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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.'"

15 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
  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.

  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.

  4. 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 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
  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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 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.
  8. 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

  9. 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.
  10. 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