4 ms·

Comcast broke law 445,000 times in scheme to inflate bills, judge finds

54 points by whalabi 7y ago

paulryanrogers 7y ago
Time for strong anti-trust enforcement or at least some competition among land line ISPs
curryst 7y ago
That fine is roughly $20.44 per violation. Its less than 5% of the damages sought by the AG; does anyone know why it's so low relative to what the AG wanted? I'm curious if the judge felt the fine was excessive, or if the judge didn't find them culpable on many of the things the AG charged them with.
powerslacker 7y ago
$9.1M fine, while Comcast makes profits upward of $35B/year. This is like getting a speeding ticket for them.
- paulddraper 7y ago
  Literally. It's a $50 ticket for someone making $200k a year. Imagine how concerning that would be :/
erentz 7y ago
I had these guys send me a giant oversized WiFi router I never ordered and never used. Then three months after I terminated my plan they sent me a bill for $100 for unreturned equipment. I had to waste about three hours of my time fighting with them that I wouldn’t pay for something I didn’t order or use before ultimately they agreed when I said I was filing a complaint with the regulators. I wonder how many people they have scammed with this. These kinds of actions are clearly intentional. It’s remarkable to me how quickly things like this have been getting worse over the past decade.
- themagician 7y ago
  I’ve never purchased a modem from Comcast. Ever. But every now and then they seem to add “modem fee” to my bill. This has happened probably 4-5 times in the last 12 years or so. I have to call and have them remove it, then look back at old bills to see which ones also need the fee removed. I can’t help but think they actually do this on purpose. Like they run some query to see who has service but isn’t being charged for a modem, and just add the fee to all those accounts “by accident” hoping you won’t notice.
salawat 7y ago
So apparently, as long as you can systematically defraud people in the hundred thousands, it's okay to do so, because you'll just get off with having to sacrifice a portion of the proceeds; (they're only refunding the recurring charge, and not subsequent payments for house visits) and a token fine. Seems to me that if a system has become so extensive that fraud can occur in these numbers, the punitive part should appreciatively scale if the purpose of the system is punishment/deterrence. I just find it hard to reconcile the divergence in how the justice system operates with regard to "white collar" and "conventional" crime. Wear a business suit, and defraud 100000+ people, and get a silk glove to the balance sheet; make the mistake of being an ordinary Joe and stepping out of line, and kiss your livelihood goodbye. I get that the corporation relies on a gentler touch(ish) approach since it provides the jobs and paychecks for many people, but until you start extracting enough in order to make it unambiguously clear that X deceptive business practice is unacceptable, it'll just be treated as cost of doing business. Never mind that this is just Washington. I'm keeping an eye out to see what other states bring similar charges.
AngryData 7y ago
So what, $20 per violation? How is that even a punishment? They could have made more than that just on interest payments on their ill-gotten funds.

54 points by whalabi 7y ago

Time for strong anti-trust enforcement or at least some competition among land line ISPs

That fine is roughly $20.44 per violation. Its less than 5% of the damages sought by the AG; does anyone know why it's so low relative to what the AG wanted? I'm curious if the judge felt the fine was excessive, or if the judge didn't find them culpable on many of the things the AG charged them with.

powerslacker 7y ago

$9.1M fine, while Comcast makes profits upward of $35B/year. This is like getting a speeding ticket for them.

paulddraper 7y ago
Literally. It's a $50 ticket for someone making $200k a year. Imagine how concerning that would be :/

erentz 7y ago

I had these guys send me a giant oversized WiFi router I never ordered and never used. Then three months after I terminated my plan they sent me a bill for $100 for unreturned equipment. I had to waste about three hours of my time fighting with them that I wouldn’t pay for something I didn’t order or use before ultimately they agreed when I said I was filing a complaint with the regulators. I wonder how many people they have scammed with this. These kinds of actions are clearly intentional. It’s remarkable to me how quickly things like this have been getting worse over the past decade.

themagician 7y ago
I’ve never purchased a modem from Comcast. Ever. But every now and then they seem to add “modem fee” to my bill. This has happened probably 4-5 times in the last 12 years or so. I have to call and have them remove it, then look back at old bills to see which ones also need the fee removed. I can’t help but think they actually do this on purpose. Like they run some query to see who has service but isn’t being charged for a modem, and just add the fee to all those accounts “by accident” hoping you won’t notice.

salawat 7y ago

So apparently, as long as you can systematically defraud people in the hundred thousands, it's okay to do so, because you'll just get off with having to sacrifice a portion of the proceeds; (they're only refunding the recurring charge, and not subsequent payments for house visits) and a token fine. Seems to me that if a system has become so extensive that fraud can occur in these numbers, the punitive part should appreciatively scale if the purpose of the system is punishment/deterrence. I just find it hard to reconcile the divergence in how the justice system operates with regard to "white collar" and "conventional" crime. Wear a business suit, and defraud 100000+ people, and get a silk glove to the balance sheet; make the mistake of being an ordinary Joe and stepping out of line, and kiss your livelihood goodbye. I get that the corporation relies on a gentler touch(ish) approach since it provides the jobs and paychecks for many people, but until you start extracting enough in order to make it unambiguously clear that X deceptive business practice is unacceptable, it'll just be treated as cost of doing business. Never mind that this is just Washington. I'm keeping an eye out to see what other states bring similar charges.

AngryData 7y ago

So what, $20 per violation? How is that even a punishment? They could have made more than that just on interest payments on their ill-gotten funds.