It took one last pain-filled half-hour on the phone with some poor soul in a third-world country (who kept calling me “Sir John,” and thanking me repeatedly), but today I cancelled the last of our services with Comcast, a.k.a. Xfinity. We had been on their treadmill for 30 years – a “diamond” customer, they kept telling me – but they treated us so badly year after year that eventually the annoyance overcame the inertia.
Our bill recently increased from $250 to nearly $320 over just three months. There was a stealth increase every year, but you could soften it if you were willing to undergo an hour or so negotiating with “So, Mr. John, what channels do you watch?”
The suits at NBC Universal, which owns Comcast, obviously couldn’t care less. They’re sucking in new customers with deals, but we old folks in the “diamond” lane are just a gravy train.
I’m looking at one last trip to return the last of their equipment, and then it’s farewell to those birds. It feels so good to be done dealing with them. Our new providers will eventually get on my nerves, I’m sure, but they will have to put on quite a show to get me as fed-up as Comcast did.
Fortunately, some readers here have steered me to some cheaper, and so far better, options. Thanks to those readers for the good advice. Switching everything took some time, but there was no “Sir John” absurdity. And not counting the time, I’m well over $100 a month to the good.