Cox told reader Don that they would waive a $55 service fee they hadn’t previously disclosed, but then changed their mind without telling him. Now Cox is telling Don that if he pays the $55, they’ll return it to him as a credit next month. Yeah, sure they will. Should Don trust them?

Don writes:

For 2 weeks we’ve been out of town due to a death in the family (Cox was real sympathetic) and this morning I got a phone call because my cable/broadband bill hasn’t been paid. I called to pay it and it was way higher than it should have been.

That’s because (2 months ago) Cox charged me $55 to come put a connector on the cable in the living room of my new apartment. When I called them to tell them there was no connector on the end of the cable, they scheduled an appointment for the following day. They didn’t mention the $55 charge. (If they had, I’d have spent the money instead on a nice crimping tool and a bunch of connectors – and taken my wife to dinner with the remainder.)

When I called them a month ago to ask why my bill was so high and they told me about this $55 charge, I complained, but not for long – they were quick to remove the charge right away. At the time I thought that they must do this all the time, and when people complain, they quickly reverse the fee. I wonder how much money they make doing that?

When I asked this morning why my bill was so high again, and they again brought up the $55 charge, I again complained and they again offered to remove the charge. I mentioned my feeling of deja vu and was told that last month, a supervisor had disallowed the credit after my call, (not that anyone bothered to inform me,) claiming that I had known about the $55 charge.

Hey, Cox – you know that call you recorded for quality control? Why don’t you take a listen?

It gets better. Turns out they won’t actually remove that $55 charge – they want me to pay it, then they’ll credit me next month. (Yeah, sure they will.) No way, I said, not gonna happen. Next I was given the option of simply subtracting the $55 from the total bill – but I’d have to use the automated system or pay a $4 fee.

Well, guess what? The automated system won’t take a payment for less than the ‘minimum amount due’. Tomorrow a Cox supervisor is going to get an earful. Hope you’ll alert people to Cox’s sleazy little service call scam.

(Photo: coconut wireless)

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