Comcast issues with Affliction: Banned?
July 20, 2008 by Adam Morgan
Last night I tried to order the Affliction: Banned pay-per-view because I thought it might do some good to support another promotion, give them my $40, hope for a night of good fights, and encourage some competition to the UFC. I have a DVR and had no problem recording UFC Fight Night 14 in order to watch Affliction live. So I order the pay-per-view, switch over to FSN to watch the undercard and watch a terrible fight between Paul Buentello and Gary Goodridge and then a nasty Vitor Belfort KO over Terry Martin. Once the undercard was over, I switched over to the pay-per-view channel, channel 501 on Comcast and it was just a black screen with a message that said “This channel will be available shortly.”
So I’m thinking “Okay, we’ll wait a few minutes.” A few minutes go by and another message comes up that says “Your purchase cannot be processed, please call your local office.” So I called and got put on hold for what seemed like days. Not getting through to anyone at the local office, I called 1-800-Comcast to see if they could help me. I got put on hold even longer at the 1-800-Comcast number than I did at the local number. So I hopped online to get into a Live Chat to see what the deal was. At this point the event had already started and I was put into a queue on their live chat support and I was sixth in line.
I finally get into the chat room, tell the person what’s going on and he tries to fix it. Still no dice. By this time I had found an alternate way to watch the pay per view so I wasn’t too worried about it so I told the guy to just cancel my order and be done with it. I don’t know how many of you deal with Comcast, but I’ve only had them for two months and their service has been downright terrible. This was just the icing on the cake for me. The guy kept trying to fix it after I told him to cancel it and I finally had to be an asshole about it and tell him to cancel the order, make sure I don’t get billed for it, and be done with it.
Now, I don’t know if this was just an issue with my local Comcast provider or whether it was widespread. I’ve heard a couple of other people comment about the same issue. That’s why I’m posting this little anecdote because if it was widespread, Affliction cannot be happy. Comcast is the biggest cable provider in the U.S. and if something was going on with their service at the time, it could affect Affliction’s buyrate and could possibly have cost them quite a bit of money.
So my question to you readers is: Did Comcast screw you on Affliction: Banned last night? If so, please comment in the comments section. We’d like to hear your story to see just how widespread the problem was. If it was widespread then this could be a big story and could hurt Affliction’s bottom line. We want to hear from you.
Sounds pretty accurate. I have had multiple issues with ordering PPV fights via Comcraptastic. I live in PA in an old Adelphia area. It is unfortunate as I had two fights in a row that I wanted to order. They are obviously losing revenue on PPV’s.
I have Comcast in Connecticut and had no trouble ordering the event, your box probably malfunctioned and you just needed to unplug it and let it reset.
Get Directv man. Comcast has the worst customer service satisfaction rating of all the cable/satelite providers. I have a friend who works for them and even she told me not to get Comcast.
Mike,
I’m considering it. Just wondering if people had the same problems because it could possibly have cost Affliction millions.
Affliction will just have to sell about 10 extra shirts. That should make up the difference.
Yes, I had 10 guys over…beer…food…wagering…and ordered Affliction one week ago. 8:30 rolls around and nothing. 9, 10…nothing. I was on hold with Comcast for 90minutes.
Yep, Comcast made a monumental error and they will owe me or they lose a customer. (I had ordered the fight on 2 TV’s upstairs and downstairs).
The anger directed toward comcast will be swift.
Doc,
Thanks for the input. Whereabouts in the US are you located? I’m in Mississippi so I’m wondering how far-reaching it was.
I had RCN and they did the same thing to me consistently with other UFC fights. I think this is a common issue for cable companies.
we had no problems with Comcast in Jersey. Channel 214 HDPPV
We couldn’t find FSN but I didnt mind so much.
in canada, we’d have the same problems for the last two ppv’s (ufc 86 and affliction) for those that have “viewer’s choice”/rogers
for ufc 86, i had to end up ordering online through yahoo, yesterday i managed to get extremely lucky and get a customer service guy who manually ordered it for me.
he basically said what happens is that when the events starts the “system” gets overloaded because so many people are ordering at one time. what was more concerning is what i asked if this was going to be fixed he replied “not sure”…which sucks
pain in the @$$!!
