Time Warner did the same thing to me. It's a good thing you saved that receipt. Keeping that is the only thing that saved me more hassle.

I think I'm just going to go back to drawing on rock walls for entertainment.

@synimatik: It's gooood that you're drawing on the walls for entertainment.

This poster apologizes for watching The Twilight Zone episode 'It's a Good Life' yesterday and drawing parallels to everything.

Yes another reason why something must be done about the Cable empire monopolies. All of these companies are monopolies and they will continue to be terrible and have terrible service until they can be broken apart. Either that or the government needs to step in and tell them that anyone can resell their lines, even though that specific company laid the line.

If everyone this happened to took steps like these, this shit would end.

@synimatik: Same here. Time Warner sucks the big one. Intermittent service, retarded CSRs, and billing that goes on and on for months after you think you're finally free of the bastards. I didn't go as far as contacting the AG, but I should have in retrospect. Apparently, anything short of that - you know, like calling them every day and screaming - is bringing a knife to a gun fight. They have your money, and they don't care.

Yeesh, this does not bode well for when I drop comcast next month.

Good info to know, though. I'll definitely hold on to that receipt and have my AG on speed dial for when they pull this.

It's good they didn't have automatic billing set up with their account, or this would have been an even BIGGER debacle.

Funny, we had to do the exact same thing to cancel Comcast back in '02.

You need to try executive customer service. I did the EXACT SAME THING:

I moved into a new home. Forgot to turn in the cable modem for 6 months, turned it in, but forgot to cancel it for 2 more months. All that time, I'm getting billed auto on my credit card. Quit my job, started scrutinizing credit card bills, as I should have been doing, and noticed all those charges.

Did the email carpet bomb thingy, and within 2 business days, someone from my local resolution team contacted me, left me multiple vmails, and finally refunded my money to the tune of $400 dollars.

Because I had moved, they did ask for proof that I moved, so I faxed the closing doc on my new home.

@Heresy_Fnord: This is a billing error, and has no relevance toward the issue about cable monopolies. The existence of competition will not prevent Comcast from billing its customers incorrectly. Plenty of consumers are mis-billed by vendors in commercial sectors where competition is prevalent.

This is ridiculous. I read this post, and then no less than 5 minutes later I received an e-mail from comcast informing me that I owed over $60 for internet service I canceled a month ago (returned the equipment and got a receipt). Now I have to deal with them for the 7th time in the past 6 months over billing issues.

Comcast pulled this crap with me back in 2002. I told them that they were a despicable company and that I would never give them a dime again. I been paying around $100 a month for business internet access for the last seven years. Let see $100*12months*7years = $8400. You Lose Comcast, Get Bent!

Guess that "Comcastcares" twitter thing was one of those one-tweet wonders I read about.

This is typical of big business these day, just overbill the customer, and reimburse those that notice/make a stink. My health insurer refuses about 80% of payments/procedures/visits which are clearly covered by the plan. I call them up, they fix it. Until the next time. I wonder how much Comcast has made so far off of people who haven't taken the time to set it right. And to those of you who let this stuff slide (I know, probalby no one on this forum, but...) you're part of the problem, making life harder for the rest of us.

@rpm773: It might give them some motivation to improve their service (including billing) to attract customers away from competitors. Competition is a driving force that improves all customer related aspects of a business, not just price.

@Heresy_Fnord: Monopolies -you keep using that word I don't think you know what that means. Princess bride

Anyway, speaking as somebody who works for Verizon, I know my company never would have bothered to put in fiber optic lines to homes if they would have to just resell the line to a competitor

@LastAndLeast: Perhaps there would be some added motivation to existing and prospective customers. But we're talking about a customer getting billed after closing her account. What's Comcast's motivation there?

There is plenty of competition in the mobile phone industry. I'm sure more than a few people out there have been mis-billed by their respective providers.

@doctor_cos: i spent about 6 hours watching SciFi's twilight zone marathon.

Cable lines need eminant domain on them, and the FCC/Government can decide that anyone can come in and take them over if they chose.

Cable has NOT been upgraded in the past decade or more, and contrary to the adverts, Comcast has NOT a fiber optic network that they claim... Maybe from the office to the internet, but not from home to office (nice try, and false adverts on that one).
So Im sure Cable isnt making any less money by leasing out their lines, since there is nothing new about them.

@Heresy_Fnord:

All of these companies are monopolies...

@gStein: I'll see your six hours and raise you a Tivo full of Twilight Zone episodes waiting for me (Sixty total, I think?)

Cable needs to be eminant domain? Are you nuts? Comcast and other cable compinies would love to spend millions of dollars on infrastucture and have it taken away. Head to China if you want that sort of government.

Comcast is fiber to the node just not to the home itself. That has been done in the last 5 years or so in most markets. Know your facts.

When I phoned to cancel my account (after I had a new service installed), I told them that my automatic payment had already gone in. The rep I talked to told me the amount I would receive in refund.

Within two weeks, I had received a new bill -- noting the payment that had gone in. They could not say it had "crossed n processing." I got on the phone and ripped 'em a new one, eventually telling the person I talked to that I knew it wasn't his fault, but the rotten customer service was the reason I had canceled anyhow. I did receive my refund as well as a new bill that canceled the one I had.

