A customer of mine signed a “Business Service Order Agreement” with Comcast and in the process of trying to get him out of a three year contract and into a two year contract I learned a lot about Comcast and their processes.
When a business salesman from Comcast speaks with a prospect he will examine his current offers and come up with a suggestion. The document that has the current regional list of Comcast Business Packages is marked that it is “not to be distributed to the general public or shared with customers”. The reason for this is simple. The Comcast salesman has an advantage if the customer is kept in the dark about available discounts or terms of service. I asked several Retention Agents how my customer was to know that Comcast offers 12, 24 and 36 month terms. I also asked how the customer was to know about the available offers. I was told that it is the responsibility of the customer to read the contract, to read multiple documents that are referenced by URL links in the contract and to go to Comcast’s website and surf for current offers. Both the Retention Agents and the Billing Agents told me they could not explain the Comcast Business Packages and how they worked. I was told in several instances that it is the customer’s responsibility to figure out the obligations of the contract and that once you sign it you are stuck with no way out. There is a 30 day satisfaction clause but that only applies to new contracts. I find this unreasonable because even if you read all of the information in the contract, referenced documents and the Comcast website the list of available packages is not available and there is no documentation available as to how the process would work if you move or chose to add another product. I believe that Comcast has enabled their salesmen to maximize terms and prices because that is how they maximize Comcast revenue. It is in the salesman’s interest because longer terms and higher prices increase his commission.
Since my customer was moving to another office the Comcast move process was critical. There is no documentation for this process. There is documentation for what happens if a customer terminates a contract. Whatever services a customer has when they terminate will result in them paying 75% of the remaining revenue of the contract. I think even Comcast thought it was harsh to make customers pay the 75% if they moved to a new location and contracted for Comcast services. In this instance they work on a revenue replacement model. If you sign a three year deal and move your office after a year then you must sign a comparable deal for a minimum of two years. My customer was offered a three year deal even though his Comcast Business Package allowed a two year contract. If you have one year and a month remaining you will have to sign a two year contract. It turns out that you are able to turn down the services on your contract as long as they have no effect on the Comcast Business Package you have received. For instance if you are contracted for three phone lines you could turn that down to one phone line if your package allowed. It is clear you should turn down your services as far as you can if you are going to terminate your contract. The critical item on the contract is the block of text below the “Comcast Business Services” header on the first page of the Business Service Order Agreement. The voice, internet and TV services are listed and an “X” is next to the items that you are under contract for. I was told another amazing thing. If you are under a two year contract and decide six months in that you want to add TV to your phone and internet package, Comcast will have you sign a new two year agreement listing the selection of TV along with phone and internet. In this way they can hold you liable for 75% of the remaining TV revenue if you terminate the contract.
I now realize that signing Comcast Business Order Agreements is very dangerous. If you would like my help feel free to contact me.