On... customer service

Of recently, I've had to deal with customer service 3 times. Twice with Comcast customer service, and once with my physician's billing office. All three times, I ended the call most confused and angry at them than I started. 
Let's start with the biggest nuisance in the world: medical billing. I went for a regular check up in March 2009. All the doctor did for me was take my pulse, blood pressure, feel my hand and feet (all of these I can do myself by the way), and order a blood test (only one I can't do myself). I pay whatever they tell me my copay is. Fast forward 11 months to February 2010, I receive a bill of $181 for this visit. I call the billing office and is pretty much like "what the hell?", and customer service representative tells me that the coding office may have made a mistake and that she'll redirect my account to coding. Of course, the billing office wouldn't know anything about the codes. She tells me to call back in 7-10 days. Fast forward another week, I call back and explain my situation again yada yada yada. Customer service representative checks my account and can't figure what the coding office wrote (-_-), goes to ask supervisor. Supervisor can't figure it out (-___-). She tells me they will redirect my account to coding and ask them to check it again and to call back in 7-10 days. I think I'll going to end of calling them back in 7-10 days for the rest of my life. 
Comcast. The other bane of my existence. I just moved, so I had to get internet in my new place. So the technician came and set it up (later then he said he could come, mind you). A week later, I get a bill for $176. My internet only costs $40 a month, but apparently, to reconnect cable costs $29.99 and install internet costs $99.99 (can we say hidden fees?). I even see that installation service on comcast.com is $45.95. I call customer service and is pretty much like "what the hell?". The customer service representative "Matt" tells me that this is customary. I tell him that I thought it's only $45.95. He says he's never hear of that. When I tell him that I saw that online, he quickly adds that that price is an online deal only. I tell him that no one even mentioned the 2 installation fee. He says that they should have been more upfront about the cost and hangs up. No apologies for the inconvenience, and he hangs up on me. I hate you Comcast customer service. I had to call Comcast again later that day because they never gave me a username to log into the online bill pay service. Of course this guy "Lethel" was also an idiot. We went over how to do it step by step, but I couldn't set my password. We troubleshoot for a few minutes. At the last minute, he asked me if I was using my home internet. No.. I'm at work. That's the problem. You can only do it at home. Duh! Couldn't give me that tidbit earlier, could you Lethel?


I am compassionate to customer service representatives, really I am. I've worked in service industry as a waitress. I know how hard it is to deal with irate people (hungry people are not pleasant people). I know it's sucky, really sucky, but I also know how to put on a smile and be kind to people. 

On a lighter note, my dog is a badass.