Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Comcast (intentionally?) provides incorrect mailing address

You may remember from my earlier post that I couldn't find any mailing address on the Comcast web site.  They provide 6 ways to contact Comcast but none of them by paper mail.

Well, at least the monthly statement provides a return address (1400 Middlefield Road, Mountain View, CA 94043).  You can see a copy of the statement dated 9/20/2008 in this post.  So, I can use the address to send Comcast a letter, right?  Sounds obvious?  This is what I thought and on 9/30/2008, I sent them a certified letter to that address.

Guess what!  The post office returned this letter to me today because Comcast moved and their forwarding expired on 10/1/2008 (I don't know when it actually expired, so more precisely it expired on or before 10/1/2008).  Here's what I get when I enter my letter's tracking number in the "Track & Confirm" box on the USPS web site (highlight is mine):
Label/Receipt Number: 7007 3020 0003 2435 9805
Detailed Results:
Delivered, October 07, 2008, 9:09 am, PALO ALTO, CA 94303
Notice Left, October 06, 2008, 2:06 pm, PALO ALTO, CA 94303
Forward Expired, October 01, 2008, 4:51 pm, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA
Acceptance, September 30, 2008, 8:51 am, PALO ALTO, CA 94303

And here's the letter I got back with the "Forwarding Order Expired" box checked:

What happened?!

As far as I know USPS provides one year of free forwarding of first class mail and the address in question was still valid in June since I went to this office myself, so it seems that Comcast had to do something special to ask the post office to stop forwarding mail sent there.

Let me get this straight: on a statement sent to me on 9/20/2008, Comcast still used that address as the return address and they request that mail forwarding stops on or before 10/1/2008 before the free forwarding by USPS expires.  Can you think of any explanation other than that they intentionally do what they can to make it hard for customers to contact them by mail (especially in light of the fact that they refuse to provide a mailing address on their web site)?  Of course, as some people say, "for any given event that may be explained by either incompetence or conspiracy, incompetence will always be the correct explanation".  Or perhaps someone has a better explanation?

6 comments:

Heather:) said...

Rebels. All of them.

It's an act of deception, not providing clear contact information. I would write your Attorney General for California and file a formal complaint, this only adds fuel to the fire of egregious lies and errors on their behalf.

I wish I could help more with your address search, but I live in NY!

Michał Cierniak said...

Thanks, Heather! I actually mailed two letters: one the return address (and that one was returned to me) and another one to the address where payments are supposed to be sent. But I'm not sure if that other letter will be thrown away by the Comcast payment department.

So, yeah: this is all very strange. Why would Comcast not provide a mailing address in a clear way on their web site? And would they not use the one year of free forwarding?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Paige said...

Did you by chance ever get a good address to send a payment. i fought with them for months!! i owe them $1.53!!! Like you i cannot get their mailing address, of course it still is not online.

Paige said...

Just to share!!
Conversation over CHAT with Comcast.
paige(Thu Oct 15 2009 07:30:53 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time))>

need the mailing address to make a payment


analyst Riza has entered room


Riza(Thu Oct 15 2009 07:38:04 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time))>

Hello paige_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Riza. Please give me one moment to review your information.


Riza: I will be more than willing to assist you with that.

Riza: I can certainly provide the information you need.

Riza(But before anything else, how's your day so far?

paige_ok

paige_(early

Riza:I see. Please don't worry as I can resolve your issue real quick. Can you verify your service address, please?

paige_i do not any longer have an account. i closed it late Aug. i need to make a payment of $1.53.

paige_the address was 7906 C Jennings Ct Ft Meade, Md 20755

Riza: Thank you so much. Please do mail your payment at this specific mailing address:

Riza(Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
P.O. Box 34227
Seattle, WA 98124-1227

Riza:For On-time payments, you may also send that to:

Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
P.O. Box 34744
Seattle, WA 98124-1744

paige_:here is a question....why is this not on the website?

Riza(Thank you so much. Please do mail your payment at this specific mailing address:

It's actually readily seen if you logged in to your Comcast account. But please don't worry as I will be informing our website development team with this specific issue.

Michał Cierniak said...

Thanks, Paige!