Ron Kowalski depends a lot on the internet. Widowed two years ago, he keeps in contact with friends from across the country. Kowalski says he also watches a lot of TV. He switched to DirecTV in August, but for a short time last year, he had been a Comcast customer and had signed up for Xfinity’s Triple Play.
“That would be cable TV, the phone, and the internet,” said Kowalski.
He says the system was installed on July 21, 2015. The technician had just returned to the shop when Kowalski noticed trouble with the setup.
“I lost the phone and the internet and it turned out the modem dropped out,” he said.
Kowalski has caller ID with his satellite service. He had the same service with Comcast.
“I noticed the caller ID wasn’t working on the TV screen. Again, I had to call Comcast,” Kowalski said. “The next thing, I couldn’t get the caller log from the phone. Again, I called.”
Kowalski said he was getting fed up with the continuous problems when he remembered the warranty offered by Comcast.
“It states in there, 30-day money back guarantee on on TV, internet, voice home services,” he said.
So, he returned everything to the Comcast office, nine days after it was installed.
“I felt confident when the woman in the Friendsville office told me there would be no charge,” Kowalski said.
However, within two weeks of returning the electronics, he received a surprise – a bill for $405.77, which he protested. Kowalski saved the receipt showing he had returned the equipment to Comcast’s office on July 29. He says a service representative told him not to worry about the invoice.
“It’s in error, their computers were still down, that she would take care of it. She made of copy of the bill and that I could forget about it,” he said.
Just when he thought his worries were over, a collection notice arrived in mid-September ordering Kowalski to pay $165 for an outstanding bill to Comcast. He fired off another letter including all the material he had accumulated. The case still wasn’t over. In early June of this year, he received a notice from another collection agency for the same amount.
“It has been very, very troublesome. I have heart disease. I want them to resolve the problem and I’m requesting them to pay for my postage that I’ve incurred for no reason at all,” he said.
When Kowalski visited the Friendsville office in early July, a service representative noticed WATE 6 On Your Side’s camera shooting video of him going inside. Within an hour, the company representative from the corporate office called WATE 6 On Your Side.
We sent Comcast all the information Kowalksi had compiled and explained the issue. Not long afterwards, he got a call.
“She said it was a computer changeover and my account had a new number, so it was a slip up,” Kowalski said.
Kowalski was told the company is trying to improve its customer service experience and apologized for the trouble he gone through.
A spokesperson for Comcast said the company is sending a letter to both collection agencies saying an error was made by Comcast and that Kowalski is not responsible for any payment. Comcast says it expects the process to take four to six weeks to complete.
Kowalski was also told by Comcast that the three credit reporting agencies would be contacted regarding the error so his credit will be cleared. Comcast said it’s in the process of expanding its customer service center and that it’s trying to get back to the basics of customer service.
Kowalski said he spent a lot of money out of his own pocket defending the faulty claim and he may even get a refund for those expenses.