YAY Broadstripe
@comcast.net
| YAY Broadstripe
On May 5, 2008, I called the Broadstripe customer support line to cancel my cable/internet service because I was moving to a new condominium that is not longer a part of your service area. As far as I was concerned at the time, the cancellation completed successfully. About one week after the call, I returned the cable modem at one of your service centers. Once again, as far as I knew at the time, everything went smoothly and without error.
Imagine my surprise, when I discovered at the beginning of June, that rather than refunding any remaining credit on the account, Broadstripe had charged me for yet another full month of service. Needless to say, I immediately called in to inquire about the billing error. I was told by the agent that when I cancelled my service, somebody had neglected to cancel the automatic billing. Let's not even get into the basic process and system failure that results in a customer's billing to continue even after service has been cancelled. Mistakes happen, so I kindly asked the agent to remedy the situation. I was told that a refund would be promptly processed.
Two weeks after the call, I still had not yet received my refund in the mail, nor had a credit been issued on my credit card. I called in yet again to get a status on the refund. A gentleman told me that refunds are only processed once a month during the billing period. I was told to expect a refund check on my next bill. Still very accepting of the situation, I told the agent that this situation was really due to an error on Broadstripe's billing process. I also inquired on whether or not I can simply get a credit back on my card rather than a refund check. He told me that Broadstripe does not have the capability to post a credit back on the credit card, and that the billing cycle refund check is simply company policy.
My billing statement arrives several days later.. still no refund check. Several days after that, a full week after my previous call, I call Broadstripe customer support for a fourth time regarding the same cancellation request. Hopeful about a resolution, I explained my situation to the agent over the phone.. including the part about how Broadstripe made a billing error. The agent told me that according to her records, the service was just disconnected recently (within the last week or so). I told her that it was impossible because I had called to cancel my service at the beginning of May. She indicated to me that although I called to cancel in May, Broadstripe had been busy and unable to send a technician out to physically disconnect the service until recently. She further explained that according to policy, regardless of when the customer called to cancel, refunds are issued three to four weeks (or was it four to six weeks) after Broadstripe disconnects the service. ***Understand that at this point, I am resisting the overwhelming urge to point out exactly how brainless this policy is. I will also point out that I am resisting the compulsion to wish the person responsible for conceiving of such a policy to have a large nuclear warhead shoved up his/her ass.*** This is the point in time where I finally began to get frustrated with the whole process. I told the agent that it really is none of my concern that Broadstripe was unable to get a technician out to disconnect the service. The fact is that I cancelled the service over a month and a half ago, during which time Broadstripe continued to bill me erroneously. The situation is completely unacceptable. The agent then proceeded to reiterate the fact that this is policy and there's nothing she can do about it. I asked to speak to a supervisor. After telling me that the supervisor would tell me the same thing, the agent begrudgingly arranged for a supervisor callback. I was not given any timeframe with which I should receive a callback.
Call five occurred several hours later when I realized that I had still not received a callback. Of course I called back to explain the situation to yet another agent. Not that I expected anything different, but I basically heard the same policy mantra that the previous agent had so kindly provided me. Surprisingly composed after the number of senseless interactions I have had concerning the same issue, I insisted to the agent that this issue has been ongoing for over a month and that the situation was urgent. She assured me that a supervisor will call me back on the same day, despite a 24 hour callback SLA policy.
Call six. Let's fast forward to the end of the day, when I had not yet received a callback. Quite frankly, by this time, I had already forgotten how many prior conversations I had with Broadstripe's elite service agents. More explaining of the same situation. More reiteration of the same company policies. After much bickering, the agent said she might be able to get somebody to refund my credit within ten business days. Imagine how completely ecstatic I was. Just ten business days to return to me what is rightfully mine. I must have had the "expedited" service for being such a great customer. I proceeded to tell the service agent how incredibly helpful she was, and scuttled along my merry way.
Now my point, six calls, one email, and almost two months later.. how are you still in business? Are you actually gaining or even holding market share in Washington? I am not one to profess my love for Comcast, but after this incident, I think I'll take my chances with the evil corporate monopoly. If people don't get exemplary service with your company, what are we left with? Certainly not the most advanced cable television service or high-speed Internet infrastructure in the area.. |
