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Comcast Awarded the Golden Poo Award

ISoldat53 writes "The Consumerist has awarded Comcast the Golden Poo award for the worst company in America. From the article: 'After four rounds of bloody battle against some of the most publicly reviled businesses in America, Comcast can now run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and hold its hands high in victory — it has bested everyone else to earn the title of Worst Company In America for 2010.'"

49 of 286 comments (clear)

  1. Ahem... by Enuratique · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's Xfinity, you insensitive clods!

    --
    A black hole is where God divided by 0
    1. Re:Ahem... by The+End+Of+Days · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's Xfinity brand assraping, but it's still Comcast's cock doing the work.

    2. Re:Ahem... by commodore64_love · · Score: 3, Funny

      Why's this on idle. It should be front page news. If it were about Microsoft or Apple it would be front page.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    3. Re:Ahem... by Hurricane78 · · Score: 2, Funny

      What? Not Xe Services? ;)

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  2. Surprise Surprise! by DWRECK18 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have dealt with several different cable and internet companies and I have to agree that IMO Comcast is by far the worst. Their prices are outrages when looking at what you get compared to what you pay. On top of that their tech support has been severly lacking. Honestly I am paying $110 for half of the services I was getting from Verizon FIOS and I was paying only $90 from VZ. The only reason I have comcast again is because unfortunately when i moved FIOS wasn't available for my Apartment Complex. Those who defend Comcast really need to look at the price comparisons and customer service reviews between them, FIOS, DirectTV, and hell even Dish network. Now I know a lot of people have local companies that they go through as well FYI I used to have Adelphia before comcast bought them. So in the end YES COMCAST DESERVES THIS AWARD.

    1. Re:Surprise Surprise! by DWRECK18 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Unfortunately my phone drops from 3g to 1x at times in my apt so tethering is out of the question. Plus I have a PS3 and need the broadband connection for my MW gaming, and the amount of downloads I do at times for school and training i really do not want to be working off of a tethered internet. My way around it will be when I move again I will make sure that FIOS or some other service I prefer is available before making my selection of where I move to.

    2. Re:Surprise Surprise! by brufleth · · Score: 3, Informative

      In my experience the speeds I get via tethering a smartphone are about an order of magnitude lower than a wired connection and the latency is super high.

    3. Re:Surprise Surprise! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Disclaimer: I'm a Vz employee, and yes I'm invlolved with the FIOS build-out.

      Is FIOS available anywhere on/near your street? If Fios is in your area and the apartment owner is willing to sign a contract with us, we will be glad to come in, place cable, retrofit internal wiring etc and make FIOS available to your complex. Believe me, we want all the MDU's (apts/condos/town houses) we can get. . .

    4. Re:Surprise Surprise! by DWRECK18 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes, funny enough it is available right next door to the complex at a 7-11 type store. Who do I have to talk to to get this installed, because I HATE COMCAST.

    5. Re:Surprise Surprise! by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 3, Informative
      Just switched from Comcast to Vz FIOS. A quick summary:

      Comcast - the good

      • Stable, fast speeds - 3mbps up/16mbps down was nothing to sneeze at.
      • In eight years of service, my IP address changes 4 times.
      • Received line upgrades automatically as they became available, at no extra cost. Internet service price hasn't changed - even though I started at 6/1 service years ago.
      • Received new channels as they were available

      Comcast -the bad

      • $220/month for phone, all movie channels, 16/3, a DVR and an HD converter. A lot of service, but also a lot of money.
      • "Blast" download speeds are rather deceptive
      • Holy crap are those HD channels compressed.
      • Bandwidth monitoring - I always came in under, but it was close a couple of months; and I've done nothing of questionable legality - Netflix instant watch via PS3 doubled my data usage by itself...

      Verizon the good:

      • Price: $150-160 gets me: phone, a few hundred channels, 35/35, DVR. More channels than cable overall, but not the same range of movie channels: for $15/mo additional (total 165-180) I could fix that.
      • Features: Being able to watch recorded content in other rooms is nice. Widgets are kind of useless - would be nicer if "favorites" could be configured to popup as an overlay (without resizing the screen) instantly on button push. Guide functionality and various small features hands down beats cable. And my favorite: They don't do that stupid "you didn't really want to stop where you pressed stop" "feature" that comcast DVR has started doing.
      • Picture quality: this varies based on the source (for example, local channels often broadcast in HD, but 'on the scene' cameras and whatnot provide low quality), but overall any given HD is much better than the comcast equivalent.
      • Speed: nice. very nice. Having an issue though, where I'm supposed to get 35/35 and am "only" getting 25/25 - given that it's so exact a cutoff at 25, I am thinking I need to call and see if it was properly provisioned. If so, then this may move to the "bad" line items...

