The way I see it, they are rude to you by making you go through hoops, so I am rude to them. I repeatedly say "Please cancel" to every new rep I am transferred to and/or every time they ask me a question or go into a spiel.
The only time I will not say "please cancel" is when they ask me any information that needs to be verified in order to cancel. This has worked with Comcast as well as a handful of other service providers that I wished to cancel. I have never been on the phone more than 6 minutes. Try it out.
This is usually my strategy, but it failed hard with TWC. No matter what I did, they would redirect me to the automated "relocation" service and ask for my new zip code. They did this even when I told them I wasn't moving, they do it just to get rid of you. I even tried saying "I just no longer want internet, I feel like it is bad for my health." and sure enough "click Please enter the zip code...."
The only time I will not say "please cancel" is when they ask me any information that needs to be verified in order to cancel. This has worked with Comcast as well as a handful of other service providers that I wished to cancel. I have never been on the phone more than 6 minutes. Try it out.