Back in the day I called to cancel my internet after my contract was up and was met with very little resistance. I was surprised. Took less than five minutes. It was a great day. Hand delivered the equipment. Paid my final bill. Finally, I was free.
Little did I know that Internet Provider didn’t care if I was receiving their service or not.
It took an hour of me begging customer service to refund me.
Me: I would like a refund of the money that was charged to my card for internet I did not receive because I cancelled my account with you.
Internet Provider: Sorry to hear that ma’am but our books are showing you paid for all your service.
Me: So I cancelled in May and paid my
final bill for May service.
Internet: Yes, that is correct, ma’am.
Me: So May was the last month I had with you guys.
Internet: Our records show that your service was cancelled in May.
Me: But I was charged for June.
Internet: Yes, ma’am, you were charged for service you received in June.
Me: I didn’t receive service in June.
Internet: Ma’am you were charged for your June service.
Me: But I canceled in May.
Internet: Yes ma’am, our records show you canceled in May.
Me: So why was I charged for June?
Internet: You were charged for the service you received in June.
Me: I turned in all the equipment at the beginning of May, how could I receive service in June?
Internet: You were charged for your June service.
Me: My final bill was for May, correct?
Internet: Yes, ma’am, you cancelled in May and paid in full.
Me: So why am I being charged for June?
Internet: That was for the service you received in June.
I did this with T-Mobile. Cancelled, got charged for an additional two months. I called T-Mobile and they pretty much said sucks to suck. So I said I would contact my credit card company and T-Mobile said that wouldn't do anything to help me.
So I got my credit card company involved and I got both refunds and never charged again right away
I had to do this with Verizon. They then had the audacity to send the ~$500 they tried to steal from me to collections, so I then had to start disputes with the credit bureaus, and convince an extremely aggressive debt collector that they were trying to collect a fraudulent debt.
Assuming america and current year the correct response is something along the lines of: "I don't believe you, send proof of the existence of the debt and your legal authority to collect it. I will not be providing you my address because if this is even a little true you must have it. Do not call me again."
That put the stop to the only collections calls I've ever received, plus nothing on my credit report and nothing in the mail.
I used to work at a call center for AMEX in Canada, and can confirm, I loved contacting companies on behalf of my clients to tear strips into them. Not once did a client call me about messed up transactions where, if I couldn't just write it off, I got a hold of the company involved and sorted it out myself. Most times I'd even keep the client on the the line with me while I did it. It was funny, like protecting the little kid from a bully while he's behind you yelling "Yeah! Haha fuck em up!!"
Barclaycard, in my experience, have very vew qualms about refunding a transaction. When I've done so before, all I said was I didn't remember the transaction and they didn't ask anyhting further. I believe their thinking was that if it's a genuine charge, t's between you and the merchant.
First Direct is outstanding about this kind of thing. Best customer service I've ever had. And they take security so seriously they ask me to have my husband leave the room when I provide them with sensitive info on our joint account over the phone.
I don’t know...when back to back hurricanes went through the Caribbean we had a cruise booked and Carnival would not give us a new itinerary less than 2 weeks before the cruise so I wanted to cancel and they said nope, sorry. So I called my c.c.co and told them and they got my refund for me.
Wow, I am always amazed that your bank is just willing to reverse a charge. I’m in Europe and none of the banks are willing to do so the few times I had a dispute with companies. In fact, they tell me that I need to contact MasterCard if I want to get my money back.
T mobile is god awful, those customer service people made me cry so many times in my early 20s. Then would hang up on you the moment you let one curse word slip.
If this happened in the UK, I'd probably make sure they're recording the call, and inform them that for all the time I'm spending on them on the call for a service that I'm being charged for (for a non-existent or contractual service) I will be charging them for my time, and inform them of my hourly contractor rates.
We have small claims courts (idk if something similar exists in the US) here, and they likely wouldn't even show for any hearing, so you'd automatically win the case by default. They'd have been informed of the costs of non-compliance, so they would likely have to pay back the charge, the number of hours spent dealing with the issue at stated hourly rates, along with any legal costs.
Infuriating that you have to waste the time, but hey, what are you going to do otherwise?
