30 August 2015

customer service and truth



OK, confession first. Sue-z and I are broke. We have been so short, I had to deliberately choose to not fill some prescriptionslast month, and without the food pantries and pastoral support from our faith communities, we would have run out of food. We did almost run out

We are better off now, albeit not much. It is our expectation that shortly, with a bit of good fortune, we will be more nearly financially functional. So, yes we have been having issues.

One of our creditors is ComCast. Comcast has an effective monopoly in our apartment complex. Yes I know that is illegal, we should be able to get Direct TV, or AT&T, but for on reason or another, they simply are not available.

So, when we moved in, we got the minimum tv and internet packages. Even that, when I could not pay for insulin, was too much. Yes I owe them some money. And I will be paying it later today. The conduct of Comcast personnel, however, is amazing. Several weeks ago, when I knew I could not pay, I called them. I told them I would pay when our social security came. I offered a predated check internet transaction. Not to maintain the service, that I knew was probably impossible. But at least to make them whole.

The lady I talked to told me to wait a week, then call in the prepaid check. She told me we could avoid a service interruption. So I did that. The person whom I now spoke to changed the deal. She demanded a double payment, when I had $12 in my checking account, and no cash. Clearly this was impossible. So is speaking to a supervisor. So I said, "No, you or the person I spoke to last week lied. I do not care which." I hung up.

This week, we have our only income, our social security check. So, I planned to pay off the account. But wait! Now a marketing person calls to sell us Comcast! I was driving, so Sue took the call on my phone. After some discussion (and my parking,) Ms. Springfield told me that if I paid the due amount, and re-ordered the service, we could avoid service charges and installation fees, with a first payment date based on our social security. Finding as we have, the absence of wi-fi a real problem, and having found ways to both pay out less cash and slightly increase income, I agreed. Ms. Springfield read me her notes on our file, and put me on hold for the individual who could both accept the payment and activate the orders.

He came on the line a timed 25 minutes later, told me there were no notes on the file, and demanded more money! I was stunned, had Ms. Springdfield lied? Was he lying? I finally told him I would pay off the past due, and as his employer has already claimed their equipment I hoped never do business with them again.

Which leads to a question: does anyone marginally competent, and passingly honest work for Comcast?

If you can get your internet and / or tv from anyone else, my advice is do!

2 comments:

JCF said...

{{{Jim & Sue-z}}}

F#cking corporations. F#cking capitalism. F#ck: been there/done that. Could well be there again.

Wish I could send material help in ADDITION to prayers, but prayers you will get...

"One Day at a Time"

JimB said...

Prayers are certainly welcome.

Comcast / xfinity and I are done. I shall pay what I owe them, but the relationship is permanently broken. I think we are dumping Verizon too. Probably replace all of the two companies' services with a pre=payed mobile hotspot.

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jimB

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