Amie Stepanovich‏ has been shuttling back and forth between Washington, DC, and Ohio, where her father is "very sick and currently in the hospital and unable to speak for himself," she wrote in a series of tweets yesterday. Stepanovich has power of attorney for her father and wants to reduce his Comcast bill, which costs "quite a lot" of money each month.

But when she called Comcast last weekend, a company rep "told me they couldn't handle [the] request on [the] phone because I wasn't authorized," she wrote.

Stepanovich says she was instructed to take her father's identification and hospital bills to a Comcast service center in order to get the Comcast bill reduced. She tried to call the nearest service center "to verify what I was told before I drove, but you can't call service centers directly—only published number is [the] main line that I'd already called."

So I'm feeling pretty pissed at Comcast (unrelated to net neutrality). I'll explain why, and why lack of competition hurts people. — Amie Stepanovich (@astepanovich) July 12, 2017

Stepanovich thus relied on the information she was given by a Comcast rep and drove 90 miles to the service center, she said.

"So...90 mi later (through a thunderstorm) I get to the service center. A stack of medical bills, my dad's info, & my ID in hand as directed," Stepanovich tweeted. "They told me they would not do anything for me. I wasn't authorized and regardless of circumstances I needed to have with me my POA [power of attorney document]."

This "was not what the person had said on the phone, and wasn't possible since [the document] was in my safe back in DC (5 hrs away)," she wrote. "The icing on the cake was they said I could send them my POA electronically and they would be able to deal with me on the phone. Rendering my entire trip unnecessary. And, at the end of it, [I] had to turn around and drive back 90 miles the other way in the rain with nothing to show."

Billing problem still unresolved

That wasn't the end of it. Stepanovich next called customer service, "and after putting me on hold for 10 minutes they told me no one was available to talk to me." A Comcast rep "suggested that I call back and when I suggested maybe they should call me back, they said that 'wasn't likely to happen.' All in all, I was given bad info, drove 180 miles out of my way, wasted nearly a tank of gas, and lost 4 hours I could have spent with my dad."

The long drive to the Comcast facility happened on Saturday, Stepanovich told Ars when we contacted her via e-mail. There was another service center that was only 50 miles from the hospital, but it had an earlier closing time, she said. She couldn't make it to that one in time because of a procedure her father was undergoing. That's why she drove to the service center 90 miles away.

The billing problem still hasn't been resolved, she said. Comcast reps "say they are working on it but I haven't heard anything concrete."

“I’m worried about this happening to other families”

Stepanovich, a lawyer, works on surveillance and cybersecurity issues at Access Now, a digital rights advocacy group. While Stepanovich tweeted about the Comcast problem in her personal capacity rather than a professional one, she is worried the same situation will happen to other people, she said.

"I don't really want to capitalize on his illness but I'm honestly worried about this happening to other families, and during a time like this you really rely on people to give you accurate and complete information because your mental facilities are largely devoted elsewhere," Stepanovich told Ars.

"Because they are clearly not coordinating on the backend regarding how to deal with this issue, I'm guessing it's happened before and will again," she wrote on Twitter. "People with sick or dying family members should never have to go through this. It's the apex of companies not caring."

Companies like Comcast aren't hurt by their own behavior because they face so little competition, she also wrote on Twitter. That's an "important lesson" during a week when Internet users are protesting a Federal Communications Commission plan to gut net neutrality rules, she wrote. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's plan would also eliminate numerous customer protection regulations, stripping broadband customers of the right to file complaints or lawsuits about "unjust" or "unreasonable" rates and practices.

"I'm going to (eventually) cancel my dad's service," Stepanovich wrote. "But because telcos are basically monopolies there is only one other option available. And that's why they don't care. They don't have to. They have you trapped and they know it... They certainly don't care about my dad. And to me that is unforgivable."

A poor customer service record

Stepanovich's story is reminiscent of one told last November by Salon writer Erik Lundegaard. His 86-year-old mother suffered a stroke, and "Comcast wouldn’t let us cancel her account," he wrote. Lundegaard was told by Comcast reps over the phone and in person at a service center that he could not cancel the account without power of attorney, he wrote:

“You were told to bring power of attorney,” the rep admonished me after he looked up my mother’s account. “Yes,” I said, “but we don’t have it and my mother can’t give it.” I got a blank look. “Over the weekend we’ve canceled my mother’s cell phone, her newspaper. No other company is asking for power of attorney.” Still blank. “Surely, Comcast isn’t going to keep billing my mother in perpetuity for a service she can’t use.” Nada.

After more phone calls, Lundegaard finally got the account canceled.

We contacted Comcast about Stepanovich's billing problem yesterday and asked about the company's policies for cases involving sick family members. We'll provide an update if the company gives us more details. Comcast apologized to Stepanovich via its official Twitter account.

Comcast has received poor customer service ratings for years, ranking near the bottom of recent American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) rankings for TV and Internet service. That's quite a feat given that TV and Internet service tied "for last place among 43 industries tracked by the ACSI."

UPDATE: Comcast made the account change for Stepanovich's father a few hours after this article published.

"They processed a change in the account to a lower level of service," Stepanovich told Ars. Initially, Comcast would only prorate the billing change to today's date. But Stepanovich objected since the ordeal began on Saturday, and was able to get a credit going back to Saturday, she said.