On Demand

My very, very observant and crafty beyond her years youngest daughter was able to figure out how to call up her favorite shows On Demand. When we thought she was napping she would wake up, grab the Comcast remote, hit the red 'On Demand' button, and navigate the menus. Now, because she is 2 1/2, she can't read (at least I think she can't read), so finding the shows she wanted to watch was trial and error...mostly error. She ordered some movie called 'Black Death' twice in a three day time span. She also ordered 'Conviction' and 'Alpha and Omega' as well. I discovered her ability to manipulate the On Demand functionality when I received a ridiculous cable bill. We were charged 9.99 for each instance of 'Black Death' and 4.99 for 'Alpha and Omega' and 'Conviction'

I called Comcast when Katelyn ordered 'Black Death' for the third time and was told that we wouldn't be charged if less than 1/2 an hour of a movie was watched. I tried to explain that we never watched 'Black Death' and we most certainly did not order it two times in a three day span. Nor did we order 'Conviction' or 'Alpha and Omega', but I agreed that a charge for 'Alpha...' was warranted because the kids sat down and watched that one (I thought it was on HBO On Demand, not PPV On Demand). The customer service rep wouldn't budge, the best he could do was to tell me to set a pin number to block On Demand...which would be fine if setting a PIN was in any way useful and not a massive nuisance. When I tried to tell him that my daughter was ordering the movies and turning the TV off when she got an eyeful of 'Black Death' and not Yo Gabba Gabba, he still wouldn't budge...no empathy, no 'I'll see what I can do', just no. And I didn't feel like getting into it with him so I just hung up.

When I tried establishing a PIN to block On Demand, I discovered that Comcast has set it up where you can't disable On Demand functionality on the remote. All you can do with a PIN is block channels, titles or ratings, not PPV On Demand...and I think Comcast wants it this way. I noticed the other day that during a commercial for 'Megamind' a pop up message that read 'Do You Want To Watch Megamind? Hit 'OK' was displayed all over the screen. There was nothing that stated 'Ask Your Parents/Adult', just 'Hit OK'. Had the girls wanted to watch 'Megamind' all they would have to do is hit the easy to find 'OK' button and I would have been out another $4.99....

Comcast has found another devious way to bleed their customers of money. I try to police and limit the amount of TV my kids watch, but I'm not with them 24/7...and, shocker, sometimes I let them watch TV while I clean the kitchen or finish up some work. While part of me is kind of proud that Katelyn was clever enough to even get to the On Demand menu, I'm not so proud that I don't want my fargin' 25 bones back for PPV movies we didn't watch. Not allowing customers to block On Demand is the kind of business move that does nothing but harvest ill will. I certainly won't forget this when it comes time to shop for another cable provider. And I certainly won't forget the customer service drone that did absolutely nothing to offer assistance. Had the rep given one crap about customer service he would have taken a closer look at our account and seen that we have not ordered a PPV movie since switching over to Comcast. We have ordered some boxing and MMA events, but no movies that I can remember....but all he could do was read from his script.

If you are a Comcast customer and have kids, keep a very, very close eye on your billing statement. There is nothing preventing your kids from ringing up PPV charges on your dime...and good luck with customer service when you call up and try and explain the circumstances of the PPV transactions. Hey, just set up a PIN that does nothing to prevent this from happening again!!!!