When San Francisco man Ryan Block called Comcast to cancel his internet service, he likely expected to get transferred to "customer retention," aka the purgatory level in which an employee tries to make you an offer you can't refuse. What he didn't expect was a nearly 20 minute call in which the Comcast staffer demanded again and again, with increasing aggression, to know why on earth Block and his wife, Veronica Belmont, would want to leave the company.

Block, a former editor at tech site Engadget, said on twitter that "I am seriously prepared for people to tell me I’m being overly sensitive…" when he posted the below audio recording of his interaction with the Comcast rep, who repeatedly refused to disconnect Block and Belmont's service until he explained why they were leaving the telecom giant for Astound, a Bay Area-based TV/internet/phone company.

According to Block, the recording of the call with Comcast "picks up roughly 10 minutes into the call, whereby [Belmont] and I have already played along and given a myriad of reasons and explanations as to why we are canceling."

"The representative (name redacted) continued aggressively repeating his questions, despite the answers given, to the point where my wife became so visibly upset she handed me the phone," Block writes.

"Overhearing the conversation, I knew this would not be very fun."

How not fun was it? Here's an example:

Comcast: I’m just trying to figure out here what it is about Comcast service that you’re not liking.

Block: This phone call is an amazing representative example of why I don’t want to stay with Comcast. So, can you please cancel our service?

Comcast: I’m trying to help you. You’re not letting me help you by declining answers, by doing all this.

Block: You can help me by disconnecting our service.

Comcast: How is that helping you?

Block: Because that’s what I want.

Here's the whole conversation:

According to Block, Comcast did eventually manage to disconnect the service.

While Comcast failed to respond to SFist's request for comment at publication time, Vice reporter Sam Gustin says that Comcast tells him that "This isn't how our customer service representatives are trained to operate," an assertion at which many Comcast customers might have a pretty loud laugh.