Check Your Comcast (Xfinity) Bill Carefully.

When I returned to the US I signed up with Comcast for all my service (what they call Triple Play.) It covers TV, Phone and Internet. During the intervening period I made a few changes in my packages sometimes it cost me money and sometimes I saved some.

While I have noticed some differences I checked today and found that I was being charged about $9. plus for phone and $7.00 even for internet each month in addition to the plan charge. After going further into the bill I discovered that there was a $7.00 charge for modem rental listed under internet services and another $7.00 under voice (telephone)

Now, unless someone has hidden a second modem in the walls somewhere, I have only one modem in this apartment and cannot conceive of a reason why I would have a second.

So I called, and after I went through the obligatory waiting period (which was not really all that long) I got a customer service rep who, after some explanation indicated that the billing did show 2 modems while the specs show only the one. However she could only give me 6 months credit since "company" policy is that customers have only that long to report billing discrepancies. Keep in mind that I have no contract with them that says that. The young lady was nice enough but I asked for a supervisor simply because company policy seemed like a license to steal. I was careful to point out that my issue was not with her because if you get angry they can always drop your call by mistake.

So on to the supervisor who was an absolute dork. He advised me that he would have to reverse the credit until he "investigated" and then he would apply the 6 months. (A public relations genius) Instead of arguing with him I asked for HIS supervisor. I finally got a guy (I have his ID etc) who, while he didn't fully grasp the concept that I never had more than one modem and kept asking what happened to the other one, acknowledged that the 6 months was really only because that was all that the original rep can see and that I have been charged for 2 modems since day one.

In the end he put through some form of ticket and that if I only have one modem I will receive credit for the 28 or 29 months worth of double charges. While it still has not gone through, I am confident that it will.

The bottom line is that you need to check these bills carefully and never rely on what the basic customer service rep tells you.

Once sorted, I will go and get my own modem.

RANT OVER!!!

 

So was that $7 charge under voice as a line rental or the other part of the charge for the modem?

It's always become a common thing for myself and the rest of my family to check the bills for about 3-6 months when signed up for a new service or utility after we got done a similar way to you, so we generally catch any odd payment like that.
We usually check the bills online most of the time, we even keep an eye on our bank accounts online to make sure the payments out of the account aren't out of place.

My Dad had one recently where a mobile phone company here (I won't name names) charged him £80 (4 separate bills of £20), for what looked like contracts, since we don't have anything to do with this company, my Dad phoned them up and eventually convinced them to refund the money after it was confirmed he had nothing to do with them.
His bank details hadn't been stolen (he hadn't lost his card, filled in a phishing email etc), so haven't got a clue how he got charged.

Good rant anyway, nearly as good as my rants

 

Nope, there is no line rental when you use the cable companies because there is no actual telephone line. It is simply VOIP on a massive scale. However in order to use the phone you need a modem, In order to use the Internet you need a modem. No secret there.

BUT YOU ONLY NEED ONE MODEM, DAMNIT!!!! Sorry I was shouting. Ehem ok back to my point. You only need one modem and I only have one modem So paying for a phone modem and paying again for an internet modem (while at the same time actually paying for the service) does seem a bit off base. I haven't a clue what made them think I had 2 modems.

 

Just out of interest, how much do you end up paying a month for those three services?

Usually I find/heard those services (plus mobile phones) in the US are generally more expensive than in Europe, ours is £91 (about $145) a month for TV, Unlimited Broadband and Calls, for all TV channels (some extra Sports and Film channels) it would be £10 a month extra, so £101 (about $160) a month tops.

 

Just to compare apples to apples Unlimited internet + unlimited phone service to The US and Canada and the Basic TV package usually casts about $100.00. HD service and additional channels add to the price. I just repriced mine with another service (Verizon) and it would include a free DVR box for life and most premium channels and it came out to $144.00. With Comcast am paying $159.00 plus they are charging me for a Modem. (well 2 actually )

My cell phone or mobile is not included and entirely separate.

Before I decide to change I would appreciate anyone's positive or negative experiences with FIOS (Verizon)

 

Hmmm so very similar overall, as that £91 I mentioned includes HD Channels and the box records programmes as well, so pretty much identical to that $144 you mentioned (assuming that had HD channels).
Seems that supposed price difference is nothing more than a myth, at least for those three services.

 

It is not so much a myth as an unfair comparison. When I was in Ireland I had SKY plus a separate Telephone and Internet bill. I also misstated the facts slightly. The free DVR is an HD cable box. So no increase there. The $45 difference between the basic package and the one I chose is that there are premium and sports packages available that are not all that comparable to what is available to residents of the UK or Ireland unless there has been a drastic change since 2009.