[legion]

In 2008 Comcast bought my local cable company. At that point, I got 150 channels and paid $80 a month. By 2013, I was getting 300+ channels and paying $170 a month. Every 18 months, Comcast would give me more channels for "free", then six months later they would raise my rates substantially. They also were experts at figuring out what channels people liked to watch together, and then splitting them across channel packages, thus requiring you to purchase more channel packages. They also started charging me per TV hooked up to cable.

With my prior cable provider, I could call a local phone number and get a local technician on the phone to solve any problem. They had good people on staff and problems were fixed quickly. Comcast fired all of them, required me to call a nation 800 number, and I generally spent the first hour on the phone on hold, the second hour trying to get my call to the right department, and the third hour being read a script that in no way helped solve the problem. Every script seemed to end with me having to wait 24 hours to see if the problem was resolved (I think this was a tactic to get me to hang up when they didn't really fix my problem). Most problems required multiple phone calls to resolve.

I finally cancelled Comcast. They told me my final bill had a balance of $80 and they would send me a check within 90 days. I never got the check. For the next two years, I called them every three months and they promised me I'd get my check in 90 days. Their customer service reps didn't know what they were doing and making empty promises to get me off the phone. Finally, the last two phone calls I would demand to talk to a manager. The final phone call I advised them that I was recording the phone call for a future lawsuit. I was finally told that they were holding payment because I'd never returned my cable modem. I told them that I was using a cable modem that I purchased from their predecessor and therefore had no cable modem to return. They told me that they didn't allow purchased equipment on their network. I told them to look at my past bills and see if I ever paid rent on a modem. They FINALLY relented and sent me a check.

Comcast is set up in a lot of the local big box stores with aggressive salespeople that approach shoppers. I always tell them that I had to sue Comcast last time I had them (a bit of a stretch of the truth) and will never do business with them again. It's clear that the salespeople aren't prepared to counter such a comment and they quickly leave me alone.