5 ms·

My mom and dad’s house might explode, but Comcast wants its cable box back

69 points by wheelerwj 14y ago

JeremyBanks 14y ago
There's a follow-up by The Consumerist. Once they got in contact with Comcast, Comcast predictably changed their tune: http://consumerist.com/2012/11/01/comcast-knows-that-your-storm-ravaged-house-might-explode-would-really-like-its-cable-box-back/ http://consumerist.com/2012/11/01/comcast-knows-that-your-st...
- dromidas 14y ago
  Heh I'm sure they realized the guy posted an article on a website and that if they didn't do something ASAP their Comcastic reputation would become even more Comcastic.
- smsm42 14y ago
  Right, just as I said above - once it is escalated to the level where people are allowed to think it becomes completely possible to be flexible.
  - Evbn 14y ago
    Consumerist performed the escalation.
andybak 14y ago
So the question is - was the supervisor at fault or was the system set up in such as way as to tie the hands of the supervisor so he was unable to make any other decision? Of course there are shades of grey inbetween but I'd be fascinated to know exactly where the blame lies inside Comcast.
grecy 14y ago
I know this is going to be unpopular, but... Comcast is a business, and their goal is to make ever increasing profit. Yes it's horrible your family and hundreds of others lost everything due to a natural disaster, but that's not Comcast's fault or problem. When you signed up for service from them, I'll bet it's in the fine print that you are responsible for returning the cable box. If it got stolen, that's not Comcast's problem. If your hot water service burst and spilled water all over the cable box, that's not Comcast's problem. This is the world we live in. You can't choose to have the benefits of cheap cable, then complain when the company wants to keep making profit, and enforces a contract you signed. EDIT: To be clear, I personally hate that this is how the world works, but I accept the reality that it's true.
- cft 14y ago
  If you tried to do this as a smaller local business however, your resulting reputation would put you out of business pretty fast.
- Steko 14y ago
  "Comcast is a business, and their goal is to make ever increasing profit." And part of that is Brand Management AKA not looking like dicks after a hurricane level event and adding to people's misery.
  - baddox 14y ago
    Actually, the task of Brand Management would be to compare the potential costs of thousands of people's equipment against the potential cost from a fewer bloggers' online complaints.
  - batgaijin 14y ago
    Um, they are doing pretty well in terms of brand management or as I like to call it: "no sir, that service is called Xfinity now."
  - jrockway 14y ago
    Brand management is only important when you have a choice of service providers. It's not like you can switch your cable service from Comcast to RCN or Time Warner if you want to. They already bribed the appropriate government officials to ensure that that is not possible. And now they want $500 for their $39 cable box and there's nothing you can do about it. (You might write to the state's attorney general's office. I'm sure enough complaints will result in a token slap on the wrist, if that makes you feel any better.)
    - HarryHirsch 14y ago
      It might be fun to let them drag you into court and see what happens if they demand USD 500 for their ancient Motorola 4100 Surfboard, considering that today a new, more capable modem is less that USD 100. I would take the chance.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
mikeash 14y ago
No doubt their homeowner's insurance will cover this cost along with everything else. There's no particular reason for Comcast to eat this cost, although they probably could be more diplomatic about it.
enoch_r 14y ago
If your toaster is destroyed in a hurricane, Target does not replace it. If your car is destroyed in a hurricane, Honda does not replace it. So if your cable box is destroyed in a hurricane, I don't see why Comcast should be expected to eat the cost of replacement. You're renting an item with the express provision that failing to return the item means you've bought it. Expecting Comcast to provide free hurricane insurance for all their cable boxes just doesn't make sense--it's like expecting the furniture store to refund all the money you paid for the furniture in the house.
- Turing_Machine 14y ago
  But it's not "their" cable box. It's Comcast's cable box. IMO, it would be fine for Comcast to charge for damage due to negligence or intentional vandalism, but not due to circumstances beyond the homeowner's control. Do they charge if the box is damaged by lightning, e.g.? Certainly my old cable company didn't, but I don't know about Comcast (I got rid of the cable after Comcast bought the company I had).
  - esrauch 14y ago
    If it was a leased car it wouldn't be "their" car either, but it would be ridiculous to expect the company you are leasing it from to eat the cost of the car simply because it was destroyed by a natural disaster. While you are in possession of the property it is your own decision to insure it or not. In this case it many (almost all?) forms of home insurance would cover the cost of the destroyed cable box. If Comcast stuck a mandatory $3/month "cable box insurance" fee on everyone's bill people would be posting about how they are money grubbing assholes, but if they are effectively insuring all of their leased equipment against loss then they are doing exactly that except just not putting it as a separate line item on the bill.
