Comcast is Incompetent

Don't use Comcast if you can help it.

We moved and mistakenly thought we'd bought our modem four years before, so we took it with us. It was a mistake on our part.

Naturally, we got a bill saying we owed them $100 for nonreturned equipment.

I called to say, "I thought we owned our modem."

The first lady I talked to said, "You do. Just ignore the bill. We actually owe you $35. It's standard procedure. We always overbill when people disconnect."

Stupid standard procedure, but she assured me it was taken care of. So I tore up the bill and ignored it.

A month later we got another bill from them for the same reason. I called again and said, "We thought we bought our modem AND the last lady said this was taken care of." He did some research and said that we actually didn't buy our modem--our mistake, I admitted--but that two days after the bill was sent (but before we received it) the debt was discharged, so don't worry about it. It was all taken care of. Tear up the bill and they'd send us $35.

So I did.

Now today I received a bill from a collections agency for the same amount! Apparently the "discharged" was supposed to be "discharged to collections." Now, this would have been annoying because they did that before we even received the last bill. The fact that TWICE Comcasts own employees said to forget about it and tear up the bill is absolutely unforgiveable.

Absolutely.

I called the collections agency and disputed the bill (we want to buy a house in a few months. We can't have that kind of black marks on our credit right now!). Then I called Comcast and said the mormon equivalent of "wtf!!!!!!!" (if you are mormon and don't know that phrase, don't ponder it too long, just go on with Becca almost swore at them).

The lady took my payment over the phone (since I acknowledge--we DID make a mistake), but first I had to convince her that I couldn't pay through collections. The last lady I talked to was really really nice. Really nice. She submitted a complaint for me.

But this whole situation is still UNFORGIVABLE. It should never have happened. What should have happened is they should have done the research on the first call, explained we made a mistake, and let us send back the equipment. That would have solved everything to everyone's satisfaction. I wouldn't have even yelled at them.

As it is--don't use comcast if you don't have to. (How they manage to be a true monopoly in some states has always bothered me, but that's okay....). If you do have to get your cable through them, at least buy vonage for your phone.....