UPDATE: Comcast Responds To Yesterday’s Article, Waives $1.99 Fee
Reader Jonathon wanted to cancel his HBO so he contacted one of Comcast’s infamously useless online customer service representatives. CSR Adam informed Jonathon that to cancel HBO would cost him a fee of $1.99. He asked to speak to a supervisor to get the fee waived but CSR Adam said that would be impossible. The CSR then pointed out that there would be no charge to cancel Comcast’s service altogether. Decisions, decisions. Jonathon’s letter and chat log, inside…
I don’t know if this qualifies as news or not, but I was getting tired of paying $160/month for cable an internet (one TV). My wife and I decided that now that the Wire, Sopranos, Rome, etc. have gone bye-bye, sacrificing HBO was no big loss. I was then informed that I could cancel HBO for the low, low price of $1.99. But it’s free to cancel my Comcast account entirely! Customer service at its finest. Here’s the transcript. Enjoy, and please let me know if you decide to print.
user Jonathon_ has entered roomJonathon: Cancel HBO
analyst Adam has entered room
Adam: Hello Jonathon_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Adam. Please give me one moment to review your information.
Adam: Jonathon, I will be happy to help you with this.
Adam: One moment please while I access your account information.
Adam: Protecting your privacy is a priority to us, before we can provide you with the requested information, we must confirm your identity as the authorized account holder. To do so, we request that you provide Comcast account number or the amount of your last payment.
Jonathon: I don’t have either on me at the moment
Jonathon: Hold on and let me see if I can get the amount from my bank account
Adam:Sure
Jonathon: $158.91
Adam: Excellent. Thank you
Adam: Ther is a one time charge of $1.99 to make this change
Jonathon: Pardon me, are you telling me that you are going to charge me a fee to cancel a service?
Adam: Ther is a $1.99 to make a change to the acocunt that is correct
Adam: Either add or remove a package
Jonathon: That’s absurd. I’m already unhappy with the service I get and Comcast wants to charge me for the privilege of canceling? That’s a terrible policy.
Adam: How do you want me to proceed?
Jonathon: Without charging me $1.99
Adam: I do apologize but I amnot able to waive that fee
Jonathon: My I speak with somebody who can?
Adam: We do not have a supervisor on shift at the moment however, you can call us at 1-800-COMCAST and request to speak to a supervisor that way
Jonathon: To be frank, if I have to pick up a phone to handle this matter at this point it will be my entire $158.91/month service that I am canceling, and not just HBO. Would there be a charge for that as well?
Adam: NO charge to cancel
Adam: Jonathon Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Jonathon: So I’ll be treated with greater decency if I decide to leave all together? No, I don’t believe that you can help me with anything else today.
Adam: Have a good day
Adam: Thank you for making Comcast part of your day. If you need assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us through Live Chat or E-mail (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). Thank you again for choosing Comcast we appreciate your business. To visit our local support page including links to contact us via Email, as well as many downloadable forms,and FAQ pages, please visit: http://www.comcast.com/nesupport/
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Analyst has closed chat and left the room
It’s almost as if Comcast is begging you to cancel your service. Some may consider such a decision akin to throwing the baby away with the bathwater, although, if you have a fugly Comcast baby the decision seems clear. Which would you choose?
(Photo: Getty)
Comcast is actually an experiment to see how much shit customers will put up with before they bail.
@ComcastAnon:
You can resent or resemble the hell out of it. When your company outsources a function out, the company that takes on that task now represents your company and the consumer really doesn’t give a flying f*** who the voice on the other end actually works for, they are representing the company that they do business with, which in this case is Comcast. If you or your company don’t like it, then do something about. And I mean actually fix the problem and not just talk about it.
I used to work for Dish Network as a CSR and we got these calls all the time. The conversation takes an amusing bend here but let me put it in context.
Everyone has pro-rated pricing for services. That means that if you’re so inclined, you can treat HBO like Pay Per View: subscribing to it for only a few hours to, say, catch the big fight or whatever.
Of course, that sucks for your cable or satellite provider. They don’t make any money off of that and the programing costs them something. If the practice were widespread they’d lose their shirts.
The drop fee prevents the prorating service from being abused. It’s a dumb way to accomplish this, but it does work. If you’re going to pay $2 to cancel service you’re probably not going to play the add and remove game to pay for only the HBO content you like.
Comcast doesn’t have a fee for canceling service because there’s really not much in the way of an installation cost for them to recoup. Hence the reason you can cancel for free but have to pay to drop a premium package.
I’m not saying it’s a great policy (there are better ways to do it) but it doesn’t measure up to the corporate evil that we normally read about on this site.
Am I the only one who thinks this is a helluva lot of $*#(#_# for $1.99??? Isn’t your time worth more than that? Mine sure is. I’m sure it’s “the principle of the thing” but damn, man – pay the friggin’ $1.99 and get on with life.
All of the positive comments regarding people wanting FIOS confuse me as well. Just a reminder folks, it’s VERIZON FIOS, not FIOS. That right there should set off a warning flag. Like most Verizon products, it comes with many empty promises, malfunctioning equipment and plenty of screwed-up bills.
There was even an article in the Tampa Tribune last month about how even Verizon’s own employees constantly have incorrect bills and go nuts trying to get it corrected. Verizon can’t even get the city counsel members’ bills right. That also doesn’t include the extra $60-100+/year in electric Verizon’s crappy equipment will use in your home.
Buyer BEWARE.
