People are surprised when I tell them that my family doesn’t have cable television. In fact, we haven’t had cable or satellite tv for more than 15 years; and we really don’t miss it. A mixture of broadcast television, Netflix and Hulu Plus suits us just fine, and the money we save is enough for two Sirius radio subscriptions and a nice getaway vacation each year.  If I was ever tempted to go back to Comcast, this recording would surely warn me off. An in this recording, Ryan Block, an AOL employee recorded a Comcast employee’s efforts to get him to not cancel service.  (I find that ironic, because years ago, I wasted hours of my life trying to get AOL to cancel my subscription.)

 If you are trying to cancel a cell phone contract, a cable tv contract, or a contract for satellite radio or satellite TV, go ahead and make one call, but set a strict time limit on it.  When the person tells you that they are recording the contract for quality purposes, you should tell them, “what a coincidence, so am I.” Actually record the conversation if you can.  Don’t let them keep you on the phone for a long time.  Ask the representative for a written address to send your cancellation complaint. Ask the representative for his or her name and employee number, then hang up and send your cancellation demand in writing. Follow up with a complaint to the FTC, the FCC, the BBB and your state’s attorney general.  If the representative won’t give you the address, do a google search, put the name of the company in the Google box with “address for cancellation” or “executive disputes”; and you will almost always come up with a good address.