Xfinity Customer Service Fail: How a Minor Playback Glitch Became a Customer Service Defining Moment

Xfinity Customer Service Fail: How a Minor Playback Glitch Became a Customer Service Defining Moment

I’m a long-time Xfinity customer. A recent customer service experience has transformed me from an ambivalent advocate for a service that essentially operates as a monopoly in my area into a reluctant customer (at best), who has been the target of fraudulent transactions, deceitful practices, and accusatory, unempowered, and untrusting customer service. This is the story of how annoying audio and video glitches on my television escalated into a customer service fiasco.

Just trying to get my TV to work

Back in late May 2025, I finally grew tired of daily playback issues with my cable TV. The image would often pixelate, and the audio would stutter. It happened on live TV and recordings. I went to my Redmond, WA, store to see what they could do, as I was already leery of robot-guarded customer service lines that, when they did put through a call, terminated with unempowered technicians looking to upsell the account.

The response at the store was typical. We can’t do anything except give you new boxes, I was told.

So I took the new boxes home, plugged them in, double-checked my cable and HDMI connections and turned on the boxes. I received an error. After a bit of fiddling around without positive results, I decided to try the online chat via the Xfinity app. I finally got to someone who would run diagnostics, which took a while.

While I was chatting, I was recognized as a long-term Diamond customer with 20+ years of loyalty at a conservative estimate, over $43,000 in Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) to Comcast/Xfinity. Because he could tell I was frustrated, he asked if I could use a new iPad for free. I was, of course, skeptical, but my wife did need a new iPad, and Xfinity had, in the past, been generous with credits during poor customer experience moments.

So I said, sure, waiting to hear that the deal wasn’t the deal, but he kept insisting. All free. No mention of a mobile line. So, I said, OK. The approval was sent through a link on the chat (which I was executing via an iPad), and he pushed me to just OK it, as it was to cover the taxes (which I knew was a necessary practice for “gift” items). In all of this, my mistake occurred here, for not reading and prodding more.

I wanted my TV fixed, but this was a good deal (I was aware of a 50% off deal with a mobile line, but he assured me this was not that) so I took the offer and assumed (yes I know) and awaited upon the first bill, to learn what magic of credits this operator would apply to make this deal work. I gave this trusted operator more benefit of the doubt than I would later receive from the XM Executive Relations agent.

Turns out the cost savings on the television came from my Ultimate Package being downgraded to the Popular Package (I discovered this by going to the Science Channel, which I no longer received). Another lie, as the reduced-priced package wasn’t “the same except cheaper” — it was cheaper because it offered less.

[As an aside, that I have to put a note in my calendar to go to the Xfinity store every two years to renegotiate my deal is ridiculous. I should just be offered the lowest priced version of my latest package, or eliminate the contract timings altogether.]

Xfinity Customer Service Fail: The costly FREE iPad

Turns out there was no deal. He lied to me, but I’ll get back to the tablet later. During the “technical call” my growing frustration was met with additional offers of 1.3GB Internet as a favor to compensate for my customer service frustration, along with a reduced cable bill, which changed nothing except my price (which also turned out to be a lie).

At the end of this chat, the television still did not work. The person on the chat said they would schedule a technician visit for the following Monday between two and five. I said great, and we used Apple TV and Amazon Fire over the weekend, still paying for cable televsion that did not work. (I will note, that I did play with the primary box, which was never involved, but should have been, in the initial chat, and got a few hours of television before the service failed again).

Late Monday arrived, but not with a visit from Xfinity. I checked for a service update and was informed by the robot that no service was scheduled. I then scheduled one through the robot, which would be $100 if it turned out to not be an Xfinity issue.

Before the new visit, I thought I would go through a diagnosis again. I called and reached a very nice young man in Honduras, who ended up calling me several times. He could not fix the issue. I told him I would keep the appointment, and he assured me that I would be issued a $100 credit if the issue turned out to be an Xfinity problem. He promised to call me after the technician left.

So I waited for a technician, who did show up. He informed me that the boxes I received were faulty. He replaced them and offered me an HD box for my 4K TV because they were more stable. I was told that the 4K boxes are inherently problematic. I said I had a 4K TV and wanted the 4K box. I asked about switching to pure Internet with my televisions and devices capable of receiving Xfinity content.

