Comcast Called Me Back In Regards To My Post About My Outrageous Bill

| Aug 02, 2008 | 10 comments

So a little outdated, but back in April I wrote a post titled My Comcast Bill Is $160.24 Per Month; What Am I Possibly Paying For!? and I actually had a lady contact me from Comcast to discuss the charges, and it turns out I must have some leverage here on the internet because I got a deal…

The Recap

So here’s the bill, and the post basically just ranted and comcastbill.JPGraved about how I didn’t like their service. The internet dies all the time, the new TV remote interface is bad and freezes, I’m getting new bits and pieces tacked on when I didn’t order it, the list goes on.

So then I got a comment by Melissa Mendoza on April 8th, 2008 at 8:28 am that said:
Hello Hank! I am sorry to hear about the discrepancies in your bill and that you are considering switching providers.

If you would like my assistance in resolving your service and billing issues, I would be more than happy to help.

Please reply to the email provided and I will reach out to my regional executive contacts to ensure your problems are resolved as soon as possible.

Regards,

Melissa M.
Comcast Executive Offices
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com

Light at the end of the tunnel I figured, so I gave her a shout and in keeping with the honesty, didn’t think I’d hear squat back because they were just looking good online and I didn’t for about a month. I figured it was as I thought so I gave her one last reminder email before the public would here about it here on MiB and apparently I had enough clout to get her to respond back -

Later that day I got a call from a lady that was actually quite friendly (although a little untimely) but the credited me $91.90 for 2 months of internet PLUS $5.95/month on the sports package back to December when I stopped using it. All in all not a bad deal.

The Conclusion

So I had to take it to the higher MiB court to get some service, but eventually it worked out and they credited me almost $200 back from the bill retrofitting my subscription I didn’t use and the poor internet service. I still hate that the internet will occasionally crash, but calling for the $3 they credit me for down time is enough to keep me off their backs, and I assume many others.

Ultimately it comes down to just realizing what people charge and keeping an eye on your bill because everyone seems to try to slip a little something extra in a bill now and then, and it is your duty as a conscious $$$ saver to watch for these things when they’re out there.

Anyone else have any bad bill stories?

Filed Under: Budgeting • Credit • financial education • Frugal

  • http://www.vmdesigns.org/balancezero Vanessa

    I’m glad I am not the only one getting outrageous bills from Comcast. I’m sorry you have to deal with it as well, just glad I’m not alone in this. Our bill for this month was $163.00! We had ordered a few movies, each of all that messed up and ended up with a call to Comcast. Of course they told us they would credit our account for the movie and we would have to restart the movie. Of course on our bill we have the credit for the movie but we also are being charged for when we tried to watch it the first time. Comcast will be getting a call from us shortly.

    It’s ridiculous what they charge.

    Vanessa’s last blog post..No Spend Month?

  • http://investing.curiouscatblog.net/ Curious Cat Investing Blog

    I wouldn’t agree everyone tries to rip you off. There are a few companies that get a huge portion of the complaints: Comcast, Verizon, several banks… You don’t hear huge numbers people complaining about being ripped off by Southwest Airlines, Geico, Crutchfield, Toyota… Some companies chose to provide value to customers and take some profit in doing so. Others continually seek to rip off customers at every turn. Thankfully the internet is providing a medium to publicize those companies that do so.

    Consumerist, is a great site, doing what it can to counter some of the horrible service

    Curious Cat Investing Blog’s last blog post..Spending Guidelines in Retirement

  • http://www.needlemarket.com/quiltedmoments Di

    I’m paying about the same as you – $160+ and it’s crazy. I called because they sent me a letter about charging to be in the phone directory – heck, I didn’t WANT to be in the directory. So, I talked to a nice lady and she talked me into a DVR and now I get HBO (don’t really care about the HBO thing). Probably a mistake but I fell for it. I have all my services, Internet, Cable TV and phone though them so if I want to make a change, it will be big.

    Frankly, I think their charges are outrageous.

    Di’s last blog post..Quilt Color Ideas

  • http://nottheplan.blogspot.com Alison @ This Wasn’t In The Plan

    We have our internet and home phone through Qwest. We get a discount each month on the internet service because we signed up for their price for life guarantee. Sometimes they only charge for the phone service and then the next month, charge normal plus the extra internet that didn’t get charged the previous month. Not a big deal, really, except for the fact that when they do this, we only get one discount taken off instead of two (one for the current month and one for the previous month).

    The first time I called about, I got it taken care of no problem. The second time, it still got resolved, but the CS rep kept saying how rare it was for this to happen (then why has it happened to us four times in less than a year?) and that basically I was lucky that he was giving me a credit for the missed discount. What? Why should I have to pay more because the billing department screws up?

    It is so important to stay on top of your bills and make sure you’re being charged correctly – that’s for sure!

    Alison @ This Wasn’t In The Plan’s last blog post..Friday Night Link Love: The ‘A’ Edition

  • http://nottheplan.blogspot.com Alison @ This Wasn’t In The Plan

    We have our internet and home phone through Qwest. We get a discount each month on the internet service because we signed up for their price for life guarantee. Sometimes they only charge for the phone service and then the next month, charge normal plus the extra internet that didn’t get charged the previous month. Not a big deal, really, except for the fact that when they do this, we only get one discount taken off instead of two (one for the current month and one for the previous month).

    The first time I called about, I got it taken care of no problem. The second time, it still got resolved, but the CS rep kept saying how rare it was for this to happen (then why has it happened to us four times in less than a year?) and that basically I was lucky that he was giving me a credit for the missed discount. What? Why should I have to pay more because the billing department screws up?

    It is so important to stay on top of your bills and make sure you’re being charged correctly – that’s for sure!

    Alison @ This Wasn’t In The Plan’s last blog post..Friday Night Link Love: The ‘A’ Edition

  • http://zombiemoney.blogspot.com/ Zombie Money

    Glad to hear everything is ok now :)

    Zombie Money’s last blog post..FREE Starbucks Gift Card! Hurry!

  • http://thewildinvestor.com theWild1

    Always great to use your voice to call out a company.

    theWild1′s last blog post..All About Finding the Right People

  • http://myinvestingblog.com hank

    @ CuriousCat – Yea, maybe not everyone rips you off intentionally, but if you don’t keep any eye on your bills, they’re more prone to get away with “extra charges”.

    @Di – they gave you a phonebook? And charged you for it? Oh man, you know how I dislike the phonebook delivery; they’ll most certainly be getting a call if they send me one of those!

    @Alison, yup it is sad, but keeping companies on their toes is important; unfortunate, but important!

  • Pingback: Post round-up and yay for Olympics! | Sense to Save

  • Pingback: Sunday Roundup and Update | Bible Money Matters