Editor’s Note: This story was written by Dan Sokol about his experience with Comcast.
Some Background…
Comcast is my ISP. Like most of us in the US we have no real choice if we want fast internet in our homes.
Prior to 2011 my Comcast services included was ‘triple play’. I had internet, VoIP, and the default TV tier (no pay TV services, just the local channels). Sometime around September of 2011, when Comcast ended analog TV service and encrypted the base tier (you had to pay for a TV decoder box), I cancelled the TV service and the VoIP service. (I switched my home phone to MagicJack, but that’s a whole other story.)
In other words, the only Comcast service on my account was the internet.
When I made this change I had to swap out the Comcast rented ‘special’ VoIP modem and return it to Comcast. Comcast provided a box and shipping label to return the old modem. The new modem had the same $8/mo rental fee.
Naturally I checked the billing after the changeover to make sure everything was correct. (For the record, my monthly bill is paid thru my banks ‘Bill Pay’ service. All I do is approve the amount. If the billing amount is the same as the previous month I pay it w/o question. I dont look thru the monthly bill (a PDF) which is only available on the Comcast website.)
FYI, Comcast only allows you to see the previous 12 months of billing on the website.
end of background…
Sometime around April of this year, Comcast sent out an email informing it’s users that the monthly modem rental was being raised to $10/mo. So I expected my bill to increase by $2.
Imagine my surprise when my bill went up $4, not $2.
It seems that Comcast was billing me for 2 modems and had been doing so for years. (This double billing started sometime AFTER they removed the second modem from my bill back in 2011.)
I called Comcast customer support. You probably already know how long and unsatisfying that call was. I spent about 2 hours on the call. Was handed off twice. The customer rep could not see my billing any further back then 1 year.
The bottom line … FU. It’s your fault for not looking at your bill. Here’s $20, that’s all we’re allowed to give you. So sorry.
I told them that I calculated they owed me about $400 and that I would recover another way. I then proceeded to change my monthly internet tier from the top tier (105/12Mbs – $125/mo) to one of the middle tiers (60/4Mbs – $65/mo), thereby saving about ^60/mo.
I also went out an bought my own DOCSIS3 modem, something I should have done years ago.
That should have been the end of it. File under: “It’s Comcast, what did you expect?”
But then this appeared in one of my RSS feeds—>
https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us
The FCC is now taking complaints about COMCAST. MWAHAHAhahaha….
I followed the link to the Internet Complaint page.
My was surprised at how straightforward the page was and how easy it was to file the complaint.
I filed the form with the FCC on June 22nd. This is the response I got from the FCC the next day.
———— ———— ————
Hi Daniel, June 24, 2015
Your Ticket No. 358465 was served on Comcast Cable Communications on Jun 24 for its review and response.
Comcast Cable Communications will likely contact you in an effort to resolve your issue.
A response is due to the FCC no later than 30 days from today. Comcast Cable Communications will respond to you directly by postal mail.
Thank you for your complaint and help in furthering the FCC’s mission on behalf of consumers.
———— ———— ————
Today is June 26th.
This morning I got a call from Comcast.
An actual apology – The billing error was our fault. (Our software blah blah blah…)
It happened in September 2011 after the Modem was returned.
We owe you $385 and will credit your account by that much.
We will lower your monthly bill by $20/mo for the next 12 months as part of our apology.
I was speechless. They asked me if I had any other issues and couldnt answer. My brain was thinking in Martian (What? What! What?).
In summary, I’m very surprised at the speed at which the FCC and Comcast dealt with this. (Maybe I was just the first one to file with the FCC and the rest of the country doesnt know about the site.)
Of course Comcast does have 12 months to screw this up. I’ll let you know 😉
Dan Sokol – 26 June 2015