With Comcast’s acquisition of NBC from General Electric, there was concern from both the FTC and the FCC about the effects on the rest of the television/media market in America. There was concern prior to the deal that this would make Comcast a monopoly.

There are still plenty of other television providers out there, and since I keep seeing commercials for those other companies on my cable channels, it looks like those concerns were unfounded.

In many areas across the country, however, the only available provider for TV and/or Internet is Comcast. In my neighborhood back home, Comcast is the only option. And they know it.

Upon moving into my new apartment in DeKalb, I ran into multiple problems with Comcast.

The first DVR they sent us was broken, so we had to wait two days for a technician to come bring us a new one. We also ordered a modem, and a box that said “modem” on it came, but without a modem inside. Someone just forgot to put the modem in the modem box before they shrink wrapped it and sent it out? Who is running this place?

Three DVRs and three modems later, we have working cable and Internet. But Comcast wasn’t done screwing up yet. I paid the monthly bill 24 hours before it was due, got a receipt and stopped worrying about it until next month. Simple as that, right? Wrong. I got a bill a week later claiming that my original bill was never paid. Bovine excrement. I had to call up, tell them what my first bill said and give them the receipt number to remedy the situation.

I asked if I could speak to a PR department because I wanted to know if they were doing anything at all to fix these issues. To his credit, the man I spoke to on the phone was very patient and polite. I was given a reference number and was told I would receive a phone call. Unfortunately that call came at 11 p.m. so I did not get it. I did get a pleasant voicemail with a number, but when I called back, the call was dropped or the particular people I needed to talk to were unavailable.

When I finally did get through and spoke to the woman who had called me and identified herself as Michelle and the supervisor of wherever I was calling, I asked if anything was being done about these issues.

“Comcast takes its customer surveys very seriously. That is why we always offer them after a customer service call. If you have issues with anything, including your bill, the survey is the best way to let us know, so we can do better for you, our valued customers,” Michelle said.

So make sure you save your receipts and confirmation numbers, and when they offer the survey, take the extra eight minutes to take it. Comcast is starting to act like one of the banks that received a bailout as if it is too big to fail.

Doesn’t it cost money to send out multiple DVRs and modems? Doesn’t it cost money to constantly send out technicians to fix stuff that never worked to begin with? Not only are these practices a headache for customers, they‘re just plain bad business.