Comcast has been ordered to pay a fine of $2.3 million by the FCC to settle an investigation as to whether the cable MSO charged cable TV customers for equipment that they never authorized. News of the Comcast unauthorized billing settlement was announced by the FCC.
Charging customers for equipment and services without their prior consent – so-called negative option billing – is proscribed by the federal Communications Act and FCC rules, the agency explains in the press release. Similarly, the Communications Act and FCC rules prohibit telecom carriers from including unauthorized charges on customers’ phone bills, a practice known as “cramming.”
Comcast Unauthorized Billing Settlement
According to the FCC’s press release, the FCC launched its investigation after receiving numerous complaints from Comcast customers. Among their claims, customers reported that Comcast charged them for products and services they had not ordered, including premium channels, set-top boxes (STBs), and DVRs.
Some asserted Comcast charged them for equipment or service upgrades they had explicitly declined. In others, customers reported that they did not know they had been charged until they received unordered equipment, obtained notifications of unrequested account changes via email, or reviewed their monthly billing statements.
In the complaints customers also described the time and effort they had to spend attempting to resolve disputes with Comcast to have the unauthorized charges reversed and refunded.
Comcast’s $2.3 million fine is the largest civil penalty the FCC has assessed on a cable operator. The settlement order also requires Comcast to carry out a five-year compliance plan to ensure that such practices do not continue.
More specifically, Comcast has to institute processes and procedures that ensure the company obtains informed consent from customers for any new equipment or services. Comcast must also send customers order confirmations that explicitly describe any newly added products, services and the amount charged for them separate from any other bills.
Finally, the FCC settlement requires Comcast to establish a detailed program to redress disputed charges in a standardized, expedited manner and refrain from suspending a customer’s service, referring their accounts to collections or taking any other actions that could adversely affect customers while any charges are in dispute.