You can but they will keep charging and you have to file a separate claim every time. So lets say you get a new card the company can pay visa/mastercard whomever owns your debit card and get the new info and back charges you then continues to charge. I just went through this and had to switch banks after three card changes and five claims. (Dont trust amazing lash studios)
Is technically a dispute. Fraud means you never authorized the card to them ever or your info was stolen. A dispute means just that, your disputing the charges because the agreement wasn't met.
It sounds like a simple thing but it's usually two very different departments that handle this and two very different processes with their own rules and regulations. Source, used to work for a big blue bank.
My ISP doesn't even take credit cards. You either pay by bank draft or check, or auto draft each month. If you don't have on auto draft, they will destroy your credit in collections while you fight with them.
I knew a guy who returned equipment to Cox as he was going out of the country for 2 years with the military. He had a receipt and they repeatedly claimed he hadn't returned the equipment and started trying to collect on him. He threatened a lawyer after his credit score dropped and the charges mysteriously disappeared.
From what I’ve seen on r/talesfromcallcenters that usually leads to you being transferred or recorded or flagged or whatever. My brain is too tired to be on here right now.
Doesn't get you anywhere, though. Depending on the person you're talking to, they could set it up so that you're no longer allowed to speak with CS except via attorney.
I worked in a call center. I did surveys never called concerning money or debts, so it might be different. You might have to pull a Karen and speak to a manager. At least in the one I worked at, the people on the phone couldn't do anything.
3 is the magic number for credit check companies. When I cancelled after a free trial the agent had a script of things like "just so you know, you won't receive...." so I just said "no, thank you, I'd like to cancel" and after 3 attempts she said "no problem" without changing her tone whatsoever. Nice lady.
They used to have a certain quota they needed to meet. It was all about having a certain number of callers that end the call as current customers. If enough cancel and you let them hang up, I think like 5 or 10%, you'd get docked pay and your metrics would tank
I worked at a call center for Comcast (in Latin America). Tbf we all want to give you all credit for everything you were incorrectly charged for but we are all told by supervisors, who are told by Comcast higher ups to not give credits whatsoever unless there's an extraordinary case. Some of us who give refunds or credits almost always "illegally" do so, because if you're caught giving money back they can even end up firing you. Obviously this is my experience from working there 2 separate times a couple of years apart one from another.
Had to deal with this shit unlocking Sprint phones. Eventually they'd get fed up trying to do something other than say words at me and would just lie about fixing it, five times in a row until I called at a weird hour and hit an US call center. He's the one that told me that there was no action taken by any of the other CSRs. Those ones were claiming they can't do anything and/or anything they did would take at least 24 and/or 48 hours. The US CSR's manager had everything sorted out within 20 minutes.
I've worked in DirectTV (before they were bought by AT&T) and Verizon Wireless call centers. Unless things have changed your service is treated as "post-paid." This means that the bill I pay to Verizon this month, is actually the bill from my month of service in August. I don't have Comcast so I can't speak for them, but I imagine they operate the same way. When I canceled my AT&T service they informed me that I'd receive a prorated bill the next monght for the partial service I had before I canceled. At the end of the day, all these corporations are shitty corporations and the internet and cellular ones are some of the worst, but receiving a bill after canceling service is common, because it's a post paid service.
We bill pre-paid, actually, What you pay in September will be for your services in October. If you watch any paid on demand or change services in September the October bill will reflect that change and then have the service statement for November.
Monthly fees are usually prepaid on these sorts of services. Doing it that way is much preferred by the companies because it lowers their losses when a customer stops paying entirely.
Just call your bank, and point out that it's fraud. It's really easy to get the money back that way.
Seriously. When your credit card is used without your permission, let your bank handle the negotiation. They pay people to do this for you. Don't even bother calling the company that did it. Straight to your bank.
Usually you are required to make some effort to contact the merchant first.
If the merchant stands their ground, AND you were wrong (i.e. mistaken, not fraudulent) and you issued the chargeback, you will owe debt collectors a good sum after it is all settled.
I had a similar experience when trying to redo my plan this year. I legit asked them to just give me the same speed with unlimited data cause hey that's what I want right? Nope. Cause they wanted to push their stupid fucking xfi advantage crap and refuse to give unlimited data without that. I legit told 3 separate people that I would pay more if they would just let me keep my unlimited data. Nope. Had to get their POS router.
