Comcast Shines Image as Rivals Encroach

PHILADELPHIA (TheStreet) -- A few months ago, my Internet connection, cable TV reception and phone line disappeared simultaneously. I used my cell phone to call Comcast (CMCSA Quote), my "triple-play" service provider, and what followed was a maddening 48-hour comedy of customer service errors.

After talking to three agents on a Saturday night, I scheduled a Monday morning appointment with a four-hour window, from 8 a.m. and noon. When 11:45 a.m. rolled around, I called Comcast to check in. It turned out the company had left two messages on my broken phone line. One was an automated call telling me that if I didn't pick up the phone when the technician called, my appointment would be canceled. The other said the technician was canceling the appointment because the Boston Marathon was happening that day. The saga went on from there, with conflicting information and mixed messages worthy of an old Three's Company episode.

I'm not the only whiner. A Google (GOOG Quote) search for "Comcast sucks" garners 19,700 hits. Two years ago, a 75-year-old woman in Bristow, Va., attacked her local Comcast office with a hammer.

"I'd be the first to admit that Comcast needs to and wants to improve its customer service," says Rick Germano, senior vice president of customer operations at Philadelphia-based Comcast. "You ran the Google 'sucks index,' which we run, too."

Germano attributes many of the company's problems to growing pains from acquiring companies, attracting subscribers rapidly and rolling out new products.

"We've become the third-largest telephone company in less than three years," Germano says. "We're playing a little catch-up."