Calling Comcast about my internet service is always an adventure, but today was especially interesting. I was getting less than my promised 20 Mbps download speed, even after upgrading to a DOCSIS 3 model like they told me to three weeks ago, and so I gave them a call. The really polite gentleman on the phone had me read the MAC address and serial number of the modem to him, and then told me that Comcast speeds would be doubling in a week or so. Good news, right?

Next, he told me I had to go visit the nearest Comcast store, and give them the same information I had just given him about my modem. I asked why, but never got an answer. When I finally persisted, explaining that the nearest store was all the way across the city, he told me he could just use the information I had given him over the phone, and that I didn’t really need to visit the store after all. WTF?

I’m sure this is a ploy by Corporate to get more people to the stores so that they can be talked into upgrading to some new DVR or service, but was it really necessary – or even a good idea? Had I not kept asking why I had to do this, I might have spent half a day just to become victim to a sales effort. Not cool.

Anyone else have this experience? Let us know in the comments.