Trying to cancel Comcast

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Yet millions waste hundreds of dollars a month for the boob tube from them... I suppose dish, fios, etc. are really no better? These are leagal monopolies, no?
 
We canceled Comcast the first time after they charged us to call their customer service to diagnose an issue with our TV/Internet (the issue wasn't our fault, either). We gave them another try a few years later to see if they had improved any, and the HD picture quality was blocky and the internet service was inconsistent. Canceled them and ended up going with Dish instead, which has much better picture quality and the price was a little cheaper. Dish's customer service is pretty poor, though.
 
Originally Posted By: the article linked above
"The way in which our representative communicated with him is unacceptable and not consistent with how we train our customer service representatives," says Moyer.


I think that's humorous, because that representative likely behaved exactly how he or she was trained. The responses were very canned, very scripted, and quite consistent with those of a Time Warner representative with whom I spoke to cancel our cable service. That seems to be their MO...folks know that it's way harder than it should be to cancel or to downgrade your service and most of them likely make the choice to continue to pay the bill rather than deal with the phone rep.
 
I've been tempted to get one of those 100 mile radius digital antenna's and either mount it on the highest point outside or in the attic. Might be able to get another 6 to 8 feet higher by mounting outside.

A lot of times the programs we enjoy the most are on the channels you can get through an antenna anyway.
 
I converted to a Roku 3 awhile back.
Theres plenty of free channels, including news etc.
theres also plenty of not-official channels, pay channels, and other randomness on it.

I only pay for Netflix. Oh and I bought angry birds for it awhile back which was a 3.99$ one time payment.
 
when I cancelled comcast, I went into the comcast store, waited 45 minutes while they gave each person in front of me a similar guilt trip, but NOT as bad as the guy in the article went through.
I got my turn, all I said was, I just got laid off, I have $1200 of unemployment a month. I am moving in to my inlaws, and have to decide between food & gas OR cable tv. Guess what I'm choosing.
I simply got a sorry that happened to you, thank you for supplying the power cables and remote control!
Next day AT&T U-Verse came in and I still am saving $45/month!
 
I don't get it. After the first time of the run around I'd be asking for a supervisor. If I didn't get one, I'd ask the name, call back in and speak to one.

No need for a 20 minute call. No need to post it on the Internet, etc.

But then again I don't want 10 minutes of fame or create faux outrage on a Blog.
 
I agree that the CSR was probably trained to handle the call this way although I'm sure they also teach that if the customer still insists they want to cancel (x amount of times) during the call they must cancel the service without further delay.

I had a similar incident with DirecTV in 2011.

I was out of contract and decided that their [censored] SD picture quality and crummy channel selection for the money was not of any value to me anymore. So I called in to cancel. I simply tell the retention CSR that I was transfered to to cancel my service.
The obnoxious and annoying CSR I am guessing came from Jamaica originally, asked why I wanted to cancel. I explained that the value for the money is no longer there and I simply want to cancel. The clown then goes on to ask me what it will take to stay with DirecTV. I tell him I don't want to stay I want to cancel. I tell him that I only want to pay 25$/mo for my current package with no new contract, that is it. If that arrangement can't be met I want to cancel now! If he can do that I will agree to stay. I have already been on the phone with this jerk for alomst 20 minutes now..He puts me on hold for what seems like at least 10 minutes, he comes back on and tells me it isn't possible that the market value is higher than that. I say fine I told you you couldn't meet my needs so cancel my service..NOW. He gets belligerent and starts to bark at me...Well you have lots of PPV orders on your account that you haven't payed for!" Practically yelling at me now, I say excuse me, I have EXACTLY ONE PPV which was ordered accidentially a year ago and I called in within minutes of the issue and alerted the CSR, who promptly elminated the charge. I tell this retention punk CSR to either cancel my service immediately or I am going to contact the state AG where DirecTV is located and file a complaint against the company. He finally cancels the service and does NOT even appologize for his asinine behavior.

