I am annually challenged to tussle with my cable service provider over the matter of cost. Whlle there are some televisions shows that I enjoy watching on occassion, I probably view less than 3 percent of what’s on. Paying full price for cable is for suckers, I say. I have yet to figure out how to get a 97 percent discount, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get close. This year’s journey began with an unexpected twist. My ebill showed up on January 9th with a due date of January 2nd. Not cool. The bill includes both cable and high speed Internet service and normally clocks in at 100 bucks. This ebill was for frickin $150! I was able to delay the payment even though I have my online bill pay set up to pay these right away. I called up Comcast and entered my phone number. “You were not found” was the terse reply. I eventually got someone on the phone. For 30 minutes this woman was unable to locate me by name, by account number, or by address. She had a weird Latin American accent that I couldn’t place. This made her understanding anything I said a huge problem. I started to talk with the same accent that she had before long in the hope she could decipher my words. No such luck. She also sucked at typing which compounded my frustration. When the half hour mark rolled around she decided on her own that she couldn’t help me. Well, duh! She then asked, “is there anything else I can help you with?” WTF does that mean? “Exactly what else can you do?” I asked. Silence. I know they have to say those words in lieu of something a normal person would say like “holla back!” or “yo I gots ta go!” She eventually admitted that there was actually nothing she could do to help me. I then hung up and called back. The guy I got on this try was right on the ball. He obviously skipped taking hits off the crack pipe. We dropped HBO and picked up an HD DVR while keeping my costs about the same for the next 12 months. I adjusted my ebill back down to $100 and sent it on its merry way after I got off the phone. I felt smug. I swapped out cable boxes on my way to work the next day. The nice smug feeling came back for another visit. The smug good times ended when *another* ebill popped up. This one was for a whopping $300! Not only did it fail to acknowledge my $100 payment from the previous day, I was also unable to stop this one from hitting my bank. So now they have a lot of my money. Ugh. Another call on Monday should solve the problem. I still hate them and their entertaining box full of… uhhh… entertainment.