When you don’t pay your bill Comcast cuts your cable off, but what happens when Comcast doesn’t pay its bill to you?
A Northeast Missouri family says that Comcast has been renting their land for a cable tower, but hasn’t been paying the bill for the last six months. The confusion started when Comcast took over another cable company that had been renting the land. The family tried negotiating with Comcast, but the cable company walked away from the table.. and kept using the land.
From the KHQA:
When Comcast walked away without paying its rent, the Williams’ decided to stop providing the service by shutting off the transmitter.
With the tower out of service, a Comcast employee had to come to the tower to turn it back on. That meant he trespassed onto the Williams property. That happened a couple of times before the Williams decided to turn the power off.
Again Williams told me a Comcast employee returned, trespassed and brought a generator to keep the tower going.
KHQA talked with Comcast officials to find out why the company would trespass. Here’s the explanation we got.
No power on the tower shut down emergency pagers for physicians, not to mention turned out the tower’s lights which serve as a warning for airplane pilots.
Comcast officials say they didn’t know about the contract negotiations or the backed up tower rent until they officially took over Insight Jan. 1.
Monday, the Williams signed a year long contract. But that hasn’t changed anything.
The Williams told us they contacted KHQA, because they want local customers to know what kind of company is serving the Quincy area.
She says it’s the kind that wants you to pay your bills, but won’t pay its own.
Comcast officials also told us the Williams’ rent check is in the mail.
Comcast paying their bills late? [KHQA] (Thanks to a Quincy resident !)
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@sleze69: I don’t know. Time/Warner Cable gives them a good run for their money.
Hmm…. Comcast has been caught in a “Hillaryism”… How can both of these statements be true:
“After contract negotiations {with former company Insight} failed, Comcast took over negotiations in September.”
“Comcast officials say they didn’t know about the contract negotiations or the backed up tower rent until they officially took over Insight Jan. 1.”
OOPS…
consumersaur at 10:57 AM: Seriously awesome.
And yes, please make them pay lots of late fees, especially those past due fees that do not make sense because they are making me pay in advance – for a time period when I have not yet watched tv!
Make them pay now for the next 50 years use of that tower!
I love the craiglist idea. I would leave the dismantling tools around for any prospective dis-assemblers.
I don’t imagine the trespassing claims will hold up, as Comcast surely had an easement to legally access the land.
@nonzenze: This isn’t small claims. That much back rent is way over the small claims limit, especially if you want to add suits for trespassing and the other stuff.
@bonzombiekitty: I’d agree. There are some unintended consequences here that have nothing to do with Comcast. I would have put a lock on their gate (if they had one) and left notice that they are trespassing.
i like scrap metal
@Manok:
Wonder how much you could get for the scrap metal. I’m with you. Someone puts that crap on my land, trespasses and thinks they can get away with not paying bills? We don’t live in a world where big business IS the government…yet.
Lock them out, sell the hardware. Trust me, someone will want that gear to tear it apart and figure out how it works. Or to use it for their own purposes.
sounds like the OP should just hire a lawyer
I wonder if Comcast will appeal to try to get the land for free via Emminent Domain.
@TPK: Glad I’m not the only one who spotted that goof!
I once threatened to take Comcast to small claims court over some money that they owed me as a refund but wouldn’t release to me.
And I told them that if I won and they didn’t pay, I was going to ask the court for a lien on the pay-per-view billing computer at their nearest headend as compensation….. I got the check two days later. Just gotta know where to hit them where it’ll hurt the most. Cutting off the power to this tower was a brilliant move.
Whatever is done, I’m hoping the owners of the tower tell consumerist what has happened, or what action they’ll take.
I somehow hope they do attempt to craiglist the tower. >_> That’ll be a good read.
@Brine: I would assume that would only apply as long as Comcast was holding up their end of the bargain…
@超外人:
Especially the story about someone being seriously mangled or killed from trying to dismantle a several hundred foot tower with guy wires under tension. That’ll be absolutely hilarious!
(You’re not the only one posting about them dismantling it, or letting someone else come do it, but you have bet best “reply to” screen name. Wasn’t singling you out.)
@Brine: Not if they didn’t have a contract as that would be necessary to have an easement.
Don’t play fast and loose games with landlord-tenant law. You don’t cut the power, and you don’t lock out the tenant on a whim. You could find yourself on the bad side of a court order pretty quick.
You pay an attorney to handle an eviction properly.
If Comcast wants to avoid eviction, they can negotiate and pay upfront for the privilege of a new lease.
If they don’t, then the attorney will tell you when and how to craigslist the tower.
The Craigslist idea is the best thing I’ve read on Consumerist since I started frequenting this site. The fallout from such a move would be crazy to witness.
I hope that if there are any updates on this situation that they get posted here. I don’t want to miss anything.
I’ve had issues with Comcast and their lines and towers for years and every time I bring it up I’m told there is nothing I can do.
See, I have property that in my 1947 Deed gives the POWER COMPANY easement to get to THEIR lines and poles. When Cable came out all of a sudden all the cable companies were using it, which among other things caused a lot more traffic in a private area.
