Comcast Bill Changes Customer Name to “A–hole”

Comcast prides itself on innovation, but figuring out new and exciting ways to insult customers probably isn’t what the company had in mind.

Nonetheless: The Brown family in Washington State recently received its first bill since trying to cancel the cable portion of their Comcast account — the bill was addressed to “Asshole Brown.”

The bill had previously been directed to Ricardo Brown.

The blog BoardingArea reports on its conversation with Lisa Brown, Ricardo’s wife:

I asked Brown why a Comcast employee might want to change Ricardo’s name to Asshole.

“I am shocked,” she told me. She explained that her family was having financial difficulties and needed to reduce their cable bill. She’d called Comcast to cancel the cable portion of her account, for which she had to pay a $60 fee. Instead of complying immediately, a representative escalated her call to a retention specialist, who tried to persuade her to keep the cable service and sign a new two-year contract.

“I was never rude,” she says. “It could have been that person was upset because I didn’t take the offer.”

Ars Technica adds: “Comcast confirmed to Ars that it has apologized to the customer and that the company is looking into technology solutions to prevent future problems of this nature. Comcast is also revisiting the training it provides to its representatives to make sure that customers are treated with respect, a company spokesperson told us.”

New training procedure for Comcast representatives: “Guys? Never call a customer an asshole. And if you do never put it in writing.” But that would seem to go without saying, wouldn’t it?

On the other hand, you almost have to feel sorry for Comcast. They’re trying to rebuild their reputation for customer service — and all it takes is one “a-hole” a continent away to ruin everything.