    - Turing_Machine 14y ago
      It probably depends on how the contract is written, and I am not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure that default contract law is that the owner (not the renter) is responsible for "Acts of God". The renter has the duty to treat the property with reasonable care, but isn't responsible for normal wear and tear or disaster scenarios.
whichdan 14y ago
Comcast boxes are such a ripoff. They used to be $3/mo, and now they're at $7/mo. A brand new DOCSIS3 modem is less than $90[1], and the ones most people rent are bottom of the barrel DOCSIS2 modems. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B004XC6GJ0/ http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS-Cable...
- jrockway 14y ago
  Of course, $7 a month is a bargain not to have to call customer service and attempt to provision your own equipment.
- HarryHirsch 14y ago
  Indeed. A new cable modem is less than USD 100, the expected lifetime is 5 years, and it depreciates over that time. What that blog post does not say is just how much Comcast have charged their subscribers for the lost modems, but one would think it is more than the present value.
Anechoic 14y ago
This isn't the first time something like this has happened: http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=14672228 http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=14672228 You would think that would have a procedure in place to address these types of situations, for good PR at least.
- pasbesoin 14y ago
  Exactly. The country experiences multiple such natural disasters each year, although most are much more localized. Where it the/a reasonable policy for dealing with them? Surely, this is an area where a little application of oft vaunted "best practices" might actually be appropriate? (Local crews and crew management should be able to at least approximately validate the legitimacy of such claimed circumstances.)
LiveFanChat 14y ago
Uhm did you not realise you are responsible for this equipment? basically if your house burns down your insurance will need to cover it. What do you want Comcast to do....basically pass on your loss to all of their other users across the USA? If its just a matter of not being able to return the box this month....no big deal just rent to service for another month and then return it in 2 weeks once you can gt to the house again.
armored_mammal 14y ago
I mostly hate the choice between 'renting' and 'buying' these boxes when you don't have any control over them and might get dragged into court for doing so.
wheelerwj 14y ago
I posted this because while I was not affected by Sandy, I did lose my apartment to a fire a few years ago and had to deal with the same thing from Direct TV. I got send to collections for the cost of the satellite, the receivers, and the failure to maintain the last part of the contract even though I was homeless. I am a business person and I understand that profitability is the bottom line, but these companies make billions of dollars and this is unacceptable behavior from community members. Those rules and return policies are put into place to prevent theft, not to handle disasters, personal or national.
- Someone 14y ago
  On the other hand, imagine the effort Comcast would have to make to verify each such claim. If they don't verify such claims, I bet they will get at least a hundred scammers for every real claim, once their leniency becomes known. In this case, the only thing I see is that this may not be the best moment to bring that message, but I also wonder how anybody would even think of giving Comcast a call so short after this happened to them.
  - wheelerwj 14y ago
    haha, that was my first thought too. But thinking back, I was on the phone within a day or two... I guess we all deal with stress differently. "Honey, the house is on fire..." "I better call Comcast and cancel internet for the winter."
rgbrenner 14y ago
One word: insurance Why would comcast let them off? Is the bank going to let you off on the payments of your home or car if it gets destroyed? No, of course not... it will be covered by insurance. Why would comcast be any different?
- Turing_Machine 14y ago
  Because it's their box. Not yours.
njharman 14y ago
I don't see a problem with that. If party 'A' has something belonging to party 'B'. Just because the property is inaccessible or destroyed doesn't suddenly evaporate's 'A' responsibility for returning it. Comcast should provide a grace period 30-60 days, but that's about it.
- gm 14y ago
  Agreed. Not sure why people see a problem with this simple principle. It's not like they would be ok with Comcast saying "We're having cash flow issues, so we took the liberty of charging you double this month"
  - wmf 14y ago
    Not in this particular case, but sometimes I feel like "the customer is always right" has become a license to steal for some people.
dfjacobs 14y ago
