That's what happened to Kirk — and he's refusing to pay up, so Comcast has been harassing him for months. Finally, they stopped letting him use OnDemand, so Kirk canceled.
The story began when the Fire Department was summoned to Kirk's house at 5:30 AM because his cable box had caught fire. He says he never received an apology from Comcast, or any reassurance that the flaming cable box would be investigated. What he did get is a bill for $88 for destroyed equipment.
From The Daily Journal:
What was — and is — of concern to Comcast is the apparent loss of a piece of their equipment, which they billed me for, as though I were responsible for its untimely end! For several months, despite repeated telephone calls explaining why I cannot return their equipment (each of which ends nowhere and during each of which they thank me for choosing Comcast!), the $88 for their lost equipment has remained on my monthly statement along with late fees.
To add insult to injury, I wrote a letter of complaint to the corporate head office in September and, to date, have not received a response to my letter, much less an apology or any kind of guarantee that they will absorb the cost of their faulty equipment.
To be fair, I have paid the full amount of my service each month — less the $88 — which amounts to several hundred dollars, and always on time. In fact, I have been a good customer for almost eight years, and yet Comcast was willing to lose a customer who spends thousands of dollars each year on their services for an $88 piece of equipment that could have killed me in my sleep.
We asked Comcast if they had a comment about the incident, since Mr. Wisemayer didn't seem to be having much luck contacting them. Here's what they told us:
We spoke to Mr. Wisemayer this morning and apologized for his experience with our service. Our team is looking into these events and will work with Mr. Wisemayer to restore his service to his satisfaction.
If you're having trouble successfully communicating with Comcast, you should contact their team of powerful internet ninjas. They can be found at Twitter.
Burned up over cable company response [Daily Journal](Thanks, Mike!)
(Photo: Getty)
I'm sure they are disputing it because they haven't been provided with any documents stating that their equipment (the cable box) was the actual cause of the fire.
]]>Talk about "reality TV!"
]]>1000s of dollars a year??? for entertainment mostly? good grief!
]]>do it do it do it do it
I did it a few months ago and never looked back. Sure, I miss Discovery Channel, but just about everything else is available online: Fox, ABC, CBS etc all list their shows online, but better: Hulu.com (easier to navigate player puts them up all in one place). Add Netflix for under 20 a month and my 80$ a month savings can buy season dvds of Discovery if I need them.
Also, running a cable to the HDTV from the PC, plus wireless mouse/keyboard = happy Jenna again.
]]>pay the $88 in pennies!!!! make them count thouse precious 88 dollars in pennies!!
]]>The small box didn't get hot. The large SD box got warm, and the DVR gets ridiculously hot sometimes. It's a pile of crap, and now I have to worry that it's going to be a flaming pile of crap...
]]>I had fairly good experience with the store dweebs, but if the guys on the phone (2 different calls) have no clue there's a problem with WPA on a $400 device thats main selling point is WIFI - then Apple's not really impressing me a whole lot with their C.S. either.
]]>If uncontrolled, spontaneous fires in your house caused by a simple cable box are "minor" to you, I hope to god you live alone and far away from other human beings.
]]>I'm thinking an EECB to the ComCast Execs is sounding really good about this time.
]]>comcastcares @SlantLinx I am happy to report that the Customer is happy today. We are investigating the experience
That's funny, because as I recall he is no longer a 'customer'. Silly Comcast.
]]>Most likely there are at least two more appropriate legal remedies. The first is basically what you suggest except there is no need to deduct the damages that are covered by the insurance policy - the insurance company would most likely even be required to pay for the lawyer to take the case (however given the small amount involved all parties would be better served by Comcast and the insurance company coming to an agreement ). The second is a standard products liability against the manufacturer of the cable box and everyone in the chain of distribution (ie comcast) with the additional threat of it being certified as a class action.
]]>I once had to trade a regular box for a HD box and they told me that I would be charged fifteen dollars for the guy to bring it to the house (even though they were going to charge me an extra ten bucks a month for the equipment and the "HD upgrade"). My local office is ten minutes away, so I decided to just take it in myself to buck their system and get around paying the fee. They charged me three dollars and called it an "administrative charge" or something like that. To walk in thier crappy office with horrible customer service!
]]>But are they saying you (or your insurance) if Comca$t's box self destructs and STARTS the fire?
]]>@Franklin Comes Alive!: the internet sucks, only reason I have cable now is because its bundled for like 25 more with who I got now.