It is important to let every company know when they have done a good job or a bad one.

@supercereal: I have to say I agree with you.

When my boyfriend and I were looking into internet service for our apartment, we opted to go with cable internet for 2 reasons. 1) it was already wired, 2) we didn't want to have to pay to get a landline so we could go through a carrier such as AT&T. Once we narrowed it down to a cable carrier, we had a few options, but went with one that we were familiar with, and had had a good experience with in the past, CableOne. Granted, we don't have the fastest internet, or even a great computer, we at least have something, and that's always better than nothing...especially since my boyfriend requires the internet to work from home....

@Don Roberto: So, let me get this straight...you moved, but kept the equipment for 6 months after the fact, neglected to cancel the service for 8 month after the move, the cried foul and wanted a refund?

They should have laughed at you. You kept their equipment, and failed to cancel your account. Why should they be expected to refund an equipment rental charge when you still had the equipment, and had yet to cancel the account?

This is just one of those things that irritates me about the EECB. Yes, it's handy when warranted, but I'm sorry, that's just abuse of the whole system.

@rpm773: "This is a billing error, and has no relevance toward the issue about cable monopolies. The existence of competition will not prevent Comcast from billing its customers incorrectly."

If customers could get cable TV from a competitor that did not engage in fraudulent billing (if it was simply an error they would have corrected it when it was brought to their attention, it wouldn't have taken a call from the AG's office or the FCC) then Comcast would wither and die like it deserves to.

@rwalford79: You have no clue what you are talking about, do you?

First, in the majority of instances, there is fiber up to the taps up on the pole outside of your home.

Second, if the lines were not upgraded in the last 'decade or more', Comcast would not have anywhere near the network bandwidth to offer what they do.

Seriously, if you are just looking to troll, say so.

@rpm773:

The term "billing error" ended when it was brought to their attention and Comcast elected to claim they are entitled to do whatever they wanted.

I find comcast to be an ok ISP and better than the alternative, (qwest dialup) but calling them when there is a problem is like throwing scorpions down the front of my pants.

We just subscribed to ATT U-verse this week (which incidentally is superior to Comcast in every way, including price). When we called Comcast to cancel, they hung up twice on my wife. Finally, we got someone to cancel but she said our alarm monitoring service would double in price.

We told them, OK, cancel that too! Great business model Comcast... Also, the lady hung up before giving us our cancellation confirmation number. We had to call back yet again to get it. I am so impressed by U-Verse, if it had only been available years ago.

@FooSchnickens: I dropped Comcast a few weeks ago when I moved to my new apartment. Well not really.

See, I wanted them to transfer service to my new apartment, but the tech they sent out to install service decided not only to just skip the appointment, but he also decided to call Comcast and cancel our account on our behalf! That raises a whole ton of concerns that I will eventually have to address I'm sure, but I was without a phone at the time, so I put it in the back of my mind and got a hold of Shari from work the next day, who graciously got me a service call lined up for the same day. I'm waiting for a bill to show up in the mail telling me that I still owe for service at the old address in spite of Comcast swearing up and down that it's been taken care of.

It sucks a huge amount of ass through a crazy straw that the tech was able to cancel our account, because I had a bunch of deals on my account as a result of the complaints I filed with the FCC. I could use the internet for everything else just fine, but I continually encountered issues when I'd stream video from sites like Netflix, Hulu, Youtube and the like, and having read about how the FCC had to climb up Comcast's ass and tell them to stop screwing with people's video streaming, I took my issue to the FCC. Comcast gave me half off my internet bill and a bunch of free channels for a year. All gone in the blink of an eye when the tech took it upon himself to misrepresent our intent. Which itself caused all sorts of issues.

Ugh, it's been one huge headache after another. If I had an alternative in my area, I'd drop Comcast like a bad habit. Unfortunately I don't, and my disabled mother likes to watch programs on cable besides, so I'm stuck with Comcast for the time being. Ugh.

@RandaPanda: Yeah, I gotta agree with you here. When I moved recently, getting services changed over and making sure they were turned off at my old location was pretty high on my list of priorities.

That's something you shouldn't be forgetting, but if you do, I would think that you'd just suck it up and take it as a lesson learned, rather than punishing the company for your own mistakes.

Besides, stuff like this really makes it tough for those of us with legitimate issues to get them resolved.

@jeffbone: Nah, I utilized their services a couple of weeks ago, and it worked wonders.

That said, I think it's a bit odd that you can't get that level of service when it matters, and instead have to hunt the internet for effective customer service after your perception of the company has already been tainted. It would stand to reason that it'd probably be better if Comcast empowered all their customer service representatives to be that effective, however the folks I spoke to online to get my issue resolved didn't seem to give half a squirt of piss. The mind wobbles.

@Cyberxion101: Oh, I do have to point out that the Twitter team is generally useless unless you know of their existence. If you don't frequent the internet, and sites like this one in particular, you're stuck with the phone reps, who generally couldn't give a shit about you or your problems.

