Guy Selling His House Over Comcast 'Incompetence'

Washington state man couldn't get an Internet hookup
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 28, 2015 4:15 PM CDT
Guy Has to Sell House Over Comcast 'Incompetence'
This Feb. 11, 2011, file photo, shows the Comcast logo on one of the company's vehicles, in Pittsburgh.    (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

A Washington state man is throwing in the towel after months of frustration trying to get broadband. In fact, he's planning to sell his new house—likely at a loss—and blames Comcast and CenturyLink for misleading him about getting his home online, Consumerist reports. The man, identified by Gawker as Seth Morabito, says he checked with Comcast before buying the Kitsap County, Wash., residence. According to Morabito's timeline of events (called "It's Comcastic, or: I Accidentally Bought a House Without Cable"), a rep said the last homeowner there used Comcast; Morabito tried to get proof of serviceability in writing, but was told Comcast doesn't do that. So he made the purchase in December and readied for his stay-at-home work as a software engineer. But when a Comcast tech came over, it turned out that no cable infrastructure led to the property. And so it began.

Morabito also tried CenturyLink, which lists his address as serviceable but later said it wouldn't work. And so Morabito worked off a "frightfully expensive" Verizon mobile hotspot during weeks of appointments, phone calls, and miscommunication with Comcast, which finally offered to hook up the property to the nearest connection point 2,500 feet away for $50,000 to $60,000. Comcast was "to pick up part of the cost," though how much wasn't defined. Morabito shared that update March 12; six days later, Comcast rescinded the offer, notes Morabito in "a hard update to write." He puts it plainly: "Comcast has lied. This whole thing would have been avoided if only Comcast had said, right at the start, that they didn't serve this address." If it had, the home never would have made his list. Instead, it's "goodbye dream house. You were the first house I ever owned, I’ll miss you." Consumerist reports Comcast has yet to comment. (It's far from the first Comcast tale of woe.)

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