Joe,
Thanks for all you do! I have something some of your readers maybe interested in.
Several years ago when Comcast had a deal on internet service you could purchase a modem from several available retailers and got cable access for reduced rate for 6 months. My wife pays all the bills and I never looked at the Comcast bill.
I happened to see it last week and it had a modem rental fee of $5. Apparently they had been charging us $3 until last fall when it went to $5.
I called and was able to get 6 months refund on the charge and it dropped from my bill. They have been dipping for 8 years or so. The bills if you have TV as well are pretty complicated and many of your readers may be getting taken as well.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
31 comments:
check it out
comcastmustdie on the web,, even their own employees hate em, worst company ever!
what's even shadier is if you cancel the service, they try and make you turn the modem you paid for back in by threatening you with additional charges. I told them to stuff it, along with their poor service. They seriously need some competition in this area!!!
Go to Verizon or Dish and quit crying it's not like it's DP&L who increase charges by 200 % and then say they will lower charges for the summer by 1% , gee thanks you crooks !
Life is so much more simplified with dial up. The more modernized things get, the more complicated.
You can buy your own modem instead of renting it from us. You can save a lot of money just by buying your own. Here are the approved modems you can buy: http://customer.comcast.com/Pages/FAQViewer.aspx?seoid=approved-cable-modems&fss=approved%20modems
I am sorry if you were not told this info before. Let me know if you need more help on this.
Regards,
Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com
What is the franchise fee for?
Someone working on some water lines cut the Comcast cable to my house a few months ago. He contacted them and they said they'd fix it no charge.
The next month Comcast charged me for it on my bill. I contacted them and they said they'd refund me, but I had to pay it that month and the credit would show up in the next bill.
The following month it was in the bill TWICE -- turns out instead of a credit, they charged me the amount again. I called. They said they'd fix it.
Unbelievably, they "fixed" it again by making the same mistake again. Now I was being bill FOUR times for something that I shouldn't have been billed for in the first place.
I eventually got it taken care of, but only after a lot of wasted time on hold and having to tell the same story over and over trying to convince people on the other end of the phone that they screwed up. Comcast has a bunch of incompetent "customer service" people.
To Mark Casem:
Do the modems also work if you have the wireless gateway?
Someone working on some water lines cut the Comcast cable to my house a few months ago. He contacted them and they said they'd fix it no charge.
The next month Comcast charged me for it on my bill. I contacted Comcast and they said they'd refund me, but I had to pay it that month and the credit would show up in the next bill.
The following month it was in the bill TWICE -- turns out instead of a credit, they charged me the amount again. I called. They said they'd fix it.
Unbelievably, they "fixed" it by making the same mistake yet again! Now I was being billed FOUR times for something that I shouldn't have been billed for in the first place.
I eventually got it taken care of, but only after a lot of wasted time on hold and having to tell the same story over and over trying to convince people on the other end of the phone that they screwed up. Comcast has a bunch of incompetent "customer service" people.
anon at 1254pm - DP&L has never increased rates 200% or anywhere near that. I work there and have worked there for 10 years. The highest rate increase in MD was 33% several years ago, and 50% in DE several years ago.
People are always bad mouthing DP&L - but our rates are actually lower than the nations average. You can google it if you don't believe me.
Comcast seriously needs help. They advertise servies for the bundle....Great! So when your year is up they now charge per premium channel. But if I am a NEW customer I get this great deal. What about us OLD customers who have been loyal???? I know you want more business....but last time I checked keeping current customer satisfied is less overhead. I am playing the switch game now. Verizion has a great deal, took it, when theirs goes up, back to comcast. Maybe in a few years we will have more competition at lower costs.
I just bought the Zoom modem from Walmart for $61 including shipping. Go here:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Zoom-Technologies-Cable-Modem-External-USB-Ethernet/10629554
1:35 I don't care how long you have worked there ! I've paid the electric bill for 25 years and about three years ago my bill went from 300 a month to over 800 a month and sometimes 1000 and they have raised it since ! How can you defend these chiselers ? Oh I know they pay you !
1:49pm
If your bill went up that much, its not because the rates went up, its because your usage went up.
If you have your old bills compare your kwh usage from the 300 a month bills to the 800 - 1000 a month bills, and they will have had to increase as well.
Call customer service at 800 375 7117 and someone will be happy to help you find out what in your home could have caused the spike in your usage, or go to www.delmarva.com there is an energy audit tool online that may help you find what in your home is using that much energy.
Also - if you are using space heaters, they use alot of electric. Just trying to point out some things that may help you.
