Monday, January 10, 2011

Why I Dislike Comcast

Someone at Comcast found my blog and asked me about my last entry where I said I did not like Comcast. I don't know how he found it, but I do appreciate him asking. If only I could have found someone else at Comcast over the past eight months that cared that much, I wouldn't be in such a tizzy. Here was my message to Mark at Comcast:


Dear Mark, 

I don't know how you found my blog. You asked why I am not a fan of Comcast. Well here you go. Here is a quick summary of why I am so frustrated with Comcast that I really want to leave the service and never use it again.

I was a Comcast customer for many many years in the Washington, DC area - living for many years in Arlington, VA and then as a homeowner in Takoma Park, MD. I sold my house in Takoma Park in May and moved to Salt Lake City. When I shut down my service in Takoma Park I headed over to the local comcast office in the Rockville, MD area to return the one cable box I possessed and the internet modem. I returned the DVR box and received a receipt and was told I would be reimbursed in a few weeks, that money would be sent to me for returning the box. I tried to turn in the modem and the guy behind the desk said he did not want it. I do not know why. I was in a hurry, there was a huge line behind me, I just accepted what he said and walked away and moved to Salt Lake. Boy was I stupid. I should have pushed and asked why won't you take my modem? Because it would come back to bite me later. 

When I left, I overpaid Comcast on the final bill. I have the bill that shows this. So there I was expecting to get money back from Comcast for what I overpaid and expecting to get money for the DVR box I returned. A month or two later I get a bill from Comcast, forwarded to me in SLC, telling me I owe them money because I did not return my items. I called someone and explained that I returned the DVR box and they wouldn't accept my modem. I sent this woman a copy of the receipt I was given for returning the DVR box. She looked into it and told me that the number of the DVR box they had on file was not the same as the number of the DVR box that I had turned in. Well, listen. I don't know why that is the case? You guys would send over technicians to fix my system sometimes that were high as a kite. Maybe they didn't file the paperwork properly. I never took someone else's stupid DVR box. Many years earlier I had had two, I returned one and this was the only one I ever had. I read her the number from the modem I have and she says that it also does not match what they have on file. !! What am I supposed to do with that? YOU gave me the DVR box and the modem. I never changed them with anyone. This is Comcast's fault for not keeping proper paperwork.

So she tells me she has to open an investigation and they will contact me. Weeks go by and I hear nothing. I call and get some different person who says he will look into it. I call again a few weeks later. No one ever helps me. No one ever gets me any further in the process. I always have to talk to different people and take 20 minutes trying to explain my situation. I tell everyone - I will happily send you this stupid modem that the guy would not accept. But as my case never makes any progress - I get no direction of what to do. So its months now of frustration and no progress and I am out a few hundred bucks that I should have back.

I am busy with relocating across the country, family death, getting married, work travel, etc. so I can't just be calling Comcast ever week and talking to some new person. I pretty much gave up there for awhile. Then suddenly I receive a collection notice. My case has been forwarded to a collection agency. I am furious. Here I am waiting for Comcast to do something and getting nowhere every time I call and now I've been turned over to a collection agency. I work hard to keep my credit good and I am soooo angry that something this stupid has affected my credit. I call the collection agency. There is no way to talk to someone to explain the situation. You can't get a person. You can protest in writing, but I am not sure how to do this nor do I have the time to do this. I try calling so many departments and people at Comcast after this trying to figure out what to do and I get forwarded on and on and no one ever helps me. In the middle of this I have to leave the country on my honeymoon and then out again for work travel, so I am not even here where I can spend more of my precious time following up. I am afraid to pay this because I want it resolved. Paying means admitting to guilt and I am not guilty of anything!!!! So I don't pay it in the hope that I can resolve it. Well, guess what? I was busy with family things and then I am getting more and more notices from the collection agency and a final winner letter from them that if I don't pay it by a date in December, it will go on to something more serious. I read that and hope it means that if I pay now it won't be on my credit record. So I pay it. But guess what. It is still a black mark now on my credit record. SO YOU WIN COMCAST. CONGRATULATIONS and thanks for the wonderful customer service. I tried, and tried to resolve this, but you won. I am done wasting my time. You wasted my time. You stressed me out. You got to keep the money you owed me and I had to pay even more. And now I have a black mark on my credit record that will be there until 2017.

I have been a comcast customer still out here in Salt Lake since I moved here in May. But I am working hard to find alternatives to you. I want to leave your service and I don't really want to ever return. It makes me sick paying my bill to you each month. Its like staying with the abusive spouse.

That is why I am not a fan of Comcast Mark. Thanks for asking.

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