This may be a stock photo, but anyone who's ever called Comcast knows that it sends you to a very special Hell even uglier than that wallpaper.
Here's an important lesson for you: record every single call you make with large companies. It's the only chance you have to protect yourself from having your money stolen, especially by cable/Internet cartels like Comcast. We learned this last month when the world was shocked by a customer trying to leave his contract with Comcast, who was harassed by a "customer retention" representative who tried to force him to stay.
Tim Davis must have also learned a lesson from that recording, because when he called Comcast for service recently, he made sure to tape it. It was the only thing that stopped Comcast from just inventing charges and taking $180 from him for repairing a connection that they had messed up in the first place. He moved apartments, and brought with him his Comcast modem (he wanted to switch companies, but of course there were no other options), only to discover that there was a problem on Comcast's end with the Internet connection. They said they'd send someone out for free. Someone came out. It was not for free—they made up a bunch of charges blaming him for the problems, totaling $182. I'd describe it more but I'm already too full of rage. Skip to 2:30 if you don't want to hear the set-up to the story.
There are no companies worse than cable and Internet companies. Yes, there are companies that manufacture weapons that kill thousands of people every day, but that's the business they're in. Cable companies are in the business of delivering ones and zeroes to your home. That's not where they make their money, though. They make their money through their side business of f*cking you over and robbing you blind with fees, while simultaneously rigging the law to prevent competition and even making it illegal for townships to install superior infrastructure. American Internet speeds are a fraction of those in other developed nations, and yet we pay out the nose for that terrible service. Why? Well, maybe it's because Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner and Comcast spent $12.2 million lobbying Congress just during the first quarter of 2014. Instead of, I don't know, installing fiber optic cable.
This is a real quote. I recorded him saying it. (It's not a real quote.)
Comcast does not deserve to be in business. American capitalism is about competition, not abusing customers and rigging the law to preserve monopolies. 30% of Americans only have one option in their area for Internet service, and many of the remaining 70% only have a false choice (in New York City, home to 2.5% of Americans, there are several companies but no choice—your service provider is determined by which company has a monopoly in your building).
Man, Comcast sucks. Not like Time Warner, which is the monopoly that I am forced to use. Good old Time Warner! Please don't cut off my Internet, Mr. Warner.
(by Johnny McNulty)