You know...if Comcast was smart, they'd use this to their advantage. Phone sex operators as Comcast reps.

Caller: My cable's out.
Rep: Do you want it back in?
Caller: Yes, please.
Rep: We'll find out how you got off...we can turn you on between noon and four. Do you want us to turn you on?

Didn't this happen once before? Or maybe I am getting this mixed up with another company.

@theSuperman: Maybe you're confusing it with the time that Comcast customers in a particular market got 10 minutes of porn during ... a sports game, I think it was? Definitely 10 minutes of porn during something that wasn't, you know, supposed to be porn.

Well, chances are if you're calling Comcast your internet's down, so phone-porn is probably the next best substitute. Good thinking, Comcast!

"a printing error"? A printing error is when three sheets of paper feed in at once. This is a dumb person error.

@larrymac: Yeah, I bet whatever shop handled the printing is fascinated to hear it was their fault for printing the file provided.

@Smashville_not taking it seriously: It is even better than you think. Comcast is charging you $2.99 a minute.

Rep: OOHH, you've been a naughty boy, I'm going to put you on hold until my stock options are worth something.

@floraposte: +1000

I wonder what percent of toll free numbers have been taken by porn operators. They sure seem to use up a lot of them.

I made a calling mistake not too long ago with Comcast too. My handwriting made the 5xxx look like 2xxx. Sure enough, that was a number for hot steamy singles, LIVE!

@TCama: Wasn't it the Superbowl? This last year? In the southwest? And definitely Comcast.

@CCS: As I recall, most printers are bound and required to print whatever the client delivers to them, no matter how error riddled it may be.

@YardanCabaret: Yes, yes and yes.

It is worth pointing out that many phone sex lines purposely select numbers that will be easily confused with major companies' main toll-free numbers.

I used to work for a large bank, and virtually every one of our main telephone numbers had a sex line number using the "other" toll free prefix. Even our HR line had a sex line clone.

If I was in charge, I'd make sure to grab both the 1-800 and 866 number of whatever I wanted my main phone number to be.

Why would they apologize? That's HOT.

"My cable bill is twice as big as it should be."

"Is that what the kids are calling it? Well, Mister... just wait until you get your phone bill... oh yeah, you like math? Gimme 5... a minute, you dirty boy."

@larrymac: Because putting 800 instead of 866 is a humongous error, right?

You have to applaud Comcast's transparency here.

They're finally letting customers know how badly they are getting screwed, and paying for it to boot.

This sounds like a great "service" upgrade. How come Cablevision doesn't do this?

@floraposte: Yeah, someone left out a ".com" recently in a big printing job. I had to field a lot of questions from marketing along the lines of...

"Is there any way we can get "www.company/newproduct" to work and redirect to our site?"

Finally--a Comcast story that could have a happy ending!

@Anachronism: This is true, there's a phone sex line that does that with the Federal Tax Payment system too. I was pretty surprised when I heard "Hey there big boy" when I tried paying some payroll taxes

@dragonfire81: I am a print consultant. It's better than this. We will print what the client SIGNS OFF on. They had to approve a proof before it went to press.

The number one thing I suggest that my client's check before they sign a proof is their own contact info, that's where we find the majority of errors. For the good clients, I call their attention to the obvious ones. For Comcast, I'd let it fly.

@MooseOfReason: Who said anything about the size of the error? I just think "printing error" is about as useful as the old computer error canard.

I learned that one the hard way. (Pun, unfortunately, intended.) Back when I worked for a Sprint contracted call center, I got a gentleman on the line that clearly was misdirected.

This was when management decided that we'd not greet with "Thank you for calling Sprint" to reduce AHTs.

It was... yeah.

@smirkette: Seriously. Can you imagine? They could possibly have business with this the phone sex company and they are sending customers there way? (j/k)

One of the cell phone support call centers I used to work for had an 866 number, but if you called the same number starting with 800, you got a phone sex place.
It was especially funny when elderly couples would get it mixed up, then they'd call in to us all pissed off at 'the indecency' like it was our fault.

This happened to me once, years ago. I picked up a Direct TV flyer from Circuit City, called the number, and got a phone sex line. Thinking it was my error in dialing, I tried again... and the same thing happened. Two of the numbers got transposed and the error led to people calling the wrong number. When I found the correct number for Direct TV I called to let them know about the proble and the operator pretty much laughed at me.

@dragonfire81: Exactly. Which is why I agree with floraposte's comment.

@tripnman: I'm a designer, and I can't tell you how many times I've had clients send me the wrong phone numbers and not notice through multiple proofs (and reminders from me to check numbers, addresses and names!) only to notice it immediately upon picking up their printed pieces. Your mistake is not my fault...that's what the signed proof is for, folks!

And no, I'm not going to put pressure on my favorite print shop to do a "rush" for you at no cost. Sheesh.

The phone number to Dell Gold Technical support is the same way. It is an 866 number but if you accidentally dial 800 instead it is a phone sex hotline.

Saw this phone sex thing a long time ago... in Dilbert. It was cliched to accidentally have a phone sex number instead of support then, and it still is.

@madog: Sure beats cold clammy couples, dead. Always made me wonder about those creepy places that didn't specify if their girls were alive or not...

@smirkette: You win.

On a positive note, you're more likely to get somebody who knows something about your cable than if you actually call Comcast.