The serviceman came out in early April, his ID number is 2784.
He spent only a few minutes in the apartment, enough to notice that the cable box was hooked up properly and the error was Comcast’s reception. Prior to the visit by 2784, I talked to two different receptionists on the same day. The first was extremely rude and tried to sell a $0.99 monthly service plan as a waiver for the $19.99 charge—if a Comcast Technician had to come out. I wasn’t having it at all. I told her that it was a monopoly in that there was no independent arbiter to determine the validity of the technician, in this case 2784, statement. My reasoning was that the technician had to leave the apartment to fix the problem, how were we at fault?
The second call, I believe later that day, was much more helpful. She told me how to unplug the television and the box to ensure that we would not be charged. Yet we still were after the fact.
After talking and getting nowhere with two other receptionists, I talked to Jocelyn on 4/23/08. A dedicated liar, Jocelyn was even more rude than the first lady. First, she told me there was no one higher to talk to—no supervisors or managers. A lie. Second, she gave me her word that after a proposal was submitted to determine the exact efforts of 2784, she would either remove the $19.99 service charge, call Cynthia (the roommate that pays the Comcast bill), or email Cynthia. I said, “Jocelyn, do you give me your word that you will contact us within 48 hours (a time she put forth)?” She said yes. Another lie.
Then on 4/27/08, I called around 10 PM. I talked to a lady that was helpful but limited in that it was after billing hours. She could not divulge the technician’s name but could give me his ID—2784. She also told me that it was updated on 4/24/08, the day after I talked to Jocelyn. Lastly she informed me that it was highly unlikely that Comcast would overturn this bogus $19.99 charge. Please note, that like all the previous receptionists, she attempted to sell me a $0.99 monthly fee as a waiver to ensure we would not be charged $19.99.
On 4/28/08, I called Comcast and reached Arnold. He too attempted to sell me a $0.99 monthly fee. At this point I was annoyed with the offer. I told him that there are two televisions in the apartment and neither were working earlier in the month. One TV has a box, the other does not. Neither TV had reception—just a black screen—nor did the TVGuide come up or an error message. Because neither TV had reception, it was not a connection problem with the TV that had the box. He provided his ID number, 14775, and informed me that there was indeed leads, essentially Comcast’s managers. He said that his lead, Robin, would call me within twenty minutes since she was already on call. I said I have no problem waiting, but I did ask him for his word, in the same fashion I asked for Jocelyn. He gave it too and followed through.
A manager by the name of Marseda (not sure on the spelling, it may be a “c”), contacted me twenty-four minutes after I got off the phone with Arnold. I told her the situation and she told me that the waiver would have to be purchased in order to prevent a $19.99 charge. She did say in this case, since it was a reception hook-up, that we should not have been charged and that she was going to take it off. I thanked her twice, but provided the ordeal that I had to go through just to talk to a manager. I called eight times of three or four weeks. And Jocelyn actually told me there were no managers to talk to. I had informed Marseda that if we could not hook up the box, then yes, Comcast had the right to charge us. But since the reception was dropped, and Comcast had to restore it to customers who pay, then we should not be forced to purchase a $0.99 waiver. She agreed. I proceeded to complain about Jocelyn and recommended her termination while also recommending Arnold’s promotion. Jocelyn lied, flat out, to me. She repeated after me that she gave me her word that she would contact me if the charge was not removed. She lied. And for Arnold he gave me his word that someone, probably Robin, would contact me. And someone did. Arnold also gave me his ID number as collateral in a sense.
