Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

281–290 of 356 posts

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

#281

Post by Spoom »

lotsofmangos wrote: post #60
gst wrote: post #6

I've heard multiple times now that it's hard to cancel contracts at various providers, but I don't really see how this is an issue. If the official way (according to the contract) to cancel a contract is a phone call, what difference does it make if the remote party accepts this cancellation? Just state that you are cancelling the contract, make sure to get a recording (if legal in your jurisdiction) and chargeback a…

what difference does it make if the remote party accepts this cancellation? The continuation of provided service, followed by a bill in the mail. make sure to get a recording (if legal in your jurisdiction) And how exactly do you prove that it is a recording of a conversation with Comcast if their lawyers decide to dispute it?

You don't have to prove things in a civil suit, you just have to provide enough evidence to show that it is more likely than unlikely.

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

#282

Post by aetherson »

bshimmin wrote: post #30

I'm amazed at how calm he remains during this. I would've called the guy - regardless of whether he's "just doing his job" - every name under the sun and probably threatened to pay him a visit in person... That said, I guess if I were recording it to share on the Internet later, I might've been able to control myself slightly more than usual.

I generally find it's pretty effective to get very briefly loud and angry, and then say something like, "I'm very frustrated with this situation and I'm trying not to take it out on you," and resume politeness at that point. It seems to shock people out of their script a bit.

That said, I've never dealt with anyone quite as tenacious as the guy in that recording.

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

#283

Post by pestilence123 »

Kluny wrote: post #223
mikeash wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to be arguing that government intervention is what caused this mess, so more government intervention is not the answer. The trouble is that "government intervention" is such a general term that the statement is useless. It's barely one step better than "doing things caused this problem in the first place, so doing things is not the solution to it." There's good government intervention and bad government inte…

> You seem to be arguing that government intervention is what caused this mess, so more government intervention is not the answer. People always say that, but I don't agree with it. Yes, the government caused the mess, but that doesn't mean they can't fix it. When I break someone's website with bad code, no one says "well, you caused this problem with code, more code is obviously not the answer so get the hell out."…

> Yes, the government caused the mess, but that doesn't mean they can't fix it.

Well, if government intervention causes trouble for economies, shouldn't the government then stop intervening in them? Your proposed solution is for the government to intervene some more. A problem's cause cannot be its solution too.

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

#284

Post by zabraxias »

I am not proud of this but I "canceled" my Comcast service by moving to another country. The only step required was to remove the auto-withdrawal on their website.

They probably tried to contact me and threatened to kill my service for no payments etc but that's a mail problem for the next resident to deal with.

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

#285

Post by pistle »

gammadistribut wrote: post #170
pistle wrote: post #77

Aaaaah! Get meta!!! We can all appreciate the value of having this recording be available as a learning opportunity for consumers. If you have the sense to know you are being strung along, become the questioner and outflank the rep every time. Them: "I'm just trying to understand..." You: "I find Comcast's customer service to be poor. Let's see if you can help with that. Can you tell me if you are empowered to quickl…

Is your goal to sound like a robot?

I am cancelling your response service. Are you empowered to do this? Can I speak to your supervisor?

The goal is to cancel/get service/refund/etc with as little wasted time and energy as possible. They have scripts and procedures.

My strategy is equivalent to punching 0 to get to the human. in the phone tree maze. Putting a human shield on the other end is not stopping me from cancelling and they will not cry their tear ducts raw about my cancellation or my intolerance for their bullshit. I'm not being abusive, just terse.

Corporate service reps don't reward style points.

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

#286

Post by mikeash »

ascotan wrote: post #233
mikeash wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Attempting to retain departing customers is fairly standard. Hassling them to anywhere near this extent is not.

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

#287

Post by pestilence123 »

warfangle wrote: post #164
wallawe wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're missing the point all together. The only reason a company can behave this way and retain the number of customers who would have otherwise moved elsewhere is because there isn't a free-market. The companies are run as oligopolies. It is government intervention and protection that has caused this problem in the first place which is what most people don't realize.

(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

That is complete nonsense. What's "efficient" supposed to mean, and how does it matter? Do you realize that markets are just people engaging in exchanges and agreements? What do you think you can calculate about people's behaviour?

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

#288

Post by dragonwriter »

grecy wrote: post #279
dragonwriter wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I thought the point of "cc" on an email was to prove you've sent something to someone. How can you achieve the same with a letter? I can obviously just write the same letter twice and send it to two different places, but neither will know the other was also sent the same thing.

> I thought the point of "cc" on an email was to prove you've sent something to someone.

It doesn't prove anything, but it does provide notice.

> How can you achieve the same with a letter?

On a letter, you can acheive the same thing that cc: does on an email by putting cc: on the bottom of the letter, after the signature line, and then making identical copies of the letter and setting to both the addressee and the other recipient named in the cc: notation.

Which is the practice that inspired the use in email.

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

#289

Post by vampirechicken »

antjanus wrote: post #221
untog wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then again, it might make huge money too, since so many companies play hardball retaining customers. How would that result in this endeavor making money? In any case, this is not actually a problem that is difficult to solve. Yes, a phone call like that is utterly infuriating, but you can still cancel your service at the end of it. Maybe people would pay money to avoid dealing with that. Maybe. But you do it, what, o…

Actually, there was a company that would take all your bills, call up the companies representing you, and get your bill lowered. They made 10% off that (so if they lowered your comcast bill from $90 to $60, they'd make $3 on it).

There is a name for the practices of cable companies, cell phone providers, and banks - adversarial value extraction.

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

#290

Post by pistle »

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…

Ooooh. Like the parking spot auction app? Comcast sets up a company to handle cancellations and charges fees for it. Then, they make their cancellation procedure so arduous that people pay to leave. Then, they sell a subscription to the service.

It's like win-win-win!

Post reply on HN