Imagine if Comcast made an honest-to-goodness, easily explained error and accidentally sent credited your account to the tune of more than $6,000. Now imagine how they would respond if you refused to return the funds, but told Comcast it could just slowly chip away at the money until the account was zeroed out again. We don’t imagine the Lords of Kabletown taking that suggestion too kindly, and yet that’s exactly what Comcast proposed to a customer who forgot a decimal point and overpaid his bill by thousands of dollars.

The customer, who happens to be 86 years old and a 25-year customer of Comcast, says that when he went online to pay his bill of $64.53, he accidentally omitted the decimal point and entered $6453 — 100 times what he owed the cable company.

The man tells WKRG-TV that he noticed the goof about a week later while reviewing his paid bills.

“I called the bank, and they said it had already been processed,” he says, “there was nothing they could do.”

His daughter attempted to talk some sense into Comcast but all the company said it could do for the long-time customer was to use the credit for future bills, meaning the man wouldn’t have to worry about another cable bill until the age of 94.

Of course, he’d be out thousands of dollars in the meantime.

Even after WKRG got involved, it still took a visit to the local Comcast depot, “several phone calls, and seven hours” before someone finally made a decision that makes any sense.

“We are issuing a full refund… and we apologize for not reimbursing him sooner after his inadvertent payment was first brought to our attention,” reads an e-mail statement to the TV station.

Of course, if the customer paid via debit card or e-check, it can still take up to 10 business days for that money to eventually show up in his bank account.

Thanks to Charles for the tip!

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