Comcast Customer Gets Bill Addressed to 'A--hole'

This story likely won't do much to raise Comcast's popularity—or lack thereof. A Washington state woman on Tuesday reached out to consumer advocate Christopher Elliott with a problem. She needed to change the name on her Comcast bill, and after phone calls and an in-person visit to a Comcast location, remained unsuccessful. The bill continued to read: "A--hole Brown." Yes, you read that right. The bill had previously been addressed to "Ricardo Brown" (her husband's name) but was apparently changed by a Comcast employee. Brown suspects the alteration occurred after she called to cancel her cable services. Wired points out that Comcast makes it "frighteningly difficult" to ax services, and Brown was indeed redirected to a retention specialist during her call. She says she was "never rude," but was firm: She wanted to pay the $60 termination fee and pare down her services.

Elliott dove in, first verifying with Comcast that the bill hadn't been altered by Brown and did indeed contain the unfortunate first name. Verification made. (Wired verified the story as well.) A regional VP of communications then called Elliott to express that the company has "zero tolerance for this type of disrespectful behavior"; a Comcast director vowed to fire the offending employee. The company's initial offer to Brown: waiving that $60 fee. Brown expressed to Elliott that she thought she deserved more, saying, "I am requesting everything back I paid Comcast for doing this to me"—everything meaning two years' worth of bills. Yesterday afternoon, Comcast agreed to that. (This remains perhaps the most memorable Comcast customer horror story.)