I work for a struggling, underfunded non-profit agency providing residential support to disabled adults.
Recently the agency decided to start bundling to save cost; we needed an Internet connection at the company’s 8 residential homes and agency headquarters. I was tasked with finding the best bang-for-your-buck service.
Having been a fairly loyal Comcast customer, I called them first. After jumping through several flaming hoops with their residential sales department to figure out why the neighbors could get phone service but we couldn’t – or even get an estimate of the costs involved in adding phone and Internet to our existing cable service – I finally got someone in the commercial sales department.
This rather burnt sounding man then informs me that the agency is not currently eligible for phone service (not offered to businesses in my area yet), adding that we can bundle cable and Internet for the inhumane cost of $180.00 monthly per location – or almost 4 times what we currently pay for basic cable.
In explaining this, the man adds that the agency’s group homes – which are all literally houses like most middle-class Americans live in – are listed as “commercial dwellings” in their system and, therefore, residential service through Comcast is not and never will be available.
I tried to explain that we were already receiving residential phone service through Qwest at a discount because our locations are houses in the community. I even explained that other agencies in the area doing the same work are getting the residential rate through Comcast. Finally, I reminded the agitated sales rep that Comcast would be passing the extra cost onto the tax payers who fund our organization. None of this made a difference.
That’s why, to Comcast, community is only a word.