Disconnecting service.

When Comcast credited my payment to the wrong account last May, my subsequent payments were always one month late, but still early enough not to incur a late fee. As such, I was not aware of the misplaced payment until I was charged with a late payment fee several months later. That led me to research my bank website and find the misplaced payment. I called and explained the issue and the Comcast rep verified my payment was credited to the wrong account, yet they informed me there was no means of transferring the payment from that account back into mine. The only way they would refund my payment, I was told by the rep, is if I terminated my service. I've had Comcast business internet service for seven years, thus satisfying my three year contract four years ago.

Two and a half years ago, I relocated to a new office around the corner and moved my Comcast internet service. Literally, all I did was unplug the Comcast modem from the coax cable my old office and plugged it into the pre-existing live coax cable at the new office. I filed a change of address via telephone, but did not request an install, explaining that the service was already working at the new location. A Comcast Rep showed up the next day anyway with a new modem. I explained I didn't need a new modem because I had purchased mine from Comcast and it worked just fine. He told me my existing modem was no longer supported by Comcast. My existing modem was purchased, but the new modem could only be rented. I refused the new modem, and he told me my service would no longer work with my own modem within a few days. He plugged in the new modem, wrote down the serial number, filled out a service form and had me sign that he was there. My service tier remained the same; the entry level business internet package. I was not informed there would be a ten dollar per month rental fee until the bill arrived the following month. If relocating is a reason to reset my contract starting date without my knowledge, then that's deceptive, unfair business practice. This, apparently, is how Comcast conducts business in order to jack up profits even further.

Now I want to disconnect my service because I am upset about the misplaced payment and the difficulty in getting it refunded or applied to the correct account. In the mean time, I have found a way to save fifty dollars per month with a competing service provider. Comcast won't lower their rates to match their competition, so off to the competitor it is.

I looked carefully, but I could find no Comcast website link to disconnect my existing service. Nor could I find an email or chat window to contact Comcast about a disconnect. If it's there, it's hidden well enough within the confusing Comcast web sites that I could not find it. It appears disconnecting can only be done by phone.

Phone calls to Comcast instructing them to disconnect my service resulted in hour-long waits, frequent hangups, more calls and more waiting. Finally, I was informed I still had nine months left of a three year contract, and so I'll be billed 348 dollars for early termination. When I explained I had seven years of service, they told me the three year contract was reset when I moved, and so I actually had accrued only two years and three months of service. I told them to disconnect my service anyway, I'm not paying the termination fee. They refuse to disconnect my service until I sign an agreement to pay them the termination fee. I can see no three year contract offers on their website, two is the longest, so I doubt I even had a three year contract to begin with. They won't send me a copy of what I supposedly signed, and I only remember signing a work order that the new modem had been installed by the service tech. They never asked me to sign a new service contract.

The law requires that the provider of any service MUST disconnect such service at the request of the client, regardless of any balance dispute that may occur after the fact. No one can legally force another person to pay for a service they don't want. That's the law. Second, a provider may not reset the starting day of the contract simply for a change of address when the service level remains the same. It is especially deceptive business practice to do this without the knowledge of the client, and that is precisely what Comcast did to me.

The bottom line is I have still found no one at Comcast who will disconnect my service when instructed to do so. Therefore, as of today, September 18, 2014, I refuse to be responsible for any further charges from Comcast service after this date. If Comcast chooses to ignore my disconnect order, they can absorb the cost of the service from this day forward.

My impression of Comcast, and this is shared by many people with whom I have shared this situation, is they are the greediest, most uncaring, worst customer service reps we have ever had the misfortune to do business with. Comcast will stop at no deception to trick people out of their hard earned money for their own corporate gain. They simply don't give a dam about their clients. Their reps make it well known they're interested only in their own overly inflated profits and not actually providing the service the client asks for. Therefore, let it be publicly known I want my service disconnected today and that I will not pay for service from this day forward. As I have had this same service for seven years, any contract I signed has long since been satisfied, and because of this, I will not pay the early termination fee. Comcast provides its technology to serve their clients, not the other way around.