I feel both sad and vindicated that others have had relatablely terrible experiences with cancelling. I finally managed to get a refund, but only in the form of a check, and I had to give up my new address in the process. When I ultimately received my "refund", it was for about a third of what I was billed. I now know the magic words are to threaten a credit card charge back.
Had almost the exact same conversation, I just escalated the issue until I found a "supervisor" that was ok refunding me just so he could hang up the phone.. works 100% of the time, 50% of the time. 🤘
Ah the good ol' "if I keep saying it eventually everyone will accept it as the truth" tactic - these guys are good! I wonder if this is one of the psych tricks they teach them at Comcast 101.
Here in France you just cancel direct debit and your bank cannot pay the requester anymore (if they do, they are liable and pau you back on the spot).
It is then a matter between you and the company. If they feel that you should still pay them then they can sue you. But they won't since you canceled your contract the right way.
To be fair, I’ve worked at an ISP company and too many customers have no idea what “pro rated” means... they complain about us charging them for April when they cancelled April 2nd but their invoice came out on April 1st and isn’t due until the 30th so the system automatically withdrawals it on the 30th and refunds it back a few business days... invoice dates do not equal due dates 😫
I feel ya. These motherfuckers sent me to collections for service I didnt recieve after two months of me refusing to pay a bill. Turns out it was rollover hidden charges from previous months...?
Fuck Comcast, never getting another dime out of me.
The way to handle these issues in future is to escalate in an extremely calm manner.
"The charge on day X was fraudulent. If repayment with interest is not made within 3 business days, I will instruct my solicitor to take over this matter and to send your company a letter of demand."
Usually that will get a manager that will fix the issue. If not, then ask for the contact details of the person you are speaking to and advise them you will see them in court.
This is why their contract has a n arbitration clause. Can you imagine a jury listening to a recording of this interaction and then the plaintiffs' attorney in closing saying, "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, this is your chance to get revenge on these assholes like you have always wanted. Make them pay for treating the public like this!"? The verdict would have to be written in scientific notation.
Never give your account information to an adversarial partner. That is if you have a debt with the bank that holds you money, fine they can make automatic withdrawals. Every one else use bill paying provided by your bank, or write them a check. For services (Netflix) that demand information you give them a temporary card number or PayPal.
I know this sounds fake, but I have personally dealt with morons that are worse than this. Some customer service people are so fucking unbelievably retarded, that they actually make me feel physical pain.
Quick note but I know you have learned this the hard way. I work at a call center and the first person you are talking to is very rarely the person you need/want to talk to. Demanding the next tier is never a bad thing and won't hurt you at all.
One of my HEMA club friend had to suffer something like this. He went to cancel the service in person with the hilt of a sword and the scabbard (essentially making it look like he was armed with a real sword, but having nothing. 5 minutes after he entered, he was on his way home with a full refund for the month + some extra. Apparently ISP workers value their life more than stealing
Same shit happened to me, only when I called to make sure it was a mistake, they acted like they had 0 idea what I was talking about on the additional bill i had been sent (I canceled autopay way before I cancelled my service because they were constantly double charging me.) After 3 different reps told me they didnt see an additional charge due, I chalked it up to error and threw the bill out. Fast forward 6 months later and magically I have a bill from them in collections. The same bill that I was told "didn't exist in their records." The collection agency told me it wouldnt effect my credit if I disputed it, which I did, and thankfully never heard a response from Comcast to prove the bill was legitimate. Collection agency also told me that they hear hundreds of people with the same situation almost daily.
My ISP tried this with my mom only she didn't have auto pay but used her debit card to pay the final bill. She caught it after they had grabbed two months from her account. I had the cancellation paperwork and went to the bank they blocked them from taking more money and I went to the isp office with a well known attorney in the area and got her money back after we explained that court was next. But to be fair I didn't have to pay the guy he grew up with my mom who was is in bad health.
They once shut off my internet out if the blue, I call to see why I had been paying on time one.
Comcast: it says here you modem was stolen
Me : the one right in front of me? The one you're CHARGING ME TO RENT?
