Charged for canceling service in first 30 days

Question

Hi, all. In short: I cancelled my Comcast service within the first thirty days of a new plan.  I was told that I wouldn't owe anything if I cancelled within that time, not even termination fees.  However, Comcast is charging me over $40 for that month.  I need to know how to put a stop to that, or else they threaten to ruin my credit history by sending negative reports to the credit bureaus. Recently I changed from an old (non-promotional) plan on Comcast to a new one.  I did so in order to get a reduction in price from $155 per month.  The new plan gave me only a reduction of $15 per month and I was forced to take telephone service as well.  I was told I had thirty days to cancel the service without penalty.  I wouldn't be required to pay anything for those thirty days if I cancelled within that period as well. Comcast claims that I digitally signed an agreement to this effect online.  However, I only remember accepting some terms about E911 related to the phone service. In order to get me the new plan, the Comcast service tech had to sign me up for additional services, because she couldn't get her system to accept the plan as we discussed it.  The additional services pushed the monthly amount to around $190 per month.   I was told that I could cancel them later. A couple of days later, when I received confirmation of those additional services, I contacted Comcast again to cancel those services.  It took some time, but the technician got the job done. Over the period of the following thirty days, I found a better service provider for TV and Internet, so I switched to that and called Comcast to cancel my service.  I told the tech. on the phone that I was told I could cancel free of charge.  She disagreed.  After much arguing, she finally relented and said that I would probably get a refund check. Last week, I finally received a letter from Comcast, with a bill for over $40.  I think this is unfair and I need to get it stopped.  When I try to call them, they put me on hold for very long periods of time, then the technicians don't have access to my account history to verify my story.  I have chat transcripts of the conversations about the plan, but they're unable to accept the transcript files from me.  I think it's very convenient that the Comcast techs will say anything online or on the phone and claim to have transcripts or recordings of these communications, however, whenever I ask for something in my favor, the evidence mysteriously disappears.

Answer 1

Shafting the customer is in their business plan.  They hope that you will get so frustrated that you will just give in.  Better to just do what millions around the country are doing....cut the cord and go with just internet service only.  50Mbps is all you need to stream HD content and buy your own modem which will pay for itself in 9 months vs. Comcast's ridiculous rental fees.  $10/month for Hulu and about the same for Netflix.  You still get most of the content you're looking for without all the fees and headaches.  Good luck!