Shady Comcast salesman lies to try to get me into a yearly contract

A friend of mine recently received a $300 gift card under Comcast’s reward program. She thought she got it because she’s been a long-time customer.

Since I’m a long-time Comcast customer, too, I thought it would be great to get $300 to spend, too.

I went to the Comcast website and signed up for its rewards program. I saw a few program rewards that didn’t interest me, so I tried to communicate with the bot through the chat function. It didn’t work. I didn’t get any information about money rewards.

So, then I did what I dread: I called Comcast. As I’ve written about many times, Comcast has terrible customer service, the worst I’ve experienced.

I wanted the rewards program department, but it was difficult to get through the bot to speak to a real person.

When a real person answered the phone, he said the $300 gift card was no longer available but he could offer me a $200 gift card and a new iPhone.

I explained I didn’t want to switch carriers because I’m in a family plan with my grandson from Spain who’s going to college in Massachusetts.

He said he could reduce my bill by $20 a month, and I’d get the new iPhone and $200 gift card.

It sounded great to me. I pressed No. 1 to accept. Then a recorded message came on the line and explained the deal. It said $30 a month for my landline, $30 for the TV, I think, and $93 for something else. It listed a bunch of features and changes I didn’t understand.

However, one thing was clear. I’d be in a one-year contract that would require an early termination fee of $112. I didn’t hit No. 1 for final acceptance.

The call went back to the salesman. I asked him what the heck was going on. He quickly transferred me to the department that handles the affordable conductivity program. After going through what happened, I learned from the representative that I don’t qualify for that program, which has an income requirement of earning $27,180 a year or less.

She said I needed to talk with Mobile Care and that she could transfer me. The wait would be 1 hour and 37 minutes. What? I decided to hold, since it’s so difficult for the Comcast bot to get you to the right department. Fortunately, I only had to wait about 20 minutes.

The representative at Mobile Care said the $300 gift card and free iPhone deal isn’t available anymore. He also said there’s currently no deal for a $200 gift card and a new iPhone. He also said when those deals are offered, you have to transfer cell phone service from another carrier.

I asked him if the Comcast representative had lied to me. He said, “That’s true. That’s true.”

What a waste of time. The woman in the affordable conductivity department said my account hadn’t been changed, so that’s a relief.

I’ll file a complaint with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office and see what they say.