Reader Benjamin is pissed because Comcast in his town of Richmond, VA they raised his rates, and justified it by saying they have to pass on the cost of rising gas, technology, and health care. He writes “Gas is a Buck’ 69, they haven’t improved the technology in my area, and health care… Really? They might as well of added a $5 fee to restock the candy bowl in the break room of the service center while they are at it.” If that’s not fun enough, see what happens when he tries to file a complaint about it. They try to route him to the complaint line…but it’s been disconnected!

Benjamin writes:

Normally, I just accept the inevitable and pay without contest. But the “gas prices” line really bugged me, so I decided to call in and complain.

Since this is an issue with the billing and pricing plan, I tried to talk to someone in billing support. I’m not one for popping a blood vessel, so I calmly asked for an explanation as to why overall decline in fuel prices is responsible for the increase in the cable fees. The person from Comcast said that they could not help me and that I had to call the complaint line. Up until this point, I hadn’t had a complaint- I just wanted some explanation. She puts me on hold so that she can get me the number for the complaint department. Then she comes back with something that literally made me speechless for a few moments… “The complaint line phone has been disconnected.”

Me: (Pause) Wait? What?

Comcast: You need to go to the web site and submit a comment through email.

Me: Comcast disconnected its complaint line?

Comcast: Go to our web site and click on the ‘contact us’ button and submit an email.

Me: Is the complaint line going to be reconnected anytime soon?

Comcast: On our web site under ‘contact us’.

Me: Are you serious?

This didn’t go anywhere so I eventually hung up. I did send an email from the Comcast web site and a few minutes later received a rather robotic, wholly unsatisfying response that basically said ‘whatever, we don’t really care’.

Its ridiculous that Comcast can claim that because of the INCREASE in gas prices, the INCREASE in technology prices, and INCREASES in health care costs that my bill needs to be raised $30-$40 a month. Is there any guarantee that when these outrageously high gas prices go down that the monthly charges will go down as well? And for the record, I haven’t seen any enhancements to my service. I’m paying more for the exact same services that I got two months ago.

Benjamin D.

Calling Comcast customer service and expecting a sensible explanation for why they raised rates is like trying to thread the Empire State Building through the eye of a needle. You might be better off registering your gripe with the local Public Utilities Commission. At least their complaint lines still work.

(Photo: ChristophrHiestr)

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