Complaint Review: Comcast Cablevision - Bridgevine

I'm sorry that you are having problems with your rebate. I'm an employee of Bridgevine and may be able to get this issue resolved for you. Please email me your order confirmation number and any other information that you may have and I'll personally look into this matter for you.

Regards
Mark Ballard
mark.ballard@bridgevine.com

I had tried one last time to get Comcast or Bridgevine to settle up and give me the promised rebate. I had been referred to yet another company that was set up in between Bridgevine and Comcast after calling Comcast (and waiting another wasted hour on hold). I do not recall the name of that business entity, but I was basically told my window of opportunity for the rebate had indeed expired and there was no method by which I could appeal. Even though I knew exactly how it happened and the person on the phone understood, agreed and apologized, I was still out of luck, with no recourse or remedy available to me. Because of the initial miscommunication between myself and the Comcast accout rep, I was out $150.00. I was very annoyed with the lack of a vehicle by which I could have a remedy to the situation and basically kissed the money goodbye.

I was contacted by another person who also thought that the convoluted rebate method was a way of saving money by preventing some of the rebates being paid (= scam). I agreed to join a class action lawsuit that this person wanted to initiate, since I was still angry about losing the $150.00 under these aggravating circumstances. I still may participate from the point of providing information, but, despite not even being allowed to fill out the paperwork to apply for the rebate and being told by them there was nothing I could do, I now suspect the bad publicity I had caused (and the potential of it mushrooming and costing them considerably more than what they might save in non-payouts) may have had an effect. I received a check in the mail today for the exact amount of the promised rebate. I received it in the mail 9/22/08 and it was dated 9/18/08. My heartfelt thanks to this site for not only allowing me to vent in public about what I still feel is an underhanded and unfair business practice, but it also provoked action on the part of Bridgevine.

I have to give Bridgevine some credit for that, even if it was a calculated act of self preservation. I give Comcast NO credit for this whatsoever and still am not a happy customer because of the hoops they deliberately make people jump thru to get their rebates. I now have my rebate and my thanks goes to Ripoff Report dot com for providing this service to help the little guy get a bit of needed justice in a time that corporate and governmental oligarchical entities are trampling on individuals. Chalk one up for the little guy... me! :)

After thinking about it later after the wasted hour on customer service I have figured out how it happened. It doesn't help me (I will still be out of $150) but here is how it went. I originally thought I had to wait a period of time before claiming the rebate because the person offering it over the phone said something like "you will get the rebate in 2 months". What they should have said, was "within 2 months". At the time I thought that was very inconvenient and I made a mental note to check back and jump through the "hoops" later. I forgot the amount of time and never received a notification that I need to file forms or whatever nonsense and checked back after a period of time.

Also that 2 months that was stated to me may have been a reference to how long the rebate would take to be processed, so it was just unclear and not explained to the point where they knew I understood how it worked. It dawned on me as the date of expiration of the offer was given to me later. I checked when I requested the service and it was April 14th, so the offer she said expired June 14th. The woman from India with a thick accent and a bad connection was very hard to understand sometimes and I don't think she understood me well, but at no time did she just plainly state that rebate was something I could apply for immediately & would expire after 2 months. There was nowhere in the e-mail receipt that explained any of this and the original misunderstood verbal time period stated on the phone from the sales rep had been forgotten by me (2 months).


My criticisms stand, because it was not made clear to me how to apply or when to apply and the customer service people never just explained how it works. I am still "ripped off". I despise Comcast/Bridgevine and continue to wonder why they use this convoluted, confusing and inconvenient rebate method. Is it designed to make it so inconvenient and befuddling that people forget, are confused or don't bother to apply for the rebate because it is cumbersome and too much trouble? Have other people been legitimately confused but still denied the rebate they were promised (like me)? Why doesn't Comcast avoid using Bridgevine and save themselves the fees to hire them by just crediting the customers bills automatically and electronically by computer? Wouldn't that be easier and less expensive for Comcast? Maybe not, if the system is designed to make it difficult or confusing and deliberately reduce the amout of rebate money they have to shell out.