Comcast are the idiots that also think none of us want to watch HDNet, so those fucktards don’t carry it. Not only do they provide awful customer service, they don’t even listen to their consumer base.
Like i would rather watch shitty MOJO or something. SHOW ME THE FIGHTS!
Adam, I too live in Hattiesburg and dealt with Comcast for 3 years since they require no contract I suggest you cancel immediately, our internet lags terribly.
I have DirecTV and didn’t have a problem with the PPV order at all.
I have Comcast in Orlando & got & DVR’d the PPV just fine. Sounds like either its a local issue, or my local Comcast isn’t as bad as teh “normal” Comcast branch. My suggestion for the future is to call your local Comcast in advance of a PPV to ensure that you’re “locked in” to receive it.
I have comcast here in Seattle and ordered i fine. The first 30 min though was like the promotional part and the event didnt start till 6 but otherwise it was fine.
I had the same problem!!! I’m so glad it wasn’t just me! I’m in the Chicago area and have Comcast (I do not have the option to order it in HD, it was on our regular PPV channel.) We (husband and I) have ordered every UFC event for the past 6 years and never had any issues. When the Affliction PPV preview started at 7:30CST, I saw an error that said ” unable to complete order, contact customer service ” and there was a number. I sat on hold for 20 minutes and got a customer service rep who manually sent out the signal. First, I had picture and no sound. Then, it was fine. I hung up and set the DVR to tape it. At 8:00 I was skeptical if it was really going to work, so I flipped back to the channel. I saw the SAME ERROR again. Black screen this time, but I could hear the sound! We hit rewind (because sometimes we have issues with it that are simply solved by doing this since they refuse to give us a new box) and it was working fine again. Great! We were watching the UFC fight when the error popped up on the screen 3 more times. I’d check back and see the fight was on, but the error was in the middle of the screen. When the UFC fight was over, we tried to watch Affliction on the DVR and it was totally frozen. The fight wouldn’t even play. I sat on hold for 30 minutes before I got someone (and was 15th in the customer service queue online at the same time to see which was faster.) I got the RUDEST customer service person EVER who continually put me on hold time after time for 15-20 minutes, she told us to unplug the box (while the PPV was STILL IN PROGRESS) and nothing worked. I tell her that I called at 7:30 when this started and was having problems the entire time. She flat out tells me I never called because it wasn’t logged in. I told her that isn’t my problem - the point is the PPV hasn’t been working at all. She insists that I can’t get a refund unless I call back AGAIN on Monday and talk to a manager. No way, I’m getting a refund now… if I wait another day NO ONE will agree to it. I told her to send out someone to look at it themselves and I can prove to them it wasn’t working. This whole conversation and sitting on hold business took well over an hour - then my phone battery died. I was forced to call back from my cell phone (and now I’m so angry, I feel sorry for who answers the phone.) The next rep gets all the details from me, immediately says “well I’m sorry for the inconvenience, I’ll put through the credit right away.” WTF??? After all that I finally get someone who was nice (or smart) enough to figure out I wasn’t just trying to get something for free. I’ve had lots of issues with Comcast, but since we live in a state where snow and rain are almost a daily thing we can’t get a dish. We’d be throwing money out the window because it doesn’t always work. I hate Comcast. Whew, it felt good to get that off my chest!
SAME thing happened to us but for COX cable. They said it had to do with the wires, we switched two boxes and it still didnt work. Then the cable box up stairs worked.
We had Adelphia and they were bought out by Comcast a few years ago and we finally saw the switch over last year. Within a few months, we were calling DirecTV. Our DVR box was hit or miss, most of the time, and Comcast wouldn’t replace b/c “it worked”, even though that was only 75% of the time. The box fried, finally, and it took them 3 days to exchange it locally, which was after an hour phone call to let them know. DirecTV is definitely the way to go.
I tried to order from 2 til 8:45 through my box, I kept getting a message that said, “not yet available for purchase.” Finally got on the phone with someone and after a box reboot I got the show. Although, I wish I would have saved my money.
i live in central NJ and also ordered it on channel 501 about an hour before it started and had absoultely no problem. but i do agree that comcast customer service is the WORST and if i were you i would make sure they didn’t charge me anyway. i had a problem in the past with a ufc ppv that they couldn’t fix, i canceled it and got billed anyway. i had to speak to about four different people before i got it credited back. good luck adam.
