How Far Would You Go For $5?
Last month, my parents bought us a LCD flat panel TV. When I called our cable company to find out how much an upgrade to the HDTV package would be from our current one, I found out I could actually reduce our cable bill for the next year by switching to the HDTV package because they were running a special. We have our cable, internet, and phone services bundled together, and switching from the bundle we had (extended basic cable) to the HDTV triggered a 12 month discount.
So I switched to HDTV, and last month, we got a credit on our bill for the half month of the old package we hadn’t used. This month, we were charged for the half month of the new package we did use. An odd way to do things, billing wise, I think, but it all works out okay in the end. Except, on our bill, it appears we were charged the taxes and fees for the phone service twice for that half month. Everything else matches up with a credit on last month’s bill, and a charge on this month’s bill, except the telephone taxes and fees. Those appear as a charge for that half month on both bills. It isn’t a big amount, less than $5, but still, being charged twice for them annoyed me.
So today I called Comcast (our service provider) to find out why. And, after about an hour on the phone, first on hold, and then with a representative, who frequently put me on hold to consult with different people and access different databases (she claimed, at least), basically, Comcast claims *their* copy of my bill has more detail than the one they actually sent me, and supposedly, on their copy, I have credits for the taxes that got rolled into charges for the rest of the month for the taxes, therefore showing as a charge instead of a credit and a charge.
Maybe. I mean, I’m not convinced. This is the stupidest billing system ever. The person I talked to never could find out how to even see a copy of the bill they actually sent me, just what was in her computer (which didn’t at all match up with what I had as far as details, except the total amount owed).
So she claimed I could create an account online and see my bill there, which supposedly had the detail of her bill (and why they couldn’t send me *that* bill instead of what they do send me, I have no idea). So after I hung up the phone I tried to create an online account, and it wouldn’t let me. I have to call Comcast to get some kind of authorization PIN number.
After an hour and a half invested, and at the end it may just be stupidness of their billing system and I may not be charged double after all, I’m not sure it is worth it to continue with this investigation. I had to leave for work so I didn’t have time to call Comcast again and be annoyed further. Maybe today I’ll have another free hour to waste. 
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August 29th, 2008 at 8:38 am
That is totally what I meant when I comment on your previous post about cable company deals! We have Comcast too and they are the shadiest large scale company I have ever dealt with, ever. At least yours is over 5, mine was 47! Good luck wasting your hour!
August 29th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Not sure how far I would go, but I know it would not be that far.
August 29th, 2008 at 8:52 am
I know of at least two other people that have had billing nightmares with Comcast as well. I signed up for the triple play also, when I first moved to Jacksonville over a year ago. Now that the deal has expired, I’m considering switching everything to an AT&T packaged deal. Unfortunately, AT&T doesn’t offer U-Verse here yet, so I’d have to go with either Dish or DirecTV. AT&T has a relationship with Dish, so I’d get the better deal with Dish.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have minimal problems with their billing system, but their telephone service is another story. The worst thing about having Comcast for telephone service is that although they tell you that you don’t lose phone service when the power goes out, you still do. The telephony modem does have a battery and the modem does remain powered on when the power goes out. However, it is very apparent to me that Comcast does not have battery backup within their own infrastructure as the telephone companies do, because I still lose my phone connection when the power goes out. It’s useless to have a battery backup in your telephony modem when the rest of the system still loses power.
August 29th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Tim Ferriss of the 4 Hour Work Week has a formula for calculating how much your time is worth, which I won’t duplicate here. Suffice to say, I think you spent more than $5 worth of your time on this, and I think most people would not. The latter may very well be what Comcast is after.
Imagine how many people upgrade or change their plans in the middle of the month, and so Comcast implements this Draconian switchback policy that no one is able to understand, let alone explain. Is Comcast making money on this? You betcha, if only on holding the funds.
What would be interesting to find out is: do the contortions the company goes through to determine and collect the “appropriate amount” of tax result in an equivalent amount actually being paid to the taxing entities? I’d have to say I think not! But I’m suspicious that way. And I’d bet that an audit would be inconclusive as well.
August 29th, 2008 at 9:47 am
These issues are so frustrating. The worst part is what is going through your mind right before you make the call. You know that this is going to be painful, but you know that you should not let the mistake go. Unfortunately, I don’t think that this is going to get better.
August 29th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Comcast is awful. It is regretful to say that it is my only option for high-speed internet or cable TV at my current residence. Can we say, “Monopoly”?
August 29th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Unfortunately it seems to be the nature of the “beast”, the mega company if you will. Not only is the business structure so convoluted that we can’t figure it out, their own employees (who frequently have no expertise in house, rather have to call yet another center) can’t help. There has been little motivation, since Comcast HAS been the only show in many towns, for them to improve customer service, and our government has little authority to force them to do the right thing. We have similar issues with our [land]phone company. and power company–both of which are basic monopolistic utilities, who operate as if you can “love ‘em or leave ‘em”. Fortunately our water services and garbage collectors seem to take their obligations seriously -at least for now.