I am still confused and wonder about that. How do they justify this method cost-wise and quality of customer service-wise? Can an official from Comcast and/or Bridgevine please explain this absurdity for all of their customers in a response to this post please? And if they have the guts and the will to attempt that, can I get my rebates anyway? If not I will be posting this problem for all to see, over and over, so I can spread the info to the consumers for their enlightenment about these disturbing circumstances. Come on in here, Comcast and Bridgevine and do some public relations work, so people are more informed and less angry about your business practices. I doubt they will bother, but it is a challenge I am putting to them and lets see if they have the courage and good will to make an attempt! - DS/Buddhase7en

After thinking about it later after the wasted hour on customer service I have figured out how it happened. It doesn't help me (I will still be out of $150) but here is how it went. I originally thought I had to wait a period of time before claiming the rebate because the person offering it over the phone said something like "you will get the rebate in 2 months". What they should have said, was "within 2 months". At the time I thought that was very inconvenient and I made a mental note to check back and jump through the "hoops" later. I forgot the amount of time and never received a notification that I need to file forms or whatever nonsense and checked back after a period of time.

Also that 2 months that was stated to me may have been a reference to how long the rebate would take to be processed, so it was just unclear and not explained to the point where they knew I understood how it worked. It dawned on me as the date of expiration of the offer was given to me later. I checked when I requested the service and it was April 14th, so the offer she said expired June 14th. The woman from India with a thick accent and a bad connection was very hard to understand sometimes and I don't think she understood me well, but at no time did she just plainly state that rebate was something I could apply for immediately & would expire after 2 months. There was nowhere in the e-mail receipt that explained any of this and the original misunderstood verbal time period stated on the phone from the sales rep had been forgotten by me (2 months).


My criticisms stand, because it was not made clear to me how to apply or when to apply and the customer service people never just explained how it works. I am still "ripped off". I despise Comcast/Bridgevine and continue to wonder why they use this convoluted, confusing and inconvenient rebate method. Is it designed to make it so inconvenient and befuddling that people forget, are confused or don't bother to apply for the rebate because it is cumbersome and too much trouble? Have other people been legitimately confused but still denied the rebate they were promised (like me)? Why doesn't Comcast avoid using Bridgevine and save themselves the fees to hire them by just crediting the customers bills automatically and electronically by computer? Wouldn't that be easier and less expensive for Comcast? Maybe not, if the system is designed to make it difficult or confusing and deliberately reduce the amout of rebate money they have to shell out.

I am still confused and wonder about that. How do they justify this method cost-wise and quality of customer service-wise? Can an official from Comcast and/or Bridgevine please explain this absurdity for all of their customers in a response to this post please? And if they have the guts and the will to attempt that, can I get my rebates anyway? If not I will be posting this problem for all to see, over and over, so I can spread the info to the consumers for their enlightenment about these disturbing circumstances. Come on in here, Comcast and Bridgevine and do some public relations work, so people are more informed and less angry about your business practices. I doubt they will bother, but it is a challenge I am putting to them and lets see if they have the courage and good will to make an attempt! - DS/Buddhase7en

After thinking about it later after the wasted hour on customer service I have figured out how it happened. It doesn't help me (I will still be out of $150) but here is how it went. I originally thought I had to wait a period of time before claiming the rebate because the person offering it over the phone said something like "you will get the rebate in 2 months". What they should have said, was "within 2 months". At the time I thought that was very inconvenient and I made a mental note to check back and jump through the "hoops" later. I forgot the amount of time and never received a notification that I need to file forms or whatever nonsense and checked back after a period of time.

Also that 2 months that was stated to me may have been a reference to how long the rebate would take to be processed, so it was just unclear and not explained to the point where they knew I understood how it worked. It dawned on me as the date of expiration of the offer was given to me later. I checked when I requested the service and it was April 14th, so the offer she said expired June 14th. The woman from India with a thick accent and a bad connection was very hard to understand sometimes and I don't think she understood me well, but at no time did she just plainly state that rebate was something I could apply for immediately & would expire after 2 months. There was nowhere in the e-mail receipt that explained any of this and the original misunderstood verbal time period stated on the phone from the sales rep had been forgotten by me (2 months).


