on. The next month I receive a notice of shut off? When I call and ask why my service is going to be shut off.So back to calling AGAIN and the reply was…
Your calling because you want it turned on? No I calling so that you don’t turn it off! Reply: your cable has been turned off for two months for nonpayment.
No my cable is on! When they relies I still have cable they want to now charge me back payments? Confused yet? Me Too… But this is how they do there business
Comcast, You are the worst Ever, just take a look at all these statements against you! WAKE-UP
Linda Brockelbank - 3/26/2008 4:57:00 AM EDT -
I have been having trouble with Comcast over charging me. My Bill has been wrong every since I joined. I have called 3 times so far and all 3 times I was on the phone with them close to 2 hours each time. They Promise me it will be right on my next bill. I just got another bill in and its wrong .So now I will be making call number 4. The first month My Phone didn't work so the weren't going to charge me. Then one my bills I was over charge. So they said I was not being charged for Feb. So they said, On March 28,2008 my bill would only be $137.00. My Bill came in it was over $250.00. I need this problem fixed. Thank You
Kay
Kay Chambers - 3/25/2008 11:59:00 PM EDT -
I'm just tired of getting more stations, higher rates and not having a program schedule to tell me what is on all of those stations. I used to rely on TV Guide to tell me what was on all of my stations. Then they changed their design and dropped about eight hours of daily viewing (midnight to 8:00 am, I believe) and refered to some of their listings as "local programming". So I cancelled my subscription with them.
Next, I found a TV Listing area on AOL. This worked well for a little while. Then they changed their design. Now I can't find listings for some channels and some others cite station identification codes that don't match what I actually find on the TV when I turn to those channels.
So I sent a letter to my local Comcast branch. I asked them for an updated list of channels and corresponding station ID's. (They also have a habit of moving stations to different channel numbers without prior warning.) They cooperated with this request. I also asked if they could provide me with a program schedule to tell me what is on all of those stations that I'm paying for. They suggested that I subscribe to a local newspaper or to TV Guide for that information! I get my news from a 24-hour cable station and the internet blogs. I don't need nor want a newspaper to chuck into the recycling bin seven days a week - just to find out what in the world is on my TV. Don't they have any obligation to inform us as to what "so-called" entertainment they are broadcasting and billing us so much for?!
Rosa Lisa - 1/18/2008 10:28:00 PM EST -
Often my bill is more than the previous month with no change in service. A few months ago it was $30.00 more than the previous month. Recently it was $12.00 more than the previous month. And, believe it or not once there was a one cent difference. The audio levels on my tv are different on most channels, some are too low and some too high. One or two channels will but your ears. When I took their phone service they didn't tell me it would go thru my computer. If I pull the phone plug from my computer for lightening safety I loose both the computer and the phone service. They didn't tell me that either. My day is coming - soon I hope.
Benjamin E Doyle - 1/1/2008 8:31:00 PM EST -
Comcast carries C-Span, which is the best thing on TV. I just wish Comcast provided C-span2 and C-Span3 to everyone with a basic package. I have them because I pay $130 for a Premium package. C-Span was started in the 1970's by Brian Lamb, who talked the cable/satellite companies into providing it as a Public Service for a few cents per day added to their customer monthly bill. It is not subsidized by any government taxes on the American people (like PBS and NPR are), no "begging" (like PBS) and C-Span is non-partisan. I now know PBS has a liberal bias!
November 2008 will be an important election and voters should be as informed as they can. The C-Span Networks make that possible for anyone with cable/satellite TV, the internet or XM-radio.
Please read "DEBUNKING THE MYTHS" (speech)
by Brian Lamb, C-SPAN Chairman and CEO
at The National Press Club
Date: January 6, 1997
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 PM ET
Anne Harris - 12/26/2007 3:03:00 PM EST
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