Comcast Rant
Who doesn't love a good Comcast rant?
My wife and I moved over the holidays – but this story starts way before that. We couldn’t do Fiber internet in our old house for technical reasons, so we reluctantly switched over to Comcast and Xfinity.
At the time, we were both working from home – and we BLEW through the data limits for their residential service. I figured it was all of these live podcast recordings, uploads, and downloads. Turns out, it was her being on Microsoft Teams calls all day. At any rate, we had to upgrade to a Comcast Business account. Fine.
In December, we were fortunate in that we had a couple weeks of overlap, where we were still in the old house, but transitioning into the new house. So I called Comcast, and explained I needed the service in BOTH locations. The sales rep seemed OK with that, but told me to contact him as soon as the new service was installed, so he could try and keep up all my discounts, which were unusually high, in his estimation. I emphasized, DO NOT TURN OFF SERVICE to the old house when the new house is turned on.
Cut to December 18th – my birthday, no less. I spent the entire afternoon at the new house, waiting for the install. The older gentleman tested the line and told me the connection wasn’t great. So he climbed the utility pole in our new neighbors’ yard, and ran a coax line across the top of their fence, and ours, into our house. Turns out, our electricity line is underground here – great for a storm – bad when the cable company has to, by law, follow that line. So they opened a ticket to have someone come out and bury the line once the ground thawed. Meanwhile, there’s a giant red coax cable strung across our neighbors’ yard (fortunately they are super nice), and ours. Cable comes on, and my wife calls from the old house – sure enough, they turned the service off, over there. What followed was 15 minutes of me cussing out an automated system at Comcast, because it was after hours. Finally, I get a human being, overseas, who tells me to unplug it and reset it. I explain, no, it’s not a technical issue – it’s a YOU issue. “Oh I’m sorry, you’ll have to call back after 7am.” Uh, no. This may be a first world problem, but I have too much stuff in my house that relies on the internet to have it off overnight due to your incompetence. I said it a little nicer than that. Miraculously, they turned it back on.
First bill comes – for FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS. This includes the install (fine), and two months of service – at $50 per month more than I’d paid all last year. That’s the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I called AT&T about fiber. They came in at $80 per month cheaper, no data limits, and excellent customer service. Not to mention they are symmetrical – their upload speed matches their download speed. I’m doing more video for my podcast clients – and an hour podcast, at 1080p resolution can be around 6 Gigabites. To upload a file of that size would take an hour on Comcast. With AT&T, it’s usually a few minutes. SOLD.
So I cancel Comcast. But in the interest of being a good neighbor, I need to get the cable removed from their yard and ours. Dead end, after dead end on phone, and chat. I’m pretty sure, Comcast having the monopoly that they do – the system is designed to get you frustrated and just give up.
But then my good friend Diane entered the picture. She told me there’s a REDDIT thread for Comcast support. And she suspects the agents that are too good for the phone and chat get “banished” there. It’s some sort of secret society.
Long story short – I posted about the issue. A moderator DM’ed me, and despite a few hiccups, eventually someone came and removed the line. So THAT problem was solved.
That only leaves the bill. Reddit couldn’t help me there because once I admitted it was a business account, they very quickly said “not it!”
On January 15th when I cancelled the service, they had the audacity to tell me I was past my 30 day cancellation window. I told them no, I spent my BIRTHDAY on the 18th waiting around for your installer. So they processed the cancellation.
Look, I’m a reasonable person. I don’t expect a refund for the installation, nor do I expect to get my money back for the first month of service that I used. But I damn well better get my money back for the second month of service that was NOT used. They told me to wait until the February 14th bill to see the refund.
I got the Feb 14th bill – and have a credit OF…18 dollars and 18 cents. Still no refund for month 2. So I tried the chat – oh you have to call our retention department – which sounds like AI but I think is a person. After 30 minutes on the phone, I come to find out – they are insisting I’m was out of my 30 day window on the cancellation because even though the install was on the 18th, the CONTRACT started on the 15th. They waived my cancellation fee as a COURTESY. How nice.
As for the refund on the second month of service – when I went back over the fine print of the cancellation document I signed – it said the cancellation will take 30 DAYS to process and I’m responsible for those charges. You win, Comcast. I’m tapping out. When you own your own business, you have to think about what your time is worth. And even though I wanted to die on this hill, I can’t spend any more time fighting for $150.
But I sure can post this rant on the internet and hope a bunch of people see it. It’s the equivalent of the strongly worded letters my parents taught me to write in the 80s.
I will say though – if you are stuck in Comcast or Xfinity automation hell – try Reddit. You might find a diamond in the rough. And a note for podcasters – fish where the fish are. Leave no stone unturned for where your audience might be hanging out on the internet.
Next on my to do list – trying to get money back from Verizon. They charged me for an ipad I traded in – for 14 months after I no longer had the device. Wish me luck.
Find jag on social media @JAGPodcastProductions or online at JAGPodcastProductions.com [https://JAGPodcastProductions.com]
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