Comcast has agreed to pay a $2.3 million fine to the Federal Communications Commission to settle an investigation into allegations that the cable colossus charged customers for services and equipment they never ordered. [More]
dispatches from kabletown
Comcast Fined $2.3 Million For Charging Customers For Equipment, Services They Never Ordered
By 10.11.16
Comcast Fights Back Against Washington State’s Potential $3.6B Deceptive Service Plan Lawsuit
By 10.3.16
In August, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson slammed Comcast with a potentially massive lawsuit, accusing the cable/internet giant of violating state consumer protection laws nearly two million times by using allegedly deceptive marketing for its Service Protection Plans. Now, Comcast is firing back at Ferguson, claiming the state’s complaint is “premised on a profound mischaracterization of Comcast’s actual business practices.” [More]
Comcast Already Crying That FCC Set-Top Box Proposal Violates Federal Law
By 9.8.16
Within minutes of FCC Chair Tom Wheeler unveiling his final proposal for reforming the multibillion-dollar set-top box market, Comcast was already firing back, accusing the Commission of violating the law and hinting at a legal challenge to come. [More]
Comcast Will Continue Using Overseas Call Centers
By 8.4.16
After being slammed by a string of high-profile customer service disasters, Comcast has made investments in recent year — like putting guarantees on appointments and increasing the size of its social media response team. However, one of the more annoying aspects of customer service calls isn’t going to change: The use of outsourced, overseas call centers. [More]
Comcast Admits It Incorrectly Debited $1,775 From Account, Tells Me To Sort It Out With Bank
By 6.22.16
Nearly two years after Consumerist reader Robert shut down his business-tier service with Comcast, he’s still fighting with the nation’s largest broadband provider over a $1,775 early termination fee that should not have been assessed. Comcast even admits the money shouldn’t have been debited from Robert’s bank account, but now says it’s his responsibility to sort the mess out with his bank. [More]
Former Comcast Installers Say Contractor Erased Negative Reports, Conspired With Cable Company
By 6.6.16
Two former Comcast installation subcontractors are accusing the cable giant of using the promise of more work to trick them into spending more money on equipment, people, and real estate — all for the benefit of two larger subcontractors who were allegedly allowed to manipulate and erase negative service reports from customers. [More]
New Jersey Investigating Comcast’s Use Of HD Fee To Raise Basic Cable Rates
By 5.25.16
As we recently showed in our line-by-line breakdowns of cable and satellite bills, Comcast and other pay-TV providers are using a variety of fees to effectively raise customers’ rates without actually increasing the advertised price. Now comes news that New Jersey utility regulators are looking into Comcast’s use of one particular fee on the company’s most basic tier of TV service. [More]
Comcast Raising Data Caps To One Terabyte On June 1
By 4.27.16
Comcast has — deservedly so — been the subject of thousands of customer complaints since expanding its test of data caps in 2015. In an effort to establish a more realistic data cap, Comcast is more than tripling the monthly data threshold in these markets from 300 GB to a full terabyte. [More]
Comcast Reportedly Looking To Buy DreamWorks Animation For $3B
By 4.26.16
Comcast already owns a mammoth cable/broadband company, a major TV and cable TV network, amusement parks, and a movie/TV/video production and distribution company responsible for money machines like Jurassic World and the Despicable Me/Minions movies. But that’s not enough, apparently. The boys and girls from Kabletown are also looking to add DreamWorks Animation to their shelf. [More]
Comcast Tells Florida Customers They’ll Be Losing Channels; Won’t Say Which Ones
By 4.8.16
Comcast giveth (by accident) and Comcast taketh away (via form letter with no pertinent information). The cable giant is telling some Florida customers that they will soon be losing channels they weren’t supposed to get, but isn’t telling them which ones. [More]
Comcast Says FCC Privacy Rules Will Hurt Consumers By Not Allowing Them To See More Comcast Ads
By 4.1.16
The number-one complaint we get from Consumerist readers is “You guys just don’t have enough ads on your site! Where are all the pop-ups, roll-overs, pop-overs, auto-play videos, and page-crashing ad units that make surfing the web so dang enjoyable?” We hear you, we do; we just don’t have the staff to sell all those ads you want bogging down your browser and tracking you across pages and platforms. And even if we did, those pesky jerks at the FCC are trying to rob us — and consumers — of more options to be marketed to, and commodified by, our Internet service providers. [More]
Comcast Customer Hit With $60,000 Penalty After Waiting 10 Months For Installation
By 3.18.16
We’ve already shown that Comcast and other broadband companies will mislead consumers into believing they can get service at a new property, only to find out when it’s too late that they can’t. So it’s both horrifying and not surprising to hear that when a Comcast business customer tried to get out of their contract because the cable giant failed to install their service for 10 months, they were hit with $60,000 in fees. [More]
Why Comcast Is Wrong To Shrug Off Latest Google Fiber Announcements
By 2.25.16
Google made two important announcements this week about upcoming Google Fiber launches in San Francisco and Huntsville, AL, indicating its willingness to be flexible about how it deploys high-speed broadband service to new markets. Given that Comcast is the dominant ISP in both of these markets, you’d expect it to be worried, but the cable colossus is shrugging off Google’s encroachment. It shouldn’t. [More]
Comcast Incorrectly Insists Customer Still Owes $400; Her Credit Score Drops By 215 Points
By 12.14.15
In spite of the fact that Comcast has proven time and again that it’s completely ill-prepared to handle the accounts of more than 20 million customers, credit bureaus still believe it when the cable giant insists that a customer still owes money. [More]
Leaked Comcast Doc Admits: Data Caps Have Nothing To Do With Congestion
By 11.6.15
For years, as Comcast and others have rolled out data caps on home broadband usage, we’ve shown evidence that these artificial limitations on data are all about squeezing money out of consumers, and have nothing to do with congestion. Now, with Comcast prepping to make its first large-scale push of its “data thresholds,” we’re seeing how the company is telling its employees to spin the discussion. [More]
Comcast Officially Launches Its “Watchable” YouTube Competitor
By 9.29.15
Back in August, we mentioned that Comcast was working on something called “Watchable,” its attempt to cash in on the curated online video craze that all the marketing and advertising kids are talking about. We also hoped that “Watchable” was just a working title, because it’s not exactly an astounding endorsement of quality. Today, Comcast announced that it’s indeed launching Watchable, so-so brand name and all. [More]
Comcast Begins Devouring Content Creators: Invests $200M In Vox Media
By 8.13.15
After months of staying mum about rumors that it was going to purchase or invest heavily in online content networks, Comcast finally announced yesterday that — in addition to controlling cable, Internet, broadcast & cable TV networks, movies and home video — it also wants to have a hand in the news and information consumers get online, with the confirmation of a $200 million investment in Vox Media, the network that includes The Verge, Eater, Racked, Re/code, Curbed, S/B Nation, and of course its namesake site. [More]
