Comcast cashed 79-year-old woman's rent check that she mailed by mistake -- then tried to keep it

A 79-year-old woman accidentally mailed her rent check to Xfinity Comcast along with her cable bill -- only to have the telecom giant cash it and initially refuse to return the money.

According to CNET.com, Francis Wilson of Albuquerque, New Mexico accidentally put her $235 rent check into the envelope she uses to pay her $20 cable bill each month.

Comcast received the check and cashed it. When Wilson realized her mistake and contacted the cable provider, they initially offered her an account credit rather than returning the money.

"You're stealing from an old woman like me?" Wilson said to KRQE. "How dare you? You didn't even call me? Who gave you permission?"

Large companies use machines to process incoming payments. Oftentimes these machines simply scan the numbers on the checks without bothering with the name of the payee.

KRQE contacted Comcast, whose representative said that the company rushed to rectify the error as soon as it was brought to their attention.

"Our big focus was to correct the situation as soon as possible," she said, but the company -- the largest cable and home Internet provider in the country for more a decade -- only agreed to return the money when it was contacted by KRQE.

CNET's Chris Matyszczyk asked why Comcast generates so many of these types of customer service nightmare stories.

"In recent times, the company has called customers "A**hole" and "Super B****." Yes, in writing. Its so-called retention specialists have been recorded treating customers to a certain hell of unwanted persistence," Matyszczyk said.

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