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Comcast Admits It Incorrectly Debited $1,775 From Account, Tells Customer To Sort It Out With Bank (consumerist.com)
An anonymous reader writes from a report via The Consumerist: Consumerist reader Robert is fighting with Comcast over a $1,775 early termination fee that should not have been assessed after he tried to cancel his business-tier service with the company. Comcast itself has even admitted that the money should not have been debited from Robert's bank account, but now says it's his responsibility to sort the mess out with his bank. The Consumerist reports: "In an effort to save money in 2014, Robert called to have their service level downgraded to a more affordable rate. Shortly thereafter, correctly believing that he was out of contract, he cancelled his Comcast service. That should have been the end of the story, but only weeks after closing the Comcast account, the boys from Kabletown decided that Robert was not out of contract, debiting $1,775.44 from the checking account tied to the Comcast service. Skip forward to Jan. 2015 -- two months after being told he'd get made whole; still no check. Robert says that when he called Comcast, 'the rep actually laughed when I told her I didn't get a check yet. She said it would take three months.'" Two calls later, one in June 2015 and one in Jan. 2016, Robert still didn't receive the check even after being reassured it was coming. More recently, he received an email from someone at Comcast "Executive Customer Relations," saying: "I understand you're claiming that someone advised you Comcast would send a refund check for the last payment that was debited but this is generally not the way we handle these situations. [...] For your situation, you would have to dispute the payment with your bank." Good news: The Consumerist reached out to Comcast HQ and a Comcast rep wrote back. "More information just came in," reads the email, which explains that an ETF credit was applied to his account in Dec. 2014, but "through some error the refund check never generated." Comcast is reportedly sending the check for real this time.
I wonder how the representative was able to say, "...For your situation, you would have to dispute the payment with your bank." without either falling over laughing, or suffering a crippling attack of guilt. Or both.
Don't step on the baby.
Where was this f'n story when Microsoft did the same exact thing to me, but for $28,420.23... still dealin with that shit 6 months later.
Hell, I had the IRS fail to deduct an automatic payment for a payment plan I have with them, then summarily cancel the payment plan and send me a Notice of Intent to Levy Assets. The difference between the IRS and your typical cable company is that, when you call the IRS and speak to the person on the other end of the line like a human being with some dignity, they do the same; and they work quickly to sort out the issue. Less than 15 minutes on the phone and the Intent to Levy was dropped, some interest and fees disappeared, they held my account (meaning no more interest or fees) until the payment plan could be reinstated, gave me a deadline of 30 days for them to complete the process, mailed me a letter on day 28 apologizing for missing the deadline and assuring me they were still working on it, followed by another letter on day 29 (within the deadline) letting me know everything was done and that my payment plan would resume in two months. End result, I spent 15 minutes on the phone with them and didn't have to pay them anything for 3mo, no fees or interest.
If businesses ran the way the IRS does, there would be a lot fewer disgruntled customers out there. Not that the IRS is all puppies and roses, but they certainly don't deserve a lot of the bad rap they get; if you have a legitimate issue and you talk to them like human beings with a bit of dignity, they'll bend over backwards to help you. One guy even filled out the forms for me (since he had all the info in front of him) and faxed them to me to sign and fax back. I did check his work, but it was literally just a matter of writing down what was already on my 1040. Where else can you go, that's not a scam or rip-off of some sort (some will argue that the IRS is, I won't entertain the argument because I honestly have mixed feelings; they carry the weight of law and I rather like having my belongings and not being in prison, so I follow the applicable laws) that will fill out the paperwork for you and have you just sign it? I can think of very few places; the only place, in recent memory, that I've seen it was when I bought a car back in October, but I'm not sure that fits the "not a rip-off" qualifier.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.