Comcast Cable (in)Competence

When I left Florida, I was relatively satisfied with my Comcast Cable and Internet Service (although it did cut out about once a week).  I called Comcast before I moved and told them I would like to disconnect my service because I was moving.  I was told to go to the local Comcast outpost and turn in my modem.

I went to the local Comcast affiliate, turned in my modem, told them I was moving to Seattle, and that I would like all my services terminated.  I asked if I owed them anything, if there was anything else I needed to do, anything else they needed to give me.  They assured me, it’s fine, don’t worry, it’s all taken care of, you don’t owe us anything.  Six weeks later I received a bill for 165 dollars.

Apparently when Comcast turned off my internet service, they kept my cable service on and charged me for it.  Telling a company you’re leaving the state, your lease is up, here’s you modem back, you don’t want to pay them anymore money ever again for any reason, is only clear enough to get them to cancel half your service.  The less expensive half.

I called Comcast and asked to speak to someone.  After being put on hold for an hour, and explaining to someone in India for an hour about how I didn’t feel I should have to pay this bill, I was told that it would be taken care and that I would be called back when it was fixed.

Two weeks later I called back and, after spending thirty minutes holding, was told that the records indicated that the matter was still being looked into.

One week later I received a notice from a Collection Agency, saying that I owed Comcast 165 dollars.  I called Comcast, and after only twenty minutes on hold this time, spoke to a very nice woman in India who informed me there was no record of me having called earlier, and that I was merely a delinquint who had yet to pay for well provided service.

After rehashing my dilemma to her, I was given a Reference number as "proof" that Comcast had in fact written down something regarding my case this time. I was told to fax my Collection Letter with the Reference number to the Comcast company in Florida, and the Collection Agency would delete my information, my credit history would be unaffected, and the bill would be looked into, and possibly dropped.

We’ll see how that goes.