Me: "I'm moving."
Clerk: "Oh, where to? We can set up your service ahead of time so it's ready when you---"
Me: "Ireland."
Clerk (disappointed): "Oh."
The only question I got was: "Is there a roommate or somebody else that could take over the account?"
35 million Americans, ~10%, are of Irish descent. Not knowing would be unusual.
[1] See any survey about Americans and geography ever.
Edit: I wish Washington Post defaulted to https. Kind of off topic but is there a reason to support https but not default to it? Browser compatibility issues? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/17/t...
This can't be done because if you just type "washingtonpost.com" into your browser or some algorithm creates links out of plain text (like in an email)... the default is always http:// The internet expects http://yourdomain.tld to always work.
The main browsers come with a list of known HSTS sites, so you'll never use HTTP to access google.com (etc).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Strict_Transport_Security
I didn't have a zipcode for my new address, I was going to be crashing with a friend for a while, so that wasn't an option. On my third attempt (first, automated system. Second, live attendant, who kicked me out back to the automated relocation system), a lightbulb went off and I skipped the relocation options and told the rep I was just fired, I live paycheck to paycheck, and I had to move back in with my parents to try and scrape by.
He was extremely apologetic, but still "had" to go through the "can we lower you bills? what price would be acceptable for you to continue your service with us?" He had to "check with his supervisor," but the phone call ended after two minutes of holding with a successful cancellation!
...then I moved 2200 miles away to a city with multiple cable providers only to discover, surprise!, TWC still controls the area I live in. :'(
Maybe I was an outlier, but it was really frustrating.
The frustrating and insulting part was that I spent a really long time on hold before I was connected with the rep and every few minutes while I was on hold an automated message played saying something along the lines of "You can pay your bill, start new service, or basically anything except cancel way faster by going online!" It was bad enough without the constant reminders that I was only sitting there on hold because I wanted the one thing AT&T won't let you do online.
Why are commenters here a bit apologetic about lying to customer service reps? The latter have no right to know anything about your life, you want the service cancelled and that's it, any information you may choose to provide is purely so they can service you better.
Tell them you're moving to Andromeda to set up an ice cream shop for all I care, I won't hold it against you.
Me: I'd like to cancel service.
They: why?
Me: I already signed up with Comcast. They're giving me 100Mbps for the price of your 10Mbps.
They: Oh.
<done>
Let's hope I never need a US credit rating for anything.
I filled out their web form to cancel and... nothing happened. Someone apparently called me at an odd hour without warning, but there was no message and no callback number so I couldn't figure out why.
They just kept billing me. Then I called up and asked to cancel on the phone and they told me you can only use the website. I told them I had done so already and that wasn't working--no feedback at all, just a form submitted into the ether.
After much arguing (including the point that my CC had expired and they were NOT getting any more money out of me, no matter what), I finally submitted that form while on the line with them. Lo and behold, it magically gives an email confirmation this time. I asked about the two months the service had been completely unplugged and unused, at which point they demanded proof that I'd submitted info to their broken webform.
At that point, I realized it was a scam from the very start where they set you up to fail to get away from their service and decided never to do business with them again.
Months go by, and I start getting mail (physical and email) from "Global Capacity" telling me that my account for DSL service is overdue and my service will be suspended if I don't pay. At first I ignored it thinking it must me a scam because I never heard of the company.
I get 2 more in the following months, the ammount they say I owe them still increasing.
I call Century Link, why I've had service from for months at this point, to confirm my bill is paid in full. It was and my service was not at risk.
Finally I break down and contact them. They explain to me that they purchased MegaPath. So I go to MegaPath's website, which is still online[1]. There's nothing about being purchased to this day. After searching around I find they did indeed purchase Megapath[2] -- AFTER my service went down and I canceled my account!
Global Capacity are still threatening to cancel my service -- which I haven't had in about a year now. Every bill increases according to their monthly service fee. They also refuse to negotiate or admit that I canceled my service prior to their purchase of MegaPath. I don't know what to do at this point.
I have a feeling that Megapath was failing horribly and Global Capacity received unmaintained information from them. Either that or Global Capacity is a fradulent organization. Haven't decided which yet, but it may be a little of both.
[1] - http://www.megapath.com/ [2] - http://info.globalcapacity.com/global-capacity-acquires-mega...
I might try to negotiate by offering to pay off some amount, but they will NOT admit that you've cancelled unless you have some kind of proof... which they will make sure there's no way for you to provide. Because their webform sure as hell won't respond and they definitely won't admit that maybe, given that you were using another ISP the entire time, it could somehow be their fault for forcing you to use a web form that doesn't actually work when you've tried it dozens of times and it magically only does something when you have a rep on the phone.
Like you said, they might as well be a scam company at this point. I felt like they'd turned "customer retention" into some kind of hostage situation. I had to play hardball with the rep before their cancellation form magically worked.
My theory is that there's a manual component to the unsubscribe where they have to confirm it with the customer, but they probably don't try very hard (or at all). I'm sure they'll conveniently blame human or technical errors for any faults, even if they've deliberately set things up to fail.
Be sure you document every call, etc. somehow when dealing with them and get legal help if you need to. My impression was that everyone working there is in on the customer retention scam and all the ways to play hardball and abuse their customers. I seriously wish someone would do an expose on them. Speakeasy was a really awesome ISP back in the day. The people who bought them out were scum, so I'm glad they changed the name in a way.
If enough people complained, something might get done, but you have to figure out who to complain to first. Occasionally, someone can interest a TV show into exposing them, but it's really hard to prove something like this. You could complain to a state AG, but unless they get a lot of complaints, it won't go anywhere--they're too small-time for that. I get the impression that they were squeezing the last blood out of the business they strangled and left to rot.
I only know what I did and what the reps said to me and I knew that I didn't have enough proof to go to court with this so I didn't--I'd just end up losing more time & money to it. So I just retell my experience when it comes up again.
I have seen a few other people on HN who got burned by them, though. It's sad, because Speakeasy was a really good ISP back in the day, before it was sold and gutted. The original Speakeasy support reps were awesome. But that's gone now and it makes me sad. I've never seen support like theirs from an ISP before or since. You used to find geeks singing their praises everywhere, too, but I'm sure you've never heard that about Megapath or whoever bought them.
You might be able to do the same with Global Capacity, but I think the majority of these rules apply specifically to debt collection agencies.
Unfortunately some people do abuse it - there was one guy who admitted on DSLreports forums that he uses his credit card to buy all items off ebay. And if he doesn't get it in 2-3 days he does a chargeback - even if he gets the item later. Which, I'm under the impression that when that happens Paypal may yank the funds from the seller's account. I don't agree with it - but I understand why.
My experience with Paypal disputes on the other hand...
Shift+PrtSc and done.
Having never much been into recording screens before, this took a while to discover, but is not automatic behaviour.
There are lots of utilities for doing so. I use ShareX (with the above keyboard shortcut configures) and it is the most useful app I never knew I needed. http://getsharex.com/
[So useful, I just submitted it as a link. It took a long time to find and trust anything similar.]
In 2002 I'd rented an apartment in central London, and wanted ADSL, which was pretty new then. They came to inspect the wiring, very old copper they said, and put some new stuff in. No charge.
So with my new PC, 19 inch CRT monitor (fantastic resolution) and Alcatel modem (also free) I tried to connect. 2002 was when Windows XP was getting rolled-out en-masse, but I'd heard about Linux, and had purchased a Mandrake CD. Come 11pm, back from work, I tried connecting. PPPoE or something like that just didn't work. Called BT. They hadn't a clue. Explained it wasn't a supported operating system. But they stayed on the line with me for 1.5 hours trying to work a fix - I'd make a suggestion and they'd check on the internet if it would work, I'd type it in at my end of the line. Amazing service. Improbable today.
Biggest regret is not sending a compliment to the customer support representative. When you (as in, anyone reading this) do get good service, do send a compliment, as few people ever do. I know now that is does make a big difference not just on a personal level, but to the rewards customer support representatives get.