      Verizonthe bad:

      • The prices are deceptive, since you're paying $5-20 per additional HD box on an HD converter. ($5 for an SD converter; $10 for HD that can receive DVR from other locations; $15 for DVR; $20 for DVR that can broadcast to other TVs). My $150/mo should have been $120/month, and it wasn't until I was "checking out" that I realized it wasn't. This deception is rampant throughout the web site and the TV commercials.
      • TV speed: a lot of the features in the TV interface seem slow. Displaying widgets consistently takes 3-5 seconds; other times the device seems to get overwhelmed with a backlog of requests and simply dumps all of them. After about 1-2 minutes it starts listening again.
      • Weird controls on on-demand content, specifically from network TV. While I could rewind/FF on-demand movies, I could not rewind or fast-forward on-demand content from NBC.
      • for internet service, they block port 80 incoming (NOTE: for me, they're not... but I don't know if this is a fluke or a change in policy.)

      Overall, in my experience Comcast doesn't deserve the award. Though they are currently outclassed, my own experience with them has been great for years. It's only the price/performance that made me switch; before FIOS was an option, I was happy where I was.

    6. Re:Surprise Surprise! by cgenman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If FIOS is ostensibly available in our "area," but according to your system not available to our unit, does that mean we should push the owner of the house? Or is it likely a neighborhood by neighborhood buildout question?

  3. Well deserved by strayant · · Score: 5, Informative

    "We'll be there between 8-12, and we'll call you the day of the appointment. If you do not answer this phone call, the appointment will be canceled." - An automated message prior to a service visit from Comcast Yea, CANCELED! So, if I'm on the phone, in the bathroom, or otherwise incapable of answering this idiotic call in a 4-hour bracket, the service is canceled. This has happened to me before, months ago, and I yelled at several people about this to no avail. Today, we actually had a service call for work... answered the phone call, and even after waiting 4 hours, they're still not here. Comcast's only success is ABSOLUTE FAILURE. Someone please take this company away.

    1. Re:Well deserved by Explodicle · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, WTF? It seems like someone just doesn't like what you have to say.

  4. Comcast is fine by frozentier · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There's no problem with Comcast at all, as long as your internet activities don't reach beyond e-mail and browsing a few web pages every day.

  5. Almost $800 to watch TV. by commodore64_love · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yep. Comcast is the worst. They also:

    - kick off users for exceeding undefined GB download limits

    - sell 25 Mbit/s lines that are actually only 5 Mbit/s - no better than DSL but twice as costly.

    - force users to switch to Digital Cable which is incompatible with VCRs or DVRs

    - And even if said boxes were compatible, the Digital boxes don't allow the user to tape one show while watching another live.

    - Hold a Monopoly and bribe politicians to keep out competitors

    - Bought out NBC Universal, so Comcast can censor any anti-comcast dissent from NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA, Bravo, Syfy, Telemundo, and so on.

    Worst.
    Company.
    Ever.

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    1. Re:Almost $800 to watch TV. by Shakrai · · Score: 2, Funny

      You do realize that TV isn't a life essential service, right? Ditch cable and get yourself an antenna. OTA is free and high-def. Combine that with the internet (legal and not-so-legal sources) and you'll find that most of your entertainment needs are met.

      They only keep raising rates because people keep writing them checks. Cut the cord.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    2. Re:Almost $800 to watch TV. by commodore64_love · · Score: 2, Informative

      >>>It's quite well publicized that the download cap is 250GB per month

      Bzzzz. Prior to 2008, the cap was unknown. Instead users would just get a call: "You are in the top 5% of highest users and we are yanking service." When asked to provide a specific number, Comcast never did. - Then the FCC stepped in and said "no no no" and comcast came-up with the 250GB number, only because they were caught.

      .

      >>>No, you are not forced to switch to Digital Cable -

      I received a notice that I either switches to digital cable (i.e. one free DTV box, plus $5 per month for each additional box), or I will lose all channels above 15.

      So yeah I guess technically you're right - I'm nott "forced" to upgrade. I just have no real choice.
      .

      >>>Try getting your facts straight

      My facts are correct. It's just that I don't share your opinion. And that makes you mad. :-)
      .

