Anyone who has ever dreaded attempting to cancel a cable subscription will empathize with a man who faced a frustrating phone battle with a Comcast customer service representative.

WASHINGTON — Deciding to cancel a cable service subscription can be difficult — breaking the news to the cable company can be near-impossible.

Tech journalist Ryan Block and his wife Veronica Belmont tried to cancel their Comcast service last week over the phone.

Block says 10 minutes into his frustrating conversation with the Comcast customer service representative, he started recording the phone call, which he posted on SoundCloud.

The representative, whose name Block withheld, repeatedly demanded to know why Block would want to cancel the service.

Block tells WTOP he and his wife told the representative they wanted to change providers, before the recording began.

Several times the agent said “I’m just trying to understand,” although Block’s statements were clearly understandable.

“It sounds like you don’t want to go over this information with me,” says the representative.

“I am declining to state why we are leaving Comcast, because I don’t owe you an explanation,” Block said patiently.

“We are the number one provider of Internet and TV service in the entire country,” continues the rep. “Why is that you’re not wanting to have the number one service?”

“I’m just trying to figure out what it is about Comcast service that you’re not liking, and not wanting to keep,” states the agent.

Block asked the representative to simply cancel the service, but the agent countered with “I’m just trying to help you.”

Contacted by WTOP, Jenni Moyer, senior director of corporate communications network & operations apologized.

“We are very embarrassed by the way our employee spoke with Mr. Block and are contacting him to personally apologize,” says Moyer.

“The way in which our representative communicated with him is unacceptable and not consistent with how we train our customer service representatives,” says Moyer.

“We are investigating this situation and will take quick action,” says Moyer. “While the overwhelming majority of our employees work very hard to do the right thing every day, we are using this very unfortunate experience to reinforce how important it is to always treat our customers with the utmost respect.”

Listen to the portion of the phone call Block posted to SoundCloud: