Public Service The Vermont Way

Blog#9- 12/11/19

PUBLIC SERVICE THE VERMONT WAY
By Richard Davis

When it comes to solving the irritating problems of daily life some of us are more persistent than others. I am one of those people who looks at all of the roadblocks to resolution as a challenge. Giving up is never an option. It means being labeled a pain in the ass, but it is a label I proudly embrace.

Recently, I was billed by Comcast for $108 in services I did not order. I don’t know how my account was compromised but, during the month of October, someone ordered on-demand movies and a streaming subscription. I looked over the content of the movies and it was clear they were not movies I would order. They were ordered at odd hours such as two or three in the morning and on days that I was not home.

Comcast tends to profile its customers preferences for entertainment and it was clear these movies were not anything I would even be remotely interested in. In addition, in an average year I might order one or two on-demand movies.

I called Comcast with the hope of having these charges removed from my bill but, instead, was forced into one of the circles of hell not described in Dante’s Inferno. I spoke to five or six different departments.

First there was billing who told me they did not have the authority to cancel charges, even after I spoke to a billing supervisor. I was told I needed to contact the Technical Assistance Department because there was a need to find out how my account was compromised. The billing people told me the Technical Assistance people could cancel charges.

The Technical Assistance people sent me directions for filing a five page ID Theft Affidavit. They said that was the form that would help them find out what they needed to know. I filed the form and a few days later I got a call from Comcast telling me that was the wrong form and that the Technical Assistance Department couldn’t help me and that I had to work with the billing department. I told them I had already contacted the billing department.

Technical assistance sent me to another department they thought could help. After telling the details of my story once again, this other department told me I had to contact billing. A lot of bad words came out of my mouth and I abruptly hung up.

Then I had the revelation that Comcast could not help . But what about the Vermont Department of Public Service? They regulate utilities and maybe they deal with complaints. I went to the web site and submitted a complaint form. Save this web address: https://capi.epsd.vermont.gov/?q=node/51.

Somewhere around 24 to 36 hours after filing the complaint I got a call from a higher level official at Comcast. We played phone tag for a few days and when I finally talked to him and told him my story he agreed to cancel all the charges I did not order. I made a point of telling him how I got the run around and asked him to create a better way for dealing with similar problems.

I e-mailed the person at the Department of Public Service to thank them and notify them of the problem resolution. Someone from that department made a follow-up call to me and after I thanked them I asked them if I would have had access to the higher level Comcast person if they did not intervene. She said, “Probably not.”

I don’t know if my complaint will improve things for others who end up in the special kind of hell I entered, but I do know who to call next time I start spewing out my full vocabulary of the most vile words in the English language.