MARLBOROUGH -- Comcast Corp. has closed its customer service office in the city and has no plans to open another one.
The cable television provider shut the payment center at 247 Maple St. (Rte. 85) in Marlborough on May 19 and directed customers to similar offices in Hudson and Framingham.
Marc Goodman, a Comcast spokesman, said the company was unable to continue using the property, a gray building next to Kennedy's Pub.
"What it comes down to is the lease was not renewed," Goodman said this week.

Comcast had been renting the building from Kennedy's Pub. The restaurant's owners, Dennis and Carolyn Kennedy of Marlborough, purchased the property from Comcast in June 2005 for $575,000, according to the Massachusetts Registry of Deeds.
Goodman said Comcast is "considering and evaluating options" for another payment center in Marlborough. The company is not bound to have an office in the city. Unlike other communities, including Hudson, Marlborough did not require through its cable franchising license that Comcast operate a payment center in the city, Goodman said.
Comcast has about 200 payment centers in Massachusetts, Goodman said. Customers often use the centers to make late payments to avoid getting their cable TV service shut off.
Goodman said there have been no complaints since the office closed. He noted that Comcast customers can pay their monthly bills through the mail, on the Internet, by telephone or in person at other payment centers in the area.
"We offer a variety of ways for people to pay bills or answer questions with Comcast," Goodman said.
Tony Ippolito Jr., a former member of Hudson's Cable Television Committee, said such offices are an important part of a cable company's customer service.
"They have to accommodate everybody," he said. "It's totally inappropriate not to have anybody there (in an office)."
The two people who worked at Comcast's Marlborough office were relocated to other offices, Goodman said.
Comcast's Hudson office is located at 577 Main St. The Framingham office is at 14 Burr St. Customers may also call 1-888-633-4266 for more information.
It's unclear what Kennedy's Pub plans to do with the former Comcast office in Marlborough.
Michael Kennedy, the pub's general manager, did not return repeated calls for comment over the past week. A message left at Dennis and Carolyn Kennedy's home was not returned yesterday.


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