A hurricane just blew threw, your neighborhood has just been declared a disaster area, your house is about to explode, and you're freaking out over a return charge that you haven't even been billed yet? IMO, Comcast isn't the only ones with their priorities out of whack here. If you do eventually get a bill for not returning the cable box, just go to the local Comcast office (the place you were supposed to return the boxes to) after things have settled down, and explain the situation to a local employee who actually has some discretion in how to respond to the situation. I'm sure you won't be the only one in the area with this problem. Expecting call center reps thousands of miles away, who have probably heard every variant of 'the dog ate my cable box' story at least twice, to waive the charge immediately, without any proof, and no directive from higher up, is asking a bit much. I'm guessing the Comcast staff in the hurricane zone have a few more pressing concerns right now than adjusting bills that haven't gone out the door yet.
- mech4bg 14y ago
  I was coming here to post the exact same thing. Perfectly summed up - why are they stressing themselves out about such an inconsequential thing right now? Yes Comcast handled it badly, but if I were worried my house was about to be destroyed, I would not be thinking about disconnecting the cable box. (In fact I have had my house flooded, and I can tell you nothing like this ever even crossed my mind).
droithomme 14y ago
Comcast's position is not unreasonable here. If your car is destroyed in a flood or accident, you still owe on the payments.
deathmetal 14y ago
I think we have to be really careful about anthropomorphizing companies. The CEO has to make rules, one of which is that they charge fees for all boxes so that people have no incentive to try to game the system. The rule must be consistent across the board. He or she also knows that the people implementing this rule will be low-paid and are not the right people to make the choice about what excuse to accept. Further, he or she (the CEO) realizes that if your house is destroyed, you're going to put in an insurance claim, including possibly for any lost property belonging to services contracted to the house. For this reason, they're not cutting you a break. They need a consistent policy that doesn't have any loopholes. It's not much different than computer security, actually. You eliminate ambiguity and make upstream rules. That isn't to say it doesn't suck. Then again, it's a drop of suck in an ocean of suck. I've seen the pictures of some of the devastation and my heart goes out to the people there. If I thought they needed my services, I would give them a discount. This brings me to the meat of this rambling post: go Consumerist style but instead of complaining to Comcast, offer it up to them as an opportunity. You mentioned how they often go out and do community initiatives. Suggest to them that they reach out to the recently devastated and offer a free cable hook-up and services with monthlies at the regular rate. You never know, it could work out for them, since all the devastated homes will need some kind of internet, and whoever makes it easiest may win over the harried homeowners.
sremani 14y ago
I do not care if Comcast in business of making money or they have fiduciary responsibility to their stock holders. The timing is wrong and inappropriate esp. when people lives coule be in danger and their entire life saving is in jeopardy. Comcast get a handle of this stupid situation.
InclinedPlane 14y ago
Why this is justified on Comcast's part: the equipment is rented, if it's lost due to a natural disaster then that's still on the renter unless you've insured for that loss otherwise. Note that it would make sense for Comcast to offer such insurance as a service fee, although it's likely this is covered through homeowners insurance. Why this is dumb on Comcast's part: this is day 2? post Hurricane and now Comcast's greed is front and center in the national press. This is not smart, especially considering the relatively small amount of money at stake here. How much does Comcast spend on advertising? With this move they've basically erased the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars in advertising for far less value in return. No company wants a PR failure of this magnitude. Especially considering that Comcast is already one of the most hated companies in existence. This was not a good move for Comcast and they are going to lose far more than they could possibly gain.
latchkey 14y ago
Would homeowners insurance cover the loss?
malkia 14y ago
At the same time... Verizon (never used them, was on T-Mobile, now AT&T and TWC for cable) - http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57543855-94/verizon-offers-phone-charging-and-free-calling-for-sandy-victims/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57543855-94/verizon-offers-...? "Verizon offers phone charging and free calling for Sandy victims" Yes, easy way to get more customers to sign for you in the future... Comcast just failed there...
alttag 14y ago
Curiously, why in the world wouldn't Comcast have insurance on equipment the rent out? Sure, primary coverage may/should be with the renter, but why in the world won't they have secondary coverage in the event of total loss (including death of the renter, etc.) Could it simply be that at the rates they charge, a box is easily paid off in a couple of years, and any additional rental fees are pure profit?

