Comcast changes customer name to "Asshole Brown" on billing

[katietornado]

statement.

These guys are the worst.  Terrible that they did it in the first place, but even worse that these people couldn't get them to change it back until they called a reporter.

www.cbsnews.com/news/comcast-apologizes-for-changing-customers-billing-name-to-profanity/

Comcast apologizes for changing customer's billing name to profanity

You know they may be thinking it about you, when you're arguing with a customer service representative.

But it's a stretch when you actually see it in writing: "A**hole".

That's what happened to a Spokane, Washington couple after they sparred about their bill with a customer service representative from Comcast. When Ricardo and Lisa Brown got their monthly service bill, the husband's name had been changed from Ricardo Brown to "A**hole Brown."



To make matters worse, Lisa Brown met resistance trying to get the profanity removed and the billing name corrected. That's when she reached out to a consumer advocacy writer, Christopher Elliott, who writes on travel and consumer affairs for The Washington Post, USA Today and other other publications. The Brown's Comcast saga was first reported in Elliott.org.

"You know employees talk about customers behind their back and say things like this," Elliott told CBS News. "But I've never seen anyone put something like this in writing. This falls into the category of 'What were they thinking?'"

Brown told Elliott the family was having financial difficulties. She'd called Comcast to cancel the cable portion of her account, for which she had to pay a $60 fee. The representative, however, escalated her call to a retention specialist who tried to persuade her to keep the cable service and sign a new two-year contract.

"I am shocked," Brown told Elliott. "I was never rude. It could have been that person was upset because I didn't take the offer."

CBS News requested comment from Comcast Wednesday night but did not receive an immediate reply. In reporting the story, Elliott spoke with Steve Kipp, Comcast's vice president of communications for the Washington region, who gave this statement:

"We have spoken with our customer and apologized for this completely unacceptable and inappropriate name change," he said. "We have zero tolerance for this type of disrespectful behavior and are conducting a thorough investigation to determine what happened. We are working with our customer to make this right and will take appropriate steps to prevent this from happening again."

It's not the first public relations black-eye for Philadelphia-based Comcast, the country's largest cable service provider. Last August, CBSNews.com reported how one customer was put on hold for three hours while trying to cancel service. Another customer recorded the difficulty he had canceling service over an eight-minute phone call.

"I'm a bit stunned by this" said Elliott. "Comcast is a big company. They can't control all their employees. But you'd think this is part of the basic training they give to their employees -- don't call your customers a-holes"

[laurenpetro]

i'm surprised this wasn't me after my experience dropping cablevision for my TV. those people were certified assholes. one guy told me i'd have to have my husband do it because i wasn't allowed.

if H didn't need them for internet i'd never have anything to do with them again.

[MrsAxilla]

Lol. What assholes.

[orangeblossom]

That's ridiculous that a) it happened and b) they got pushback for changing the name back. I mean really, this required a consumer advocate to get it changed. That's crazy talk.

I know it's their job, but I really hate the escalation of calls to a retention specialists. I don't need or want to speak to anyone else, just cancel my service.

I know this is not the point of this post, but they really could have done a better job covering up their account number. It's still visible even with the red strike through.

[Deleted]

Lack of competition = don't give a shit.

[pixy0stix]

omfg. I hate comcast.

[IIOY]

origami

The other day I found a Comcast remote that I never turned in when we cancelled. I can't do anything with it but I did a little fist pump for screwing them out of a remote.

[penguingrrl]

I'm not all that surprised to see the Comcast did that. Any other company and I might be a bit surprised, but seems about right for Comcast's customer service.

[iammalcolmx]

Jan 29, 2015 11:09:59 GMT -5 IIOY said:

origami

The other day I found a Comcast remote that I never turned in when we cancelled. I can't do anything with it but I did a little fist pump for screwing them out of a remote.

I had Comcast and had automatic payments. Can you believe after I cancelled they fucked up, said I owed them money, never contacted me about the mythical money and I found this out WHEN I WAS TRYING TO REFI MY HOUSE?

My fucking credit score went from 860 to 700, and we had to do the refi with just H's credit because it wasn't going to be fixed fast enough.

[IIOY]

Jan 29, 2015 11:18:57 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Jan 29, 2015 11:09:59 GMT -5 IIOY said:

origami

The other day I found a Comcast remote that I never turned in when we cancelled. I can't do anything with it but I did a little fist pump for screwing them out of a remote.

I had Comcast and had automatic payments. Can you believe after I cancelled they fucked up, said I owed them money, never contacted me about the mythical money and I found this out WHEN I WAS TRYING TO REFI MY HOUSE?

My fucking credit score went from 860 to 700, and we had to do the refi with just H's credit because it wasn't going to be fixed fast enough.

After we turned in all of our equipment, they contacted me multiple times accusing me of not turning in part of our equipment. Thank goodness I kept the receipt that listed everything we had turned in. I read the entire receipt to the woman over the phone and she said, "OK, just checking."

ETA: just to be clear, what the accused me of keeping was not the shitty little remote I mentioned above, LOL. It was an entire receiver box.