      >>>if all, or even the vast majority of Comcast customer's had such horrible experience, they would be hemorrhaging subscribers
      >>>

      What part of "monopoly" did you not understand? There's noplace to "flee" to.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    3. Re:Almost $800 to watch TV. by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Informative

      >>>each one after that is $1.99 - and this is National pricing.

      Now this is interesting. First off, how would you know it's "national" pricing? I guess you'd only know that if you worked for Comcast, because your average customer wouldn't have any clue.

      Second, you forgot that prices vary from town to town. In my home it costs $63 a month, but in Baltimore the basic Comcast is only $39.99. Likewise, the costs of the DTV boxes vary. The cost might very well be just $2 in Baltimore, but here in the sparsely-populated countryside they are asking $5.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  6. Lending their name to a new verb... by Takionbrst · · Score: 5, Informative

    In the gaming community, I've noticed a trend where people will drop offline, then reappear, explaining that they'd been "Comcast'd". Take that as you will.

  7. Comcast Here Is My List of Ideas to be better. by Joe+The+Dragon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Comcast Here Is My List of Ideas to be better.

    Lower your prices not that much a but a little bit (The box rent part is the real bad part)

    Don't mess up csn chicago with the nbc take over. But keep up with VS takeing our feed in the playoffs. Also can we get nhl extra in HD next year?

    also open CSN / bears VOD to dish, directv , wow. rcn, and u-verse.

    VS ALT HD ALL SYSTEMS

    Put CSN + back on the DTA's. Why not use INFO SD mirror of INFO HD / CSN + HD and make CLTV full time?

    WOW can have CSN, CSN + and CSN + 2 on analog so why not on a DTA on comcast?

    Good job with letting others have CLTV

    add CLTV HD or at least put in on INFO HD / CSN + HD

    NEXT TIME CSN + 2 HD and not just make it sd only

    Put speed in starter for the full Chicago area why is part in starter and part in sports pack?

    also why is fox movie in the sports pack?

    Let all other systems have the Chicago Wolves games that are cocmast only at this time.

    have a guild that does not look like crap on a HD tv.

    Mirror the HD channels to the same number as SD.

    and one last thing LAY OFF ON THE HD compression!

  8. Net Neutrality by onyxruby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For their fight against Net Neutrality alone they deserve the worst company in America award. Anyone that fights against a principal freedom, and takes that freedom away from the public deserves to be held in contempt. No amount of customer service friendliness can ever undo that damage, and that's what Comcast just doesn't get.

  9. As a former employee... by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Informative

    They are actually proud of this. We used to have meetings on how to screw the customer or limit service calls. The forced digital rollout of the lower channels is the holy grail. if they can force everyone to have to have QAM tuners, then they can force encrypted QAM and simply never do a disconnect again. This will allow them to lay off 90% of the workforce and the last 10% stay as contractors.

    Did not pay your bill? box deactivated and you no longer have cable tv. no need to roll a truck.

    and yes they ARE working on that.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:As a former employee... by fred+fleenblat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      i'm not disputing how evil comcast is or isn't, but why are you talking like it's some evil conspiracy for them to stop serving non-paying customers?

      both dish and echostar will disconnect you. also any cell phone carrier, ISP, the electric or gas company. good luck getting groceries or clothes w/o paying for them.

    2. Re:As a former employee... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Honestly this would be a blessing. I contacted comast two months before I was scheduled to deploy for the Air Force. They day of the scheduled termination my cable and internet quit working...

      2 months layter they were still BILLING ME because they "couldn't" stop billing me until some lazy sub-contractor got to my apartment building and physically disconnected the cables. It took 2 calls to customer support, and billing, and finally a letter to the BBB to get them to stop billing me and refund the money.

      E.S.A.D. Comcast.

    3. Re:As a former employee... by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm not. Im talking like they want to encrypt everything to not have any labor costs.

      not to lower your bill, but to increase dramatically profit margins while eliminating the nasty evil scumbags that have their own DVR. Oh and gain back the charge per tv in the home they used to enjoy.

      Cable box on each TV with it's $5.00 a month charge.. suddenly they have the per TV fee back.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  10. OK, OK... by TrisexualPuppy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So Comcast which rips off people and doesn't try to hide it gets this award? How about the banks that ripped people off, demanded bailouts, and continue ripping people off and bonusing themselves to this day? They're fifty times worse, but no one seems to care since they don't hinder us from watching Sunday Night Football.

    Only when the creature comforts like entertainment are affected does someone really seem to notice or care... Golden Poo Award needs to be splattered over the Consumerist's face.