69 points by wheelerwj 14y ago

There's a follow-up by The Consumerist. Once they got in contact with Comcast, Comcast predictably changed their tune: http://consumerist.com/2012/11/01/comcast-knows-that-your-storm-ravaged-house-might-explode-would-really-like-its-cable-box-back/ http://consumerist.com/2012/11/01/comcast-knows-that-your-st...

dromidas 14y ago
Heh I'm sure they realized the guy posted an article on a website and that if they didn't do something ASAP their Comcastic reputation would become even more Comcastic.
smsm42 14y ago
Right, just as I said above - once it is escalated to the level where people are allowed to think it becomes completely possible to be flexible.
- Evbn 14y ago
  Consumerist performed the escalation.

andybak 14y ago

So the question is - was the supervisor at fault or was the system set up in such as way as to tie the hands of the supervisor so he was unable to make any other decision? Of course there are shades of grey inbetween but I'd be fascinated to know exactly where the blame lies inside Comcast.

grecy 14y ago

I know this is going to be unpopular, but... Comcast is a business, and their goal is to make ever increasing profit. Yes it's horrible your family and hundreds of others lost everything due to a natural disaster, but that's not Comcast's fault or problem. When you signed up for service from them, I'll bet it's in the fine print that you are responsible for returning the cable box. If it got stolen, that's not Comcast's problem. If your hot water service burst and spilled water all over the cable box, that's not Comcast's problem. This is the world we live in. You can't choose to have the benefits of cheap cable, then complain when the company wants to keep making profit, and enforces a contract you signed. EDIT: To be clear, I personally hate that this is how the world works, but I accept the reality that it's true.

cft 14y ago
If you tried to do this as a smaller local business however, your resulting reputation would put you out of business pretty fast.
Steko 14y ago
"Comcast is a business, and their goal is to make ever increasing profit." And part of that is Brand Management AKA not looking like dicks after a hurricane level event and adding to people's misery.
- baddox 14y ago
  Actually, the task of Brand Management would be to compare the potential costs of thousands of people's equipment against the potential cost from a fewer bloggers' online complaints.
- batgaijin 14y ago
  Um, they are doing pretty well in terms of brand management or as I like to call it: "no sir, that service is called Xfinity now."
- jrockway 14y ago
  Brand management is only important when you have a choice of service providers. It's not like you can switch your cable service from Comcast to RCN or Time Warner if you want to. They already bribed the appropriate government officials to ensure that that is not possible. And now they want $500 for their $39 cable box and there's nothing you can do about it. (You might write to the state's attorney general's office. I'm sure enough complaints will result in a token slap on the wrist, if that makes you feel any better.)
  - HarryHirsch 14y ago
    It might be fun to let them drag you into court and see what happens if they demand USD 500 for their ancient Motorola 4100 Surfboard, considering that today a new, more capable modem is less that USD 100. I would take the chance.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

mikeash 14y ago

No doubt their homeowner's insurance will cover this cost along with everything else. There's no particular reason for Comcast to eat this cost, although they probably could be more diplomatic about it.

enoch_r 14y ago

If your toaster is destroyed in a hurricane, Target does not replace it. If your car is destroyed in a hurricane, Honda does not replace it. So if your cable box is destroyed in a hurricane, I don't see why Comcast should be expected to eat the cost of replacement. You're renting an item with the express provision that failing to return the item means you've bought it. Expecting Comcast to provide free hurricane insurance for all their cable boxes just doesn't make sense--it's like expecting the furniture store to refund all the money you paid for the furniture in the house.

