PCA Forums

Okay, so bad storms yesterday. Digital cable TV has been out for 24 hours although modem and my Dad's ancient analog cable box in his room still works.

Automated system texted me at 8am today to say the repairs were complete, but we're still down. Just digital cable.

So I logged into my XFinity account and used the automated troubleshooter, which found a problem that required a technician on-site, and it scheduled me for an appointment Tuesday PM. I then used the XFinity Chat to speak to customer support to see if I could get an earlier service call date.

While on chat with support, I received a recorded phone call saying "Hello, I'm calling on behalf of the Xfinity Advanced Technical Support Team in reference to your technician appointment and to provide you with a faster resolution." and it asked me to call back the same number that called. Sounded legit, but I googled the number and most results from scam phone call sites indicated it was a scam. Hmm. So I asked the customer support person on chat to verify the number, and they confirmed it was a scam.

Now sure, this COULD have been a coincidence that the scammer happened to call right after I scheduled a service call, but it sure seems like the scammer KNEW I had just arranged for a service call. Moreover, several reports on phone scam websites for that number say that other people were also called immediately after scheduling an appointment.

I dunno. Seems like someone may be inside Comcast's customer service database. I send them a message via Twitter explaining what happened, for what it's worth.

The number that called was (833) 626-0622, and the recording wanted me to call back that same number.

Sorely tempted to call back and screw with them.

Customer service couldn't find me an earlier slot, so I guess a lot of people took damage. I've got Internet and Dad's got TV so we can survive on my media center and Roku until Tuesday.

Sounds very suspicious.
Yeah, I'd love to call and mess with them as well. LOL

The scammers have called five times since I made the appointment. Send Xfinity support a Twitter direct message, and also their email phishing security department. I didn't feel either of them would take it seriously so I also sent an email to the manager of media relations for Xfinity and she replied right away that she would forward it to the security department. So maybe someone will look into it.

On another note, my appointment today got rescheduled to tomorrow because, apparently, it's a larger issue affecting multiple people. So while I was thinking low signal, maybe it's a digital TV issue. Dad still has TV on his old analog box, and I still have Internet. For the past two days we had digital cable in the bedroom, but today it's down.
If it was a weak signal. I would expect the modem to have gone off line.

Wife is surviving on my ample supply of movies and TV shows on the NAS, and my Roku streaming stick.

Death to scammers, especially to the ones that steal someone's identity.

Okay, totally bizarre. I got a live human called me today from that number. Indian accent and I assumed it was a scam. They wanted to know if I was still having issues, so I played along assuming it was a scam and eventually would ask for a credit card or something. But all he did was ask me for the error codes on the TV, and then confirmed my appointment Thursday (which had previously been rescheduled). So now I have to assume that it was a legit call, but it's weird that Comcast customer support didn't know that number was legit.

So they finally came and fixed the cable today. Weak signal as I suspected, but not the amp. Turned out to be the MOCA filter where the main line comes into the house.

MOCA is how all your in-house cable boxes communicate with each other. So, for instance, it allows your cloud X1 digital box in one bedroom to see the recorded programs on your hard drive DVR box. This filter prevents your inhouse MOCA communications between boxes from going out to the pole. Without it you can get all kinds of problems.

The tech said he rarely sees one of these fried - it's usually the amp that takes the hit.

Ordered a five pack for spares from Amazon as well as a spare Comscope 9 port MOCA amp in case I ever have to swap out my amp in a hurry at my house, or one of my investment houses.

Glad it's resolved.