[niemand88f]

Jan 29, 2015 11:18:57 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Jan 29, 2015 11:09:59 GMT -5 IIOY said:

origami

The other day I found a Comcast remote that I never turned in when we cancelled. I can't do anything with it but I did a little fist pump for screwing them out of a remote.

I had Comcast and had automatic payments. Can you believe after I cancelled they fucked up, said I owed them money, never contacted me about the mythical money and I found this out WHEN I WAS TRYING TO REFI MY HOUSE?

My fucking credit score went from 860 to 700, and we had to do the refi with just H's credit because it wasn't going to be fixed fast enough.

I believe it. One of the times I canceled when moving, they didn't really cancel it, but stopped sending me bills. I didn't find out until a collections company called me several months later. Luckily it never made it onto my credit report.

[badgergrl]

Gah, I would almost be tempted to quit paying them. I didn't get a bill. My name is not Asshole Brown. But I am sure they would just screw you more.

[msmerymac]

Some guy came to my door the other day to try to get me to sign up for comcast. I don't love FiOS, but for the $80 or so I'm paying now, he could offer me something similar for... $110. I told him I'm on a contract until next May, which is true.

[katietornado]

Jan 29, 2015 11:06:06 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

That's ridiculous that a) it happened and b) they got pushback for changing the name back. I mean really, this required a consumer advocate to get it changed. That's crazy talk.

I know it's their job, but I really hate the escalation of calls to a retention specialists. I don't need or want to speak to anyone else, just cancel my service.

I know this is not the point of this post, but they really could have done a better job covering up their account number. It's still visible even with the red strike through.

I would assume this account has been cancelled since the moment this story broke.

[laurenpetro]

Jan 29, 2015 11:17:56 GMT -5 Stan said:

Jan 29, 2015 11:04:48 GMT -5 laurenpetro said:

i'm surprised this wasn't me after my experience dropping cablevision for my TV. those people were certified assholes. one guy told me i'd have to have my husband do it because i wasn't allowed.

if H didn't need them for internet i'd never have anything to do with them again.

Wtaf?!

yeah.  "oh, you're not listed on the account so you can't cancel the account".  

ok first, i'm on the account.  second, i'm the one who (stupidly) set up the cable in the first place.  if i can authorize it, i can cancel it.

i've never been so happy to have direct tv in my life.  lesson learned.    

[laurenpetro]

Jan 29, 2015 14:23:08 GMT -5 katietornado said:

Jan 29, 2015 11:06:06 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

That's ridiculous that a) it happened and b) they got pushback for changing the name back. I mean really, this required a consumer advocate to get it changed. That's crazy talk.

I know it's their job, but I really hate the escalation of calls to a retention specialists. I don't need or want to speak to anyone else, just cancel my service.

I know this is not the point of this post, but they really could have done a better job covering up their account number. It's still visible even with the red strike through.

I would assume this account has been cancelled since the moment this story broke.

i's hope so but i wouldn't assume that.  they're possibly the only option for high speed internet unless you want to pay a fortune for directv's option. 

[IIOY]

Jan 29, 2015 14:36:16 GMT -5 laurenpetro said:

Jan 29, 2015 11:17:56 GMT -5 Stan said:

Wtaf?!

yeah.  "oh, you're not listed on the account so you can't cancel the account".  

ok first, i'm on the account.  second, i'm the one who (stupidly) set up the cable in the first place.  if i can authorize it, i can cancel it.

i've never been so happy to have direct tv in my life.  lesson learned.    

I had this happen, too!  I set up the account but it was put in my husband's name, so anything that needed to happen had to come from him.  So add sexist to the list of complaints about Comcast.

[laurenpetro]

Jan 29, 2015 14:48:31 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Jan 29, 2015 14:36:16 GMT -5 laurenpetro said:

yeah.  "oh, you're not listed on the account so you can't cancel the account".  

ok first, i'm on the account.  second, i'm the one who (stupidly) set up the cable in the first place.  if i can authorize it, i can cancel it.

i've never been so happy to have direct tv in my life.  lesson learned.    

I had this happen, too!  I set up the account but it was put in my husband's name, so anything that needed to happen had to come from him.  So add sexist to the list of complaints about Comcast.

but i'm listed on the account.  my name isn't on the billing address and those people are too stupid/lazy/dickish to admit it. 

so fuck them in the eyehole.

my favorite part of the conversation was, after they jacked my bill up to over $200 and "offered" to drop it to $170 and i refused, the "retention specialist" said; "isn't that worth the serivce you're getting?"  my answer: "your picture quality is crap, your channel line up is completely illogical, your guide menu cuts out for hours at a time for no reason whatsoever and your info screens are about to give me an epileptic seizure.  so no, it's not worth paying MORE for. in fact, it's not worth getting for free."

it was turned off immediately.  which let to 10 days without tv.  which i don't regret one bit.

[nomad100]

We are stuck with Comcast because our other option is even worse - AT&T. Sigh.

[Deleted]

When I returned Time Warner's equipment, I videoed the whole thing. Just so I had evidence. It takes some doing to be so incompetent that your staff are actually used to people taking photos etc when they return stuff.

They had one person manning the place. I was number 445. It took 3 hours.

All better now - I am on AT&T....just kidding, they are just as shite lol.