California Bill Would Let Customers Cancel Comcast With One Click

Photo | Jeff Fusco

A California legislator has introduced a bill that would let Comcast customers quickly and easily cancel their service online.

The proposal is fallout from the notorious 2014 incident in which a Comcast “customer retention” representative hassled Ryan Block, a former tech journalist, who was trying to have his Internet service disconnected. The incident proved a final straw of sorts for the Philadelphia-based company, which months later created a “vice president for customer service” position and began an ongoing effort to improve its frankly lousy reputation on that front.

But Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) doesn’t want to leave the issue to Comcast to resolve. His proposal would let customers who sign up for a service online also cancel the service the same way.

“AB 2867 allows Californians to conveniently unsubscribe from a service with a simple click of the mouse,” he said in a press release that cited the Block incident. “It just makes sense, that if you are able to sign up for a service online, you should also be able to cancel it the same way.”

TechCrunch reports Block’s reaction: “Two years ago my wife and I called to cancel our service, and as is usually the case, that call was pretty unpleasant. This is why we’re so excited by Assemblyman Gatto’s bill, which would finally allow most customers to be able to cancel their service online, without having to talk to someone whose job is specifically to prevent you from canceling.”