Developer Forum

I turned in my modem a couple of months ago at the local Comcast office
after I'd bought a Linksys modem to replace the SB5100 that I had been
renting.

Shortly after I turned in the SB5100, Comcast tried to bill me *in advance*
for a modem rental fee. I called Comcast, and they said that their records
hadn't been updated yet. So I paid the bill minus the modem rental fee.

Then the next month, Comcast tried to bill me *in advance* for another modem
rental fee. I called Comcast and was told that I'd have to take my receipt
(for the modem I turned in) to my local Comcast office to prove that I'd
turned the modem in.

Now what's wrong with this picture? Forget the fact that I had a receipt
for turning the modem in. My new modem didn't provision itself, COMCAST did
that for me. But then Comcast was expecting me to run a receipt down to
their office in person to prove that I'd turned the modem in???

Now the kicker . . . I tried to call the local office number to get their
fax number as I don't have time to be running all over the world to do their
paperwork for them. The local number rang through to a service center that
I was told was located outside the country. When I asked for the number for
the local cable company office, I was told that information wasn't
available. (?!?)

In Comcast's defense, I sent them a scathing e-mail message through their
web form and in response they supposedly reversed the modem rental fee
(can't wait to see what happens next month). But if you must use Comcast
for cable modem Internet, do yourself a favor and invest the sixty bucks up
front to buy your own modem to avoid this headache . . . and do the
SELF-install, so there's no way imaginable that Comcast could claim you owe
them a modem rental fee. -Dave

up
owe

I had a similar experience with Comcast. When they came to do the "full
service" install, the tech was unable to get my COAM modem to sync (even
though I had removed it from service on a COX system two days before). He
claimed the modem was bad (??), and got a rental modem from his truck to
try. In order to provision it, he needed to go through the whole process of
setting my account up as a rental. To make a long story short, he quickly
discovered that the rental modem didn't work any better, and the problem was
with the signal strengh in the line.

So, he fixes the line, the rental modem works fine. He gets ready to leave,
and I said that I would actually like to use the modem I already have,
rather than rent an identical one from them. He sputtered some
unintelligable swear words in Spanish, then (under duress) provisioned my
COAM modem again.

Guess what my next three bills had included? You guessed it, a MODEM RENTAL
CHARGE! Took me three calls to get that one straightened out.

Brian

"Brian Swann" < XXXX@XXXXX.COM > wrote in



I guess the reason they didn't pull this on me when I dumped Com *** was
that everyone in the cable box office would have remembered me...(c;

The way to get this done is to get a similarly-colored 1200 baud modem from
a thrift shop for a dollar. Take it out on the concrete and beat it into
unrecognizable pieces with a sledge hammer. Sweep the pieces into a Piggly
Wiggly paper grocery bag and, along with the real modem you're returning,
take bag and modem to the office. Leave the modem in the car and take the
bag up to the "service desk" (oxymoron?). Dump the pieces out on the desk
and say, "Here your crappy modem from your crappy internet service....."

Before the cops get there, go back out into the car and return with the
real modem, demanding your SIGNED AND DATED receipt for it. Later, during
the civil proceedings, you can call everyone in the office to testify that,
yes, you DID return the modem.

How could they forget you?....(c;

Larry....
Com *** sucks....1GB/month.....how stupid.

office
advance*
records
fee.
modem
receipt
I'd
receipt
COMCAST did
to


So how does your own modem having been provisioned prove that you
returned the rented modem?

Let's say you own the company. Somebody says they turned in the modem
you were renting them. Standard procedure is to record that return in
the system. But in the system there's nothing saying the modem was
returned. Is it not reasonable to ask the person claiming they returned
it to present a receipt?

I can guarantee you that if you make it standard practice to take
everyone's word without any proof, everybody in the whole service area
is going to buy their own modem, claim they turned in the rental, and
then turn around and sell it on eBay.

No, they shouldn't have made the mistake. Yes, it should have already
been recorded in their books as being returned. But it's not
unreasonable to ask you to provide a receipt to show that's what
happened.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Blatant Plug: Spend your Amazon gift certificates here:
http://www.yqcomputer.com/

Ummm...Warren. This problem's no different than any other rental. How does
the Rental car agency know that you've turned the car back in? How does
Rent-A-Center know you've turned in the appliance? Simple, go look.
Besides, "record the return" but "But in the system there's nothing saying
the modem was returned." sounds like a BAD system.

--
-- James Fenimore Cooper
The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity, since the tastes,
knowledge, and principles of the majority form the tribunal of appeal.