]]>Satellite, yo!
]]>I don't think it's unreasonable for a company to have 1 or 2 posts on here; even Apple, well known for its quality CS, ends up here every once in a while (though that may be because they're the hot company these days..). However, the amount of posts due to Comcast failures - they even got their own tag - is fucking ridiculous. They really need to step it up or GTFO.
I also get the impression that Comcast is the type of company that will fail miserably and have to ask for a bailout. Maybe that's just because of the massive amount of failure surrounding it like a halo of doom.
There is a distinction between a cable box that is destroyed in a house fire, and a cable box that itself catches on fire.
I would argue the policy quoted only covers the first situation, not the second.
]]>Don't most home owner's insurance policies carry a high deductible, like $500-1000 dollars? In other words, Is Comcast yet again being a douche? The answer, at 11!
Why wait 'til 11? We all know the answer...
YES!!!
]]>Yep. I would happen to be one of those people. I'm cancelling my service with them next week. . . . I'm sick of being told different things by different techs when the same issue persists for months. @Jabronimus:
]]>They wanted their cable boxes back. And if the boxes were destroyed, they wanted to be paid for them.
Direct TV did the same thing.
Cite: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ike/galveston/6089134.html
Cecil
]]>@Sockatume:
Redundant" talking about failure of customer service in a Comcast post...
That being said, I cannot believe Comcast would not just forgive the equipment charge, especially when it never should have been there in the first place. One would think that would be an acceptable "favor". IMO, comcast should gift the OP free upgrades of all equipment on the account and a service boost (If that's even possible, for what he's paying monthly).
]]>@RurouniX: Usually its just that. The box would overheat, and it would melt down and cease to function. Cable boxes are typically designed for ventilation and storage in some type of closed environment. I have my cable box right under my DVD player. Never has given me problems.
But then again, it could be faulty wiring in the homeowners house that could cause such a thing.
]]>Most Comcast boxes are Motorola.
]]>Combust Communications - Worst Company in America!
]]>Its pretty bad I declined a job off because all they had in the area was Comcast and Time Warner.
]]>Comcast should just be friggin' reading here instead of dicking around on Twitter.
]]>@zentex: blessed be!
]]>Why isn't the OP's insurance company already charging Comcast for the damages?
The OP's claim to the insurance company should include the $88.00 fee (which he should pay) then be reimbursed by insurance.
He should then demand his deductible and other non-covered incidentals directly from Comcast, and use small claims if neccesary.
]]>Why the hell should people have to rely on twitter to get some decent customer service out of these assholes? Empower the front line CSRs to do simple, common sense shit like this and your customer will be much happier!
How many of comcasts customers know that they can escalate issues like this? Probably the vasdt majority. How many cancel service because they didn't know? I'm sure it's 10s of thousands.
Comcast should be kissing his ass to be sure he doesn't sue.
I retract all of this if the customer had his box set up so that the vents were not clear (putting another piece of equipment on top of it, etc.) causing the device to overheat and thereby starting the fire.
]]>But seriously. Cancel. Then send them a certified letter that you will not be paying for their equipment that started on fire through no fault of your own. And should they try to collect such funds, via collections or any other method that affects your credit, you will pursue your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
IANAL
]]>Pay the $88 dollar bill.
Then sue comcast for for installing dangerous equipment. Include that $88 payment as one of the many items you are suing for.
]]>This is obviously a design flaw. It is pretty clear that this is inevitably going to happen. The boxes should be better designed to not overheat and have better ways of ventilation. They clearly don't want to use fans cause of the noise in these boxes, this instead makes them get hot.
Only company I have seen make cable boxes seems to be Scientific Atlanta. It is sad that there isn't an actual better product out to replace these, overheating, buggy, and slow boxes.
]]>But the other consideration I've observed personally is that people tend to cram their cable box in small unventilated entertainment centers. Or they stack "crap" on top of the cable boxes. This could easily cause overheating. But even then this could be seen as a design flaw...the said cramming and stacking just exacerbated the already poor design.
]]>New Tag Line: 'The new and improved comcast cable boxes.......Powered By Sony!'
]]>I certainly wish Kirk good luck, and I hope that Comcast bends (and breaks) this policy for you.
]]>We're looking into these events, and take them very seriously.
]]>Dear God,
Thank you so much for allowing me to live in an area where I do not need to rely on Comcast for my TV and internet service.
Amen
]]>