Comcast tech support is busted!
by ZetaGecko | 8 Comments | Issues/Problems
Today, a Comcast broadband customer tried to sign up on one of my websites. After they submitted the registration form, our system sent them an email, but it appears that Comcast's spam filter misidentified and blocked it. The customer emailed me, and I got their account activated. I'd guess that we've lost a number of Comcast customers who didn't bother to email us when their account activation email didn't arrive, I tried to contact Comcast's tech support to see if we can prevent the problem from occurring again. Let the fun begin.
The first response from Comcast looked like this:
Thank you for your message.
I understand you would like to report e-mail abuse activity. To
ensure your issue is handled correctly, please report any e-mail abuse
activity by sending a detailed e-mail message to our Abuse Department
at abuse@comcast.net. The Abuse Department will research this issue
for you and take the necessary steps to ensure your safety. Include a
copy of the e-mail itself and the header information in the body of
the e-mail. Do not forward the e-mail to Abuse and send only one
e-mail per issue, please.
[etc., etc., etc.]
Thank you for choosing Comcast as your ISP.
Well, I am a Comcast customer, but I didn't contact tech support using a comcast.net email address. And I certainly wasn't reporting email abuse activity. I figured somebody read a little too fast and popped off a form message. So I responded:
system appears to be incorrectly identifying emails from my site to
your customers as junk email. We only send email to people who sign up
on our site. How can we avoid having our messages blocked?
Comcast's response? Another form message:
does not support. Our Customer Care Specialists are only trained and
authorized to offer limited help with items installed by our
technicians. Therefore, we must direct you to the manufacturer of your
product. Some examples of unsupported areas are:
-- Third-party Hardware (routers, phone devices, hubs, splitters,
gaming equipment)
-- Custom CGI Scripting
-- Windows NT Servers
-- Instant Messaging software like AIM or MSN Messenger
-- Registered Domain Names (The part after the @ in an e-mail address.)
-- Forwarding of e-mail from a non-Comcast e-mail address to your
Comcast e-mail address
-- Newsgroup Censoring
-- Home Networks and Virtual Private Networks (VPN)
-- Third-party Security Software Applications such as Norton or McAfee
-- SurfWatch or any other Parental Control software
-- Third-party software such as AOL
There are also a number of software packages that Comcast does not
support including Heat.net, RealPlayer, QuickTime, and Comfax. These
are not Comcast applications and you should contact the manufacturers
of them directly for authorized assistance. If you are having problems
with your software, you might also consider accessing the Web site for
the manufacturer of your software. They may have a list of frequently
asked questions that may cover the issue you are having. Often, you
can also post an e-mail question through the manufacturer's site that
is directed to their technical support group. In addition, you may
also access a newsgroup for that software application through the
manufacturer's Web site. You can post an e-mail message in these
locations and receive a response from other users who have dealt with
a similar issue. They will be able to provide you with detailed
assistance for their specific products.
We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may cause,
however, the software manufacturer is the best source for accurate
information and authorized assistance.
Thank you for choosing Comcast.
Once I can understand, but twice? Guys! You've gotta read a little more carefully! My next response attempted to wake the reader up and get them to read...while remaining civil:
FILTER--the one running on YOUR mail server--IS BLOCKING LEGITIMATE
EMAIL. Your customers are not receiving email messages that they have
requested. I can verify that your mail server accepted the messages
from our mail server, but your customers have reported that they didn't
make it to their in boxes.
What response do you think came back from Comcast? Go ahead, think about it for a second before reading futher, and see if you can guess.
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That's right! The exact same form message that I'd gotten the time before! The message was signed "Matt", but I think the real name of the creature I was conversing with is either Eliza or Dr. Sbaitso. Honestly, I question whether a human is capable of being so dense. They must be using an automated system to respond to questions.
Don't get me wrong. I'm generally very happy with Comcast. As a broadband customer, I can tell you that up time improved tremendously after Comcast bought out AT&T Broadband. I think I've only been offline once for about a half hour since then. (Maybe it's a coincidence, but I'll give them the advantage of the doubt). But this is just silly.
I've edited my website's welcome message. Hopefully the new version will make it past whatever genius AI program they're using to filter email.
June 21st, 2005 at 7:28 am
Here's a nice little irony for you--I just noticed that the automated "we've gotten your message and will contact you" response that Comcast sent me when I first submitted the inquiry last night was classified as SPAM by my mail client.
September 17th, 2005 at 11:50 am
JUST TRIED TO CONTACT THEM BY PHONE.1ST TRY GOT A SEX LINE WHO KNOWS WHERE? 2ND TRY GOT THREW BUT HAD NO REFFERENCE TO THEIR BROADBAND SERVICE FOR COMPUTER HELP.3RD TRY AND ABOUT A DOZEN TIMES THE LINE WOULD GO DEAD AFTER THREE RINGS
October 16th, 2005 at 11:31 am
As a FORMER Comcast employee (best choice I ever made) welcome to Comcast!
