Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues • Hacker News Board

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

#231

Post by warfangle » Tue, Jul 15, 2014, 4:32 PM UTC

Strang wrote: post #220

warfangle wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(edited for source) There is no such thing as a free market: it is an idealistic theoretical construct. And even if it were real, it would only be efficient if P=NP[0]. 0. http://arxiv.org/abs/1002.2284

Your point is technically true, but you can consider it an idiom for either "maximally free market" or "sufficiently free market".

Unfortunately, in a market where the number of choices available are limited by physical space (Do you know what it looks like when 15 different ISPs all run their own last-mile hardware? Would you like to live in a city where 8 different sewage disposal companies all run their own waste pipelines?), a sufficiently free market is practically impossible.

In some cases, even a nebulously defined "sufficiently" free market is impossible.

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

#232

Post by dragonwriter » Tue, Jul 15, 2014, 4:32 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #222

jrockway wrote: post #55

Step one: write letter saying you want to cancel your service. Step two: send the letter via certified mail to the company whose service you're cancelling, cc'd to your state attorney general's office. Step three: there is no step 3.

How does one cc a letter?

cc stands for "carbon copy", which was a mechanism for hard copy letters.

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

#233

Post by ascotan » Tue, Jul 15, 2014, 4:33 PM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #191

shiftpgdn wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes.

No. 99.9% of the time, the people you get on the phone are courteous and helpful. Comcast is notorious for poor service precisely because it is not the norm. Sanity check: if this happened to everybody all the time, why would it be making the rounds on the internet? Anything that is newsworthy is rare by definition.

Although Comcast is notorious for having terrible customer service, this is NOT the only fee-for-service business that deals with disconnects like this that I have dealt with.

It seems to be a trend now to harangue customers when they want to terminate service contracts.

I wouldn't be surprised if certain companies pay retention bonuses if they can keep a 'disconnect call' from actually disconnecting.

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

#234

Post by greggman » Tue, Jul 15, 2014, 4:47 PM UTC

spodek wrote: post #174

We're an entrepreneurial community and here is a case of demand. Why not meet the demand to cut off internet services? One idea: create a phone service where I call a third-party (you, the entrepreneur) that connects me to the best number to cancel my service. The third party determines if recording the call is legal and records if so, posting the recording online, along with metadata: date, duration, agent name, loc…

Just tell them you're moving to another state/country. Works for me

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

#235

Post by elicash » Tue, Jul 15, 2014, 4:49 PM UTC

dkrich wrote: post #229

I thoroughly dislike Comcast and would go to great effort to avoid their service. That said, as funny as this is, this to me is more of a failing on a personal level than by Comcast as a whole. He seems more angry at the caller because he's losing the argument and not getting any concessions and just wants some sort of response or willingness to hear what he's saying. I sincerely believe that by the midpoint of that…

Having worked in Customer Service (at a different company) on the phones, I see very little chance that this isn't the way his entire office is run. Most likely they weekly have their phone calls listened to by supervisors and evaluated, as well as constant tracking to see who has the most cancelations -- with serious consequences for those cancelations.

Could be just an individual, too. Or something in between. I just doubt that.

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

#236

Post by DanBC » Tue, Jul 15, 2014, 4:50 PM UTC

vonmoltke wrote: post #180

netnichols wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice idea, so long as you're in the US where you don't really have an 'official' location... I tried to do this once in Berlin to cancel a gym membership outside of the contractual limits. They required showing an official 'de-registration' from the city of Berlin. I was moving within the city at the time, so instead of telling the city I was moving, I instead told the city I was leaving and then a few weeks later re…

Why is a gym allowed to demand such documentation in the first place?

"Outside of the contractual limits".

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

#237

Post by ben1040 » Tue, Jul 15, 2014, 4:52 PM UTC

SippinLean wrote: post #73

Wow, reminds me of the guy trying to cancel his AOL account: http://consumerist.com/2006/06/13/the-best-thing-we-have-eve...

Yeah, the first thing I thought was "AOL employee gets the AOL treatment."

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

#238

Post by MichaelApproved » Tue, Jul 15, 2014, 4:53 PM UTC

madaxe_again wrote: post #228

MichaelApproved wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't use a debit card much but I heard that you don't get as many consumer protects with debit cards as you do with credit cards. If you're going to pay bills, for many reasons, use a credit card instead of debit cards.

You have virtually NO consumer protection with a debit card. Once the money is gone, it is gone. This is why merchant acquirers charge a flat rate of a few pence for debit card transactions, and an extortionate percentage for credit card transactions - chargeback risk. Cannae do with a debit card without bumping into Dante and his buddy in their digs first.

> a few pence

Is that the case in England? In the States, there are many debit card protections, they're just not as extensive as credit card protections.

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

#239

Post by DanBC » Tue, Jul 15, 2014, 4:56 PM UTC

dkrich wrote: post #229

I thoroughly dislike Comcast and would go to great effort to avoid their service. That said, as funny as this is, this to me is more of a failing on a personal level than by Comcast as a whole. He seems more angry at the caller because he's losing the argument and not getting any concessions and just wants some sort of response or willingness to hear what he's saying. I sincerely believe that by the midpoint of that…

> I'm pretty certain that he would be reprimanded for this behavior.

I reckon he'd retain more people and thus get better bonuses, and not reprimands.

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

#240

Post by eldude » Tue, Jul 15, 2014, 4:56 PM UTC

This is hilarious. Sadly, this employee probably got a promotion internally for being absurdly fantastic at his job. It sounds like a South Park episode, "Ohhhh, that's too baaaaaaaaaahhhhd."