Where in the World is Comcast's Rick Germano?

Good morning, Blogvillers and Avid Readers! In my June 15, 2012 blog, Comcast’s Comcastic Unadvertised Features, I talked about the frequent overbillings and subpar customer service that I have experienced as a Comcast customer. I explained that I wanted the opportunity to speak with the Senior Vice President of Customer Operations, Rick Germano.

On the day I posted my blog, a comment was posted by Mark Casem from Comcast’s National Customer Operations. I wonder if Mark is related to the famous radio personality Casey Casem of the Countdown? Oops, I think I just dated myself! Ah, who cares? I loved Casey Casem’s Countdown! Sorry, I digressed! Mark Casem of Comcast’s National Customer Operations gave an e-mail address, we_can_help@cable.comcast.com, and asked me to send him contact information. I did as Mr. Casem asked on June 15, 2012.

Good evening. In response to your comment on my blog, Are You Kidding Me? at http://enigma-areyoukiddingme.blogspot.com/2012/06/comcasts-comcastic-unadvertised.html#comment-form, I can be reached to arrange an appointment with Rick Germano at (xxx)xxx-xxxx.

When I looked for a response the following morning, there wasn’t one. I looked at my original email and realized the address I emailed showed as we_can_help@comcast.net. I assumed that I had entered the wrong e-mail address, so I copy/pasted my message into a new e-mail and copy/pasted the email address in Mark Casem’s comment in my blog into the address line. When I hit “send” the email address I copy/pasted again showed as we_can_help@comcast.net. I realized that I had not made an error. I also wondered why Mark Casem would post his e-mail address as we_can_help@cable.comcast.com when it is then converted by the email system to we_can_help@comcast.net. While I realize that it does not make a big difference, it is certainly in keeping with the overbillings and inconsistent, inept customer service that I’ve experienced.

As of June 25, 2012, I received no further communication from Mark Casem. I guess his interest in resolving my concerns did not extend beyond a post making a gratuitous statement of interest on a public blog. Again, this behavior is consistent with generally slipshod, and often rude, customer service practices I’ve experienced as a victim – oooops, I mean customer – of Comcast.

However, I tend to be a bit tenacious when I find that a disservice is being done to the general public. Some have even said I’m a pitbull! I personally prefer the phrasing used by a colleague who wrote a letter of reference for me, “amicably aggressive”, but I’ll accept pitbull! I sent another e-mail to Mark Casem of the magically converting e-mail address.

Good morning, Mark,


On June 15, 2012, you posted a comment on my blog at http://enigma-areyoukiddingme.blogspot.com/2012/06/comcasts-comcastic-unadvertised.html#comment-form asking that I email you my contact information and a link to the blog. Nine days have passed since I emailed you the requested information and I have not heard from anyone at Comcast. I am beginning to believe that you have no intention of contacting me. I will wait another 48 hours before proceeding with additional activism about the lack of customer service and accountability at Comcast. I hope that you will abide by your blog comment and contact me before then.

Mark Casem still did not deign to respond. Nor was I provided any opportunity to speak with Rick Germano. However I did receive a call from Rajen “Raj” Joshi, an Executive Support Analyst at the Voorhees Call Center. Raj was one of the few professional customer support personnel to whom I’ve spoken at Comcast.

I explained to Raj that I have had to make multiple calls to Comcast, which take hours to complete, to correct Comcast's billing errors almost every month over the past two years. I also explained to Raj that, having become exhausted by being forced to constantly rectify Comcast’s overbillings, I demanded that I be sent a written rate agreement. After having been told in the past that Comcast did not issue written rate agreements, I finally got an Executive Support Analyst to agree to provide the same protection that most vendors willingly provide to customers. I received that written agreement by email on May 30, 2012 and a few days later via the U.S. Postal Service.

Dear Ms. Daly,

Please be advised the Triple Play Bundle rate $119.99 on your account expires on 2/15/2013. This rate will increase by $15.00 once the promotion ends.
Due to previous conversations with our office advising the above rate will last until 4/2013. We have applied a $15.00 per month credit to the account for 1 year that will insure you will still have the $119.99 rate until 4/2013.
Your monthly rate $141.19 with this credit of $15.00 per month is $126.19.
Please do not hesitate to contact me directly at (302) 504-2019 if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Michael Brown
Executive Support Analyst, Freedom Region
302-504-2091

Despite having received this written rate agreement, the following month’s billing contained extra charges! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? I explained to Raj that I spoke with another Comcast employee, Ms. Parks, who told me that the additional fees were to be considered taxes despite a statement on Comcast’s bill related to the “new fee” that I was being charged in excess of the written rate agreement. “The regulatory recovery fee is not a tax or government mandated charge. It defrays regulatory costs such as state universal services, relay services, and certain state/local utility fees.”