Turing_Machine 14y ago
But it's not "their" cable box. It's Comcast's cable box. IMO, it would be fine for Comcast to charge for damage due to negligence or intentional vandalism, but not due to circumstances beyond the homeowner's control. Do they charge if the box is damaged by lightning, e.g.? Certainly my old cable company didn't, but I don't know about Comcast (I got rid of the cable after Comcast bought the company I had).
- esrauch 14y ago
  If it was a leased car it wouldn't be "their" car either, but it would be ridiculous to expect the company you are leasing it from to eat the cost of the car simply because it was destroyed by a natural disaster. While you are in possession of the property it is your own decision to insure it or not. In this case it many (almost all?) forms of home insurance would cover the cost of the destroyed cable box. If Comcast stuck a mandatory $3/month "cable box insurance" fee on everyone's bill people would be posting about how they are money grubbing assholes, but if they are effectively insuring all of their leased equipment against loss then they are doing exactly that except just not putting it as a separate line item on the bill.
  - Turing_Machine 14y ago
    It probably depends on how the contract is written, and I am not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure that default contract law is that the owner (not the renter) is responsible for "Acts of God". The renter has the duty to treat the property with reasonable care, but isn't responsible for normal wear and tear or disaster scenarios.

whichdan 14y ago

Comcast boxes are such a ripoff. They used to be $3/mo, and now they're at $7/mo. A brand new DOCSIS3 modem is less than $90[1], and the ones most people rent are bottom of the barrel DOCSIS2 modems. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B004XC6GJ0/ http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS-Cable...

jrockway 14y ago
Of course, $7 a month is a bargain not to have to call customer service and attempt to provision your own equipment.
HarryHirsch 14y ago
Indeed. A new cable modem is less than USD 100, the expected lifetime is 5 years, and it depreciates over that time. What that blog post does not say is just how much Comcast have charged their subscribers for the lost modems, but one would think it is more than the present value.

Anechoic 14y ago

This isn't the first time something like this has happened: http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=14672228 http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=14672228 You would think that would have a procedure in place to address these types of situations, for good PR at least.

pasbesoin 14y ago
Exactly. The country experiences multiple such natural disasters each year, although most are much more localized. Where it the/a reasonable policy for dealing with them? Surely, this is an area where a little application of oft vaunted "best practices" might actually be appropriate? (Local crews and crew management should be able to at least approximately validate the legitimacy of such claimed circumstances.)

LiveFanChat 14y ago

Uhm did you not realise you are responsible for this equipment? basically if your house burns down your insurance will need to cover it. What do you want Comcast to do....basically pass on your loss to all of their other users across the USA? If its just a matter of not being able to return the box this month....no big deal just rent to service for another month and then return it in 2 weeks once you can gt to the house again.

armored_mammal 14y ago

I mostly hate the choice between 'renting' and 'buying' these boxes when you don't have any control over them and might get dragged into court for doing so.

wheelerwj 14y ago

I posted this because while I was not affected by Sandy, I did lose my apartment to a fire a few years ago and had to deal with the same thing from Direct TV. I got send to collections for the cost of the satellite, the receivers, and the failure to maintain the last part of the contract even though I was homeless. I am a business person and I understand that profitability is the bottom line, but these companies make billions of dollars and this is unacceptable behavior from community members. Those rules and return policies are put into place to prevent theft, not to handle disasters, personal or national.

Someone 14y ago
On the other hand, imagine the effort Comcast would have to make to verify each such claim. If they don't verify such claims, I bet they will get at least a hundred scammers for every real claim, once their leniency becomes known. In this case, the only thing I see is that this may not be the best moment to bring that message, but I also wonder how anybody would even think of giving Comcast a call so short after this happened to them.
- wheelerwj 14y ago
  haha, that was my first thought too. But thinking back, I was on the phone within a day or two... I guess we all deal with stress differently. "Honey, the house is on fire..." "I better call Comcast and cancel internet for the winter."

rgbrenner 14y ago

One word: insurance Why would comcast let them off? Is the bank going to let you off on the payments of your home or car if it gets destroyed? No, of course not... it will be covered by insurance. Why would comcast be any different?

Turing_Machine 14y ago
Because it's their box. Not yours.

njharman 14y ago

I don't see a problem with that. If party 'A' has something belonging to party 'B'. Just because the property is inaccessible or destroyed doesn't suddenly evaporate's 'A' responsibility for returning it. Comcast should provide a grace period 30-60 days, but that's about it.

gm 14y ago
Agreed. Not sure why people see a problem with this simple principle. It's not like they would be ok with Comcast saying "We're having cash flow issues, so we took the liberty of charging you double this month"
- wmf 14y ago
  Not in this particular case, but sometimes I feel like "the customer is always right" has become a license to steal for some people.

