COMCRAPST

JOE MAIDAJULY 23,2013

On October 29th, 2012, the entire first floor of mom's house was flooded by Superstorm Sandy. Everything on the first floor, totally ruined. As I made calls to each service provider (Electric company, gas company, water company, etc.) to tell them to suspend her services for an indefinite period that it would take to repair and rebuild her home, they were all very accommodating. Except for one: COMCAST. The conversation went like this: "Hi, my mom's house was flooded by Sandy is in uninhabitable for what could be many many months, maybe a year, who knows. Obviously she needs to cancel her cable service for now, but she wants to keep her phone number, which she's had for decades. I know the phone number is provided by COMCAST now, so how can we keep her number active so that she can have it back 6, 8, 10 months from now when her house is livable again?" COMCAST REP: "OK sir, well in order to keep it active, she'll have to continue to pay for it." ME: "So you're saying she has to pay for a service she won't be using for months, maybe a year?" "COMCAST REP: "Yes. otherwise her phone number goes back into the pool of available numbers and someone else will be assigned to it." ME: "That doesn't sound right. So how much will it cost to keep her number?" COMCAST REP: "Let me see what I can do. OK, for $23.95 a month for the next 6 months, we can keep her number assigned to her. But you will have to call back in 6 months because this promotion ends and you will have to see what other promotion we have at that time." ME: "So you're not doing me a favor, then... this is simply a 6-month promotion she can apply for?" COMCAST REP: "Uh, yea it's the best I can do." ME: "OK, $23.95 a month seems like an ok price to pay for a number my mom's had for decades so she doesn't lose it to someone else." (I was fed up and just wanted to get it over with). Fast-forward to 6 months later: ME: "Hi Comcast rep, my mom's house is still not repaired, so we'll have to extend the 6-month promotion to keep her phone number." COMCAST REP: "Sir, that promotion is no longer available. All I have is a triple-play package for $124.95 a month." ME: "Uh, she doesn't need full cable service until she moves back in, we think it will be another 3 to 4 months from now. Just need to keep her phone # alive for another 3 to 4 months or so." COMCAST REP: "Yes but we don't offer that $23.95 promotion anymore. For $124.95/month we can keep her number and you can call us when she's ready to move in and we will hook up her cable box." ME: "Uh, you see, she is not living there, her house is being rebuilt so I don't think she should pay for services she's not using." COMCAST REP: "Well, we have to pay all those TV channels a fee for every signal we send out. HBO charges us for every signal, A&E, DISCOVERY, they all charge us, so we have to charge you." ME: ""Ummmmmm... no you don't understand: I just need to keep her phone # 'alive' for another 3 or 4 months until she moves in, then we will call you to continue her TV cable services as well. OK, so why can't we just continue to pay $23.95/month like we were doing for the past 6 months???"" COMCAST REP: "Sir, we don't have that promotion anymore. For $124.95 a month she can keep her phone number and all her cable servi....CLICK!" (I hung up.)

Why does COMCRAPST do things like this? They are like robots on the phone, their reps offer zero empathy or compassion, they don't attempt to resolve problems, just push product... they don't value longtime customers at all... she's been a COMCAST customer for decades... we're talking 30+ years.. she has spent $100+/month for the past 30 years (360 x $100 =$36,000!!!) with COMCAST and this is the way they show they VALUE her as a customer? Their reps need to be trained to handle customers better. They need to be given the authority to make decisions without "ESCALATING" a case or whatever the f*ck they call it. They need to be more... well, simply more human and less "order taker/robot person."