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posted by martyb on Monday June 17 2019, @04:24AM   Printer-friendly
from the popping-the-inflated-price-bubble dept.

Comcast broke law 445,000 times in scheme to inflate bills, judge finds:

Comcast yesterday was ordered to refund nearly 50,000 customers and pay a $9.1 million fine when a judge ruled that it violated Washington state consumer protection law hundreds of thousands of times.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued Comcast in August 2016, accusing the nation's largest cable company of tricking customers into buying a "near-worthless 'protection plan' without disclosing its significant limitations."

Buying the $5-per-month plan ostensibly prevented customers from having to pay each time a Comcast technician visited their home to fix problems covered by the plan. But in reality, the plan did not cover the vast majority of wiring problems, the AG's lawsuit said. Moreover, Washington state attorneys said that Comcast led customers to believe that they needed to buy a Service Protection Plan (SPP) to get services that were actually covered for free by the company's "Customer Guarantee."

In yesterday's ruling (pdf), King County Superior Court Judge Timothy Bradshaw found that "Comcast violated the Consumer Protection Act more than 445,000 times when it charged tens of thousands of Washingtonians for its Service Protection Plan without their consent," Ferguson's announcement said. Each wrongful monthly charge was a separate violation, so there were multiple violations per customer.

Washington state attorneys sought more than $171 million, asking the judge to order Comcast to pay $88 million in restitution to customers and $83 million in fines.

The $9.1 million fine Comcast was ordered to pay is a fraction of the amount sought by Washington. But Comcast's refunds to customers are separate from the fine, and it's not clear exactly how much they'll amount to.

If this just another "cost of doing business" or do you think this will actually change things?


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday June 17 2019, @05:20PM (1 child)

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Monday June 17 2019, @05:20PM (#856706) Journal

    I once posted this on the "other site." It's what I think of whenever I see yet another story about customers being screwed over by Comcast:

    This reminds me of a conversation I had with a Comcast supervisor who called me one Sunday over a decade ago.

    The background to this call is that I had moved between states and had Comcast (then the only option) in both states. Comcast managed to screw up just about everything possible in billing me for closing my account in one state and then opening the new one. Long story short: I ended up with roughly $500 in illegitimate charges and fees, which required the intervention of the Better Business Bureau and two state agencies to force Comcast to resolve.

    Anyhow, my favorite conversation occurred this particular Sunday with a supervisor. I had previously attempted to resolve my problems by calling Comcast, who told me that I needed to go to the local Comcast office in person -- but the local office proceeded to tell me that they couldn't do anything and I needed to call. The next call I insisted that I speak with someone who could resolve my bill immediately and when I was told that was impossible, I asked to talk to a supervisor.

    I was informed that I could not talk to a supervisor ("Our system doesn't work that way!") but they would put in a request for a supervisor to call me back within 72 hours.

    A couple days pass, and a cheery-voiced supervisor indeed calls me on Sunday afternoon. I swear I am not making this up, but this is roughly how the conversation went:

    [Comcast]: Hi, I'm a supervisor.
    [me]: Hi. [I explain situation.] I need you to just fix this billing error right now.
    [Comcast]: I'm sorry, but those rates are set by your local market, so you'll need to talk to your local office.
    [me]: I tried that. They told me they can't do it, and I need to talk to you. Please just fix this.
    [Comcast]: Well, I'm sorry but those rates are set by your local market, and I don't have access to that information.
    [me]: Where are you?
    [Comcast]: I'm in [state on other side of the U.S. from me].
    [me]: Well, could you maybe connect me with a supervisor from my local market to resolve this??
    [Comcast]: Well, obviously I can't do that now. [Laughs.] I mean, it's Sunday afternoon! Nobody's working.
    [me]: Huh? Well, why are you calling me?... Oh... forget it -- okay [I think I see a solution] -- so I'm told your system allows you to put in requests to talk to supervisors. Could you put in a request in the system to have a supervisor from my local market to call me back... you know, one who could actually resolve my problem?
    [Comcast]: I'm sorry sir, but our system doesn't work that way.
    [me, exasperated]: Then WHY DID YOU CALL ME?!? You took time on your Sunday afternoon when no one else is apparently working to call me and tell me... that you can do nothing to help me?!?
    [Comcast, sounding cheery]: Well, sir, we are committed to returning calls within 72 hours, so I wanted to get back to you.
    [me]: [grumble, grumble, feeling like I'm trapped in a Kafka novel]
    [Comcast, after a short pause, sounding even more chipper]: Well, sir, is there anything else I can help you with today?
    [me]: Huh? You did NOTHING to help me! This call makes no sense. I really don't understand what just happened. I don't understand what this call is. I'm sorry, I'm just going to have to sit down and try to process the insanity of this situation. Goodbye.

    Since that phone call, I've never talked to another Comcast representative when an error occurs. This was just the most insane encounter with Comcast customer "service" I had, out of maybe a dozen or more in attempts to resolve the billing issues that happened during one move. After that, I went straight to government regulatory agencies when I experienced any problems... which thankfully I had few of. And even more thankfully, I've moved again and now have a non-Comcast option, so I haven't been a customer in several years.

    It wouldn't surprise me if it was unofficial Comcast policy to have random employees troll customers with absurd phone calls on Sundays. That's how evil Comcast truly is. Anyone who signs up for some service claiming to give "customer support" with that company is just asking to have their money stolen from them.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @09:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 18 2019, @09:19PM (#857180)

    The supervisor probably had a bunch of metrics they needed to fudge. You should have politely told them you're going to record and transcribe the conversation so you can reference it later, phished them for identifying information and then adamantly insist on keeping the ticket open with a warning that you'll complain if the ticket is closed.