(Newswire.net — February 16, 2015) — Albuquerque, N.M. – A 79-year-old New Mexico woman accidentally swapped her $235 rent check with $20 cable services check and sent the cable operator the rent check which the operator immediately cashed in. When she realized the mistake, she contacted Comcast to ask her money back, however, they refused to do so, saying she now has credit in her account.
“You’re stealing from an old woman like me?” grandma said to Comcast customer service operator.
Realizing she would not get her money back, she turned to media. KRQE-TV reported the old woman accidentally put her $235 rent check inside the same envelope that she sends her $20 check to Comcast for her cable bill.
Normally, the company that was given the wrong check, addressed to another payee, will notify the customer, but not Comcast. Their automated system allows them to cash every valid check they get their hands on, no matter to whom is check addressed. Further more, by policy, they will not give money back, but rather ust consider any overages as advance payments.
According to KRQE-TV, 79-year-old Wilson from Albuquerque, said to Comcast “How dare you! You didn’t even call.” Wilson who lives on Social Security claims she really need that money.
“Unfortunately, this situation was not handled appropriately. I assure you, this is not how we train our representatives to handle these situations and we are working closely with the vendor to further educate and coach the representative to avoid this from happening in the future,” a Comcast spokesperson told KRQE.
In the end, Comcast agreed to give the grandma her money but the question is why she needed to escalate this issue to the local media, and how many cases there are of Comcast treating their customers in this manner that do not reach the public.
The company has recent struggled with bad publicity. Newswire recently reported a story where Comcast customer representatives changed names on customer bills to “A**hole” and “Super B***h.”
The company’s own senior vice president of customer service, Charlie Herrin, has pleaded with his staff to show customers respect.