dfjacobs 14y ago

A hurricane just blew threw, your neighborhood has just been declared a disaster area, your house is about to explode, and you're freaking out over a return charge that you haven't even been billed yet? IMO, Comcast isn't the only ones with their priorities out of whack here. If you do eventually get a bill for not returning the cable box, just go to the local Comcast office (the place you were supposed to return the boxes to) after things have settled down, and explain the situation to a local employee who actually has some discretion in how to respond to the situation. I'm sure you won't be the only one in the area with this problem. Expecting call center reps thousands of miles away, who have probably heard every variant of 'the dog ate my cable box' story at least twice, to waive the charge immediately, without any proof, and no directive from higher up, is asking a bit much. I'm guessing the Comcast staff in the hurricane zone have a few more pressing concerns right now than adjusting bills that haven't gone out the door yet.

mech4bg 14y ago
I was coming here to post the exact same thing. Perfectly summed up - why are they stressing themselves out about such an inconsequential thing right now? Yes Comcast handled it badly, but if I were worried my house was about to be destroyed, I would not be thinking about disconnecting the cable box. (In fact I have had my house flooded, and I can tell you nothing like this ever even crossed my mind).

droithomme 14y ago

Comcast's position is not unreasonable here. If your car is destroyed in a flood or accident, you still owe on the payments.

deathmetal 14y ago

I think we have to be really careful about anthropomorphizing companies. The CEO has to make rules, one of which is that they charge fees for all boxes so that people have no incentive to try to game the system. The rule must be consistent across the board. He or she also knows that the people implementing this rule will be low-paid and are not the right people to make the choice about what excuse to accept. Further, he or she (the CEO) realizes that if your house is destroyed, you're going to put in an insurance claim, including possibly for any lost property belonging to services contracted to the house. For this reason, they're not cutting you a break. They need a consistent policy that doesn't have any loopholes. It's not much different than computer security, actually. You eliminate ambiguity and make upstream rules. That isn't to say it doesn't suck. Then again, it's a drop of suck in an ocean of suck. I've seen the pictures of some of the devastation and my heart goes out to the people there. If I thought they needed my services, I would give them a discount. This brings me to the meat of this rambling post: go Consumerist style but instead of complaining to Comcast, offer it up to them as an opportunity. You mentioned how they often go out and do community initiatives. Suggest to them that they reach out to the recently devastated and offer a free cable hook-up and services with monthlies at the regular rate. You never know, it could work out for them, since all the devastated homes will need some kind of internet, and whoever makes it easiest may win over the harried homeowners.

sremani 14y ago

I do not care if Comcast in business of making money or they have fiduciary responsibility to their stock holders. The timing is wrong and inappropriate esp. when people lives coule be in danger and their entire life saving is in jeopardy. Comcast get a handle of this stupid situation.

InclinedPlane 14y ago

Why this is justified on Comcast's part: the equipment is rented, if it's lost due to a natural disaster then that's still on the renter unless you've insured for that loss otherwise. Note that it would make sense for Comcast to offer such insurance as a service fee, although it's likely this is covered through homeowners insurance. Why this is dumb on Comcast's part: this is day 2? post Hurricane and now Comcast's greed is front and center in the national press. This is not smart, especially considering the relatively small amount of money at stake here. How much does Comcast spend on advertising? With this move they've basically erased the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars in advertising for far less value in return. No company wants a PR failure of this magnitude. Especially considering that Comcast is already one of the most hated companies in existence. This was not a good move for Comcast and they are going to lose far more than they could possibly gain.

latchkey 14y ago

Would homeowners insurance cover the loss?

malkia 14y ago

At the same time... Verizon (never used them, was on T-Mobile, now AT&T and TWC for cable) - http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57543855-94/verizon-offers-phone-charging-and-free-calling-for-sandy-victims/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57543855-94/verizon-offers-...? "Verizon offers phone charging and free calling for Sandy victims" Yes, easy way to get more customers to sign for you in the future... Comcast just failed there...

alttag 14y ago

Curiously, why in the world wouldn't Comcast have insurance on equipment the rent out? Sure, primary coverage may/should be with the renter, but why in the world won't they have secondary coverage in the event of total loss (including death of the renter, etc.) Could it simply be that at the rates they charge, a box is easily paid off in a couple of years, and any additional rental fees are pure profit?