Personally I'd bill them for my time. If they choose not to pay go to
small claims court. It seems you have the high ground here but since they
own your connection, perhaps either way they win.

I had a similar problem with a newspaper ad. Ran an ad for two weeks and
paid by check. After a few months got a bill from the paper saying I had a
bill that needed to be paid. I called the paper and told them I had paid
and had the check to prove it. Their answer was to make a copy of the
cancelled check and mail it to them. On my way to a copy center I decided,
"What the hell am I doing all this work for?" I turned around and went home
never to worry about this bill again. If they would ever challenged me I
had the cancel check to prove it was paid. It is not my job to prove they
have sloppy paperwork. If it would have went to court I can assure you I
would have used an attorney and made them pay my attorney fees and probalby
also tried to bill them for my time as well. Of course it would have been
easier to do with a paper since they didn't provide me with any services.

You need to read Terms Of Service. You wavie the right to court.


It will if they were to dink up your credit with an unpaid bill entry.

Of course then you to try for the time, anguish and lost whatever when your
credit request is rejected in court.

While I agree in principle, Comcast is the servicer/business here and the
responsibility is still up to them. Sure Comcast could challenge it and if
the customer challenged back, Comcast in the end would lose more. Their
sloppy paperwork is no excuse. Their should be two receipts, right?
Ultimately Comcast should suck it up and try to fix their documentation
problems. This is of course another reason to make sure you hold onto
receipts.

I would agree, no reason not to have the counter clerk enter it into
the database through a terminal while you read the serial number to
them. No *paper work* required.


Even after you terminate the service just in case there is a
*billing error* 3 months later. :(

BR < XXXX@XXXXX.COM > wrote in





It was a mistake on Comcast's part. Sheesh.



--
Lucas Tam ( XXXX@XXXXX.COM )
Please delete "REMOVE" from the e-mail address when replying.
http://www.yqcomputer.com/

I know mistakes happen. How Comcast handled that mistake was ridiculous.
They actually expected me to drive all the way to the local office with my
receipt to prove that I'd turned in the modem already. That was the only
option offered. There was no fax number, and not even a local number to
call to contact the local office. I agree with what someone else wrote.
BAD system. -Dave

>
if


I agree with what you wrote, but this isn't just a documentation problem.
After Comcast discovered their paperwork was screwed up, they demanded I
drive down to the local Comcast cable office to fix it for them, and that
was the ONLY option given to me. That is a very severe policy problem, as
far as dealing with customers goes. -Dave

a
decided,
home
probalby

You said it. I could go back to Verizon DSL I guess. Other than that,
Comcast is the only HSI in the area. -Dave (dreading seeing his next
Comcast statement)

ridiculous.
with my
only
to
wrote.

This is exactly why receipts exist. If mistakes never happened, there
would be no reason to ever get a receipt for anything.

How would a local phone number to call help? A fax number might have
been nice. An address to mail it to would be nice. But from your
standpoint, these aren't great options because you have no idea what
happens when your copy is received on the other end. Being able to hand
it over in person is good for you.

I get the feeling that if you were asked to fax it in you'd be
complaining about having to scan it, and fax it blindly someplace. If
you were asked to mail a copy, you'd complain about having to go to the
Post Office, and spend the money on a stamp.

Surely you must understand this. You kept the receipt, didn't you? You
keep any receipt for a reasonable time, don't you? Or is the real reason
why this was such a horrible request is that you didn't keep the
receipt?

But it doesn't matter. Apparently if you *** enough in an e-mail,
they'll just write it off. And it was nice of you to let us all know
that. Now we know that we can just ignore them when they ask for modems
and cable boxes to be returned. We can just claim we did it, and never
have to offer any evidence. We just have to complain loud enough in
e-mail between checking on our eBay auctions.

A mistake was made. The type of mistake that has been made since before
money was invented. And that's why there are receipts. It's not a "BAD"
system to use receipts for this. Not giving receipts would be a "BAD"
system. Taking your word for it, and not following through on checking
receipts is a BAD system that will result in expenses that will be
passed on to the rest of us.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Blatant Plug: Spend your Amazon gift certificates here:
http://www.yqcomputer.com/

> You need to read Terms Of Service. You wavie the right to court.

I guess you could use the other option then, Arbitration. I think the Terms
of Service and waiving your right to legal recovery methods are for covering
their service to you or lack thereof. Obviously if you are billing them for
your time, it has nothing to do with their service in this case. Your
trying to get money for your services to them. Not in my TOS I would think.


your

You always have the option of flagging entries in your credit report as "In
Dispute." That usually takes care of that issue.