Many Comcast customers have horror stories, but few can top the month of mishaps that just befell Louis Moravec and Susan Thauer.

Amid the mess that Moravec said "borders on the Kafkaesque" came the final absurdity: notice that they were about to be billed for another month's service.

When the Philadelphia couple moved into a new home, it took 24 days for Comcast to set up TV and Internet service. "When technicians did show up, they repeatedly came without the right cables or equipment to outfit the newly built house," The Philadelphia Inquirer reported yesterday. "When they didn't show, the couple heard what seemed like bizarre excuses. They were told, for instance, that when a service rep offered an emergency appointment, the rep was merely making a request to dispatchers free to turn it down."

Thauer, a lawyer, first stayed home from work to wait for the technicians to show on December 31. "But by New Year's Eve, all they had were apologies, promises of $40 in credits, and a load of frustration—a load that would pile up astoundingly over the next three weeks," the Inquirer reported.

Moravec and Thauer estimate that they spent more than 50 hours on the phone with Comcast employees, often on hold for as long as two hours, before they finally had service set up on Friday, January 23.

"Amid the mess that Moravec said 'borders on the Kafkaesque' came the final absurdity: notice that they were about to be billed for another month's service," the newspaper wrote.

After finally connecting the couple's home, Comcast admitted fault in a statement quoted by the Inquirer. Comcast also said the customers would be given a credit for the weeks they went without service.

"We clearly failed Mr. Moravec and are working to make things right for him," the Comcast statement said. "This was unacceptable on a number of fronts, and we are digging into what happened so we can address and correct for future customer interactions."

Moravec and Thauer have a seven-year-old daughter, and all three need Internet access (or at least will as the daughter moves further into school). Thauer often needs to work from home. "As you are well aware, Internet and cable TV have become utilities," Moravec told the Inquirer. "They are no longer a luxury."

Comcast, which is based in Philadelphia, faces competition in its home city from Verizon FiOS. But Comcast is often the sole cable provider in the cities and towns it operates in, facing little competition other than slower DSL service.

Comcast has tried to convince the Federal Communications Commission to avoid reclassifying broadband as a utility or "common carrier" service, a move that could make it easier for the FCC to address customer complaints. Comcast is also seeking permission to buy Time Warner Cable, joining the nation's two largest cable companies. Comcast and Time Warner Cable are the least-liked companies in their industry, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, in no small part due to the types of problems that affect customers like Moravec and Thauer.