There are few Comcast customer service calls that go well. But there are probably even fewer—we hope, anyway—that go this bad. Comcast customer Ryan Block had recently called up Comcast's customer service line to cancel his service, which is simple enough. Just not for the customer service rep Block reach on Comcast's end. We drop in at about 10 minutes into the call, according to Block description, and Comcast's rep is in full-breakdown mode. All of it, it seems, began with the question "Why is it that you don't want faster speed? Help me understand why you don't want faster internet." It is, in effect, the telecommunications version of the clingy ex-boyfriend, just begging you to not leave and make it all better. Block, for his part, remained steadfast. There are few Comcast customer service calls that go well. But there are probably even fewer—we hope, anyway—that go this bad. Comcast customer Ryan Block had recently called up Comcast's customer service line to cancel his service, which is simple enough. Just not for the customer service rep Block reach on Comcast's end. We drop in at about 10 minutes into the call, according to Block description, and Comcast's rep is in full-breakdown mode. All of it, it seems, began with the question "Why is it that you don't want faster speed? Help me understand why you don't want faster internet." It is, in effect, the telecommunications version of the clingy ex-boyfriend, just begging you to not leave and make it all better. Block, for his part, remained steadfast. Have you experienced poor customer service from Comcast? He writes on Soundcloud: The representative (name redacted) continued aggressively repeating his questions, despite the answers given, to the point where my wife became so visibly upset she handed me the phone. ... This recording picks up roughly 10 minutes into the call, whereby she and I have already played along and given a myriad of reasons and explanations as to why we are canceling (which is why I simply stopped answering the rep's repeated question — it was clear the only sufficient answer was "Okay, please don't disconnect our service after all.") Ultimately, Block perseveres through the Comcast rep's fusillade of questions to emerge victorious, canceling his service to switch over to Astound. With any luck, his new provider will be more sensitive to his needs.

• published: 15 Jul 2014
• views: 211