Again, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Why are Comcast’s customers “defraying” the costs for Comcast to do business in addition to paying the bill that constituted their original agreements with Comcast? I also have to wonder how Comcast can offer the services for which I'm being charged $119.99 a month to new customers for $89.97 a month. Is it less expensive for Comcast to offer new customers service than it is to offer the same service to long-term customers? Or is Comcast adding "new fees" to long term customer's bills to "defray" the costs of providing service more cheaply to new customers to rope in the new customers before incorrectly billing them and having Ms. Parks yell at them for questioning the overbilling and cost defrayments? Sorry, I digressed again!

Ms. Parks assumed a boorish attitude during our call because I became angered and demanded that Comcast abide by the written rate agreement and not try to find loopholes to permit additional billings not included in the rate agreement. I wonder if Ms. Parks would be angered if a vendor of hers breached a contract? I wonder if Rick Germano would be angered if a contract to which he were a party had been breached? Eventually, after threatening to hang up on me, Ms Parks did agree to issue credit for the “new fee” that she continued to maintain should be considered a tax despite the fact that it isn’t.

Additionally, the $15.00 credit clearly provided each month in accordance with my written rate agreement had not been issued for the current bill – the one showing the “new fee”. The credit had been issued for the prior two month’s bills after the issuance of the prior month’s bill. Therefore, those two month’s credits were reflected on the current bill. Unfortunately, the credit for the current month had not been issued. Ms. Parks  tried to convince me, in an overbearing tone, that one of those previously issued credits applied to the current bill. After her boorish bullying, she did issue the $15.00 credit for the current month…in accordance with the recently issued written rate agreement.

After explaining my trials and tribulations to Raj, including Ms. Parks’ attempts to skirt a written rate agreement, Raj issued full credit for the balance of this month’s bill. Raj also apologized for Ms. Parks’ rather slimy behavior and acknowledged that she should not have argued with me at all in light of the written rate agreement. Ms. Parks' horrific customer service practices, combined with the clear breach of the written rate agreement, cost Comcast over $50.00. Maybe removing personnel who are blatant failures at customer service, like Ms. Parks, would be a more efficient method for Comcast to make money than consistently overbilling customers? Hey, Rick Germano, if we ever get to speak I'll be sure to offer that suggestion!

Raj also assured me that next month’s bill will be correct. I am waiting with bated breath to experience the exceptionally rare event of receiving a correct Comcast bill! Of course, I’ll let you know if that actually occurs!

Despite this partial resolution of the immediate problem, I still have not been given the opportunity to speak to, or meet with, Rick Germano, Senior Vice President of Customer Operations for Comcast. I wonder if Rick Germano would become more accessible if more customers called and requested written rate agreements from Comcast? I wonder if Rick Germano would become more accessible if customers forced compliance with the written rate agreements? I wonder if Rick Germano would be more accessible if more customers had to be given credit on their accounts as a result of poor billing practices and the “customer service” provided by employees of Ms. Parks’ ilk?

Blogvillers and Avid Readers, if your Comcast bill is consistently showing new fees to which you did not initially agree, call Comcast and request a written billing agreement! Fight your way through the layers of customer disservice and Executive Support Analysts until you find one that will issue a written rate agreement. Then hold Comcast to the terms of that written rate agreement! I will continue to demand compliance with the written rate agreement I received and await contact from Rick Germano while I ponder the burning question . . . “Where in the World is Rick Germano”?

Comcast’s Comcastic Unadvertised Features: Overbillings and Incompetent Customer Service into XFinity

Comcast appears to have invested gargantuan amounts of money to advertise the vast array of services and functionality which it provides its customers under its new branding of Xfinity. Yet it seems that Comcast has neglected to advertise two of the features that its customers notice most: (1) fluctuating, inexplicable, consistently increasing bills and (2) careless, inconsistent, untrained, bordering-on-rude customer service. This winning combination should be sufficient to put this Goliath out of business. Sadly, it continues to plod forward.

I have experienced the “unadvertised features” offered by Comcast many times over the past two years. I am consistently overbilled, even if only by $5 to $20 per month. I have begun calling to address the overbillings. I frequently have to make several calls a month to customer service and the executive offices. I receive inconsistent responses. However, if I am persistent enough, I can get the incorrect billing resolved although it requires a huge time investment.

If I am consistently experiencing overbilling, it must be happening to more of the 24 million customers to whom Comcast provides this “unadvertised feature”. Think of it this way, if my overbilling pattern is an indicator of the experience of other Comcast customers, Comcast likely overbills between $120,000,000 and $480,000,000 a month! If even one tenth of those 24 million customers call to argue about the overbilling, Comcast stands to lose between $1.2 million and $4.8 million dollars per month!

Despite the frustration and sense of futility which result from the need to make frequent, repetitive bill correction calls to Comcast, I continue to make the calls. I call and call and call ad infinitum, into Xfinity even!

I also began to research Comcast on the internet. My goal was to find an individual in a position of authority at Comcast with whom I would be able to discuss my growing concerns. I naively believed that major executives of a successful corporation would want customers to be satisfied and would be distressed to learn about the incredible inefficiency, ineffectiveness, and incompetence which appeared to be the standard in the Comcast customer service division.

