Comcast

A Comcast Corp. truck is pictured Feb. 2, 2006 in Salt Lake City.

(Douglas C. Pizac | The Associated Press)

Ryan Block had generally good experiences dealing with Comcast—until he tried to cancel his service.

Block, co-founder of technology news site Engaget, ended up with a nightmarish customer service representative when he called to cancel his service earlier this week, The Daily Mail reported. The rep's strategy for getting customers to stay with Comcast? Just don't let them off the phone.

Block tweeted to his followers on Monday:

His followers wanted to hear the call, so Block posted the final eight minutes of the exchange on his soundcloud page. You can listen to the complete recording here:

Block was on the phone for a full 18 minutes. The call recording, which has gone viral, picks up 10 minutes in as the service rep, whose name Block edited out of the recording, demands to know why he wants to choose another cable provider.

"Why is it that you don't want the faster speed? Help me understand why you don't want faster Internet?" the rep asks.

"Help me understand why you can't just disconnect us?" Block answers.

Block's wife had originally made the call after the couple made the decision to switch to another provider, Block wrote on the soundcloud page. He said they had already given several reasons why they wanted to switch providers, and adds, "it was clear the only sufficient answer was 'Okay, please don't disconnect our service after all.'"

Block resorted to telling the rep that he was not obliged to give any reason, but that he simply wanted to cancel his service. But the rep continued to demand that Block give him a reason for his cancellation.

The conversation continues to escalate, with the rep talking over Block, and resorting to a variety of tactics to try to get him to stay with Comcast.

First the rep claims he only wants to help. Block responds with, "The way you can help me is by disconnecting our service."

"But how is that helping you though?" the rep asks.

"That's what I want," says Block.

"OK, why is that what you want?" the rep responds.

The rep touts Comcast's speed and on-demand titles and demands to know what's better about Astound, Block's new service.

At one point, Block considers that this might be an elaborate prank.

"Am I being punked?" he asks.

The rep finally claims to have disconnected the service, but Block didn't trust it. He sent a few follow-up tweets after the ordeal.

Comcast's senior vice president of customer experience, Tom Karinshak, issued an official apology statement for the call on Comcast's corporate website:

Comcast also sent an apology tweet to Block:

Comcast is expected to finalize a $45 billion deal to takeover Time Warner Cable later this year. The company plans to put a cap on monthly data and implement usage-based billing.