Even Waiting Outside Your Local Comcast Office Will Not Get Your Bill Corrected
Reader Kevin would like to be billed the correct amount for his internet service from Comcast. This is a dream we all share, so let us give our support to Kevin in this dark hour. In his letter to the CEO of Comcast, Kevin says that he has tried many tactics in order to get Comcast to charge him the correct amount — including — but not limited to —- going to the Comcast office and sitting outside in the hope that the account executive would show up. He didn't. This mysterious account executive has also failed to answer messages left on his work voicemail and his cellphone. Perhaps he has become hopelessly trapped under a vending machine somewhere. Someone should try to find him before the scorpions show up.
Kevin writes:
Beginning last February, my credit card (which is on autopay) began to be charged $181 per month for cable Internet and a block of 13 static IP addresses. Yes, that's correct, one hundred and eighty one dollars per month just for Internet access.
Obviously, that was wrong so I looked into it and I found that I had been on a contracted rate with Comcast which had been assigned as a promo rate; however, I'm almost certain that nothing I ever signed specified that rate as being a promo rate OR that the rate would end. I'm highly against rate increases because of promotions and would have never signed anything to that effect unless it was not properly noted and/or explained to me.
So beginning last February, and without any notice, Comcast began charging me almost double what I should be paying for Internet.
My account executive Scott explained what was going on and said that he would fix it. I signed a new 2 year contract that was backdated and amounts ($275.25) were credited onto my account. I pointed out the fact that I was still being charged $181 and he said he'd fix that too but it hasn't happened.
***For the current bill cycle alone, Comcast needs to refund me $74.57.***
This needs to stop so I tried to get it solved by calling the commercial billing support line and they were unable to help me. Another month went by with wrong billing so I began to get more serious about fixing this. For the past month and a half, I have left many voicemails, gone to the local Comcast office to find my account executive—and infact waited for him to arrive for more than 30 minutes without luck. I've left messages for him at work, on his cell phone, at the office, EVERYWHERE.
I've tried all this and yet I'm being billed $181 per month instead of $106 per month since February.
Can someone there spend some time to help a consumer that just happens to have a business account? (for the static IP addresses)
Thank you,
Kevin
(Photo:diaper)
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Comments:
Sure. Stop using Comcast. Use ANYTHING else. ANYTHING. Any other option is better.
HELLO CONSUMER, HELLO CONSUMER.
BEBOP COLA! YEAH!
EECB is probably the best bet.
If you really want to get their attention even faster, call the account rep one more time and state clearly that he has x amount of time to contact you before you file a chargeback on as many of the charges as you can. Have a copy of the backdated contract on hand. But an EECB may have better and less-complicated results at the end of the day.
@YouDidWhatNow?: As unfortunate as Comcast's service is, great swaths of this country are stuck in cable and internet monopolies. At my parents' house, they only have one option. Some places may have more than one, but if Comcast's advertised services are a better value, the OP shouldn't have to go somewhere else.
But I agree, Comcast blows. I will do everything in my power to avoid ever using them.
i've had my comcast bill corrected through twitter. you heard right. i complained on my twitter about comcast charging me double and @ComcastBill corrected the problem within 20 minutes.
A DEAD FISH IN THE VENTILATION DUCT WOULD SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.
DON'T FORGET TO WATCH THE MENTALIST AT 3 AM, ONLY ON CBS! WHERE'S THE BEEF?
The scorpions are there to help! How else would you be able to open your can of Bebop Cola?
I had a billing problem with RCN cable. Fought with them over it for a couple of months. People said they'd call back, never did. People stopped responding to our calls.
I submitted a detailed complaint with the Better Business Bureau, going over how RCN had been unable or unwilling to deal with the issue. Someone from RCN called a couple of days later. The issue was resolved the following week.
Go with someone else and use the fact that they consistently over charge you as breach of contract to get out of any early termination fee. If they insist on charging one then threaten a law suite, complain to the BBB, FTC, and AG.
COMCAST has ruined my life. Since moving apartments and schlepping my 16mb/sec connection they have accidentally turned off my neighbors connection and it took two weeks to finally get my connection going. I also had to call them 4 times for them to finally update my unit number on my account. I'm also only getting 2 mb per second everynight after 6pm. Of course the technicians only come during the morning off peak usage hours so they never believe you. I've had 5 techs, im not exaggerating come by my apt to fix this and all five have claimed different things are causing it. One told me to throw away a perfectly good linksys router. Each tech also did not have a history of my problem so I had to explain this long story over and over again each time. One tech asked me to contact his supervisor for him and dispatch a line technician. The customer service reps over the phone were worthless pieces of **** also. None of them even knew that Comcast has its own speedtest.net type site. And each one had the gall to beg me to sign up for land line service. I have given up on Comcast and after my 6 month promo is up I am dumbing down to DSL speed service. I wish there was a way i could easily sue Comcast for ***** service and wasted time.
