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Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

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Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#61

Post by indymike »

personZ wrote: post #32
wfjackson wrote: post #4

Can't he do a chargeback on his credit card for the bill and then send the credit card folks a recording of this? Gyms are typically known for making it extremely hard to cancel, like requiring you to snail mail a notice and even then acting as if they never got it.

Chargebacks are no different than simply ceasing to send in payments for a service: It sounds pat, but can haunt you years later when massive penalties and interest appear on your credit report.

No, stopping payments is the same as ceasing to send in payments.

The chargeback is a contractual dispute resolution process. The consumer says they shouldn't have to pay for a valid reason. The merchant gets to provide evidence otherwise. A decision is made and both parties have agreed in advance (via the merchant agreement and cardholder agreements) to be bound by that decision. This is one of the consumer protections that make using plastic safer than using cash/checks.

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#62

Post by ceejayoz »

personZ wrote: post #52
chatmasta wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source please? Every time I've filed a chargeback on my credit card (American Express), they have been completely transparent with the status of it. When I submit the chargeback, I'm credited the amount of it. If I lose it, I also lose that credit, and I owe the amount of the chargeback. Are you saying that comcast will negatively affect your credit score because you submit a chargeback to them after they failed to c…

Your credit card company is not an arbiter of contracts. They are nothing more than a payment method, and the only reason they have any process whatsoever is to try to maintain relations with the vendors who they also deal with. If you have a contract with a vendor, decide that you don't like the product any more and decide to cancel through a chargeback, that has literally zero influence on the status of the contrac…

I'd always figured that one of the conditions of being able to accept a particular type of card was accepting their judgement in chargeback situations. Huh.

This recording would make a pretty effective "I dispute the debt" piece of evidence, regardless.

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#64

Post by palebluedot »

chatmasta wrote: post #43
personZ wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chargebacks are no different than simply ceasing to send in payments for a service: It sounds pat, but can haunt you years later when massive penalties and interest appear on your credit report.

Source please? Every time I've filed a chargeback on my credit card (American Express), they have been completely transparent with the status of it. When I submit the chargeback, I'm credited the amount of it. If I lose it, I also lose that credit, and I owe the amount of the chargeback. Are you saying that comcast will negatively affect your credit score because you submit a chargeback to them after they failed to c…

Are you saying that comcast will negatively affect your credit score because you submit a chargeback to them after they failed to cancel your service?

I believe that is indeed what the parent post meant. If you do a chargeback, that just means you did not pay the Comcast (or whatever) bill. Comcast will likely not treat that any different than if you didn't pay, if they feel the bill is valid; your account will be sent to collections, and also show up negatively on your credit report.

Dealing with small contract issues like that with a large, bureaucratic company can be like cutting your nose off to spite your face; you cause yourself more long-term damage. You may be 100% in the right, just like a pedestrian in a crosswalk; it is still in your benefit to dodge the bus.

IANAL, but in a contract dispute, at least with a small-ish charge, the best course is to pay the bill (under protest/duress; you can indicate such in the comment on the check). Then file in small-claims court. I would reserve chargebacks to companies that have scammed you (not just crappy businesses, like Comcast/etc.), fraud / identify theft, etc.

Of course, ideally you would want to get the issue cleared up before going down that route, as well.

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#65

Post by lotsofmangos »

zerohp wrote: post #57

There's only one easy way to cancel service with a company like Comcast. You have to lie and tell them you're moving to a city that they don't serve. They don't transfer you to customer retention and you'll be off the phone in a few minutes.

I've done something similar with phone contracts. I usually tell them that I am going to live in the woods for a year and do some coppicing.

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#66

Post by [deleted] »

oneandoneis2 wrote: post #59
zerohp wrote: post #57

There's only one easy way to cancel service with a company like Comcast. You have to lie and tell them you're moving to a city that they don't serve. They don't transfer you to customer retention and you'll be off the phone in a few minutes.

I usually cover all bases by claiming I'm emigrating and leaving the country - only way to be sure :)

[deleted]

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#67

Post by interpol_p »

wil421 wrote: post #24

I've cancelled Comcast a few times before when ATT had a better deal and it was never this bad. They usually try to give me a better deal but sorry I've made my decision thats why I am calling, if you gave me a better rate to begin with I might not be leaving. With Comcast you can usually just hang up and call again if you get an employee with an attitude. This method works with tech support too, hang up and try agai…

> With Comcast you can usually just hang up and call again if you get an employee with an attitude.

I'm guessing that this tactic might actually make the nice employees look bad. The employees with an attitude will have better customer retention metrics; then the nice customer service reps risk losing their jobs or also developing an attitude.

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#68

Post by epi16 »

lucaspiller wrote: post #40

Any ideas why he actually wants to cancel? If it's for a lower price surely Comcast would match that? I've done that with mobile operators here in the UK, phoning up to switch to PAYG because of a new deal that comes up then the "retentions" agent offering me the same deal on a contract for half the price. Edit: My point is although it is none of their business why he wants to cancel, it's probably less effort, and h…

Poor customer service? That would be enough for me, in the purely hypothetical scenario where I had a choice other than "no internet", "hook up an antenna to steal internet from the Starbucks down the street", or "Comcast".

Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

#69

Post by [deleted] »

oneandoneis2 wrote: post #59
zerohp wrote: post #57

There's only one easy way to cancel service with a company like Comcast. You have to lie and tell them you're moving to a city that they don't serve. They don't transfer you to customer retention and you'll be off the phone in a few minutes.

I usually cover all bases by claiming I'm emigrating and leaving the country - only way to be sure :)

[deleted]
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