There are nightmare Comcast customer service stories and then there’s the one that has gone viral this week involving a man named Conal.
Conal told his story to the Consumerist on Monday. His problem started out as most customer service issues with Comcast do: overcharging. In early 2013, he signed up for service under a nine-month promotional offer. However, he began getting charged for set-top boxes he never activated and his last name was supposedly misspelled by someone in Comcast’s billing department, so he isn’t getting his bills.
In May 2013, he was told by a customer service rep that everything was be fixed, but it only got worse. Suddenly, the bill jumped by $20 a month and he was charged an extra $7 twice for another modem he didn’t have.
Then, in October 2013, Conal decided he’d had enough and wanted to cancel his Comcast subscription. He was told that he would get free DVR service and The Movie Channel for three months if he stayed on. So, he did... and it. Just. Got. Worse.
Conal, who is an accountant at a prestigious firm, presented Comcast with a spreadsheet, explaining all the insane charges. He returned the Comcast equipment. Comcast still didn’t think there was something wrong.
On Feb. 6, 2014, Conal decided to go directly to Comcast’s Controller and spoke with another person who convinced him that another person could solve his issues over the phone. That didn’t happen, so he called the Controller back. On the second call, he said that Comcast’s billing and accounting problems should be investigated by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
And this is where it gets ugly. So, it turns out that Comcast actually does business with the accounting firm Conal works at. A person at Comcast called the firm about him and he was then fired. Conal says he didn’t tell Comcast who he worked for, but Comcast claims he tried to use his position during the ordeal.
Ars Technica reports that PriceWaterhouseCoopers sent a statement, confirming that Conal O’Rourke worked for them. He was fired due to a violation of “ethical standards and practices, applicable to all of our people.” The statement continued, “The firm has explicit policies regarding employee conduct, we train our people in those policies, and we enforce them. Mr. O’Rourke’s violation of these policies was the sole reason for his termination."
Conal has yet to file a lawsuit, but is considering it.