My criticisms stand, because it was not made clear to me how to apply or when to apply and the customer service people never just explained how it works. I am still "ripped off". I despise Comcast/Bridgevine and continue to wonder why they use this convoluted, confusing and inconvenient rebate method. Is it designed to make it so inconvenient and befuddling that people forget, are confused or don't bother to apply for the rebate because it is cumbersome and too much trouble? Have other people been legitimately confused but still denied the rebate they were promised (like me)? Why doesn't Comcast avoid using Bridgevine and save themselves the fees to hire them by just crediting the customers bills automatically and electronically by computer? Wouldn't that be easier and less expensive for Comcast? Maybe not, if the system is designed to make it difficult or confusing and deliberately reduce the amout of rebate money they have to shell out.

I am still confused and wonder about that. How do they justify this method cost-wise and quality of customer service-wise? Can an official from Comcast and/or Bridgevine please explain this absurdity for all of their customers in a response to this post please? And if they have the guts and the will to attempt that, can I get my rebates anyway? If not I will be posting this problem for all to see, over and over, so I can spread the info to the consumers for their enlightenment about these disturbing circumstances. Come on in here, Comcast and Bridgevine and do some public relations work, so people are more informed and less angry about your business practices. I doubt they will bother, but it is a challenge I am putting to them and lets see if they have the courage and good will to make an attempt! - DS/Buddhase7en

After thinking about it later after the wasted hour on customer service I have figured out how it happened. It doesn't help me (I will still be out of $150) but here is how it went. I originally thought I had to wait a period of time before claiming the rebate because the person offering it over the phone said something like "you will get the rebate in 2 months". What they should have said, was "within 2 months". At the time I thought that was very inconvenient and I made a mental note to check back and jump through the "hoops" later. I forgot the amount of time and never received a notification that I need to file forms or whatever nonsense and checked back after a period of time.

Also that 2 months that was stated to me may have been a reference to how long the rebate would take to be processed, so it was just unclear and not explained to the point where they knew I understood how it worked. It dawned on me as the date of expiration of the offer was given to me later. I checked when I requested the service and it was April 14th, so the offer she said expired June 14th. The woman from India with a thick accent and a bad connection was very hard to understand sometimes and I don't think she understood me well, but at no time did she just plainly state that rebate was something I could apply for immediately & would expire after 2 months. There was nowhere in the e-mail receipt that explained any of this and the original misunderstood verbal time period stated on the phone from the sales rep had been forgotten by me (2 months).


My criticisms stand, because it was not made clear to me how to apply or when to apply and the customer service people never just explained how it works. I am still "ripped off". I despise Comcast/Bridgevine and continue to wonder why they use this convoluted, confusing and inconvenient rebate method. Is it designed to make it so inconvenient and befuddling that people forget, are confused or don't bother to apply for the rebate because it is cumbersome and too much trouble? Have other people been legitimately confused but still denied the rebate they were promised (like me)? Why doesn't Comcast avoid using Bridgevine and save themselves the fees to hire them by just crediting the customers bills automatically and electronically by computer? Wouldn't that be easier and less expensive for Comcast? Maybe not, if the system is designed to make it difficult or confusing and deliberately reduce the amout of rebate money they have to shell out.

I am still confused and wonder about that. How do they justify this method cost-wise and quality of customer service-wise? Can an official from Comcast and/or Bridgevine please explain this absurdity for all of their customers in a response to this post please? And if they have the guts and the will to attempt that, can I get my rebates anyway? If not I will be posting this problem for all to see, over and over, so I can spread the info to the consumers for their enlightenment about these disturbing circumstances. Come on in here, Comcast and Bridgevine and do some public relations work, so people are more informed and less angry about your business practices. I doubt they will bother, but it is a challenge I am putting to them and lets see if they have the courage and good will to make an attempt! - DS/Buddhase7en