We connected service with comcast in February. At that time we paid a security deposit which we were told would be credited back after the first 6 months of service paid on time. For whatever reason they always seemed to get the payments a day or so late. We moved in July and tried to have the service transferred. That turned out to be a nightmare. We lost channels because they were not available in our new area. (we moved 10 minutes down the road). We asked about our security deposit and was told that we had 2 months that were late. I checked my records and the payments were received a day late in both cases so I did not argue.
In mid 2008 Comcast proceeded to raise different rates several times. Our bill went up a total of $50 per month by the time December rolled around. I decided it was time to shop around. On December 14 (just so happened to be the last day of our billing cycle) we called to cancel our service. We were told that everything was cancelled except the equipment. They would cancel that as soon as they received the equipment back. On December 20th we returned all 3 of our boxes and were told that they would start the process of refunding our security deposit. We could not return the boxes until Saturday 12/20/08. We both work until 5. The comcast office closes at 4:30.
We then received a bill dated 12/22/08 that showed we owe 29.09. This was billing us for full service from 12/14/08 - 12/20/08. When we cancelled we were told, as I said above, that the service was cancelled but the equipment charges would continue until the it was returned. This also raised the question of what happened to our security deposit refund.
When we called to question this were told that the company policy is to bill full service until the equipment is returned. Just the opposite of what we were told when we cancelled. When we asked about the security deposit the employee replied "there was no security deposit made on this account". He told us he would look into it and call us back in a few days. We never heard from him again and only had his first name which was no help. You can't call a company like this and ask for Tim. So we had to start over.in the meantime we now started receiving collection letters for the balance on the account.
We called and spoke to yet another CSR. We were told to go to the bank and get a printout of the security deposit and drop it off at one of the office locations. We did that and waited about a week to receive a call. Never received one. When we called to find out the status we were told that they did find the security deposit and that we would receive a check in 8-10 days and they would contact the collection company and have them stop the collection process.
We did not receive a check but received another collection letter. I called AGAIN. I spoke to someone who assured me that the refund was being processed and we should have it in 3-5 WEEKS! I asked why we were told that we should have received it in 8-10 days she just apologized and assured me it was being processed. She also assured me she was letting the collection company know to stop the collections. I asked for her to send me proof of that since we were told that already and she could not.
I also asked her to send me a copy of where they had thier policy of not stopping the billing until the equipment was returned. She did not know that it was written anywhere and could not sent me anything. She also could not offer anything more than an apology for losing my security deposit for years.
I am EXTREMELY glad that I no longer have them as my cable provider. I have a feeling that this issue is not over though.
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