@pjcurry:
No, you’re not the only one, and I’m the one who “reported” this. We do a lot of stupid things that don’t make financial sense. Then again, I spent about as much time on this as you have in reading the article and responding. Riddle me that, Batman.
For the record, I have every intention of paying the $1.99 and moving on. But I thought I’d get a passing “f-you” out to Comcast before I did so. 5,000 views is a hell of a lot better than me silently stewing. Now I’ve shared my misery with the world!!
GO FTA AND NEVER LOOK BACK.
I bought a Viewsat Ultra for $200, a used dish for $15, two LNB’s for $20 and a long cable for $30. For under $300 I’m getting 600 channels FREE, including premiums and PPV. The only inconvenience is that sometimes Dish network will send an ECM and knock the signal out for a few hours until they send me a fix. Fixes can be found free online (ftabins.net). FREE IS GOOD. COMCAST SUCKS.
@pjcurry: How much time do CS reps have to waste dealing with customers that don’t want to pay that $1.99 before it’s no longer worthwhile for Comcast to charge it? All these dubious fees exist solely because corporations are counting on it not being worth your time to fight them.
@FLConsumer: Because some people only show up to slag Comcast, and never seem to remember the “show us your Verizon face” debacles. Or the Dish install scams. Or the Fios install disasters (including fires, with claim denials ect). The downside to Consumerist’s popularity its that the “viral marketers” and “reputation defender” types seem to be more prevalent in the comments now.
Probably can’t be avoided, but you can pick up the pattern pretty quickly. Not saying Comcast is great (cause they ain’t), but DirectTV, Dish, Verizon and the big Telcos are just as bad, and sometimes worse.
i just cancelled comcast all together yesterday. i cannot and will not pay $60+ a month to watch what is effectively 5 channels. i will wait until FIOS arrives or comcast sends me another offer with a low introductory rate for new customers…and then switch to FIOS. also, comcast on line was useless to me. sigh.
The guy seemed pretty short with the CSR… the CSR is just stating policy. Guy should read the consumerist article on how to get what you want — tip: be friendly.
The $1.99 Change of service fee, is in place, due to unscrupulous consumers. Customers, for years, have been calling in one day to order a service (Say HBO on the night of a big fight), and calling the next day, to cancel.
at a rate of 16.99 a month, that subscriber just paid 56c for the service. This unfortunately became a very common practice, and would cost cable companies a large amount of money. Hence, the 1.99 Change of Service Fee.
So on this one you can thank the dishonest consumer, ruining it for the vast majority of the honest consumers.
@ComcastAnon: You really are showing chutzpah coming here. Unfortunately, you work for a company that many, many people find annoying at the least and evil at its worst.
I have yet to find one person who loves their cable company. All my friends only have it because there is no alternative (read: monopoly). Comcast RAPES their customers on a regular basis, making even the simplist things difficult, making promises that they cannot and/or won’t keep. You may be one of the few good employees left at Comcast. For that, I’m truly sorry. But it doesn’t change the fact of what Comcast is doing to its customers. Given the chance and option, I’m sure people would be more than thrilled to leave comcast.
@BondJBond: That doesn’t explain why, instead of addressing the flaw in their business model, Comcast decided to punish all its customers for the actions of a few.
I actually had a good Comcast experience last week… I have been paying them roughly $45/month for Internet, then I saw an ad for their “budget” Internet at $25/month (it’s slower, I guess it’s to compete w/DSL that’s slower and cheaper). So I called them, the rep switched me to the slower and cheaper account at no charge and the change took effect within 10 minutes. He also told me that if I changed my mind and switched back, I wouldn’t be charged either.
@BondJBond: OK, so charge people $1.99 if the service is cancelled within the first 15 to 30 days or so of ordering it, and automatically waive the fee for everyone else. This will stop service “rental” and not aggravate normal people.
Of course, someone will probably say there should be a 14-day free cancellation grace period, like the cell phone companies claim to have. Fine…perhaps the first 14-day grace period cancellation in a 12-month period is free, and $1.99 for every one after that.
If a dumbskull like me can figure this out in less than five minutes, why can’t a highly-compensated “Vice President of Consumer Operations” do the same?
“Ther is a $1.99 to make a change to the acocunt that is correct”
Those reps should read what they type…
I just switched banks over a $5 one time fee for something I never order, so guess what I would choose
I just canceled Starz and Showtime. My bill after canceling was 90. My most recent bill just went back up to 145. The amount from when I had both premium channels.
I contacted Comcast chat and the first rep canceled the chat after I explained the issue. The second one told me that it was perfectly fine/normal. So breakdown: with starz/showtime=145. afer I canceled it=90. month after =145. The month after bill is the same as the bill with the premium channels but the premium channels aren’t even on the bill.
Some good news. Comcast called me and waived the fee. Said that the reps should have done so in the first place as they have the discretion to do so. They were very pleasant and took some time to try to get me into a plan that would save me some additional money. Upon questioning, the supervisor calling me stated that they were simply doing QC on their tickets and came across mine. I don’t think that this particular post had anything to do with it as there must be thousands of “Comcast Sucks” themed posts going up ever minute. While it would have been nice had they been reasonable in the first place, I want to give credit where credit is due. Supervisor’s name is Mike Dodge. Nice guy who did a great job and saved my account from termination.
@Jay Gardner: What you say intrigues me. I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Yeah, I’d like to speak with Jay as well. Any way tog et in touch with a poster?
@BondJBond: There are better ways to deal with the problem than nickel-and-diming honest consumers to death. How about a minimum 30-day period for all newly-activated packages? I.E. if you get HBO, you’re keeping it for at least a month.