Sunday, September 28, 2008

Comcast

This has been an absolutely horrible experience.  I canceled Comcast service on 5/29/2008 by going to a local Comcast office and returning their equipment.  However every month since then, they have been sending me a new bill for another month of service.  Each time I get a new bill, I contact their customer service and they say that there has been indeed a mistake and they claim that they will make sure that I will receive no more bills and that they will send me a refund in 2-6 weeks.

This desperate blog post is my attempt of getting advice how this problem could be fixed.  If anyone has any ideas, please either leave a comment at this blog or email me (cierniakmail-comcast at yahoo.com).

Here's a more complete timeline of my story so far:

  • 5/29/2008: I go to the Mountain View, CA office of Comcast to return my equipment and request that they stop my service immediately.  Their staff takes the equipment, scans the barcodes, types something on their computer and hands me a receipt saying that I'm all set.
  • End of June 2008: I receive a new bill from Comcast that charges me for service from 6/23/2008 to 7/22/2008.  I call their customer service and they say that they have no record of me returning the equipment and canceling the service.  They tell me to go to the local office again.  So I go to the Mountain View office again and show the receipt they gave me.  They apologize, acknowledge that there has been a problem and spend 15 minutes doing something on their computer and say that everything is fixed now and I should receive my refund in 4-6 weeks.
  • 7/25/2008: I receive a new bill from Comcast that in addition to what the June bill charged me for, adds charges for service from 7/23/2008 to 8/22/2008.  This time, I try the online chat with Comcast.  I get connected to Melinda (this chat id is 28370746).  Melinda does some research and says that everything is fixed and "This $142.29 credit should arrive in about two weeks or less."
  • 8/25/2008: I receive a new bill from Comcast that in addition to what the July bill charged me for, adds charges for service from 8/23/2008 to 9/22/2008.  I try the online chat with Comcast again.  I get connected to Brenda (this chat id is 29465037).  Brenda looks into my problems and notices that something is weird.  She says "My supervisor and a lead are helping me make the necessary changes to get this problem fixed for you tonight".  This makes me feel a bit better and I wait patiently as they research my problem (it took them quite a long time).  Eventually Brenda says "We were able make sure your account appears as cancelled as of May 26th" and "Your refund check will be 142.29, you should be expecting that within the next 4 to 6 weeks".
  • On 9/23/2008 and 9/25/2008, I contact Comcast to confirm that everything is settles.  Unfortunately their computer system is down and they can't help me.
  • 9/27/2008: I receive a new bill from Comcast that in addition to what the August bill charged me for, adds charges for service from 9/23/2008 to 10/22/2008.  I try the online chat with Comcast again.  I get connected to Juan Paolo and ended up talking to the supervisor, Noel.  Unfortunately, they were not able to help me since their computer system was down.  Juan Paolo's advice was to ignore the bills and Noel's advice was to contact the Mountain View office.  He told me to contact them soon but not right now because the computer system is down.

8 comments:

Edel said...

This is really horrible. I hope comcast can read this and help you out.

gregory said...

twitter @comcastcares .. they have a problem guy there

Michał Cierniak said...

@gregory: Thanks for advice. I've just tried it: http://twitter.com/cierniak/statuses/940024897 -- I hope it works.

@kai: Yeah, I hope that this way of reaching Comcast works. I wish the hours I've spent with their customer service worked before I had to put even more hours in creating this blog.

Lisa said...

You should really contact the Better Business Bureau (http://us.bbb.org/) and report what Comcast is doing.

Michał Cierniak said...

A good idea, Lisa. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Try the SJ Mercury's Action Line. They've had plenty of experience helping people with Concast issues. http://www.mercurynews.com/actionline

Jerry said...

I moved 8/16/07 since then comcast has sent me 4 late bills. I have my bank send check the day bill arrives around 14 days before bill is due. I have been calling to see what is going on @ comcast. How is it that all the other bills don't get sent till around 7 days before bill is due and they are never posted late? It is like leading a horse to water you can't make it drink. Comcast should be kissing my ass for making sure the check is sent so far in advace instead they wait to post check and send me late bills just to piss me off. This is the only company that I ever dealt with that waits to post payment. This is the very last chance I will given them before I switch to Verizon. I am so tired of calling them. Who would of ever thought it would be so difficult to get someone to deposit my check.

Anonymous said...

Comcast consistently does not send us a monthly bill and then charges us a late fee the next month. This is the 2nd month (NOVEMBER/DECEMBER) in a row that this has happened since we started using Comcast in April 2009. The customer service is AWFUL and rude! When I called most recently, the operator rudely asked "what, you thought your service was free". I was not aware that I had to personally call Comcast each month and request a bill. Their supervisor told me that I am responsible for paying my bills and that they wouldn't refund the late fee and reconnection fee they charged me two times, even do it is their mistake not sending us the bills.
I feel outraged and sad that this happened to us.
After Google my problem in the internet, I discovered that the same thing is happening with so many people out there...the same problem!
How come the FBI is not investigating this company?
What a SCAM!!!!