Comcast Tries To Rip Off Customer With Bogus Service Charges And The Recorded Call Goes Viral

When it comes to customer horror stories, Comcast is the gift that keeps on giving. Last month, we reported on a true nightmare of a call tech blogger Ryan Block had to deal with, with Comcast ultimately admitting that the customer service rep stuck to protocol. You'd think that after that debacle, the company might try to calm down its aggressive tactics, but not so.

Yesterday, Reddit user ireadallthecomments, real name Tim Davis, submitted a video of his experience in dealing with a Comcast rep, and it's the kind of cringe-worthy transaction I personally can't endure listening to. The folks over at The Consumerist broke the video down into eatable chunks, however, and as expected, the experience was one that no customer should ever have to deal with.

Note: The conversation between Tim and the Comcast rep involves some NSFW language.

It all began when Tim began having Internet issues, weeks after he moved into a new place. He had installed the hardware himself, and as simple as that is, he knew the issue was not his doing. After calling Comcast, the rep confirmed that it was the cables running to the building that were the problem, not his self-install. Because the problem was an outside issue, Tim was told that the fix wouldn't cost him.

When Comcast's tech showed up, he quickly worked on the outside line, and then went in the house to test the connection. All was good - at least until Tim received the next bill. On it was three completely needless charges, including one for "HSD Failed Self Install", costing $99.99, "Failed Video SIK", $32.00, and "Wireless Network Setup", $49.95. Not a single one of these things applied to Tim, but Comcast put them on the bill anyway.

After calling the company up, Tim was told that the bill was written in stone - or at least paper. He had to pay it. That's until he told them that he had recorded the original call that involved the Comcast rep telling him that there was going to be no cost. That quickly changed Comcast's tune, and ultimately, the charges were dropped.

The call wrapped-up with Tim asking, "You’re telling me that if I didn’t have a recording of that call, you wouldn’t have been able to do it?", to which he was replied to, "Yes, that is correct."

There's nothing I can say here that's not blatantly obvious. The fact that Comcast can get away with such tactics is a little mind-blowing, though, as conning people into paying for things they didn't receive sounds quite illegal.

For the sake of Comcast customers, I hope that stories like these continue to trickle out. It's the only way the company is ever going to change, because as it is, it clearly has very little respect for its customers.