Jeff-
I have no doubt that it will show up on my bill anyways. Just trying to get a feel for whether or not Comcast messed up Affliction’s buyrate.
Same problem for me in La.
I ordered and DVR’d the entire Affliction card as well as the UFN card.
I live in Southern Mass and am a Comcast customer.
Adam,
i too live in hattiesburg, Oak Grove area we couldnt get the affliction last night either, called comcast 3 times after about 20 minutes on hold each time we got the old “its ordered wait 20 minutes and it should be on”. we also had trouble getting the last UFC PPV with comcast, we did eventually get that one like 30 minutes into the program. sad thing is u gotta go with comcast here unless you downgrade to DSL internet and go through a satellite provider which then ends up being more than the comcast package =/
Comcast is ABSOLUTELY horrible for customer service. No matter where you live in the US, there is ONE and ONLY ONE 800 number that EVERY COMCAST to use.
And you have to wait in line. ANd then usually they give you a “scripted” answer and your problem and your problem is hardly even ADDRESSED, if you even got that far.
TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE customer service. The MONOPOLIES of CABLE providers is ridiculis. Where i am at in PA, you HAVE NO CHOICE…..You either are forced to take COMCAST or get a DISH.
XXXXLcracker….where at in PA do you live???? i used to have Adelphia adn AT LEAST they had a LOCAL number you could reach them at
I had issues in Chapel Hill, NC with Time Warner last night. I was able to order it, but the event came in all choppy and basically unwatchable. I had to call up TW and have them cancel the order. I’m not sure if it was just an issue in my area or if it was widespread
I had similar problems initially but with Time Warner Cable. I tried to buy the ppv and there wasn’t an option for me to even buy the event with my main tv in the house. I went to an alternate tv and that did have the option to buy it, so I used that one and everything ended up being fine. Not sure why that happened though.
I had the same problem but thankfully it was fixed. I’m with Comcast in Virginia and the stupid thing asked me for a PIN number in order to purchase the PPV. I didn’t have it nor knew where to get it so I called them. I was put on hold for 28 freaking minutes, something that Comcast clients are used to. I missed most of the half-hour pre-show hype so I wasn’t that pissed.
The thing is, I’ve had similar problems when ordering PPVs with Comcast. One time the damned thing said a UFC PPV wasn’t available for purchase even though the event was about to begin. I couldn’t buy it in the end. I wrote them (as I don’t have time to wait for 30 minutes over the phone) but only got an email the next day saying how sorry they were but that I should direct my complaint to some other department. On top of that, they don’t carry HDNet Fights nor the Fight channel but give you all sorts of crappy stations no one ever watches instead. The Quilting Channel anyone? I would drop them if I could but they’re the only Internet provider in my area and I have a 3 in 1 package with them.
get DISH network. I used to have Comcast for years, cable and internet. Hated the customer service and hated the downtime for their web service (south Jersey). Switched to DISH for TV and Verizon for internet and have been happy for 2+ yrs.
Had no problems ordering the event in Wildwood, NJ through Comcast last night.
I had a couple friends over last night for Affliction as well. I ordered the PPV at 8:30 and got the infamous “Unable to Complete Order, Please Call Your Cable Provider”… yes, this was Comcast - and I’m in NJ (Somerset NJ), and this was not the HD channel, just “regular” PPV (iNPPV channel 201).
I was on the phone with a customer service rep AND his manager for 1 hour & 10 minutes!!!
They eventually just gave up saying they couldn’t help me, and offered me $20 credit. I said I rather pay $60 for the PPV then take a $20 credit. He asked me what I wanted - I said 1 free month. HE LAUGHED AT ME (the manager!)!!!
He said anything over $50 he has to get approved in writing. I said “anything over how much?”. He said “$50″. I said “then give me $50″. He says “Uhhh… hold one one moment”… on hold for another 5 minutes… then he comes back on and says he gave me the $50 (in addition to cancelling my order).
Luckily I was able to watch it streaming live for free on the internet
but that’s not something I’d normally do - I WANTED to support Affliction and give them $40 for their show. But Comcast denied them that, and apparently many multiples of $40 judging by this article & the responses.