1:59 Nice try ! it's not the usage it's the rate . Your company was deregulated and then went crazy a couple of years ago I wish I lived in Choptank territory there a heck of a lot cheaper and no mistakes reading the meter ! I see the company spin doctors are monitoring the blogs !
Also - I was only telling you how long I have work there so you know that I have been there long enough to know if there was a rate increase of 200% in the last 10 years.
I can defend DP because it really is a good company. We contribute alot to the community, we work in snow and rain and lightning etc to get people's lights back on and come into work in the middle of the night so that customers have a real voice to talk to and not a computer recording like the co-ops do, and we are all customers too just like you are. We don't get any discounts we pay the same bills you pay.
1:49 did you vote for Omally your fault he released the cap on energy Co's raising prices about the 1st thing he did...
2:04pm --
Choptank makes no mistakes reading the meter because they do not read it, the customers do. The customer has to read their meter every month, if you don't, you are charged $5 for Choptank to come out and read it for you.
It was over 10 years ago that the electric company was deregulated, I didn't work here then. Maybe the prices were cheaper then, but there definately hasn't been a 200% increase in the last 10 years that I have been here.
I'm not a spin doctor, I am very very low on the totem pole as it were. I'm just someone who happens to work at DP and also enjoys Joe's blog.
As far as rates go, our 'price to compare' which is our supply rate, is published on our website www.delmarva.com, and in Maryland it is 10.10 cents per kwh.
Choptank's, according to their website www.choptankelectric.com, is 8.91 cents per kwh, so it is 1.19 cents per kwh cheaper.
To a person who averages 1500 kwh per month, this is a difference of $17.85, which I am not arguing, is a cheaper rate. Perhaps theirs is cheaper because they don't have meter readers, so they aren't paying 25 or so meter readers to read the meters. I'm not sure. I do know that Choptank employees and Delmarva Power employees are members of the same union and make about the same pay so its not that.
The hell there hasn't been a 200 % increase over the past 8 years . Don't you read the paper every time those bastards do it ? You corporate liars can spew your spin on this blog but the people know your full of crap ! I'm against socialism but I'm also against a monopoly I hope the government takes over the electric companies instead of health care we need relief !
DP&L is run by a bunch of greedy corporate bastards ! I hope you enjoy your golden parachute and maybe the government won't come after you crooks !
It's not the usage that has gone up it's the cost of delivery you know cost of getting it to you . It's all profit in the pocket of the corporate monster DP&L .
1:59 yeah you guys at dpl dropped your electric rates to about the national average then turned around and stuck it in our a$$'s by raising the transmission rate so if we decide to go with another supplier you are still gonna f us!
We are not stupid!
Comcast and DPL have one thing in common they are both monopolies protected by the state and would be bankrupt in a new york minute if they ever had to truly compete!
If you folks didn't work there you would be good candidates for government jobs!
I called DPL and asked how they were reading my meter when it was on the house behind an 8 foot locked fence. I never see them but they deny estimating it and said they have ways. What a crock!
Take ComCrap to small claims court. Sue `em for all the overbilling they have done as far back as you can -- the statute of limitations may restrict you to the last 3 years' worth.
It is such a farce that they think they can bill you for anything they want for as long as they want, and if they get caught, they only have to refund you for 6 months!
Add in some punitive charges on your small claims suit -- up to the maximum permitted on such a claim.
Anon 547pm
Most meters inside enclosed back yards or sheds, have an electronic transmitter in them enabeling the power company to read them from up to a mile away.
But you can always read it yourself also to double check the reading.
I can't stand Comcast -- I can't wait until Verizon Fios comes to the Eastern Shore.
Verizon is not high on my list either but I've heard the Fios is great and it will give some competition to Comcast.
good of you to take the time to share this, easy to just pay the amount every month, especially once you go paperless, but you really need to look it over.
FiOS won't be here any time soon. Comcast has a ridiculous exclusivity (99 years?). That's why their rates are 30% more than other areas that have competition and their fees keep rising so fast.
9:07 That's not true Verizon is laying fiber optics in our area as we speak ! That said it will still be a couple years .
DP&L have been screwing EVERYONE for as long as I can remember. My bill has tripled over the last 6 years. I have fewer people living in my house (empty nester) heat set at a lower temp. les water heater useage, etc., and STILL they list me at using more KWh's. Now I check my meter after reading that article on here. I have already caught them wrong - in their favor!
Well watch out for that every couple of months your connection will go bad and Comcast will charge you $40 for a tech visit, because the issue was your equipment not their line, make sure you call your modem or router manufacturer before agreeing to a tech visit. Magically without anything being found wrong with my line and 40 fee everything was ok for a few minths. FISHY
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