I find it funny from this picture- our Comast office is a shithole- an old building in an old part of town with 70s wood paneling and a pothole filled parking lot.
Looks like that's the case everywhere.
If there office looks like that, wonder what the condition of their lines is?
@Jacob Reece Montgomery: One problem with cable (for internet or other use) is that it is a shared loop unlike phone service which is dedicated to your use. When a lot of people get on (maybe after dinner) it slows down the service for everyone on the loop. It's endemic to the service and they can't do anything about it other than reduce the number of users on a loop. You may want to consider going to a non-cable provider.
If a chargeback won't get their attention, cutting off the authority for direct bill probably would. At least at that point you would get a human being (term used loosely) to respond and maybe get the problem fixed.
@JGKojak: Not everywhere. The one here is in a nice stand-alone building with a cared-for lawn all around. The only issue is that it's not near much of anything else, save for a firehall, so it's not the most convenient. There's a Wal-Mart nearby, but it's not exactly on the way.
I would LOVE to...but...most cities are a monopoly, with one cable, one phone provider, so I am stuck with Comcast. Can't even get satellite due to the tree line, and can't get DSL despite I basically live in the center of town...
I have a Comcast Business Account (with static IPs also).
First of all, the price you're paying seems unusually high. Your account doesn't appear to be much different than mine, and I'm paying $65 a month.
Second, I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but Comcast Residential and Comcast Business have nothing to do with each other. If you're trying to resolve this through normal Comcast Residential phone numbers, you're going nowhere fast. The other thing is, your Rep is just a sales guy. After the sale, he's out. You need to call Comcast Business Services and start there.
OP: One thing you might try is contacting city hall -- local monopolies such as cable and phone companies often have to deal with somebody in the city government. They may be able to make somebody at you local Comcast office jump.
I would but they are the only service in my neighborhood.
Isn't Frank Eliason monitoring the Twitter feed for Comcast? Try that--when stuff hits his radar, he's been pretty diligent.
The Comcast account executive is like the Lochness Monster. It probably doesn't exist, but even if it does, it is too elusive for all but the most dedicated to find.
Comcast is committing mail fraud by sending you invalid bills and wire fraud by displaying the wrong bill on the web.
Email the CEO and tell him you will sue, inform the FCC, attorney general, etc etc etc. In my experience once you start saying "you are committing mail fraud" companies listen closely to what you're saying.
@JGKojak: My local office is beautiful - in a relatively new shopping complex, with Safeway, Starbucks and two banks, and it's clean and air-conditioned. There are HDTVs tuned to ESPNHD and Nickelodeon. There has rarely if ever been a line for service - when there is, my kids like playing on their Internet terminal - and the workers are always friendly. Knock on wood, I'm a Comcast customer who has never had a problem.
Autobilling, on the other hand, is evil. I've been burnt by other companies so since our Comcast office is in the center of town, I just go there once a month to drop off my payment.
I've actually dealt with this rep for the internet accounts I manage at my job. He's an account rep, not a sales rep, so he's *supposed* to be able to help you with all account issues. Have you tried emailing him as well? He's always pretty prompt in responding to my emails: SCOTT_MOHLER@cable.comcast.com. Perhaps try calling their business line - 1-888-205-5000 and you might be able to get some contact info for his supervisor.
@YouDidWhatNow?: But how? Assuming the OP is in an area where Comcast provides the service, chances are pretty slim there's another company that offers cable internet to the building. Sure, he could get DSL...maybe. Maybe not. Sadly, (just as with mobile phone service) in many areas there is no other option. Either you deal with a company and the entire range of their customer service issues, or you don't get the service at all.
@YouDidWhatNow?: Really, how does this not get disemvowled? It's an unhelpful and nonsensical comment, one that misses the point that in large parts of the US, it's Comcast or zip.
I did. After they kicked us off their network for using our unlimited use account too much, we decided to go with DSL. At least we know how much we're using and what the package offers. Not some vague promise of service.
A year later they had to gall to send us flyers saying they wanted us back. Another few months later another door to door salesman got an ear full from my wife when he wanted to sell us Concast services.
