I Asked for a Refund and Got One!

Two years ago when I moved into my condo, I ordered cable from Comcast. The technician made a site visit to my condo. He hooked up my cable and asked me which cable outlets I wanted to have activated. I have four outlets, but I had no idea at that point where I was going to locate the TV so I chose two of the four outlets to activate. Comcast charged an activation fee for each outlet.

I recently decided to rearrange some furniture in my condo and in the process, I decided to move the television to a different room next to an outlet I had not paid to have activated. So I called Comcast and asked them to activate this new outlet. They quoted a $22 fee and said it required another site visit. The technician arrived and looked into my cable box and informed me that my condo is wired for cable to be all 'on' or all 'off.' So all my outlets were activated. Grrr! He charged me the $22 for his site visit, which I signed off on. So yesterday I wrote a pleasant, terse and to-the-point e-mail to Comcast requesting refund of the $22 fee, and expressing my displeasure with being charged false activation fees two years ago. I was pleasantly surprised when Comcast immediately refunded the $22 fee! Hurrah! Score one for the good guys!

I believe I achieved a quick resolution for the following reasons:

• I put my complaint in writing
  
• Instead of just complaining about the issue, I stated what action I wanted them to take ("$22 refund of the site visit fee")
  
• I was professional and unemotional in my e-mail
  
• I thanked them in advance for their prompt attention to the matter
  
• I included my pertinent account information so they could investigate the matter and make a quick decision
  

The next time you feel you were unjustly charged for something, follow these simple rules for putting your request for a refund in writing. It never hurts to ask!