Comcast’s Direct Mail Protection Racket

Targeting direct mail is important, because you don’t want to spend money sending direct mail to people who aren’t going to read it or respond. Cable/telecom giant Comcast apparently hasn’t gotten that message; apparently they are so intent on sending direct marketing mail to all their customers that they’re charging people $2 to stop receiving it. From the Consumerist article:

…if you call Comcast and ask them to stop sending you anything other than your bill, they’ll agree but quietly slap you with a $1.99 “change of service” fee. Like most made-up, totally indefensible fees from cable and cell phone companies, Ian found that a chat with a customer service agent can get the fee removed.

Aside from what a fantastic example of the customer-hostile chutzpah that’s epidemic in the telecommunications industry, you have to wonder: didn’t someone in Comcast’s marketing group ever say, “Hey, if people are just throwing this stuff in the trash, doesn’t it help us when they ask us to stop sending it?”

I guess not. Other direct marketers should send a little hate Comcast’s way, because if there is anything that will lead the public to demand restrictions on direct marketing that will make life hard for those of us who try to do it properly, it’s crap like this. Think of the national no-call list, a burden that the telemarketing industry brought upon itself through its own bad behavior.

Comcast has apologized and said they won’t do that anymore… but in a particularly worm-like approach, they’re blaming their front-line staff for messing up:

This fee is assessed when you make changes to your account, like changing the level of services you receive, but it is not for changing marketing preferences. This should not have happened, and we’ve reviewed your account to verify that the marketing profile has been updated properly and the credit has been applied to your account. Per my voicemail, we have laced an additional credit on your account for the trouble that you experienced.

We’ve also coached the representative who processed the change to your account and are taking steps to make sure this process is clear to all of our representatives, so this doesn’t happen again.

Am I the only one who finds this a bit less than credible? I have trouble believing that the reps would be adding this fee to their account unless someone told them to. (And never mind the idea that you get charged for changing your service level, which is pretty outrageous.)

Sigh. Worst of all… I’m one of their customers.

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