Ode to Comcast

We've sold our house and we're moving soon. As part of that move, we called up Comcast to move our services. Keep in mind that I (and we) have been Comcast customers for years. At ~$150 per month, they have made a ton of money off of me.

B signed us up for whatever package we have here (triple play, plus HD box, plus second box, etc). That came with a 2 year contract. Our new place has free wireless, so we don't need internet anymore. We also only have the phone line since it's virtually free with the package, but we don't need it since we both have cell phones. B calls to transfer our cable to the new place, and he's told there is a $150 fee for breaking our contract. Keep in mind we don't want to cancel Comcast, we just want to only have cable (still about $60-70 per month). He talks to both their online chat and to a person on the phone, and both refuse to help. He says we'll just cancel, sets a termination date, and then has me try a few days later.

The rep I get understands what I want, and he understands that I think it's short-sighted to lose a long-term customer over $150. He looks into my account more, and then decides I'm a liar about the free internet since other people in my building have Comcast. Yes, I patiently explain, they do. We get free wireless because we live across from the party room. He still refuses to transfer our service without the fee, so I confirm our cancellation date and ask where we return all of the boxes.

So the moral of the story is that Comcast would rather lose a customer over $150 than continue to get at least $60-70 per month from said customer for at least another year (and likely many more years). The fact that we have paid thousands and never had a late bill means nothing.

I was mad at first, but now that I realize we spent a whopping $1,800 a year on Comcast services, I'm thrilled to have that much extra money to spend on vacations, Netflix, eating out, and generally having a good time. Suck it Comcast!