October 18th, 2005 at 4:01 am
I THINK THEIR TECH SUPPORT SPECIALIST NEED TO STOP READING EVERYONE'S HEADERS ON EMAIL AND MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS. THIS NEEDS TO BE REPORTED TO FCC IMMEDIATELY.
October 20th, 2005 at 7:48 pm
with comcast 2 months still no e mail plenty of pop ups
November 17th, 2005 at 8:42 am
Depending on the region you are in Comcat can a very frustrating entity to deal with both in their customer service and tech support. For some reason they think all their customers are bozo's who don't know jack about computers, and technology in general.
I am just so frustrated don't know what to do, i had the same issue, and got a form mail response when i responded to that they accused me of using abuse and threatining language, go figure MORONS! they didn't even take the time to understand the issue and send me this crap~!
Thank you for your message.
> >
> >
> > From the issues you described, it sounds like you need to reset your
> > Internet Explorer settings to the default settings.
> >
> > Before performing a reset of Internet Explorer to default, check the
> date,
> > time, time zone, and Daylight Savings settings on your computer to make
> sure
> > they are accurate. Some web sites especially secure sites; will not
> grant
> > access if these settings are incorrect.
> >
> > Verify that you are using the latest version of Internet Explorer for
> your
> > Operating System. If you are not, upgrading to the most recent version
> > should resolve any issues you are having with Internet Explorer. Also
> check
> > the cipher strength by clicking Help, About Internet Explorer while in
> an
> > Internet Explorer window. The cipher strength should be at 128-bit. If
> it is
> > not, click the Update link to update your cipher strength to 128-bit
> > encryption.
> >
> > To reset Internet Explorer 6.0 to the default settings using a Windows
> > Operating System:
> >
> > 1. Go to Tools
> > 2. Select Internet Options
> > 3. On the General tab make sure that your Home Page Address is
> > http://www.comcast.net
> > 4. Click Delete Files
> > 5. Check Delete All Offline Content
> > 6. Click OK
> > 7. Click Delete Cookies
> > 8. Click OK
> > 9. Click on the Settings button
> > 10. Make sure that the cache is set to 25 MB or less
> > 11. Make sure that Every Visit to Page is selected
> > 12. Click OK
> > 13. Click on the Security tab. There are four zones listed here.
> Internet,
> > Local Intranet, Trusted Sites, and Restricted Sites. Click on Internet
> and
> > then on Default Level
> > 14. Repeat the process in Step 13 for the Local Intranet, Trusted Sites,
> > and Restricted Sites zones
> > 15. Click on the Privacy tab
> > 16. Click the Default button
> > 17. Click on the Connections tab
> > 18. Click the LAN Settings button
> > 19. Make sure that nothing is checked
> > 20. Click OK
> > 21. Click on the Programs tab
> > 22. Click the Reset Web Settings button
> > 23. Uncheck Also Reset My Homepage
> > 24. Click Yes
> > 25. Click OK
> > 26. Click on the Advanced tab
> > 27. Click Restore Defaults
> > 28. Click Apply
> > 29. Click OK
> >
> > To reset Internet Explorer 5.x to the default settings using a Macintosh
> > Operating System:
> > 1. Go to Explorer
> > 2. Select Preferences
> > 3. Under Web Browser select Browser Display
> > 4. Check Use Address AutoComplete if you would like URLs that you've
> > visited to auto-populate when you start typing them.
> > 5. Under Homepage enter the address http://www.comcast.net
> > 6. Under Web Browser select Web Content
> > 7. In the Page Content section, all boxes should be checked except Use
> > Color Sync. In the Active Content section, both the Enable Scripting and
> the
> > Enable Plug-ins boxes should be checked.
> > 8. Under Web Browser select Java
> > 9. Make sure that everything is checked but Alert on Exceptions
> > 10. Under Web Browser select Security
> > 11. Click the Restore to Defaults button
> > 12. Under Web Browser select Security Zones
> > 13. Select the Internet Zone from the drop down list
> > 14. Make sure it is set to Medium
> > 15. Under Web Browser select Advanced
> > 16. Click Clear History
> > 17. Click OK
> > 18. Under Cache set Update Pages Once per Session
> > 19. Set the size to 25 MB or less
> > 20. Click Empty Now
> > 21. Under Network Select Proxies
> > 22. Make sure nothing is checked
> > 23. Click OK
> >
> > If you have any more questions feel free to reply to this e-mail, or you
> > can chat with one of our Online Customer Support Specialists 24 hour a
> day,
> > 7 days a week at
> >
> > http://www.comcastsupport.com/sdcuser/asp/default.asp
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > If there is anything else we can help you with, please contact us.
> >
> > Thank you for choosing Comcast.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Tina
> > Comcast Online Customer Support
November 23rd, 2005 at 11:41 am
I WOULD LIKE TO GO TO WORK FOU ATCOMCAST AS A TECH
November 23rd, 2005 at 11:44 am
I WOULD LIKE TO GO TO WORK FOR YOU AT COMCAST.