Burning Tears of Rage: My Comcast Experience

I cried today. I'm not an emotional person, and I don't cry often, but today I cried. Not tears of sadness, but burning tears of rage. I am one of those highly logical people that likes my emotions buried deep beneath the surface. I have found this to be an extremely effective way to function in life. There are times (maybe once or twice a year) that my emotions spill over and I get so worked up that I will actually cry because I am so angry!!

That's right - real anger makes me tear up like a big baby. Fortunately, I am pretty hard to legitimately infuriate. I'm easy to annoy, I'm easy to aggravate, I'm easy to displease, and sometimes easy to provoke, but you really have to be trying in order to incur my wrath. I don't like being mad, it's emotionally exhausting, it's mostly unproductive, and it's rarely humorous or witty. I avoid it at all costs, and like to think that I stay pretty cool most of the time. However, when I do get angry, I get really angry. Emotionally, I turn green, burst through my clothes, and start smashing stuff. That's what happened today.

I moved a couple months ago, and took my internet service with me - Comcast. I'd heard some bad things about Comcast before, but they were the fastest internet available in my area so I signed on with them in early 2012 and never had any issues... until now.

There are a couple things that I pride myself on as a consumer. First, I always pay my bill (usually on time and in full). Second, I am really reasonable and don't kick up a fuss about reasonable charges. Third, I always give a company a chance to make things right. In return for these three fantastic customer attributes I expect really outstanding service and for companies to deliver exactly what they promise.

Even though Comcast is expensive (some would say overpriced), I was willing to pay for what I saw as a good product and good service. Not that I've ever really had to rely on their service before for any real issues, but if I don't have any issues I just give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that your service is good. I was wrong about Comcast though, their service is not good and they don't appreciate their customers.

So back to the story, I moved a couple months ago and when I did I had to kind of open a new account for my new address. I got it all set up and during set up (over the phone) I opted for e-billing (I hate getting bills in the mail, who reads them?). Strangely enough, I have never received a bill from Comcast since moving (although I have gotten some junk mail). Now, to my own accountability I should have followed up, but I'm a busy girl and I never found the time. Instead I have just continued paying (consistently, every month) a little more than I was paying before I moved, because I knew my rate was going up a little. I figured if it was wrong they would let me know. Well this week they did... to the tune of $168.00.

It all started yesterday when I received several missed calls from an unknown 800 number - no voicemails. After work I called the number back and learned that it was Comcast. They connected me to any automated system that told me that I owed Comcast $168.00. As you can imagine, I was surprised and unhappy - a large portion of this charge was for a small overdue sum on an earlier bill. Again, I was unhappy, but no tears. I just figured it was right and that I would need to contact them about getting my bills delivered in the future, but I'd pay up in the mean time. Now I had sent my usual payment of $50.00 on Monday, so I logged onto my Wells Fargo Bill Pay and sent an additional $120.00 yesterday. Lesson learned, I thought that was the end of it.

Today I got another call from the 800 number. This time I answered, just to let them know the payment was sent. I spoke with a collections agent. If you've ever had a collections call you know that the agents aren't known for being especially nice. This guy was no exception. He wanted my $168.00. I explained (several times) that I had already sent the payment in two parts that week. I get the feeling he didn't believe me (come on, the checks in the mail) because he would simply retort (several times) that he didn't see any payments on my account from me this week. I offered to give him transaction numbers as proof, but he didn't want them - he did want me to make a minimum payment of at least $65.00 today in order to avoid an "interruption of my service". Like I said, so many times before, I have already sent $170 this week! I didn't have the inclination OR the money to send any more.

So I gave up and told him he can go ahead and interrupt my service, would they just turn everything back on when they process my payments (in the next day or so)? Yes, he assured me... with a re-activation fee. That didn't go over well, and this is where I began to cry.

Didn't it make any difference that I had never actually gone a month without making a payment (albeit in the wrong amount)? Didn't my excellent payment history with Comcast mean anything? To the first question, it made no difference. I had a balance that was over 30 days overdue so I had to pay. To the second question, he kindly let me know that it did make a difference, that was why my service hadn't been discontinued yet.

At this point I got a little too choked up to talk and had to take a minute. I asked him why, if my payment was over 30 days overdue, I hadn't received a call or notice before now. He said (and this was the kicker for me) that they could see I was a good customer from my payment history and they don't like to harass their good customers. Apparently, instead they like to wait until the payment is over 30 days overdue and then call (after stacking on substantial late fees) and threaten to turn off their internet. Fantastic service!!!

I said (in essence) thanks for nothing, and ended the call - I needed some time to get my emotions under control. I cried it out a little. As I dried my eyes of the tears of fury I felt calmer. I waited a little while and then called back for round two.

I was calmer and more prepared this time. I rang in and asked immediately for a supervisor. The guy on the phone assured me he could handle me - even after I told him I was irate, disgruntled, and wanting to cancel service - and I told him my story. To put it delicately, he was a total douche. I told him sending me to collections without any other sort of communication when I have been an outstanding customer made me really unhappy. He told me that they hadn't sent me to "collections" on account of my great history, and just sent me instead to their internal collections department. I said that didn't make a difference to me - he interrupt to say it surely did make a difference, as it wouldn't affect my credit and I should be grateful for that. That did it for me - I told him I was ready to cancel service. He gladly transferred me to cancellations.

Here in cancellations I spoke for the first time to someone who apologized. She was very sorry about the way I was treated, she wanted to save me as a customer. I explained why I was so dissatisfied and felt my treatment was unmerited. After all I had been sending payments and hadn't received a bill. It was an honest mistake! She said "well, in our defense - you are over 30 days overdue". That didn't help me, I was crying again. 

The nice part about crying when you're angry is that it really confuses the people you're mad at. Seriously, they have no idea how to respond. Do they comfort you? Do they keep acting like a jerk? Do they stop what they are doing and find a box of tissues? It doesn't matter because whatever they do will be wrong, and will make you more angry until you're all cried out.

She offered to reduce my bill for the next few months (still higher than I will be paying with Century Link). I told her my internet service and speed hasn't even been that good in my new place (just let me stream, for the love of Mike!!). "Well, it should be, it's the fastest available. If you have problems you should have contacted tech support."

That was the deathblow. I told her I wanted to cancel my service. She asked if there was anything they could do to change my mind. I laughed. When did I want them to cancel service? "As soon as possible" I said, "I don't want to pay you one more dollar."

So that is the story of how, starting tomorrow, I will be without home internet for a while. Sometime next week Century Link will be set up. Was I hasty? Perhaps. Sometimes anger makes us feisty (not that I need help with that). I'm at peace with my decision though. The anger is past, and I won't be shedding any tears tonight!