My only other options is an equally shady CenturyLink.
I hate (yes, hate) internet/cable in the U.S. I truly wish we had some honest lawmakers who would do something about this.
Just keep repeating you want to cancel; don't give any reasons.
Pretty crazy to imagine the incentives Comcast must put in place to get sales reps to act like that.
The traditional "telephone" company and the traditional "cable" company, in a given district, each have monopolies that prevent competition.
Since both can now serve cable TV, they only have to compete with one another.
In my area it's Time Warner, which is utter shit, and AT&T.
Anyway, I just don't have cable because they rip you off at best.
For example I used Midcontinent Communications when I lived in their service area, and it was excellent. Best ISP and cable company I've ever dealt with.
Unfortunately, they are very limited to the upper midwest/great plains region, and probably serve a million households at most.
I had AT&T U-verses before switching to comcast and AT&T are no saints either.
Is there a company that's honest with its customers?
I've signed up for promo plans from Comcast before, and made a note in my calendar it is expiring. Never had a problem with pushing for another promo when it is about to expire. If there is, then I'll reduce my service or switch providers (if I need to), but there is never any surprise that a promo is for a specific duration and when that ends I'll be paying the full price.
What DOES get me is their constant rate hikes outside of promotions, and that is a completely separate issue.
-- Wikipedia
TLDR: Class-action lawsuits against Comcast are not allowed because they include a class-action waiver in the consumer agreement.
Contrast to Comcast, my old provider. Fluctuating rates, horrendous customer service, advertised speeds that are nowhere near reality (I had 12Mbps package back in the day; it rarely was good for more than 3Mbps), and as reliable as an old Fiat. Oh, unlike the city water utility, do I have feelings about Comcast. The last time they were at my door I told the salesman I'd do without internet before I'd give another dime to them. Ironically, Comcast were the ones running billboards about how horrible Frontier would be when Verizon gave up on fiber and sold it to Frontier. Yeah, well, I've been a Comcast customer and I don't see how it could possibly be any worse. Turns out Frontier is just fine.
But you're not going to get Frontier unless you live in western Washington outside of Seattle, so this probably isn't much help.
But I've heard that experiences with Frontier are a very localized thing and can be pretty dramatically different from place to place. Which at least contrasts to TWC and Comcast, where people pretty universally seem to despise dealing with them.
This county (Medina) is actually crawling with dark fiber infrastructure, with some business and gov't utilization. I'm patiently waiting for a residential service ISP to pop up. As far as I know, there are not any municipal agreements that would block it.
Why'd you even answer the second question/offer, let alone get into an argument about it?
"No thanks. I want to cancel my subscription, please."
If they continue to ask "but why?", I'd just start coming up with increasingly unlikely reasons.
"Doctor's orders."
"Lost a bet."
"Religious reasons."
"Sacrilegious reasons."
"I'm gluten-free so I quit computers and phones."
"I literally have no money."
That's actually good advice. Faithfully un-checking the autopay box every month came in handy for me when Verizon tried to play "customer retention" hardball. As long as you have to explicitly sign every month, you have a bit of control.
Most billers have the option to send the bill directly to my bank, for the ones that don't, then it has to be a fixed amount each month for Fidelity to auto-pay it.
Criminals were tampering with phone lines in junction boxes, using them to make expensive calls.
The real magic happens during the conversation with the sales rep; he asks why I want to cancel, I explain that the cost is high relative to the quality. He offers me more cost effective package, I explained that I had that package in the past and that the slow incremental increases in cost had turned me off them as a company. He goes on to say: "well, that is your fault, I'd never set up auto pay for a service" and continues to make the case that the convenience function of auto pay is actually an agreement with Comcast to increment the cost of my service without my explicit agreement to paying more.
Wow. Just wow.
Still, that's nothing compared to the calls I had with BT after someone hijacked my landline and placed hundreds of GBP worth of calls to Nigeria... but that is another tale for another HN story.