@dragonpup: Eh, calm down. Pointing out his errors is well and good, but you don't need to get bent out of shape over it. It's not as if he came to your house and slapped you in the face. He just doesn't quite know what he's talking about. If an errant comment is the worst thing you come across today, consider yourself blessed.

In Comcast's defense, I can see how this sort of thing can happen. I don't think they were trying to bill the customer for service they do not have, but because Comcast bills a month in advance the next bill might go out before the cancellation takes place. Also, the billing is not adjusted until it is disconnected at the pole. Pole disconnects are usually low priority for technicians, and will be put aside if the technician has a lot of other appointments on the particular day it's scheduled.

Cox cable did this to me. Being a poor college student, it wasn't cool finding out next month that Cox was still billing you and your pathetic little account is overdrawn 6 times thanks it a $100 cable / internet bill, leaving me with $140 in bank fees

Comcast did something cancellation unrelated to my grandmother; I gave her my old modem, got her signed up for internet service. Comcast sends a bill for 3 cable modem rentals monthly (LOL WHAT) at 5 bucks a pop + internet service bill. Good job comcast, considering there were 0 modems rented plus how the hell are you going to bill someone 3 modems on one internet plan.

@synimatik: Charter did this to me after I canceled and also moved. I didn't know anything until a collection agency tried to contact me after two years.

@Cyberxion101: Good point, and glad to hear the Twitter service worked for you. I guess I was thinking more about Frank's frequent appearance here anytime Comcast was even mentioned.

Comcast also now has a dedicated support forum over on DSLReports, but like the Twitter service, you have to know about that site for it to be of use. I guess these support services are like Comcast's version of the first rule of Fight Club.

@takes_so_little: Did you just blame EVERY victim? I think you did!

Funnily enough, i dropped Comcast for FiOS about 2 months ago, and they happily canceled it and then sent me a pro-rated check for the partial month that i had already paid for. No problems at all. It was probably a glitch in the system.

I hate this company so much that I willingly burden myself with RCN and it's horrible, horrible offerings. And Consumerist, take note: this happened to me two years ago, and I didn't waste any time taking the fight to Martha Coakley's office. These crooks billed me for two months of service (Sept/Oct) when I had told them in JUNE that August would be my last month. It took almost half a year for the snafu to be cleared up, but in the end, I beat Comcast.

@charmaniac: I requested U-Verse and was impressed at every step (except by the salesperson who idiotically tried to answer every question with "You don't understand, it's different, it's FIBER OPTIC.") All the AT&T people, including the POTS installer, were friendly, professional and punctual -- words most Comcasters can't even find in the dictionary.

Unfortunately, U-Verse was NOT cheaper to begin with. Then when I went to turn in my Comcast equipment, a rep actually noticed how angry I was and reduced my bill so that it was $80 less than U-Verse. I hate Comcast and I've heard only good things about U-Verse, but that's too big a difference at my income level.

When ATT was building out U-Verse in our neighbourhood, I talked with one of the engineers (they had a big hole in my front yard for 6 months)

U-Verse isn't "fiber-optic" any more than DSL service is. U-Verse is, in fact, nothing more than a high-speed (54MBit) DSL circuit. Half of it is carved off for TV over IP, the other half for data service and signaling. It's fiber to the node, and they just pushed the DSLAMs out to the neighbourhoods so that the copper run would be within spec for the DSL tech they're using.

I dropped Comcast for Dish + FIOS, and Comcast bills me to this day. I have opted to do nothing and I let the bills come and I continue to do nothing, just like Comcast does. So far, it's been 3 years and I get the same bill. So I get a little junk mail and that's it.

@gStein:

Whaaaaaat?! When was that? I missed it!

Darn! >:(

Comcast does this when you move and "transfer" your service as well. You get double-billed until they get around to disconnecting the service at your old address. If you call to complain, they just tell you that it's policy and that you don't have to pay the bill at the old address.

I don't have Comcast, but I want to cancel my cable & internet (regional company) for other reasons. Unfortunately, neither FiOS NOR Uverse is available in my apartment. Le sigh.

@takes_so_little:

Other people are not responsible for the actions of Comcast just because they don't fight or necessarily even realize a billing error. Comcast has a duty to its customers to do the right thing without being reminded about it every single time. It is not the duty of anyone else to remind Comcast to do this. If Comcast can't do it by themselves then hopefully the consumer interest czar or whatever will help them, but it's not anyones job to ensure that Comcast does its job.

Ummm Yeah verizon tried to do that to me. But they were sneaky about it. I was about to cancel my account which had 2 phones on it. One was for my mom. She didnt need text messages anymore so i removed them. 4 months later when i go to cancel the service to get iphones, they try to tell me because i took away text messages that it extended my contract 2 years. Ummmm what? Then they try to stick me with ETF of like 400 bucks or something. I talked to them numerous times and tried to resolve it, but they wouldnt budge. I havent paid and stopped using the phones. They still send me bills. I dont care. I hate verizon with passion. Was with them for 9 years then they pull that. I know this is a rant... but... work is slow lol.