You gotta be kidding me??? After the crap you jokers put us through? She told them to go to hell
EECB, making sure to mention all the names of people you've spoken to, specifically your account rep, would actually be probably your best recommendation since you're under contract. Be loud and obnoxious, and double check the language in your contract.
You should be able to do far better deal than that for internet and a /28 of address space.
@Jacob Reece Montgomery: Buy an antenna and subscribe to Netflix. How bad do you really need to see Bil O'reilly, anyway?
"Even Waiting Outside Your Local Comcast Office Will Not Get Your Bill Corrected..."
...But I bet a call to your local AG will.
@YouDidWhatNow?: There very frequently aren't other options.
I get most of my cable service for "free" through my condo association (it's wrapped up in my condo fees) and they use Comcast. So if I want cable television, it's through Comcast, there's no other choice allowed.
Luckily, as much as I hate Comcast, I hate Verizon even more so I would have chosen them anyway, since those are the only two viable options in my area.
@floraposte: yeah, story posted at 12:26 and it took 1hour 15 minute (roughly) for someone to mention twitter/frank.
Man, consumerist people are slacking.
thanks floraposte!
Last time I called Comcast to ask them why my "two year promotional rate" had suddenly increased by $50/month after only a year, I was told by their rep that in order to do anything they would HAVE to review my account and I was cheating the system and obviously was already underpaying (I have a rather odd situation where part of my bill is paid by the condo association, so it's deducted from my final fee) and that in order to correct the way I was cheating them he'd have to charge me $30 more a month.
I hung up on him since explaining it to him twice wasn't working (he said there was no way that my condo assoc would pay part of my bill and I was lying).
Thankfully when I called back the next day I got somebody who actually listened to my situation and fixed it. But I have to say, if I can avoid calling Comcast I will. It's like they're trying to drive away customers.
@YouDidWhatNow?: We are moving to an apartment that gives a choice between Comcast and Fios. I'm trying to prevail upon my roommate to go with Fios, largely because every week there is another story here about something horrible Comcast has done, whether it be billing errors, service shut-offs, waiting months for repair techs, or refusing to pay when their exploding cable box burns down someone's living room. I've heard of Verizon issues, too, but not nearly as many.
Take a hammer to the comcast office. Problem solved!!
@matt1978:
It's neither unhelpful nor nonsensical. We don't have any reason to think he doesn't have other options available to him, such as other cable providers, DSL, FIOS, satellite, or wireless (cell phone style). He should absolutely be looking into any other service he could possibly get. Even the USB datacard service from a cell phone company would be preferable to Comcast.
@Saboth:
Get datacard service from a cell phone company then. And, while you're at it, complain to your phone companies that you can't get DSL...in the middle of city, there is no reason to not get DSL service to you. Or maybe FIOS. But if you get a cell phone signal in your office, you can get internet service from the cell phoen company.
...also, I wonder why he thinks he needs static IPs anyway. Unless you're hosting a web server or email server, you don't need static IPs. In fact, there are services that will automatically monitor and update your domain records if you're on dynamic IPs too.
If he is hosting a web/mail server in his office...probably not a good idea anyway. Either co-locate your web/mail server at a local ISP, or just have them host that service.
@Saboth: I wouldn't call it a monopoly if it's you're only option because of the phone company not coming through and a tree. If i'm not mistaken another company can come set up shop if they go through the state and county franchising process. The problem is that the process and the build is so cumbursome that no one wants to bother unless they're the only game in town. The reason you see cable and u-verse or cable and Fios in the same place is because they went throught that process for the landline phone service.
I live in a strange place that's just barely too far from the CO to get ADSL. There's no FIOS here either so Comcast is the only decently fast Internet access I can get with static IPs. (If there's any local ISP's that think otherwise and provide service to Frederick, MD then please respond!)
It's for that reason that I've spent so much time trying to do this the nice way before making my account executive look bad. I actually like my AE and I've eaten crow in the past while admitting that a problem I called him about was my fault but billing problems that go on for 6 months... that needs to be fixed and we both know it's not my fault.
This past week alone this AE ducked my calls 3 times while he was on the phone talking with someone else. I get not answering if it's a business call but come on.. at least call the person back after you get off the phone. I finally just left a voicemail today that stated that he had about an hour to call me back or I was going to begin resolving this in other ways.(By which I meant, 1. EECB, 2. Complaint to Cable Commission, 3. small claims).
UPDATE: Comcast has been nice enough to contact me today and has asked me for a few days to research this and make sure it gets fixed. I'd appreciate everyone playing nice while they assist me in resolving my problems.
+1 for the Sealab reference!