Live data from Hacker News

My mom and dad’s house might explode, but Comcast wants its cable box back

sethclifford.me

1–10 of 75 posts

Re: My mom and dad’s house might explode, but Comcast wants its cable box back

#3
So the question is - was the supervisor at fault or was the system set up in such as way as to tie the hands of the supervisor so he was unable to make any other decision?

Of course there are shades of grey inbetween but I'd be fascinated to know exactly where the blame lies inside Comcast.

Re: My mom and dad’s house might explode, but Comcast wants its cable box back

#4
I know this is going to be unpopular, but...

Comcast is a business, and their goal is to make ever increasing profit. Yes it's horrible your family and hundreds of others lost everything due to a natural disaster, but that's not Comcast's fault or problem. When you signed up for service from them, I'll bet it's in the fine print that you are responsible for returning the cable box.

If it got stolen, that's not Comcast's problem.

If your hot water service burst and spilled water all over the cable box, that's not Comcast's problem.

This is the world we live in. You can't choose to have the benefits of cheap cable, then complain when the company wants to keep making profit, and enforces a contract you signed.

EDIT: To be clear, I personally hate that this is how the world works, but I accept the reality that it's true.

Re: My mom and dad’s house might explode, but Comcast wants its cable box back

#7
If your toaster is destroyed in a hurricane, Target does not replace it. If your car is destroyed in a hurricane, Honda does not replace it. So if your cable box is destroyed in a hurricane, I don't see why Comcast should be expected to eat the cost of replacement. You're renting an item with the express provision that failing to return the item means you've bought it. Expecting Comcast to provide free hurricane insurance for all their cable boxes just doesn't make sense--it's like expecting the furniture store to refund all the money you paid for the furniture in the house.

Re: My mom and dad’s house might explode, but Comcast wants its cable box back

#8
post #4

I know this is going to be unpopular, but... Comcast is a business, and their goal is to make ever increasing profit. Yes it's horrible your family and hundreds of others lost everything due to a natural disaster, but that's not Comcast's fault or problem. When you signed up for service from them, I'll bet it's in the fine print that you are responsible for returning the cable box. If it got stolen, that's not Comcas…

If you tried to do this as a smaller local business however, your resulting reputation would put you out of business pretty fast.

Re: My mom and dad’s house might explode, but Comcast wants its cable box back

#9
post #4

I know this is going to be unpopular, but... Comcast is a business, and their goal is to make ever increasing profit. Yes it's horrible your family and hundreds of others lost everything due to a natural disaster, but that's not Comcast's fault or problem. When you signed up for service from them, I'll bet it's in the fine print that you are responsible for returning the cable box. If it got stolen, that's not Comcas…

"Comcast is a business, and their goal is to make ever increasing profit."

And part of that is Brand Management AKA not looking like dicks after a hurricane level event and adding to people's misery.

Re: My mom and dad’s house might explode, but Comcast wants its cable box back

#10

There's a follow-up by The Consumerist. Once they got in contact with Comcast, Comcast predictably changed their tune: http://consumerist.com/2012/11/01/comcast-knows-that-your-st...

Heh I'm sure they realized the guy posted an article on a website and that if they didn't do something ASAP their Comcastic reputation would become even more Comcastic.
Post reply on HN