Spectrum Rep Refuses to Cancel Service, Tells Customer to "Take a Deep Breath" Instead

It seems like ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, customer service has taken a serious nosedive, right along with the balance between employees wanting to work and employers willing to pay for hard work. The days of "the customer is always right" and basic respect for paying customers are long gone, and a viral TikTok shared by Kayla (@babybeanmom2) is a stark example.

While trying to cancel her Spectrum internet service, Kayla says she was met with blatant disrespect and given the runaround by a Spectrum representative. At one point, the rep even told her to "regulate [her] nervous system." Here’s Kayla’s frustrating story, and why even people who don’t even have Spectrum are saying they want nothing to do with it.

Kayla’s TikTok opens mid-call with a Spectrum representative, and her frustrated tone makes it clear she’d already been on the phone longer than necessary. At the start of the clip, she can be heard asking, yet again, for her service to be canceled. Instead, the rep tried to offer her a $23 discount.

At this point, it’s safe to assume Kayla had asked so many times that she was forced to pull out the rude card. The rep continued dodging the request, even going off on a tangent about what towers Spectrum uses. Eventually, Kayla had to say, "I don't care," because she had clearly made up her mind about getting her service disconnected.

By the end of the video, Kayla was even more irritated, especially after the rep refused to cancel the service and had the nerve to say, "Take a deep breath and regulate your nervous system." Kayla came back with, "Honey, my nervous system is regulated. You need to do what I’m asking you to do." The rep then responded, "If it’s regulated, then why are you frustrated?" Is this a Spectrum rep or a one-on-one session with a therapist? Because at this point, the line is definitely blurry.

Kayla later returned to TikTok with a follow-up video explaining that the woman on the call even told her she "felt bad for her because she couldn’t afford her bill" and demanded that Kayla "speak to her like she loved and cared about her." Eventually, the rep hung up on her, forcing Kayla to call back and start the entire process over with someone new.

Unfortunately, the second attempt wasn’t much better. Kayla says the man she spoke with was also rude and condescending, though at least he managed to cancel her service.

She described the ordeal as "the most unhinged experience I’ve ever had," and coming from someone who says she’s worked in customer service her "whole life," that says a lot. While the rep gets some credit for trying to retain a customer, because let’s be honest, internet service providers are competitive and can’t afford to lose business, there’s a line between persistence and disrespect, and telling someone to "regulate their nervous system" definitely crosses it.

One commenter claiming to be a former Spectrum employee chimed in, explaining that retention reps are trained to keep customers because losing too many can hurt their performance, and potentially cost them their jobs. But in this case, the reps clearly didn’t care how rude they came across. Honestly, this kind of business model feels like a lose-lose.

Had they just canceled the service without all the attitude, Kayla might have returned later, or at least recommended Spectrum to friends or family. Instead, she made it clear she’s never going back. And after watching her video, I don’t blame her.

Luckily, the former employee offered a workaround: If you need to cancel your Spectrum service, don’t initially say you'd like to cancel. Instead, ask to speak with billing, and once connected, demand that they cancel your account. So, thanks to Kayla’s wild experience, at least we now know how to get it done without completely losing our minds.