During my investigation, I learned that Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast, has a salary that is over 2.5 million dollars annually. When coupled with additional benefits, Mr. Roberts earns over 31 million dollars annually. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I realized that it was highly unlikely that Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast, would have the time or inclination to meet with a dissatisfied customer to discuss overbillings by Comcast. It seems possible that a decrease in Comcast’s income derived from overbillings would result in a decrease in Mr. Roberts’ annual income. How could he possibly live on just the money earned from correct billings?! It would seem counterintuitive that Mr. Roberts would wish to, or could afford to, correct the overbillings.

Next I stumbled upon the name Rick Germano. Rick Germano is the Senior Vice President of Customer Operations. There is a little posting on the Comcast website that is credited to Rick Germano (http://www.comcast.com/Corporate/Customers/RickGCustCare.html?SCRedirect=true). In the posting attributed to him, Mr. Germano talks about changes in Comcast that have been introduced since Comcast committed to its customers in 2007 that it would improve. One of changes Mr. Germano discusses is the implementation of the Customer Guarantee. Item 6 on the Customer Guarantee states:

We will offer easy-to-understand packages and provide you with a clear bill.


Our packages are designed to be straightforward. A call or visit to our website makes it easy to find a package that’s right for you. We aim for the same clarity with our bills. You can view your monthly statement and service details anytime by visiting Comcast Customer Central.


http://www.comcast.com/Corporate/Customers/CustomerGuarantee.html?SCRedirect=true


Mr. Germano’s little blurb on the Comcast website, in combination with his provision of the Customer Guarantee information, made me feel confident that Rick Germano was the right person to contact at Comcast to discuss my experiences with the “unadvertised features” of consistent overbilling and incompetent customer service. Mr. Germano even included a link to e-mail him in his little blurb at Send an e-mail to Rick Germano. I was so excited! I e-mailed him immediately! “Here,” I said to myself, “is an upstanding executive who wants to provide truly excellent service to Comcast customers!”

Needless to say, my hopes were decimated. Not only did Mr. Germano not respond to my e-mail after inviting me to write to him but I have spoken to numerous staff members at the executive offices of Comcast (215)665-1700 - including Mr. Germano’s secretary, Jackie - only to be informed that Mr. Germano is not available and will not be available! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

I truly thought that if I politely waded through the quagmire of departments of disinterested, incompetent staff that I would eventually have paid my dues and be given access to the Senior Vice President of Customer Operations, the one, the only, Mr. Rick Germano! Imagine my dejection when I learned that the Senior Vice President of Customer Operations is not, and will never be, available to speak to a customer who has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and not received the guaranteed “easy-to-understand package” and “clear bill” from Comcast! SHAME ON YOU, Mr. Rick Germano!

I was unable to find any reference to the salary paid to Mr. Germano. I would have to assume it is less disgracefully hedonistic than Brian Roberts’ salary or someone would have written an article about it but it must be substantially more than the rank and file salaries since Rick Germano has earned a place among the cable executives whose photos are displayed at http://www.comcast.com/corporate/about/ pressroom/corporateoverview/cableexecutives/cableexecutives.html?SCRedirect=true.

Here is Rick Germano

I’m hoping that Mr. Germano, or one of his rank and file employees, stumbles across this blog. Maybe finding this blog will prompt the amazing purveyor of the Comcast Customer Guarantee to deign to make an appointment to speak with me by phone or in person. I’ll give Mr. Germano a few days to “do the right thing” before I begin sharing my recent Comcastic experiences with other members of the public.

I can only imagine the number of hours that poor Mr. Germano and his staff have to work to convince the portion of those 24 million customers that call to complain about overbillings that Comcast has a valid reason for unilaterally changing an agreed price without notice! It can’t be easy for poor Mr. Germano and his minions to convince 2.4 million customers to overpay $1.2 million to $4.8 million dollars a month. If Mr. Germano and his customer service folks can’t defend those overbillings and convince Comcast customers that they are receiving Comcastic service, poor Mr. Roberts might not be able to continue to rape (I mean reap) 31 million benefits from 24 million Comcast customers. It wouldn’t be very nice of Comcast’s customers to expect Mr. Robert’s to live with less than a princely income generated by overbillings, now would it?

I realize that there are numerous blogs and forums that exist simply to give Comcast’s mistreated, overbilled, underserved customers an arena in which to voice their rage against this Goliath and share their miseries with other victims. I want this blog to be different. I want this blog to serve as an olive branch between Comcast and its customers. I want this blog to begin the process of enabling customers to be involved in discussion with executives capable of achieving real change. I can only imagine the number of outraged customers that are desperate to speak to someone in authority at Comcast.

So, in this blog, I’ll give poor overburdened Mr. Germano (doesn’t he just look like a nice guy?) the opportunity to leave me contact information on the blog that will enable me to schedule an appointment with him by phone or in person. I’d rather speak to him than begin sharing my Comcast stories with other customers (read victims), spewing vile wrath at Comcast all over this cozy little blog, and reaching out to other resources and agencies to force Comcast to deliver on the Comcast Customer Guarantee.

Can’t wait to hear from you, Rick!