Is 'polite and powerless' the Comcast customer service slogan?

I may have to start a whole new category on this blog for all the ways I hate Comcast, my Internet, cable, and landline service provider.

I just discovered that people have been leaving messages on my landline voice mail., for months now. I had no idea. I don't use my landline, I just want to have it for emergencies.

So I went to find out how to turn off my landline voicemail through Comcast's website, and I couldn't figure out how to do it.

Turns out, you can't. The chat rep told me you can cancel the feature, or it takes messages for you. Those are your two "choices," if you can call it a choice when you have none.

She couldn't tell me why this was, of course. I know Comcast never empowers its representatives to actually explain things to their customers. The second you go off script, they're helpless (although unfailingly polite).

In fact, I've learned that the politeness of a Comcast rep is in direct proportion to how much they can't help you with your problem.

All I want is to have the Comcast voice mail as a backup if my power goes out, at which point I'd log in via my cell phone and enable it. I don't want people leaving messages for me there because I don't want yet another freaking thing I have to check. I find it hard to believe I'm the only person on earth who feels this way.

Why yes, I'm whining. I get that way whenever I have to engage with Comcast.

Comments

[Cheryl]

They always offer tons of options you DON'T want but never the ones you DO.

The best advice I can give is to record your greeting to tell folks not to leave messages at that number.

[Sue]

I had similar over the top ridiculous situations with Verizon, my land line and Internet connection. Did not use my landline. After they screwed up my account (or "accounts" because they kept creating new ones every time they screwed one of them up) I finally cut the cord. Literally. Cancelled everything to do with Verizon. Then went outside with heavy duty clippers and cut the line right off my house.

I'm still paying for being their customer in a way because when they would screw up my account and open a new one, they would run a credit check. Those stick with your credit report for TWO years. Didn't matter that I never had a late or missing payment in seven years.

Don't get me started on when I left Comcast ...

[Katherine]

I am a Comcast customer as well, and have my internet and cable with them. Thank goodness no landline, because I would have the same issue as you. So far, we haven't had anything too terrible happen with customer service, but I'm right there with you on the polite comment: The more they can't help, the more polite they are.

The only help I can offer is the same as Cheryl above: Perhaps leave on your out-going message that people should not leave a voice message there and should try your cell.

[kb]

Probably won't make you feel any better but I think all the telephone, internet, cable and satellite tv service providers suck :)
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[Mary S]

I'm pretty sure you can tell Comcast to send you an email message whenever you get voicemail (I believe they recently even provided the ability to translate the message into text and send it to you). At least that way you'd only have to check your voicemail when you knew there was a message waiting for you.

[Portia N.]

I was going to suggest what Mary S above posted. My landline provider, which is also my ISP, offers the option of having my voicemails sent to me by internet as an mp3 attachment so I can listen to them from my computer rather than on the phone. or I can even have all my calls from that line forwarded to my cellphone, which I do when I am out of town. Maybe one of the above options would work for you?