Meet Consumerist reader Jerry. He’s in the middle of moving and has shut off his Comcast internet service as he prepares to vacate his current abode. And while Comcast has made the nice offer of coming out to pick up his modem free of charge, there’s a hitch — It’s his modem, not theirs.

Take it away, Jerry:

I just checked my voicemail to find a wonderful message from someone calling on behalf of Comcast. I shut off my Comcast services last month as I was moving out of my apartment, and now they are wanting me to return my cable modem, and that I can schedule a time for them to pick up the modem at no cost.

The problem is, I bought the modem long before I started receiving service from Comcast, and as far as I know, it is a brand and model of modem that Comcast doesn’t even lease out.

All of this is also coming after a very long (over an hour) discussion with a confused Comcast customer service rep months earlier about removing/refunding the monthly modem lease fee from my bill, as my modem does not, and never has, belonged to Comcast.

I called them back, and explained that I purchased the modem on my own, years ago. The rep needed me to provide the modem’s serial number. I didn’t have it since my modem was boxed up somewhere back home and I was calling from work. She advised me to call back when I could get the serial number. It’s just my opinion, but I believe that the burden should be on them to prove they own the modem, not me.

Has this happened to anyone else?

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