Comcast Incorrectly Bills Customer $1,775, Tells Him To Figure It Out With His Bank

At this point it's pretty much a monthly event: Comcast does something stupid, then only bothers to correct the problem once the press gets involved. We then get a breathless explanation from Comcast about how this sort of thing is the exception instead of the norm, despite being able to set your watch to the dysfunction. Comcast's latest screw up comes in the form of a $1,775 early termination fee (ETF) that the company admits should never have been charged in the first place. A Comcast business-class customer was incorrectly charged the fee after his long-term contract had already expired. When he contacted Comcast to complain, the company quickly admitted the error and stated that the check was in the mail. This continued for two years with no actual check ever being sent:

"Robert says that when he called Comcast, “the rep actually laughed when I told her I didn’t get a check yet. She said it would take three months." The check still didn’t come, and repeated attempts to get an answer or an actual refund from Comcast went nowhere. When he called again in June 2015, Robert says the response was “Ohh sorry, we messed up but the check is getting sent out now." He says Comcast repeated that sentiment again in Aug. 2015, then again in Jan. 2016: “We made a mistake and this time the check is really getting sent out."

The original ETF was incorrectly charged in 2014. But after two years of promising that the check was in the mail, the customer was suddenly contacted by someone in Comcast's "Executive Customer Relations" team who takes the screw up to another level. The employee informs them no check will be coming, and that the customer needs to tackle the problem with their bank:

"“[I]t does appear the Early Termination Fee (ETF) applied to your Comcast Business account was done in error,” reads the email, confirming what Robert had already been told, but at least this was in writing, so Comcast has to do something, right? Nope. “I understand you’re claiming that someone advised you Comcast would send a refund check for the last payment that was debited but this is generally not the way we handle these situations,” continues the condescending email. “We generally only issue a refund check for a disconnected account with a credit balance leftover. For your situation, you would have to dispute the payment with your bank."

In short, Comcast incorrectly billed a customer $1775, promised to refund the amount for two years, then backed away from the refund promise and effectively tells the customer to go to hell. As usual with these kinds of stories, it's only once contacted by the media that Comcast does an about-face and promises to really mail out a refund check (which still may or may not ever actually arrive). While Comcast does appear to be making some modest strides in customer satisfaction ratings (recently going from apocalyptically awful to just abysmal), you'll know they've truly turned a corner when monthly reports on their blistering incompetence stop being as reliable as the full moon. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story