    1. Re:OK, OK... by Applekid · · Score: 4, Informative

      The Golden Poo award is a vote-off between 32 nominees, akin to March Madness.

      Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, Capital One, AIG, were all part, and voted out of the winning.

      --
      More Twoson than Cupertino
    2. Re:OK, OK... by spun · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, most Americans still rightly blame the fat cats on Wall Street for this mess. It's not as if the government was forcing banks to make bad loans, despite what certain professional liars may have told you. Sure, the government could have done more to regulate the ridiculous financial instruments invented in the last ten years or so, but obviously under Bush any kind of regulation was out of the question. Obama did carry on Bush's lame bailout policies, but he also added more oversight, despite Republicans screaming 'socialism' about the oversight but not the bailout itself. You will also note the Democrats in congress attempting to bring reform to the financial sector, but being blocked by Republicans, who are not only filibustering any bill, they are filibuster the motion to even debate the bill.

      We know who to blame. This is not this government's fault. This is Wall Street's fault, and the previous administrations, and all the Republican neo-cons who have deregulated everything they could get their hands on over the past thirty years.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    3. Re:OK, OK... by aekafan · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Thats funny. The democrats gave out just as much bailout money as the republicans, and are largely owned by the same agriculture, media and pharmaceutical companies. Seeing your "debating" style as shown, it must be nice to live as such a true believer and political evangelist tool. Go on believing that voting for the other set of corporate tools will work. good luck with that

    4. Re:OK, OK... by spun · · Score: 2, Informative

      What first set of rules were broken? There were no rules, that's the point. There was no such thing as credit default swaps, or even derivatives, before the 1990s.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    5. Re:OK, OK... by moosesocks · · Score: 2, Informative

      You mean the loans that they paid off ahead of schedule, with interest?

      Yeah. Big debacle there. If you want to complain about the recovery act, go right ahead. However, it's a bit foolish to single out the single most successful portion of the bill.

      We gave loans to GM and the banks so that they could purge their toxic assets, and get back on their feet with the many legitimately-worthwhile portions of their respective businesses. So far, they've exceeded everybody's expectations, especially GM, which most of us had assumed to be moribund just a few months ago.

      --
      -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
    6. Re:OK, OK... by spun · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, I, along with the majority of Americans, see Wall Street as the bad guys.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    7. Re:OK, OK... by spun · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The Democrats are merely influenced by the plutocrats. The Republicans are owned by them.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    8. Re:OK, OK... by ArcherB · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Thats funny. The democrats gave out just as much bailout money as the republicans,

      [Citation Needed]

      Strange. I don't remember the Enron bail out. How did I miss that one?

      --
      There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
    9. Re:OK, OK... by MaWeiTao · · Score: 2, Informative

      Do you mean the debt GM paid off with TARP funds? They paid the government back with it's own money.

    10. Re:OK, OK... by Digicaf · · Score: 2, Informative

      I call bullshit.

      Yes, GM did pay back 6.7 billion. Then again, they received about 52 billion. So yeah, go ahead and give them a cheer for paying some back, but they're definitely not the hero's that a lot of people are making them out to be.

      By the way, the losses on the money the government gave GM look to exceed around 30 billion.

  11. I recommend Comcast by Athens101 · · Score: 2, Funny

    They are rather secure.

  12. Snort! by MarkGriz · · Score: 3, Funny

    When asked for a comment, a spokesperson replied "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the cable company *snort*"

    --
    Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
  13. Charter? by kenp2002 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did Charter get honorable mention at least?

    --
    -=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
  14. comcast intimidation by roc97007 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I wrote to a local news host about this but don't know if they ever followed up on it.

    I'd like to preface this by saying I am a former Comcast customer, and switched to Verizon only because they offered (at the time) better performance at a lower price. I think it's good to have multiple companies competing for broadband access and don't wish either company ill.

    That said, last week a Comcast salesperson came to our door. I have a bum leg so wife answered the door, but I could hear the conversation.

    He tried to sell her on switching to Comcast from our current Verizon FIOS account. My wife said no thank you, we will be staying with our current service.

    He wanted to talk about the advantages of switching to Comcast, and she repeated again we weren't interested.

    He tried to hand the flyer to her probably five times during the conversation, and she refused to take it. During this time the salesperson got more and more upset. His voice got louder and louder and he became argumentative "Why won't you look at this? What is your problem?"

    Wife finally had enough and closed the door. At that point, the salesperson screamed at her "You aren't going to have any choice pretty soon! You might as well switch now!".

    Ok, again, I think competition is good, but... what the hell was that?