He did not recommend that I do now, as the Xfinity pods (their mesh network, for which I paid $100 a few years ago) were slow. He suggested I buy the Amazon Eero system, which he had seen working well in other homes. He left. When he left, my television was working.

I went out and bought the Eero system at Best Buy and implemented it, turning my Xfinity WiFi router/modem into a bridge, which significantly increased my WiFi speed.

The man from Honduras did call. I told him what I shared in the paragraph above. He got on with his supervisor and was told he could not reverse out the $100 charge. So he posted a partial credit, and then said he would call again in a few days to process another credit. Which he did.

So far, so good for the television. But not fully resolved to my satisfaction until the beginning of August.

Then there is the free iPad.

A bill arrived, and as I suspected, the iPad was not free. I was very upset that I had been lied to. The man in Honduras shared that the transaction that were run during my technical intervention call likely resulted in three commissions for the operator. He had, essentially, perpetrated fraud.

I was not going to let Xfinity get away with defrauding and disrespecting me as a customer.

So I packup my boxes and the iPad and I went to the store. I had all of my customer service interactions documented. There was nothing they could do. The iPad had passed its 14-day return window. I could cancel the service, but would need to pay for the iPad in full. I asked how to escalate the issue. I was given the 1-888-5665-4329 Customer Security Assurance line to call, which I did, with the bag of hardware sitting at my feet ready to be returned to the store. As I left the Xfinity store, another customer, sensing my frustration, said I should complain the the Washington State Attorney General’s office (I’ll get back to that as well).

Customer Service Assurance (not so assuring)

Xfinity Customer Service Fail: The Customer Service Assurance call started poorly, with the first person I talked to informing me that there was a lot of fraud out there and that if people offered me free things out of the blue, I should just hang up. I reminded her that the fraud was perpetrated from an Xfinity chat initiated by me and conducted with an Xfinity agent after he validated my identity. This was all them.

I was then transferred to very perky Samantha in the Philippines. Xfinity operators do not share their full names, so it becomes very difficult to document interactions, even over email. That call, too, started poorly, with Samantha quoting policy. It was after 14 days, here are the current deals. I said that wasn’t acceptable, but I was willing to return the unit if it resulted in the closure of my mobile account. She went away to do transactions that would result in a return label.

When she returned, she said, “Hold on, I just talked to my supervisor.” The result was that they were going to honor the promise made by the chat operator and that I would owe nothing on my iPad, ever. That turned out to be lie number two. Perky Sammantha never documented that discussion, at least as far as the store or the escalated customer service people were concerned. I count this as lie number two.

I went back to the store to discuss getting rid of my boxes and restoring the cable channels. I was told that the promise made by Samantha was not in my record, although the credits she issued for $10.42, $20, and $25 to reverse existing charges against the mobile account were there. Samantha existed; she just didn’t fix my free iPad issue by closing my mobile account. I should wait to do anything else, I was told, until I resolved the mobile issue, as it would complicate the escalation discussions.

With the new WiFi system working well, I was allowed to turn in my boxes to save the monthly rental.

I was getting very tired of all of this. Xfinity should start paying me for a customer service management contract at this point.

The one about the Attorney General escalation

It turns out that documenting a consumer complaint to the Washington State Attorney General’s office does get Xfinity’s attention. [Website here].

I received calls from Shannon S. from XM Mobile Customer Relations, and Lakira L. (in Colorado) with Xfinity | Executive Customer Relations. I didn’t realize initially, on my way out to San Diego Comic-Con, that the mobile and consumer television complaints had been split, and that I would be talking to two people (I thought of it as an Executive Customer Relations pool that shared a number and email with next-person-up responses). I informed them I was going on a trip, and we could get back to this when I returned.

Unfortunately, Shannon S. did not take my message to heart and called while I was in a meeting on the floor of Comic-Con. Seeing it was from Xfinity, I took it. I said I was busy, but she insisted that it would just take a minute. She verified my identity as an industry CEO looked on. I gave her a brief background and told her I expected to have the iPad issue resolved by deleting my mobile account and keeping the iPad. She restated the policy and offered the post-14-day return.

I said I had already been through this with Customer Security Assurance and that the offer was not acceptable. I said she should review the transcripts and continue her investigation to see that my issue had already been resolved, even if it was not reflected in my record.

When I returned from Comic-Con I took up the issue.