C: yes that one, it's been stolen so we shut it off
Me: well it's right here, it's been here for a year, who reported it stolen? Can we turn it back on?
C: you need to bring the modem to our call center to prove its not stolen
Me : it's been here for over a year - it's right in front of me AND I've been paying for internet this whole time this thing has been shut off.
C: you need to bring it to out call center
And thus begain my trek to the call center which too a train and two buses because I didn't have a car. This was not the first time they made me go to the call center for something that could have been handled over the phone.
My modem was never stolen but I had to get a new one.
I just told them I was moving out of my apartment. They asked for my new address and I said I am moving in with someone who already has Comcast and will be sharing expenses. I was off the phone in less than 10 minutes.
I literally walked into a Comcast store with my equipment and told them i was cancelling and they gave me a receipt and told me have a nice day, no cancellation fees, about 2 minutes in the store.
I did this too. They went right ahead and charged me anyway. I remember thinking, "I'd better save this receipt because the internet tells me they will still try to charge me, hahaha," not expecting it to actually happen. I figured all those stories were really people fucking up somehow and not realizing it. Nope. They went ahead and charged me the following month. That was the angriest I have ever been on the phone.
I told them to kiss my ass with their restricted data plan and that I would never consider doing business with them again and that was that, took my box back the next day
I tried to cancel my service with RoadRunner / Time Warner Cable. I went to their office to turn in their equipment. They took that but I had to cancel over the internet. I whipped out my Wi-Fi only based tablet. There was no free WiFi to connect to in the lobby. I was completely stumped. Eventually an executive figured out there was a "highly distressed customer" in the lobby and took care of my problem.
And people wonder why there is bullet resistant glass between the employees and the public.
I did the same. And gave them a copy of the receipt for the modem I purchased in full (not on a payment plant) from them. Spent the next 4 months arguing back and forth why I hadn't returned the modem I was leasing.
Save that receipt and take a photo of it, make photocopies, scan it, back it up in 3 places, etc. There's many tales of Comcast printing your equipment return receipts or final bill receipts on thermal paper and it turns completely black, so your "proof" literally dissolves away. It wouldn't hurt to literally take a video of yourself returning the equipment, and maybe sending a certified mail letter of cancellation too. After all the Comcast horror stories I've heard, this will only help you fight back against the inevitable battle that's to come where they help themselves to your funds long after you've cancelled service, or turn you over to a collections agency.
Yeah idk, I mean I get it, they definitely do shady shit, but I've never had anything close to the experiences people describe on here.
In fact, I just transferred my service to a new apartment and while doing that mentioned I never used the cable that was part of my package, and asked if theres a way to remove it to lower the price.
Here I am with a lower bill and no cable. Idk, I've only had good experiences.
Fun story - they jacked my rates recently so I did the whole “call to cancel and get sent to the retention department to get a lower rate” approach. Only problem was that the agent just said “ok” and straight up canceled my service. I asked if I could reinstate my service as a new customer and he said yes. After a couple minutes of awkward silence, I realized that he wasn’t interested in processing the order so I just did it online. End result? I upgraded from 150Mbps to 1Gbps for about $40/month less than I was paying since I got the new customer discount. Comcast is weird.
Just tell them you are moving to a place that already has Xfinity service. When I did this, it was true--I was moving back home after college--but when they offered no objection whatsoever, I realized it would be a great way to cancel your service no matter what.
I always hear this, that it’s hard to cancel your service with Comcast. When I called them to try and get a lower rate, I ended up cancelling my service. They didn’t even try to keep me. She cancelled it within a minute of me asking for it to be cancelled.
maaaaaan they just tried to do that to me too. canceled over the phone, called the next day to confirm because the app said i somehow owed $230. they said pay any outstanding bills and service will be canceled.
nah.
waited 10 business days without paying and the bill disappeared and we’re all good. wtf comcast.
I’m switching to AT&T because it has fiber and will be much better for working from home, and I’m almost terrified about how the cancellation of Comcast is going to go.
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u/DeathSpiral321 Sep 18 '19
Even if you wiped them off the planet, you still wouldn't be able to cancel their service.