Every time I try ordering a UFC PPV (on the same channel) it doesn’t work and I have to call, but they’ve always been able to get it to work.
This is the final straw - my wife & I are talking about switching to DirectTV as well now.
I HATE Comcast.
Sounds like all the Comcast problems aren’t just related to this Affliction PPV but also previous UFC PPV’s. So in terms of fairness the PPV buyrates will be equal and fair.
I called them also and they where like ?? they gave me a F*&^ Price adjustment of $5..oh boy, I’m calling them back today and getting more taken off..I missed the first 35minutes and I missed the Nogueria/Dwees fight completely..Total BS..
guys, i havent read every response, however this wasnt addressed in the article.
were you trying to purchase the PRESHOW? on 501 or the actual fight?
with the ufc events you must purchase the preshow and not the actual 9-1am scheduled event, the preshow will show on your guide that it plays for 30-minutes to an hour but if you read the description you will notice that it says able to order to XX:XX last nites affliction was orderabled up until 12:56am
ive ordered so many ppv’s via comcast in charleston sc and this is an issue everytime, you MUST order the preshow to get the event or you will be given the EXACT SAME error that adam spoke of.
last nite was no different, i ordered the preshow slot at 9pm as i was also dvr’ing both of them and watching the affliction.
if you ordered the preshow and stil had the issue that truly sucks but the reality is that cable problems due happen, as for comcasts service and the long hold times that is something you should be fully aware of if you’ve been a long time customer. sucks that it happened on a huge fight night.
I absolutely hate comcast, but thankfully had no problems ordering Affliction. I really hope this affect their buys too much…
Bruz
Aside from huge set up fees DirecTV is the best their is. Good luck.
I actually think if you would have got through on the phone they could have fixed it. I’ve found their chat support to be completely incompetent outsourced overseas. I was trying to get Fuel Tv and two different chat people told me it wasnt available in my area even though comcast.net and fuel.tv said it was. I finally told them to just add the sports package which I believed it was. They “did.” THe next day the channels were still not coming in so I called and withing 5 minutes they guy had the channel on and said they never even added it to my account.
Don’t use the chat support. They are outsourced overseas that just follow scripts and don’t know what the hell they are doing.
Comcast is a terrible company. I live in Chicago, a great market for MMA. Yet comcast still cannot even get HD going. The fact that you guys have the same problems ALL over the country just solidifies my belief that they are a terrible company.
I do not even get FSN here, so I was unable to watch the prelim fights. And when you try calling about it, you wait on hold forever and then talk to someone who has no interest in doing their job. Screw Comcast, it seems like DirecTV is the way to go for MMA fans, HDnet, HD PPV, HD Spike.
my problems were in the northern suburbs of Indianapolis
As a matter of fact I JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE with comcast (sunday at 430pm) and they are going to credit the purchase when I order it again, assuming it will work. It is available on tuesday in my area.
Of course it is late and I know the results…but this is about principle gentlemen, and Comcast owes me some $.
Screw that…I’d rather have my entire bill credited.
Man. I had no problem with Affliction, but I’ve had problems with UFC ppv’s in the past. None recently. I still dislike Crapcast because it doesn’t carry HDNet. Based on these horror stories, I’ll count myself lucky.
I only use comcast because there is no other cable competitor.
We’ve had two issues in the past ordering ppvs but that only makes it about a 5-10% rate.
Dude i live in mexico.. and i have directv and had no problems with the PPV..
comcast messes up every other ufc ppv in the fredericksburg VA area for the last year. when you order it is 50 % chance of actually getting it. the customer support lady told me it is because I have HD box and the UFC is not offered in HD in my area so my box can’t get either signal or some nonsense.
Comcast’s problems will DEFINITELY affect the Affliction PPV buy rate. I bought the PPV on the strength of the card which was far stronger than the average UFC. I also buy UFC PPVs about once every two months but this was one card that I’m sure a lot of fans who won’t buy every UFC PPV wanted to see.
Same thing happened to me. Philadelphia, PA. Comcast didn’t come through.
I live in seattle and got the ppv fine but Fox Sports NW did not show the pre-fights
Comcast has screwed up a few PPV purchases for me. I ordered the last UFC PPV and got the same messages you did. I also tried to order the Affliction PPV ;ast night and went thru the same thing. My roommate finnaly got thru to comcrap last night and they said they have been having problems lately with PPV on 501. not sure what that means, but comcrap is going out of my house at the end of the month. Nothing but trouble with them.
