Since Time Warner Cable announced its controversial monthly fee for cable modems, the company has reassured customers they could avoid the fee by buying their own modem. Which would be great, if TWC actually kept track of whether or not you still have its equipment.

Consumerist reader Daniel has TWC’s Internet service and says that he’s had that rental fee in mind since hearing about it in early October, especially since he uses his own cable modem and had returned the TWC modem several months ago.

He writes:

This month I’ve noticed an unusual amount charged on my credit card by Time Warner via auto-payment method. I am usually charged $49.99 every month. However, this time I was charged $54.29; monthly Charge of $49.99 plus an “Internet Modem Lease” fee of 3.95. It looks like there was a tax of $0.35 for the fee as well.

Daniel says it was easy enough to get the error fixed by contacting TWC customer service, but A) He should not have had to tell his cable company that he returned the equipment, and B) We wonder how many other people out there have their TWC bill on auto-pay and won’t immediately notice a $3.95 increase.

So TWC customers who have their own modems — and those that eventually buy their own modems — are advised to check their bill to make sure they aren’t paying for equipment they no longer use.

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