FWIW, I have learned not to take 24 hour service seriously, that the person you get on the phone at 8 or 9 at night really is not going to be able to help, but rather placate.
Good luck. I WOULD pursue this, if you can stomach it. Most companies do keep notes on customer phone calls, and it will establish precedent if you get a satisfactory answer you and the CS rep can live with.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:31 am
How frustrating! I agree, sometimes you have to prioritize how much time you’re willing to put into the battle. I had a similar problem with a hotel charge last year. After three phone calls and lots of transfers, I swallowed the extra charge, but it still irks me!
August 29th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I had a similar situation with Comcast and actually found it much simpler and less frustrating to use their online chat-help instead of calling. I always got the feeling they would say anything to get me off the phone. Chat makes it more pleasant to annoy them until things are fixed.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Par for the course with Comcast unfortunately, they are just a horrible company. I’ve had past bad experiences with them personally and know others who have had just as bad or worse.
You might try messaging @comcastcares on Twitter. Supposedly that dude actually works to solve your problems. It’s for good PR of course, but I wouldn’t surprised if he throws the $5 your way.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I had a similar problem with my phone/internet company: Telus (in Canada). They installed a new billing system and in order to bring into line their two separate billing systems (phone and internet) they had to bill me almost a full extra month for my internet. So now I’m pre-paying all my services instead of paying for services used. To me, this wiped out the free month they gave me when I signed up. Unfortunately for me, I can’t ditch them in favor of my cable company (who offers phone and internet) as I’m locked in a 3-year contract that has another 16 months left. When I asked the dumb-a** on the phone to talk to his supervisor, he refused and eventually hung up on me.
August 29th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
So, while my time is worth more than $5, there is principle involved here as well. The companies bank on you making that calculation and deciding that it’s not worth your time. So then they fleece you (and everyone else).
So merely, on principle, I would call and send letters, etc. But I also like harassing people.
I highly recommend:
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/moneyhappy/64338
August 29th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
It’s not the money - it’s the principal of the thing. Me - I’d keep on a-going!
However, that said - I am soooo glad I have no cable bill, nor even TV for that matter
August 31st, 2008 at 7:31 am
I absolutely detest dealing with any utility company. I’d rather just stick with the status quo. Any savings made by switching are usually lost due to the cost of the phone call to India!
August 31st, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I should really start a website called comcastisthedevil.com. I am from Richmond VA where comcast originates and hate it, hate it. They are the worst, right next to cingular in my book for creative billing. I would not have them at all except that they are the ONLY provider of cable internet in our area. So you cant get the new customer deals because they penalize you for being a good, paying customer all these years.
For cable, you are spot-on about switching plans or providers saving you money. We got wise to this about 3 years ago. We now switch our directv service every year between my husbands name and my name, which are different last names. Each year we get tons of new free stuff, like in Jan we got a free DVR, and super deals, like 3 months free, three $30 credits on the first 3 months of bills, free packages for 1,2,3 months etc. Also, directv ALWAYS screws up the “install” window they are supposed to come to our home in, so I call when they are more than 4 hour late and get an immediate huge credit on my bill for the inconvenience. Our cable bill is actually going down each year instead of up. We had 1 reciever before, and now we have two, plus DVR and pay less. I hate to be tricky with them, but they sure are with us!
August 31st, 2008 at 9:29 pm
SOUNDS LIKE A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT TO ME.
August 31st, 2008 at 11:59 pm
For what it’s worth, which is probably less than your $5, I’ve never seen a difference between my online Comcast bill and the paper one. Seriously. The online version simply looks like a jpeg of my paper bill. I’ve NEVER gotten more information or level of detail on my online bills than the paper bills. I think whoever you talked to was giving you a load of crap when they claimed you’d see it all explained online.
September 1st, 2008 at 12:34 am
I have a feeling these bills handed out by cable companies are purposely meant to confuse. There are those that claim not to have hidden fees but i often see charges for things i have no idea what they are. Processing fees, reconnect fees, bundle fees, extras, taxes, promos that are not promos just scams.
September 1st, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Do yourself a favor and cancel any business with Comcast, post-haste. I have had bad experiences with them that are too long to communicate here, so I will gladly give you my 2 cents. Go satelite. Comcast has THE worst customer service in the country and I have it in my authority that if you complain about anything to them they will immediately put you on a blacklist. Please, save yourself trouble and cancel all their services. Beleive me!
September 1st, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I’m betting that you didn’t expect the time to keep ticking away to the point it wasn’t worth your time. I’ve had the same thing happen with a different company and at some point, you’re too committed to hang up and write it off. You keep thinking it’ll be just another couple of minutes.