Comcast...DE MUERTE!!!

So if I attempted to chronicle all my dealings with Comcast in the last month, attempting to set up internet at Child's and I's new home, this blog post would be several pages long. Instead, let me just comment on the latest call.

Background: due to circumstances, for the first three weeks of our "service," the internet didn't work. Each time I called and talked with a Comcast representative, I was given a "confirmation code" that they said I could use after the service finally worked to make sure I wasn't billed for downtime. In addition, one of the techs that came out to the house gave me a $20 discount for the trouble we've been going through.

So I finally received the first bill: $8.14.

$27.95 for the bill, minus the $20 credit the technician gave me, plus $0.19 tax. Makes sense. But no credits for the three weeks I was without internet--fair enough, I'm supposed to call up and cite my "confirmation codes."

I call Comcast and try to talk to billing. I run through the automated message and get to a prompt that asks for the last four digits of my account number, which I don't have handy.

I hang up and call back, this time aiming for an operator. I find one and he checks my name and phone number, then asks for my account number as well. I tell him I don't have it handy, so he asks for the exact amount of my last payment. Well, for starters, I haven't made ANY payments yet (except for whatever they charged when I signed up over the phone a month ago), and I wouldn't remember the amount off the top of my head anyway. I verbally spar with him for a few moments, asking if there's any other way to verify myself, but he remains adamant. No account number, no help. I hang up.

I call back again. Instead of asking the new operator for help with my bill, I ask her for my account number. She gives it to me. Ah, the joys of large corporations. Since this lady was helpful in giving me my account number, I decide to stick with her. So, over the next 19 minutes, I try time and time again to explain my situation, everything that's happened, everything that SHOULD happen. Finally, FINALLY, she tells me that all the additional changes/credits, whatever, should appear on my next bill. "As a matter of fact, it should be negative," she says.

I asked her three different times, in three different ways, to confirm that my next bill will be negative (i.e. Comcast should have credited me) and each time she confirmed it.

We'll see. I have more faith in Osama bin Laden converting to Christianity than in Comcast getting something right.