I had a lovely chat with Lakira L. in Colorado. She was kind, curious and customer-focused. She put me at ease by asking about my Comic-Con experience. Although she didn’t acknowledge the fraud, she said that she always gave customers the benefit of the doubt. If they were lying, it was on them. She refunded me the $100 service charge and placed another $100 credit for my inconvenience. She also changed my cable plan back to the Ultimate package. We sat in silence together on the phone as I read every detail of the new plan and approved it. This encounter ended up being a pleasant resolution to my issues. Too bad it hadn’t happened at the store weeks ago.

As for the iPad and mobile account, I wrote out my expectations to Shannon S.. It turns out, she doesn’t do the benefit of the doubt, nor does she apparently do research, such as reading transcripts of chats or listening to call logs. I was told adamantly, repetitively, and finally that “we completed a thorough review of your account.

At this time, Xfinity is unable to confirm that you were advised the Apple iPad device would be provided at no cost,” which is tantamount to saying that I was lying. I put this as lie number three because I do not believe that they thoroughly reviewed anything, as they could have reached out to Samantha in the Philippines on what should have been a monitored and recorded call to hear her confirm the solution to my case. Samantha had processed credits, and they could find her. Hearing her call logs would clearly reveal the moment that she said her supervisor approved me keeping that iPad with no further charges associated with it.

In my most recent correspondence, I copied the Xfinity VP of Communications and the attorney general’s office. I have not heard back after their “final resolution.” I’ll update this post if more activity or additional resolutions do occur.

Had this just been regular, poor customer service, the credits would have at least ameliorated the frustration and time, a little. At this point, of course, it isn’t about the cost of the iPad; it is about the principle of a large company implying to me as a customer that I am lying to them. An Xfinity agent committed fraud through a deceitful sale, and the company continues to lie about how thoroughly they investigated the issue, and has offer no recompense after a horrendous and time-consuming customer service fiasco is unacceptable―for a customer with a very high CLV.

So, that is where I leave this for now. I just received my new Xfinity mobile bill with no credits. I’m not done fighting the issue, as this blog clearly demonstrates. I know there is somebody in Xfinity Mobile | Executive Customer Relations who can make this better, as they have already moved past the ability to make it right, given the amount of time I have spent. But a closed mobile account and the continued use of my “free” iPad would be a move in telling me that somebody at Xfinity Mobile respects me and wants to reconstitute what they can of my loyalty to their brand.

Xfinity Customer Service Fail: The results of my Xfinity technical call to the Redmond, WA store to resolve glitchy video and audio playback

• Running Xfinity television over WiFi on my equipment. I turned in my cable boxes.
• Restored the Ultimate package (I increased, or at least, restored a higher cost-point to my cable bill where I saw value)
• I turned my Xfinity modem/router into a bridge, unplugged my Xfinity pods and implemented the Amazon Eero WiFi platform. I now have reliable, high-speed WiFi in my home.
• Hours spent at the Redmond, WA Xfinity store, on Xfinity chat, writing and responding to emails, walking with a technician in my home, and on the phone.
• I am still awaiting a satisfactory resolution to my “free iPad” and the removal of my mobile account, which I never wanted.

Customer Service Recommendations for Consumers and Xfinity

For Consumers	For Xfinity
Read everything and do not sign anything even if a “trusted” service provider is insisting that the thing are are signing is the thing they are representing it to be.	Provide post-call transcripts or recordings to customers for all interactions, so if we have an issue and you can’t locate the records, we can provide them to you.
Document everything with names, dates, times and details.	If you don’t offer full agent names during customer interactions, all calls or chats should include an operator identifier to the customer, which would be provided via email and text so that the customer will know and be able to document who they spoke with.
If you think a service provider has committed fraud, call it out and report it to you local Consumer Protection agency or attorney general.	Separate technical call resolution from sales activities. Make that a policy.
Be clear on contact with customer service about what you want. If you are calling for a technical issue, tell them at the start of the interaction that is all you are calling about and that you do not want and will not put up with any sales activities during the call (and if they start selling to you, hand up).	Combine mobile, television/Internet into a single customer service accountability. Customers should not need to deal with bifurcated customer service. In the meantime, the customer service experience at the “executive” level should not clearly be driven by different metrics or practices, which seems to be the case from my experience.

My previous Xfinity customer service issues were documented in this post from August of 2024. It’s that time of year it seems.

How Xfinity’s Poor Customer Service and Confusing Pricing Undermine Their Products

For more serious insights on management, click here.

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