We have had the same telephone service for over 25 years, currently with Frontier. We are furious to find that Frontier wants us to sign a 3-year contract in order to give us a decent price for internet/telephone. We have been talking to Comcast about switching.
Comcast has offered us their Starter Business package, 15/3 and one telephone line for approximately $102/mo including the non-negotiable modem/telephone rental fee, if they can provide us service at all, which they don't know.
They won't find out if they can provide us service without a signed contract.
The Comcast contract is for a minimum of 1 year, and requires us to pay 75% of any remaining months in case we need to leave/cancel service before the term is up. That's about an $850 Early Termination Fee [ETF] if we need to cancel at 11 months.
To sweeten the deal, they offer a $200 incentive for every extra year we sign, up to three years, i.e.:
1 year contract has $200 installation fee
2 year contract has installation fee waived
3 year contract has installation fee waived and includes a $200 gift card...
But if we need to cancel after a month, we would pay $2754 (102 * 35 * 75%) for that $200 gift card.
I asked them what options they have for service without a contract, and was told that Comcast does not offer business service without a minimum 1-year contract.
To simply find out if Comcast will provide service, we are required to sign a contract, which includes this 22-page document (which links to many other included documents of unknown lengths), all of which would likely take hours to wade through. http://business.comcast.com/docs/default-source/terms-conditions/bussvcsver_23_published_141017.pdf?sfvrsn=0
Is this everyone else's experience? Is this new? Do all Comcast Business customers have contracts now? Is there no way to obtain service without gambling with thousands of dollars? Is this the new industry standard?
Thank you in advance for any help or insights.
Jennifer
↧