The Decline of X-Finity Customer Services

 Here it goes again! There was yet another unexpected Xfinity internet outage in my area and support was not available as they usually have these outages late in the night. So, it is highly inconvenient for those who work in the night. Luckily this time it was restored after around 40-45 minutes, and I was glad to resume my work. But frequent outages and scattered internet connectivity is becoming difficult to accept. I am thinking of trying another company for a change after all this while of being a loyal Xfinity customer for five years.

Since last week, I have been calling Xfinity as a loyal but dissatisfied customer and in the capacity of a consumer rights blogger with certain questions regarding their services, packages etc. I have been researching on it based on others' experiences too in different States.

My question was that how they are rewarding their longtime customers for their loyalty and continued association. They may have a loyalty program now, but that is of no value as such to me. As a customer of theirs since 2017, I expect them to do something more in terms of valuing their relationship with me. My question was also regarding the lack of uniformity in their treatment of customers.

My concern was that there is no uniformity in their treatment of new customers and existing customers in the sense that they offer much more attractive and reasonable packages/rates to new customers but not existing ones! Some packages are only limited to the new customers so as to target them. The same goes for a lot of companies or even apartment communities for that matter out here but I will address that at another time. Also, for some they are waiving off the new high charges they have adopted to recover their costs while for others they are being so rigid as to even giving some waivers particularly if there are problems with cable connectivity.

As a customer, one has a right to information or clarification when one is denied what another customer may be availing. One is then forced to consider as to what are the benefits offered to a loyal customer and is loyalty to a particular company actually rewarding or not in the presence of better options available elsewhere. I like to keep old associations alive and so like to try my best to salvage that business association or continue with their services as far as I can despite hurdles before considering moving on to another company. But now Xfinity services are declining, and one is tempted to choose another company for uninterrupted internet service. Their charges have increased but the quality of their services has declined. As of late even the approach of their managers and most of their representatives is quite rigid and unpleasant.

Before I used to prefer them particularly because of their good customer service since I felt that they were always pleasant in their dealings with customers and would really take the time to provide fine resolutions or suitable alternatives. But as of late that has changed, and their telephonic customer service has become as bad as that of AT&T. Now they are abrupt and will have a negative response before even a customer has a chance to prove why the customer is entitled to a credit. They just don't want to hear it!

This time they were not able to successfully address my concerns at all or resolve my queries. They are not interested in even feedback of customers anymore. Instead, they are evasive and reluctant to even approach what the customer tries to address with them, and I say that on behalf of many of their customers who are having the same experiences as me. They have adopted quite a rigid attitude these days and are not ready to even honour what they promise a customer. Many in my neighbourhood share my concerns.

In my case from the beginning there was constant and frequent loss of cable connectivity in my apartment and no number of technicians' visits in a month resolved the issue! After that followed major issues with two seasonal holds or vacation holds. Vacation hold or seasonal hold places your TV/Internet services on hold while you are away at a reasonable rate so that you can retain your TV/Internet package. And there they overcharged the first time because of extension of the seasonal hold and the second time they just deleted my account without my knowledge while it was still on seasonal hold because of which I lost a good TV/Internet package that was of a good price & they refused to reinstate it! It seemed as if they deliberately did that and that too in the middle of the pandemic so that I was forced to upgrade my package at a time when according to them no promotional offers were available at the time.

These various issues caused endless inconvenience and I had to spend days wasting my time and energy to resolve the issues specially to have them credit back the extra charges. The only thing good that came out of it at the time was that after much persistence from my end, one of their managers from the loyalty team then waived off modem charges for 2 years and gave a new package with a price lock for 2 years to make up for all the inconvenience caused but now that is available to everyone with the Internet Pro package of $64. In addition, the TV box charges per month continued to be waived off which had actually started from much before when the technical issues with loss of cable connectivity could not be resolved. But now this year, they have not only started charging again for the TV box but more than before while I am still facing loss of cable connectivity so many times a day. In the past their technicians used to visit my apt so frequently to try to resolve this problem and when at last they could not be done was when my TV box was upgraded at no monthly cost, and it has continued since 2019 till Dec. 2021. But now they are not willing to honour that.

My message to all is that continue being persistent with Xfinity as after numerous calls does someone hear you and may address your issue effectively! But it does involve a lot of time and energy but hopefully in the end you get what you are entitled to as a customer but that's a rarity now with their new policies it appears. A friend recently managed to have the loyalty team reverse the extra charges proposed for his account this entire year while I was not even granted the continuance of waiver of TV box charges despite the continuance of loss of cable connectivity so many times during the day till date! All that I was given was just a $20 credit for the continuing inconvenience.

Now I am forced to say that Xfinity is not what it used to be 5 years back and it is better to simply go to another company. AT&T has some good no contract internet plans at good rates. Even Verizon has better offers these days with no contract, no equipment charges and other discounts for 5G. As it is Xfinity is having frequent outages and internet is slow too despite their assuring seamless and smooth connectivity with their Internet Pro package and so don't go for that package as it does not deliver what it promises!