Earlier quoted context omitted.
Get. A. Better. Job.
Put your money where your mouth is. Go to these people. Teach them how to get better jobs.
Or just hire them.
Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues
311–320 of 356 posts
Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues
#312Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was with Anytime Fitness until I moved, and I could only get out of my contract by sending them a copy of my new driver's license. I was willing to pay the ETF, but they demanded I show them my license in-person to get out, when I was hundreds of miles away. Finally I cancelled the card they were charging, let them sweat for a bit, then called and said "offer me some other way and you will get your money". They the…
Isn't that fairly risky? What if they had passed the account to collections?
I had a record showing that I had tried to be reasonable, so if anyone reasonable was willing to talk to me, they could see that. But the reason I didn't just cancel the card and leave it at that is exactly that reason. After a month of them trying to bill me on a cancelled card, I called them and offered to pay the ETF PLUS the late fee if they would just let me email them proof that I had moved. It was still cheaper than flying back just to show them my drivers license.
Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues
#313There'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 just stand in line at their customer service center, say I'm closing my account and return the cable box. It's over in a few minutes.
Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues
#314Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues
#315We'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…
Or, if you need to cancel your service, make a short phonecall informing them that you are cancelling your service effective immediately and if they attempt to charge your account again, the charge will be contested and complaints will be filed with the Better Business Bureau. Then hang up.
You don't actually need their permission to cancel your service with them at all. You shouldn't be ASKING to cancel your service, you should be TELLING them it's cancelled. If they continue to ask questions, that is their business, hang up on them.
Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues
#316Earlier 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…
If you take away the adversarial part of the idea and don't assume that you have to work against the company, it becomes more profitable. Companies that infuriate their customers would be named and shamed, but shown where their customer service is failing, and how to do better. Mystery shopper companies work on the same principle.
With a company like Comcast, they do not want to do better. Doing better costs money, and it won't make them any money. Their video distribution service is destined to die. Any 12 year old with an Internet connection can distribute video content BETTER than Comcast can (because Comcast is bound by all sorts of silly distribution agreement contracts that restrict what they can do, something that was necessary 30 years ago but not today). And they know your options for Internet access are Comcast or nothing (or next to it with things like DSL and satellite being jokes) in the vast majority of their market.
Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues
#317Step 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.
A few years ago I had some problems with my credit report being corrupted with incorrect data. The official mechanism for correcting errors is to file a dispute for one item, wait for something like 30 days while they review it, then you can file another dispute. In my case there were more than a dozen errors (including bullshit like an alternate SSN, alternate birthday, etc.). I did some digging on the internet and found out an alternate method, which is to print out your credit report, make note of all the disputed items, add a cover letter and any supporting evidence, then send it via certified mail to a secret PO Box you can't find on any of the credit reporting agencies' websites. It worked like a charm.
Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues
#318There'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 typically have the best results by being rude. "I'd like to cancel my service." "But why w-" "I'd like to cancel my service." "Buy we co-" "I'd like to cancel my service." It's not something I particularly like to trot out, but if I have to spend more than 5 minutes on the phone for something like this, it's what I tend to trot out, and I don't have to repeat myself (and interrupt them) more than two or three times…
I've had similar experience while dealing with Comcast installation techs.
The installation tech insisted that he needed to use my computer to complete the installation. My computer (running Debian, so using it was out of the question anyway) was sitting right in front of both of us. I told him that he didn't need to use it (which is true) and he insisted that he did. Then I told him that I did not have a computer. We could both see it, but only by insisting that I did not have a computer was I able to get him to complete the installation without using it (he made a short phonecall, and that was it).
Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues
#319There'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 typically have the best results by being rude. "I'd like to cancel my service." "But why w-" "I'd like to cancel my service." "Buy we co-" "I'd like to cancel my service." It's not something I particularly like to trot out, but if I have to spend more than 5 minutes on the phone for something like this, it's what I tend to trot out, and I don't have to repeat myself (and interrupt them) more than two or three times…
"Cancel my service"
"Can you cancel my service?"
"I won't be answering any of your questions, just cancel my service".
"Cancel my service or transfer me to someone who can"
The use of worlds like "Please" and "I'd like to" just tells them that you'll indulge their scripts and tactics. It's not rude to steamroll a system intentionally designed to make it hard to cancel.
Re: Tech Blogger Tries To Cancel Comcast Service, Hilarity Ensues
#320Earlier quoted context omitted.
And then they'll eventually send your account to collections, where it will be an even bigger pain to straighten out. Something similar happened to me with AT&T (now Comcast, I believe) in Chicago. I was moving away so I canceled service, returned my equipment in person and even got a receipt! But someone forgot to log something somewhere, so they kept sending me bills. For months, I kept calling and (foolishly) beli…
The last time that happened to me, collections took one look at the notes on the account, apologised, informed me that his manager was now writing an extremely annoyed email to billing, and had it fixed before I was off the phone. Collections tend to be more likely to play hardball, but they often also tend to contain smarter humans. Sometimes this helps.
I did this once, and was impressed with how intelligent, friendly, and helpful the collections agency was.
Unfortunately, billing responded to the collections agency by yanking the debt back from that collections agency and referring it to another, meaning I had to start all over again. I don't know if that's against the rules, but it didn't seem fair and certainly wasn't nice.