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Comcast Failed To Install Internet, Then Demanded $60,000 In Fees (arstechnica.com)

Posted by timothy on from the arction-news-at-10 dept.

Earthquake Retrofit writes: A Silicon Valley startup called SmartCar in Mountain View, California signed up for Comcast Internet service. After hearing Comcast excuses for months, company owner Katta finally got fed up and decided that he would find a new office building once his 12-month lease expires on April 20 of this year. Katta told Comcast he wanted to 'cancel' his nonexistent service and get a refund for a $2,100 deposit he had paid. Instead, Comcast told him he'd have to pay more than $60,000 to get out of his contract with the company. Comcast eventually waived the fee—but only after being contacted by Ars Technica about the case.

7 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. To be fair... by Notabadguy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not that I'm making excuses for the most loathed company in the United States, but California is the most backwards state in the Union when it comes to building and permitting, and it is not only plausible, but quite likely that they actually *were* stuck in the permitting queue that they claimed.

    Lesson to business owners: There are some critical questions you should have answered before you purchase or lease a building if you aren't constructing it yourself.
    -Does it have utilities?
    -Does it have a parking lot?
    -Does it have deployed fiber or wiring for internet and phone service?
    -Do the doors have locks?
    -What are the zoning laws around you?

    And a dozen more. C'mon.

    1. Re:To be fair... by Z00L00K · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Fist question should be - do this state have bad politicians and complicated laws?

      Whenever you consider running a company it's not only about which state that have the lowest taxes but also how much paperwork that's involved in running it. It's easier to pay a bit more in taxes than to have to fight paperwork every day.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    2. Re:To be fair... by Kjella · · Score: 5, Insightful

      -Does it have deployed fiber or wiring for internet and phone service?

      Well in his defense:

      The website informed him, "Comcast Business is available at your address."

      Depending on your actual experience with ISPs, you might not be aware that this is what we call a boldfaced lie. It might be. It might not be. It might take forever to install. It just means it's within an area they think they might deliver service. I've experienced that here in Norway, twice. The parents of my best buddy as well. Due to some particular extender, they couldn't deliver. No room in the central. And they probably won't do a real check until sometime after you actually order, which is rather premature if you're just considering renting. The only thing you can probably believe is if it's installed and working right now.

      The other lesson here is that contracts where the other side has an inifinite amount of time to deliver are bad. What the sales rep says doesn't matter, in 99% of the cases it's not going to stick and be legally binding. Or at least you don't want the legal costs to make it stick, get it in writing. Sadly this is a large part of running a business, dealing with various other parts of your supply chain or support infrastructure not delivering or not with the scope and quality you were expecting. Like when you make SLAs, the penalties for violating the uptime requirements and conditions for termination are just as important as the agreed level, perhaps even more so.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  2. How is this a surprise? by pablo_max · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I mean seriously, this is par for the course. And you know what, you guys deserve it.
    Time and time again you elect officials who go out of their way to protect the incumbent ISPs and other special interests even though it is expressly against your own interests. And then everyone makes noise about it and then every does fuck all about it.
    So, what the hell do you think the end result will be? You have Comcast literally writing laws to outlaw competition for F's sake!
    Then in the next election cycle, the same asshats are voted back into office. I have no sympathy at all regarding the currently political landscape in the US.

    1. Re:How is this a surprise? by slashping · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Time and time again you elect officials who go out of their way to protect the incumbent ISPs and other special interests even though it is expressly against your own interests

      You cannot vote your way out of a corrupt system.

  3. Re:This is why I hate Comcast by slashping · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't sign anything unless you have had a lawyer checking it for you.

    So, not only do you have to pay top prices for internet, you also need to hire an expensive lawyer to check it. That's just insane. And what are you going to do when the lawyer finds something you don't like ? Ask Comcast nicely to change it ?

  4. Re:Should have satellite internet; not very smart by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They did sign up for AT&T DSL and got 5Mbps down, better than normal ADSL but not quite VDSL.

    As for asking, given that most of their neighbors are either tech or internet enabled companies and the landlord never mentioned anything, they probably assumed that was internet available. It's sort of like finding our your 20 person office space doesn't have any toilets.