Comcast refuses to cancel service for senior whose house burned down

The Philadelphia-based communications giant is taking flak for how they treated a 66-year-old man in Minnesota after his house burned down.

Jimmy Ware, 66, of St. Paul, lost his home and all his belongings in a house fire on April 1 that razed his home, TwinCities.com reported.

Ware’s daughter Jessica Schmidt said that when she called Comcast to cancel cable service for the destroyed home, they refused to do so without her dad’s account number — which was only listed on paperwork lost in the fire.

From TwinCities.com:

Schmidt grew increasingly frustrated because she wanted to focus on helping her father with more serious matters, such as where as he’s going to live or how he’s going to rebuild his life. The retired trucker had no homeowners’ insurance.

“I’ve said to Comcast, ‘Here’s your choice, disconnect the service or send someone out to fix the cable, because it’s not working,’ ” Schmidt said. “The (Comcast) guy said, ‘That doesn’t make sense, because the house burned down.’ I said, ‘Exactly, shut the service off.’ “

Schmidt says that after four or five calls, Comcast’s corporate office contacted her with an apology and canceled her service on Tuesday, April 7 — nearly a full week after the fire.

The company reportedly won’t charge Ware for the days of service since the fire or for the cable equipment he lost in the fire.

“Comcast has safeguards in place to protect the privacy of our customers, including not allowing unauthorized users to make changes to a customer’s,” Comcast said in a statement on the incident. “We will continue to stay in contact with Mr. Ware to make certain the issue has been resolved to his satisfaction.”