There are a few words in the English language that inspire immediate disgust. For many, the word “moist” is this disfavorable. Others find that the word “Hitler” brings to mind this disdain. However, as Americans, there’s one word that unites us all in hatred: “Comcast.”
It seems strange, but it’s seemingly universal. Ask someone’s opinion on Comcast, and just wait to receive their Comcast horror story.
Given that Time Warner Cable also gets a lot of hate, it might seem like Comcast — and cable companies in general — are dealt the short end of the stick.
They’re easy to vilify whenever something goes wrong. This might be the motive for the wallof swastikas you see when Googling “Comcast” — seriously, Google Image search it.
Jokes aside, this hatred is justified by the unsavory and downright unethical business practices that Comcast routinely participates in.
The most recent example of this was last week, when the Federal Communications Commission announced that Comcast agreed to pay $2.3 million to settle an investigation.
While this doesn’t sound like much in comparison to Comcast’s annual revenue of nearly $74 billion, a settlement of this size is unprecedented for a cable provider.
As for the details, Comcast was accused of charging customers for products and services that they either didn’t ask for or asked explicitly not to receive. But, ironically enough, Comcast tried to shift the blame even in settling the suit. The company explained that the problems were “just isolated errors or customer confusion.”
Herein lies the biggest problem with Comcast. They have no concern for their customers. Looking back, there are countless examples of this.
One of the most notable examples is the controversy about Xfinity public Wi-Fi, where Comcast used customers’ routers as free hotspots, charging their customers for other people’s internet use. The worst part? They didn’t tell their customers their routers were being used this way.
This ended with a class action lawsuit against Comcast by their customers, frustrated at the unwarranted use of their routers. While Comcast may contend it wasn’t in the wrong, there is no arguing the fact thatthere was absolutely no consideration for their customers and how they may have felt about it.
But of course, our society’s deep-rooted distrust of Comcast doesn’t come from these dramatic legal disputes, but from personal experience.
Among the Editorial Board, a surprising number of us have had personal experience haggling with Comcast after service rates had increased, often without warning. The norm is to call in, threaten to change providers and keep pushing until they lower your rate.
This is such a common experience that there are literally tutorials online for negotiating your service rate.
When this sort of negotiation is so ingrained into your business model that you’re constantly plagued by court cases, and when your customers literally associate you with the Nazis, something is wrong.
So help us hold Comcast accountable for their poor customer service. Call in and tell them you want to cancel your service to switch to AT&T, because even if you don’t, chances are you’ll get a better deal.
