Comcast wanted to dig up my lawn; now they're reneging on a pricing promise.

A year ago, I came home from work to find markers, flags and paint all over my front lawn. After calls to the police, interviews with neighbors and local authorities, I uncovered the fact that this had been done by Comcast-contracted workers. When I called Comcast, they confirmed that they had indeed scheduled digging work in my front lawn to correct a service problem for a neighbor.

Needless to say, this was profoundly disturbing to find out that my front yard may be dug up -- and the utility company responsible did not contact me! At that point I had only been a Comcast internet customer for just two years, and had little problems with their internet service.

Jennifer, a customer relations executive, contacted me. After staying home for two days (that's two days of wages I'll never get back), I finally had someone who was investigating the situation. After a few days (she herself had no idea why the digging had been planned), she was able to call off the "project".

At the same time, a trusted (and very reputable) attorney had returned my inquiry about my rights as a landowners and utilities. Turns out Comcast violated Pennsylvania laws since they did not contact me or the state agency responsible for coordinating digging.

When I relayed this information to Jennifer, she quickly sought to resolve this manner. She stated that she would pay my current bill and give me my internet service at $19.95, only to increase at the normal increases. Wanting to cut my losses and be done with the whole fiasco, I agreed to the terms and to drop my legal inquiries into Comcast's actions.

So, fast forward to this week, when I received a bill for $60 internet! Turns out that the "quick fix" last November was to put a "one year promotional rate" in the computer...45 minutes on the phone revealed nothing but Comcast's continued incompetence and inability to communicate from one office to the other.

What do I do? I lost hundreds in wages and our family had to stare at a Beirut-style arrangement of markers that ruined my front lawn...only to be duped again. Again! I'm thinking that at this point, I have to stand my ground and initiate a legal inquiry into Comcast's actions. Is it fair that a multi-billion dollar company plan to dig up your lawn without even telling you? Shouldn't their executives live up to their end of the bargain, once an agreement is made?