Despite attempting to re-brand to Xfinity, Comcast still finds themselves at the center point of customer service controversy once again after a Comcast employee contacted an unsatisfied customer’s employer to talk about the call, which led to the Comcast customer being fired.
Back in the beginning of 2013, a man named Conal started his subscription with Comcast on a promotional 9 month plan, and immediately the customer was hit with problems. Conal started being charged for unactivated cable boxes that hadn’t even arrived at his home yet, not to mention, the company misspelled his last name, causing monthly bills to never show up, resulting in late fees.
Conal reached out to Comcast in May of last year to discuss the problems with his account and they assured him that everything would be fixed. However, this resulted in his monthly bill going up by $20, continuing to be charged monthly for unactivated devices, and also starting to be charged for a second modem that did not exist.
Upon trying to cancel his Comcast service in October of 2013, Conal once again stuck around for a little longer after being promised that the company would get rid of the building charges on his account while also giving him free DVR and premium channels for three months. Not only did Comcast fail to fulfill their promises, they sent Conal around a dozen new device boxes, modems, and more that he didn’t need or ask for. Comcast also charged him $1,820 for these items.
Conal decided his problems with Comcast weren’t going to be solved by their atrocious customer support, so he called the controller’s office. He mentioned that he worked for a large accounting firm that did frequent and close business with Comcast hoping it would give him some leverage, but aided him in no ways. After being jerked around some more, Conal made a comment about how Comcast should be investigated by the Public Company accounting Oversight Board. Apparently this comment didn’t sit too well with whatever representative Conal was talking to, because at some point after the call, a Comcast representative was able to find all of his information and contact his employer.
How this is legal is still up for debate, but without ever mentioning his company by name, Comcast was able to research Conal and contact his employer about the call. This resulted in the company doing a “random ethics investigation” and eventually firing Conal from his job. Despite this being a personal conflict, the company emailed him saying Comcast sent them transcripts of his phone calls with them (which both his employer and Comcast refused to share with Conal) and it was enough grounds for termination.
Comcast has since released statements to cover the company and its policies; claiming that they care about customers and are dedicated to giving them the top notch service they deserve. Whether true or not, Comcast says they are going to review and respond to Conal’s lawyer’s letter as soon as possible and have the matter resolved.
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