When I asked how they could do this, I was told the power company could give permission to use the easement. With a company as large as Comcast I should just forget trying to fight them. Not my style, but they convinced me.
The way I see it they are using MY property without MY permission, climbing a pole where they have full view of my yard and home over an 8 foot privacy fence, and in my opinion are just a nuisance. If they want to use the pole on MY property to provide cable to my neighbors I’ll allow them access and use in exchange for FREE cable connection to my house. Yah, like that will ever happen.
More to come…the Power Company has decided to bury the power line which most likely will mean moving their line to the FRONT of my property on the street. Will they abandon the pole? Take it with them? Or just leave it for Comcast to use?
Trying to pick my battles, this one seems like a losing one. I’ve learned there is no such thing as “Private Property” in our society. Those of you who are not home during the day would be shocked at who “officially” enters your property and you never know.
May have to get out my Big Stick if Comcast is the only one using the pole. That might be a whole new game.
@scoobydoo: most companies lease the lower space out to other people to help lower the cost. So it may be a comcast tower, who then subleses for cell companies or pager companies.
@Softly-with-a-Big-Stick:
The power company didn’t give Comcast the right to your easement, the local franchising authority did. If Power is going to bury their lines odds are that Comcast will too and even if they didn’t you still wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. I imagine this why every piece of property (I’m sure there are exceptions, I just don’t know of any) has an easement so companies, whether it be power, phone or cable, can actually access their equipment.
Give them 10 days to remove it then call a scrap yard or like the other idea, craigslist it after you remove all the copper and recycle it.
Here’s a newer idea: use Consumerist for the opposite intent of the site!
1) Search for the worst debt collection agency in America.
2) Sell the debt to them.
3) Give them every Comcast executive’s personal number for them to call an illegal amount of times a day to collect.
(I’m not sure if this is an anti-executive carpet mail bomb or advocating illegal debt collection practices, but it would feel good)
1. Find out what pager service is leasing space on the tower.
2. Contact the pager company and inform them that their service will be interrupted and to contact Comcast for more info.
3. Disconnect power.
4. Collect back rent and let the negotiations begin.
@consumersaur: well played sir
I wonder if Comcast ever notified the FAA to NOTAM the tower light unserviceable. U/S lights like that are the company’s responsibility to report in order to have a NOTAM filed for pilots (probably 80% of notams out there are for tower lights)…and IIRC, there’s a hefty fine for not doing so.
Simple solutions. At the gate, or entry to said location. Posted signs to read “NO TRESSPASSING” “BEWARE OF DOG” “TRESSPASSERS WILL BE SHOT”
Also, I agree with just taking Comcast to court, lucky on their behalf they decided they would rather pay upfront about it.
I would still keep the “TRESSPASSERS WILL BE SHOT” Sign up for good measure, and inform them that they need to make a call to you any time they wanted someone to take a look at the tower.
Am I the only one who thinks;
Ma and Pa rent out their land to Bubba Gump cable co for a pittance.
Comcast buys out Bubba Gump.
Ma and Pa say well hold on there fella we gotta rethink these here rates, yall have deeper pockets than Bubba.
Comcast says screw you, there is a contract in place between you and Bubba and we bought Bubba’s comapny and its assets and walks away. Ma and Pa say well you can talk to our lawyers and Comcast says ok and informs their AR people to stop payment because once its between the lawyers they dont do diddly.
Ma and Pa, feeling burned violate the patriot act and commit crimes against US air space, endangering innocent civilians because they weren’t able to gouge Comcast.
Comcast just wants fair access to their asset which was part of the package when they bough Bubba out.
Look I dont like Comcast anymore than the next dude but they are in the right on this one. Unless Ma and Pa have a Contract that states they can renegotiate at will they dont have a leg to stand on, if thats what they were trying to do. They now have a shiny new contract and can sue Comcast in small claims court if they dont pay.
A cutting torch is all I would need!
Red_Eye: Read the progression of the damn story! The family didn’t try to renegotiate until after Comcast hadn’t abided to the contract for 6 months. The family is well within their rights for breach of contract. What they should actually do is sue the pants off Comcast!
I’d love to see them sabotage or destroy the thing, but there may be civil liability for destroying Comcast’s equipment, even if it’s on your land.
Try to get a court injunction to prohibit the use of the transmitter. Contact the FCC.
Worst case, tell Comcast if they don’t work something out you’ll consider the transmitter as Comcast’s trash being left in your yard, and you will dispose of it.
@Manok: Destruction of Property. It might be on your land, but it is still theirs.
Now then, how about a few citable offenses filed with the police department in the trange of Criminal Trespass and a civil suit due to their failure to pay.
@KeithF:
Not to nitpick, but it’s actually NOtice To AirMen…I screwed that one up on my PPL Oral exam so I thought I’d pass it on…. Also, apparently a Snowtam is a real thing.
WOW! That’s awesome. Y’know, they’re quick to the trigger to shut down your cable when you don’t pay. Then, the same goes to them. The lights should’ve been wired to another circuit so the Employee couldn’t use that excuse. Simply beautiful. I think you guys should start implementing fees of your own after this contract runs out.