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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Man Who Claimed Comcast Got Him Fired Drops Suit

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A man who claimed in federal court that his dispute with Comcast cost him his job at PriceWaterhouseCoopers is dropping his lawsuit against the cable giant.

Conal O'Rourke sued Comcast in October 2014, saying his problems started when Comcast overcharged him for premium channels and cable boxes.

Soon O'Rourke was embroiled in a telephone war with Comcast, and no matter how many times he tried to cancel his service, Comcast either ignored his calls or merely promised to do better, he claimed.

But instead of correcting the overcharges, Comcast sent him roughly $1,800 worth of equipment he didn't order. Then it sent his account to collections for nonpayment, even though he personally returned all 12 pieces of equipment to a Comcast office, the man said.

O'Rourke claimed Comcast researched his background, and the company's controller Lawrence Salva, a former partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, called PWC's Joseph Atkinson in Philadelphia and accused O'Rourke of referring to his employment at PWC "as leverage in his 'negotiations' with Comcast."

O'Rourke said his fight with the cable company cost him his job because Comcast is PWC's largest client, with billings exceeding $30 million per year.

On Oct. 8, 2014, Comcast's senior vice president for "customer experience," Charlie Herrin, posted "A Public Apology to Conal O'Rourke" on the corporate website.

"Despite our attempts to address Mr. O'Rourke's issues, we simply dropped the ball and did not make things right," Herrin wrote. "Mr. O'Rourke deserves another apology from us and we're making this one publicly. We also want to clarify that nobody at Comcast asked for him to be fired."

A document filed with the court on Tuesday said only that it was a voluntary dismissal without prejudice.

O'Rourke's lawyer Harmeet Dhillon declined to comment on the record.

Comcast also had no comment.

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