In largest-ever cable company fine, Comcast charged with billing customers for equipment and services they never asked to receive
Philadelphia-based cable giant Comcast has agreed to pay $2.3 million to the Federal Communications Commission to resolve an investigation into what’s called negative option billing, the regulatory body announced Oct. 11.
Negative option billing is essentially charging customers for equipment, services – or both – that the ratepayer never authorized, according to the FCC Enforcement Bureau. “Negative option billing burdens customers with the responsibility of contacting a cable company to dispute the charges and obtain refunds,” an FCC statement said. “The Communications Act and the FCC’s rules prohibit a similar practice by telecommunications carriers when unauthorized charges are placed on customers’ phone bills, an abuse known as ‘cramming.'”
The fine is the result of “numerous complaints” related to line items including premium channels, DVRs and set-top boxes.
“It is basic that a cable bill should include charges only for services and equipment ordered by the customer – nothing more and nothing less,” Travis LeBlanc, chief of the FCC Enforcement Bureau, said in a statement. “We expect all cable and phone companies to take responsibility for the accuracy of their bills and to ensure their customers have authorized any charges.”
