Comcast recently stole my stuff. When I called them about it, I was told that I had to send them a fax regarding the issue. Here's my fax:
TO: ER Equipment Research
I called Comcast to cancel my service in late August. I was moving from Illinois to Ohio. I was told that Comcast would send me a box with pre-paid return shipping to return my equipment to my new address in Ohio. I brought my Comcast equipment with me to Ohio.
Because of the nature of my move, I left some things in my Illinois apartment and a family member was to move those items from Illinois to Ohio in late September. On September 13, Comcast stopped by my apartment in Ohio to pick up Comcast equipment, although Comcast had already been informed that I had the equipment with me and it was no longer at my original address. When at my apartment, Comcast demanded that my landlady let them in, and, when they did not find the cable boxes, they took my personal modem and router. My modem and router were my personal equipment; I did not rent them from Comcast. Comcast was not authorized to take this equipment. Nothing on the equipment indicated that this equipment belonged to Comcast. They left the receipt (attached) in my apartment.
I did not know this had happened, and I received a phone call from Comcast asking where my equipment was. I told Comcast that it was exactly where I had said it was – with me, at my new address in Ohio. The representative I spoke with confirmed that Comcast had my new address in Ohio (in fact, she read it to me over the phone) and said that she would ensure that the return boxes would be sent to my new Ohio address.
On Saturday, September 20, my family member went to pack up the rest of my Illinois apartment and move it to Ohio. When there, the fact that Comcast stole my personal modem and router was discovered and I opened this ticket.
I have the original box for the modem; it is a Motorola SURFboard eXtreme Cable Modem, Model SB6121, serial number 575319-019-00. I do not have the original box for the router, so I do not know its details. It was a Netgear router. The Comcast representative who stole my items wrote down nonsensical serial numbers on the collection receipt. It appears that my signature was actually forged on the field collection receipt. [Receipt attached. “Julie” is signed awkwardly, not my handwriting.]
Because of the timing of finding out about the theft and the fact that my husband works from home, I had to purchase a new modem and router last-minute. I would like to be fully reimbursed. Please let me know what additional documentation you need, and if it’s possible to send it to you in a less archaic manner than fax.
Just before I sent the fax, I got a call from Comcast, again asking where the Comcast cable equipment was. I explained to them that the equipment is with me, in Ohio, awaiting the postage-paid boxes for them to send to me. I was told that it would be impossible to send me the boxes because they cannot send anything to an address that is not on my account, so the boxes can only be sent to my Illinois address.
"So why did two previous representatives say it would be no problem to send me the boxes in Ohio?"
"I don't know; they were wrong. Can you return the equipment to a location in Illinois?"
"Well, we can only send things to the address where you had service, so you will have to pay to return our equipment."
"Look - if I had known this would be a problem, I would've returned the equipment in a different way. But I was told twice - by people who somehow had my Ohio address on their computer screens - that they would be able to send me the return boxes. There is no way I am going to pay to mail this equipment back."
After some long discussion, I was told that I could have my return shipping costs, if documented, refunded along with the refund check I'm already owed for the half-month of service that I cancelled.
"And how are you going to send me the refund check? Doesn't that require my Ohio address? If you can send me a refund check, why can't you send me the boxes?"
"Oh, we send the refund check to your service address. You need to have mail forwarding turned on to receive it."
"And you trust mail forwarding? Do you know how many things get lost in mail forwarding? I've moved a lot; mail forwarding is not exactly a trustworthy way of sending checks. Also, are you going to reimburse me for my time going to the post office and purchasing boxes to return your equipment?"
"We can refund the cost of shipping..."
Long story short, Comcast can steal my equipment and in order for me to complain, I have a 48-hour window to send them a fax and they might be able to find my stolen property in their warehouse. Then they'll mail my stolen personal property to an address where I no longer live and expect mail forwarding to pass it along to me. In the meantime, I will have re-purchased the items because I needed them the day that I found out about the stolen equipment.
Simultaneously, Comcast can harass me about the equipment that I'm "stealing" from them, even though I've explicitly told them how to retrieve it and even though I was told at least twice that it would be possible for me to return it at no cost or time to me.
I understand that working at a call center is a thankless job, and the people I've spoken with on the phone are quite limited in what they can do. But is there no way for me to talk with someone who can actually resolve my issue? Who can actually reimburse me for all the time I've spent this past weekend on the phone, at BestBuy, and now time I will spend trying to mail these stupid cable boxes?
