The Comcast store on East Jackson Street will be closing its doors at the end of October.
According to Comcast, customers primarily used the Macomb payment center to pay bills and to set up and end service. A spokesperson for the cable company said those services can be accomplished without a brick and mortar store.
Vice President of Public Relations for the greater Chicago region Jack Segal said customers can set up or end service over the phone or online.
"When you place an order with us online or by phone we will ship you the equipment at no charge and when you want to return equipment we will send you a return mail box or envelope and you can actually carry it to a UPS store or UPS drop box and it will be shipped back to us and again it’s no charge to the customer," Segal said.
Customers will also receive a self-installation kit with the equipment in the mail. Or they can choose to have a service technician come by and install the equipment for about $40.
Segal said customers can still pay bills in person at Walmart, Hy-Vee or K-Mart.
"We really encourage people to use our online services or pay by mail," Segal said. "It's very convenient and easy to do."
Segal said about a million people nationally use the "my account" feature on Comcast's website each month.
“Clearly people are really migrating to our services online and by mail to do business with us,” Segal said.
When asked for figures regarding how many customers visit the Macomb office, Segal said Comcast does not record those numbers.
Comcast plans to close its Macomb payment center October 30. Two employees will be affected. Segal said both will be given the option to transfer to another Comcast store.
Comcast does plan to continue employing 17 people in its technical operations center based in Macomb. Those are the service technicians who make house calls to the area. Segal said those technicians made 6,600 home visits regarding service and installation last year.
Comcast has the lowest customer-service rating of any Internet service provider, and ranks second to last among pay-TV operators, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