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  15. only 1/2 the answer.... by tacokill · · Score: 3, Interesting

    spun, you post on this subject a lot. I am certain, if we ever met in person, we would have a lot to talk about.

    However, your post on this subject is only 1/2 of the story. It is a fact that the Community Reinvestment Act played a part in the loan debacle. Fraud also played a part but I don't hear you complaining about the "liars" who lied on their loan docs.

    To explain "the great recession" without mentioning Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac role is disingenuous at best. And just so we are clear -- FNM and FMC are 100% government creations. Go read up on the history of those entities and then ask yourself: "does their very existence change the game?". Yes. Yes it does. I am not saying that is a good/bad thing. I am only saying that their very existence - by default - changed how the mortgage market works. I contend it changed the market for the worse because it gave people an abnormally low cost of capital.


    I am hear to keep you honest, spun. You have good ideas and good replies.....but you need to be honest about both sides of the equation. It's not just "greedy, fat cat, republican bankers and politicians" that caused this mess. Plenty of misguided ideology is also responsible.

    1. Re:only 1/2 the answer.... by spun · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Please explain how the Community Reinvestment Act forced banks to make bad loans. Go ahead, I'll wait. See, the thing the right wing liars forget, is that all this information is out there and easily available on the Internet, so the lies are incredibly easy to refute.

      The CRA does not give the government powers to force banks to make bad loans, sorry to burst your bubble.

      I am here to keep you honest, too. And I'm doing a far better job of it than you are, my friend. You won't win in that regard, because you see, I already keep myself honest, while you, evidently, do not. I do not live in a right wing echo chamber where bald faced lies are amplified and repeated until the entire cult thinks that black is white.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    2. Re:only 1/2 the answer.... by spun · · Score: 2, Informative

      You can read the act, too. I just put up that pic to show the democrats and Clinton really had no choice, the republicans made sure it was a done deal. I also linked to the act itself in other posts. It does not do what people claim it does, and it was not pushed through by democrats.

      I never try to hide my biases. I make them crystal clear.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    3. Re:only 1/2 the answer.... by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That's your rebuttal? It doesn't matter because the bank can just take a low federal rating instead of partaking in, possibly, poor loaning practices? I don't know about you, but when I choose a bank or loaning agency, federal rating is one of the first metrics I look at. I would wager that larger investors than myself (such as businesses) also look at said rating. So if a bank were to just say, "Nah, screw it, we'll just take the poor federal rating," I would bet they would lose a significant portion of their business.

      So you say, the CRA gives them the option of partaking in risky loan programs (thus inflating the housing bubble) or taking a bad federal rating (thus causing the bank to lose business and reputation), but somehow that did not contribute to the financial clusterfuck that we're in today? Sorry, I was taking you seriously up until this point but now you just seem radical.

  16. Wall Street financial companies in general by Neanderthal+Ninny · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I would have thought most Wall Street companies and financial services would win the award easy. Comcast maybe the single worst company but the combined criminals at Wall Street and financial companies would be worst than Comcast by far.

  17. Re:Do they not consider DirecTV to be a company? by PRMan · · Score: 2, Informative

    DirecTV was out in the first round in a direct head-to-head against your beloved Comcast. Frankly, I haven't had any of the problems that you are listing. And it's disingenuous to compare 30 channels against 225 and say "Comcast is cheaper". You could have easily gone online and dropped your DirecTV bill to about $40/month, making your total....$80/month. Wow! Amazing the way that works!

    --
    Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
  18. Re:Do they not consider DirecTV to be a company? by BrianRoach · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Agreed,

    I've had DirecTV since '96 ... why would ever need customer service?

    (I say this in jest, but the truth is, outside of getting them to send me newer versions of boxes, and when I move ... I never have to talk to them. Because it actually works)

  19. Had a problem with Comcast... by Squirmy+McPhee · · Score: 2, Informative

    When the installer came to install my Comcast service even HE had to wait on hold when he had to call into the office for something -- for an hour! Needless to say, we had a bit of time to chat while he waited. Come to find out that he lived in a part of my city that had a choice of cable providers, and he himself said he would never be a Comcast subscriber if he could help it....

  20. Re:not the worst. by ChrisMaple · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hughes is limited by satellite bandwidth. It's a reality limitation and not something you can blame Hughes for, unless you expect them to pump away all the atmosphere so they can aim a laser at your house. Hughes is for places where there's no alternative, and if you didn't realise that, you weren't paying attention.

    By the way, you should fire your ESL teacher.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate