Two Guys from Frisco
or two guys that frisk you?
Free marketeers would be proud; a startup in the US has just started up to deal with one of the toughest and most frustrating corporate trials – cancelling a Comcast subscription. Airpaper, which appears to be a two-man San Francisco upstart, will take up the torturous process of navigating the corporate ins and outs of …
And call the service "Shibboleet".
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I was living in the US some years ago -- when I moved out I've just called them and told I will be out of the country for years. Cancelled without problem.
This year I am back, and my first negative experience was contracting their service -- I've asked some question to one of the (possibly foreign) chat operators, who told me that I must SIGN UP ONLINE NOW instead of going to a store, otherwise THE STORE GUYS WOULD CHARGE ME MORE and worse THEY WILL DO ANOTHER CREDIT CHECK THAT WOULD LOWER MY CREDIT RATE and he was just giving me good advice because HE WAS JUST LOOKING OUT FOR MY INTERESTS and was probably MY BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD. Folding to the pressure I agreed to the conditions, and then he told me that I had to go to a store anyway to pick up the modem.
The people at the store were way more nicer and helpful. I've mentioned to the store employee that I would have the service only for an year, he told me that in order to cancel all I would need to do is bring the modem to the store, no fuss, no big deal.
I am getting old and very suspicious of the employees that answer online questions. My suggestion: drive to one of the stores and cancel it there, if they insist too much start to make noises where there are other costumers, can't be worse than screaming at the phone. Or just lie (or not) and mention you're leaving the US.
Tell them you are moving, and give them an address that isn't served by comcast territory. When I moved I did this. I was happy to remain a comcast customer but they didn't serve in my new location. I told them this, they didn't believe me and asked for the address, so I gave it, and they immediately admitted defeat and said thanks for being a customer. New cable company is municipal and serves the city I am in only. For the most part they are fine, just want more upload speed.
Next year I plan to move to a new apartment in a different city and will be a comcast customer again. I actually look forward to it I was a pretty happy customer at the time, specifically looking forward to faster upload speeds on a business class connection, fastest I can get right now is 5mbps and that is if I sign up for a 100Mbps plan, currently on a lower plan which maxes out at about 2Mbps upload. I have a server at a local co-lo (unlimited 100Mbit on a good backbone) and like to be able to transfer data to/from it. It's painful to upload of course from my home connection today.
Comcast business internet seems to run from 109/mo to 169mo for between 20-50mbit down and 10-15mbit up. I'd be happy with 20 down / 10 up, though may go for the bigger plan, for the extra upload.
... write an adventure game like this back in 1987...?
I've never had problems cancelling service. It's easy:
1) If you have any cable modems or boxes, you'll have to go in to return equipment anyway. So do it in person.
2) If it's on the phone, let them know you want to cancel. Don't let them keep making offers if you intend to cancel, point out you expect service to be cancelled now. If they persist on yammering on about whatever, point out you will be stopping payment on any attempts to withdraw money after that so they might as well cancel now. They should cancel. I've never had to go past this point.
3) Write down when you made this call. If they try to claim you owe more money later (beyond some fractional month's worth if you cancelled mid-month), point out the date you cancelled and stand firm, don't pay it. If they try to put a negative note on your credit, the credit agencies must correct inaccurate information if you request it, point out the date you cancelled and they are obligated to remove this. (If a company makes too many false filings to the credit agency, they get into some kind of trouble too.)
You know.. it's absolute bullshit that it is difficult to cancel a Comcast subscription. It's fucking *easy-peasy* but involves - HORROR! - walking in to a Comcast service/sales office and *physically* returning your rented kit.
I've cancelled service plenty of times - just return the equipment, get a receipt and ask for a print-out of the balance due, cut a check at the service desk and it's done.
People are fucking lazy, is all.
It is a challenge when people want more than one thing and are unable to prioritize or make choices. They want both the discounts from annual contracts and the freedom to leave when they choose without paying the ETA. They want to be loved by everyone and not have to say No directly to someone, even someone as horrible as Comcast. The whole specter of being uncomfortable, even for a few minutes, is the problem.