I did not order the fight but however comcast said that the ultimate fight night was tape delayed at 9pm. well the ufc sent out an e mail saying they were wrong that it was live and at 6 (westcoast). long story short lots of people dvr’d the wrong show.
Comcast sucks, I had to watch the show on the internet. That is completely unacceptable. I got the error too late to find someone close enough to go to their house.
Jen @ 16 I live in central Illinois and DirecTV works fine for me. I can’t remember snow or ice ever interfering with my signal. It may be different for you in Chitown but as many bad things as I hear about Comcast Chicago it may be worth a try. Also I’m at work right now but my DVR is recording Dream 5. ( DirecTV carries HDNet. ) So any one looking to make a change I can tell you DirecTVs been good for me.
I am in New York and I was dissapointed that my DVR for NO REASON NO ONE WAS IN THE ROOM STOPPED RECORDING Affliction exactly at 12:11 I missed the Sylvia Vs Fedor fight.
I also had to watch online and I had about 10 of my fans call me and said the same thing. I had to watch it offline, I told Time Warner NYC I will not pay for it and would have to be reimbursed. They are going to take it off of my bill, sorry Affliction not replaying it at 1:00 pm was really stupid considering every PPV broadcast does the same.
Narcisist URDirt.com
I live in Indianapolis & Comcast is my provider. I was unable to get the fight through PPV.
I live in Virginia and had no problem ordering the Affliction PPV. I was able to DVR it and Fight Night. Ive actully never had a problem ordering ANY UFC PPV. My brother works for Comcast and he asked them about HDNET and the problem is that there isnt enough of a demand to get it. In order for Comcast to get it they have to pay HDNET a certain amount per customer per month and there arent enough people who want it to justify charging everyone for what 1 out of every 20 people wants.
Time Warner Cable in New York bent me over. I recorded the fights to watch on Sunday and the recording stopped about 30 seconds into the Arlovski post-fight highlight reel.
I missed Fedor-Sylvia completely.
So pissed.
Besides some terrible commentary, the Affliction show was pretty compelling. Wonder if they’ll pull off another show.
Kirby:
You’re lucky
my dad and one of my friends both have DirecTV and when we were watching football (during a light snow), the picture came in terrible. I just can’t imagine spending the money to get a dish and hope it works. As much as I despise Comcast, I am stuck with them for now until we move to another area and get a different cable provider. The only other option we have is a place called WOW cable. I may give them a try.
After I spent so much time on the phone (almost 3 hours total between all the phone calls I had to make) I finally got someone with a brain who said she’d credit my account. I ended up finding the fights online and watching them (if you would like a link to see them, just click on my name and you’ll see the post in my blog.) It’s not nearly the same seeing them online as it is on a big screen TV but oh well. At least I didn’t have to pay for that.
You guys all get the PPVs on channel 501? Ours is on 801. Interesting.
I have DishNetwork and would recommend it to everyone. The DVR is badass
I work for Comcast. One Moment Please is caused by a connection problem. There is probably a loose connection in the back of the TV or maybe the box does need to be reset. Comcast can reset it over the phone or it can be done by unplugging the box for 15-30 seconds then plugging it back in. If you have a DVR, the UFC recording will be interrupted for those 30 seconds though. I honestly doubt that this will affect Affliction’s buy rate. If the next card is as good as this one, most people will order again. Not to mention, its probably available for purchase via On Demand today. (Where On Demand is available). As far as Affliction’s profit on this PPV, they’ll get all the revenue that was generated from orders even if Comcast refunds your money. We’ll just have to eat that revenue.
Dave is absolutely correct about HDNet. We have not heard enough demand for HDNet. Every time someone calls in asking for a certain channel, we put in a channel request. So, either no one takes the time to call and ask for it or there just aren’t enough people that actually want that channel.
By the way, the reason 1-800 Comcast takes longer is because its a national number and it first has to re-route you back to the local number before connecting you to a live agent.
DirectTv all the way, especially for MMA fans..Comcast was not available when I moved (Only Charter = just as bad), so I chose DirectTv…Praise Jeebus..