The Customer Friendly Worlds of Comcast & UPS

I hope I can get all the details correct with regard to my experiences with these two conglomerates because the timeline, emails, telephone conversations and chat communications are almost too numerous for this Senior to remember.

The saga began when we decided to provide Internet service and WIFI at our vacation rental condo in Ocean City Md. Needless to say I checked around to get the best bang for my buck and decided Comcast was my best bet. It's important to note here that we already have Comcast service at our home address and additionally cable TV at the rental unit. I'm classified as a Premier Account Holder.

Via a Comcast Sales Chat I set up the Internet/WIFI addition to my account in OC and chose the "Self-Install" package. At the end of the Chat the Rep told me the equipment would be shipped to the OC address. I told him I needed it shipped to my home address where I would keep it until we went to the unit in March or April.

Here's where the action started.

He told me he could "only ship to the service address". I said, "There's no one there". He said he was sorry but that's all he could do. He suggested I call UPS and get the shipping address changed.

Now the plot thickens!

He said my tracking # would be emailed to me in 24-48 hours and after I get it I could contact UPS.

After 3 days, Guess What?... no tracking number. I call Comcast back, complain to the Rep about this entire ridiculous scenario and he gives me the tracking #. I then email UPS Customer Service with the tracking # and explain how I want this address changed. I get an email back stating that someone would call me back at the end of the business day to discuss the problem. No one called. Finally I call UPS the next day and the Rep tells me the package is on the truck coming from Baltimore, headed for Salibury Md, where it then will be placed on another truck for delivery. I get upset and yell, "Lady, there is no one there, and that's why I want to change the delivery address!". She tells me that the driver must attempt to deliver the package once and after that I can call and have the address changed for a $5 fee.

Now I'm really pissed because she tells me the package DOES NOT NEED TO BE SIGNED FOR! I said, "Lady if that driver drops the package off at our unit's front door, which is in a public hallway in a condo building, and it's stolen, YOU WILL PAY FOR THE PACKAGE, NOT ME!". I tell her to put a Supervisor on the phone. After 20 minutes a Supervisor (nationality unknown based on dialect) tells me there's nothing that can be done but if I want him personally to contact the driver and notify him not to deliver the package he will do that. I asked what will happen then. He said it will be sent back to Comcast.

So now I feel like I need to take a break from this nonsense... until my cellphone rings and the caller ID says "Salisbury Md" (where the UPS facility is located). A Supervisor tells me she has reviewed all the documentation and is arranging the package to be shipped back to my home in Towson. Thank you Ma'am!

So today I call Comcast to apprise them of all this and tell a regular Rep to put me on with a Supervisor. She apologizes for all this that I've been through and tells me she will connect me with a Supervisor, "Please hold on." Guess what happens next...she cuts me off the line! So I call back and explain all this to another "Account Executive" who listens to this horror show and tells me that she will fix this. She is canceling the original order and reissuing it so the equipment will be shipped to the Comcast Office near my house. I asked if she was sure she could do this and she confirmed that she could. I told her that the UPS Supervisor in Salisbury said she was shipping the package back to me. This latest "Account Executive" said that if I wind up with two packages I could send one back, haha

So now I feel pretty good about all this, until this evening when another Supervisor calls from Salisbury to inform me that the other Supervisor didn't know what she was talking about and they can't ship the package back to my home address. While she's talking I can hear that I'm on her speakerphone. Now I'm really pissed and ask her if I'm on speakerphone. When she confirms I ask how many people are in the room listening. She says "a few". I tell her to contact an attorney because what she's doing is illegal unless she tells me I'm on speakerphone with others listening in. She apologizes and tells me she needed witnesses in case this situation goes further. I told her she could bet her pension that it would.

Folks, I'm supposed to be on a restful vacation here in my retirement years. I couldn't make this stuff up could I? Wish me luck picking up the package at Comcast White Marsh in a few weeks....