After that outrageous exchange I send a return, receipt, requested snail mail to the then CEO of DirecTV Mike White to alert him to the problem I had, and asked him to investigate the issue and have his office get back to me with some answers.

Well 10 days later I received the RRR receipt signed by the DirecTV HQ. I waited and NEVER heard ONE PEEP out of them after that. I will never again use DirecTV. Obviously their executives don't give a [censored] about the treatment of the customer.
 
I cancelled Comcast last summer at my vacation home, and a month later got a bill to my primary address for a couple hundred dollars (don't remember exact amount). They claimed they never received the cable box, I called them up and after some "digging around" they somehow realized it was a mistake on their end and they did in-fact receive the cable box. That was an ordeal I never want to go through again!
 
We took our equipment to the office, and after pulling up our account, the rep at the desk said, "But your lines haven't been upgraded in over three years!"

We replied, "That's a reason to stay?"

For the last six years, we've been more than satisfied with the death star for internet and an antenna for TV.
 
Originally Posted By: itguy08
I don't get it. After the first time of the run around I'd be asking for a supervisor. If I didn't get one, I'd ask the name, call back in and speak to one.

No need for a 20 minute call. No need to post it on the Internet, etc.

But then again I don't want 10 minutes of fame or create faux outrage on a Blog.

I don't get it.

Why should any company get away with providing this kind of service? They need to be named and shamed. WE pay THEM to provide a service.
 
I can believe it.

I legally changed my name years ago. The only outfit besides the state of IL and Social Security that wanted the raised seal court order was Charter Cable. They said I had to drive 40 miles to show them the document.

I made my position clear, if they were not willing to allow me to fax them a copy, I'd just cancel my cable.

They suddenly saw the light and changed my last name in their computer without so much as a fax exchange.

Corporate stupidity never ceases to amaze me.

I don't think I'd have been on the phone that long. I'd say, I want it canceled period, and if it's not, then by the end of the current billing period, any cable still being provided is a free gift from them.

Ask the for the name of the rep, and let him/her know that you are noting the date, time and person with whom you spoke should they not understand and comply.

End of discussion. No need to listen to the retention speech.
 
Just one more reason why I have far better things to do than to sit around watching the idiot box, and paying for the privilege to do so.

If I remember correctly one of the kids on here used to work for either Time Warner or Comcast. It was always sort of funny when one of these threads would come up and he'd try to defend them.
 
In today's world, there's not enough money to counter THAT kind of negative publicity. While I've never had cable or satellite, I have dealt with my fair share of ATT's rude service reps. The key is to only deal with their customer retention dept. Never call the number on the bill. If some rep isn't listening, then hang up and call back to get another one.

+1 to him for recording the call. They ALWAYS mention that they MAY be monitoring or recording the call on their end to improve customer service.

Turnabout is fair play. So he turned their own guns around and fired back. Cheers! Now it's gone viral and CC is backpeddling like mad.

Idiots.....
 
The FCC chairman is a former Comcast CEO. Comcast is the epitome of a monopoly that has bought and paid for government. Don't be surprised if they merge with TWC.

The way they hounded the guy is policy for Comcast. I'm fairly certain at this point it's their policy to do all kinds of crooked [censored]. Twice in the last year I've had PPV movies on my bill I never ordered; when I called about it, the sales goon asked if I still wanted the movie but for a discount. It's their policy to rip people off knowing a small fraction won't do anything about it.

I think that is the policy of a lot of large corporations in this day and age. They are scam artists masquerading as customer service.
 
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I've always wondered... are these "retention specialists" paid by commission based on number of people they get to no unsubscribe? That'd certainly give them an incentive to do whatever it took to frustrate you to the point of hanging up.

I've only dealt with AT&T and Verizon, and while neither was great, there wasn't much hassle beyond the interminable hold times.
 
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