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Senate Report Says Charter, Time Warner Cable Overcharges Its Customers (broadcastingcable.com)
According to an investigation by a U.S. Senate, Charter and its new subsidiary Time Warner Cable have been overcharging customers at least $7.2 million per year for equipment and service. Time Warner Cable over-billed customers nationwide an estimated $639,948 between January and April period this year. This projects the sum to a yearly total of $1,919,844. Charter admitted that it overbilled its customers by "at least $442,691 per month." A report on BroadcastingCable states:The study found that "Time Warner Cable estimates that, in 2015, it overbilled 40,193 Ohio customers a total of $430,393 and 4,232 Missouri customers a total of $44,152," while "Charter estimates that it has annually overcharged approximately 5,897 Missouri customers a total of $494,000 each year. Charter does not provide service in Ohio." The report also said that Charter and Time Warner Cable have taken steps to correct the situation as a result of the investigation.
They use their government approved monopoly to charge way, way more for something that should be a public utility and then keep all the profits that were supposed to upgrade the speed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Of course Charter and TWC cheat their customers. Who else could they cheat?
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Mitch McDeere: I got mine, Wayne, you get the rest of them.
Wayne Tarrance: Get 'em with what? Overbilling, mail fraud? Oh, that's exciting.
Mitch McDeere: It's not sexy, but it's got teeth! Ten thousand dollars and five years in prison. That's ten and five for each act. Have you really looked at that? You've got every partner in the firm on overbilling. There's two hundred fifty acts of documented mail fraud there. That's racketeering! That's minimum one thousand, two hundred fifty years in prison and half a million dollars in fines. That's more than you had on Capone.
Same thing.
just ask thier customers
A billing system that prevents fraud? I'm pretty damn impressed.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
I'd like to see how much the senators on this committee received in donations from Comcast and AT&T. And not just to their own campaigns, but to super pacs too.
You are welcome on my lawn.
With good Internet there are lots of other choices. Not all are legal... But most are easier.
Charter: "Since 2012, we have invested $7 billion in network improvements and added more than 7,000 jobs resulting in growing and longer customer relationships," I love how they say because they hire people, it's okay, to charge more than the rate advertised and agreed to. I'll bet some of of those 7000 people are included in who is overbilled. And Time Warner says they will only give refund if people complain about being charged. They admit to it, but then say they don't have to refund the people whose pockets they pick unless they are asked. Sounds like a thief, or at least a kid stealing from the cookie jar and say "But mommy, I don't do it again..I PROMISE". License to steal. We'll see if the government actually slaps these people with a court order or no. ethically they should, or they encourage other corporations to do the same. After all, "if you don't see it I didn't do it". Or in this case, "Okay, you got me, but the victim didn't...so who cares". How sad.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
But to get that good internet in most places you need to buy it from the cable co.
I was an internet-only customer of Charter.
One day, a sales rep calls up to offer me a lower rate on a bundle (TV, phone, internet) than I was paying for internet-only.
I told the sales rep, I don't own a TV (which, at the time, I didn't), but he said I could still get the bundle.
I said OK and made an appointment for "installation".
I figured if they want to give me two additional services that I won't use AND charge me less at the same time, who was I to argue?
The tech showed up with a set-top box and I told him, "Well, I don't own a TV, so just set it on the counter."
The set-top box went into a cardboard box in my closet for several years.
When I moved, Charter didn't service the new address. So, I returned the unused set-top box to them.
To this day, I think of this as the strangest service discount that a company has ever offered me.
Check your auto insurance details. I have to call them every renewal time because they bump up the annual mileage. It's always the same excuse... "A computer error"
If a customer will pay it, it is an appropriate charge. It's simple economics.
In other news, the sky is blue, the sun rises in the east, and water is wet.
file:
Or have they Blunder fu*ked the situation to the point there isn't enough time in the day, or enough screen space in one article to publish??
Thanks,
Eric
Holy crap, that's almost 42 cents per customer per year!
With good Internet there are lots of other choices. Not all are legal... But most are easier.
Haven't seen ONE yet that approaches 1/10 of the ease of "pickup remote, Go to channel-guide, pick a channel, watch or record", sorry.
We're SORT of getting there; but it's still WAAAAY too "techy" for average people. You and I can easily deal with it, but a LOT of "ordinary folks" (like the 99.99999999999% of the population who don't read Slashdot), um, just can't.
That's not their fault, it's ours; for being to stuck-up and/or lazy and/or stupid to come up with a solution that works more like a "TV" and less like a "File Server". Voice Search stuff is helping get past the "typing/spelling" part; but something still isn't quite right to make it "click" (no pun) with the masses.
But to get that good internet in most places you need to buy it from the cable co.
There is that, too...
So, are we going to do anything about it? Opportunity awaits in only a few short months... Jus sayin'
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Hulu, Netflix, etc are too difficult for normal people to use? Since when? It's a rare person who has trouble using a web browser these days.
Now, if you want to watch shows on your big screen TV there's lots of cool techy options that are... almost completely gratuitous. Plug an old computer into the back of the TV, fire up the web browser, and watch away. Old laptops with plenty of power can be smaller, cheaper, and quieter than some cable boxes, to say nothing of things like the Raspberry Pi. And a small wireless keyboard and mouse make for a perfectly adequate remote... though I'd love to see a mouse designed specifically for the job, with at least extra buttons for volume, mute, pause, and on-screen keyboard activation. Not terribly difficult for a tech to set up, but there's no reason you couldn't make one that acted appropriately right out of the box.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
And some cable companies have used this monopoly on Internet service to bolster their TV service which otherwise faces competition (both from satellite and from OTT services like Netflix). They'll set caps with overage fees to limit how much time you can stream or they'll price their TV+Internet bundles below Internet-Alone to push you to subscribing for cable TV. In the latter case, even if you put the cable box in the closet and never hook it up, they get to count you as a TV viewer instead of as a cord cutter.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
You don't even need a laptop. Get a Roku box and in minutes you can be watching Netflix, Hulu, etc. It's simple to do for people with little to no techy skills and is very inexpensive. (The priciest Roku is $100, IIRC.)
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Given that my twc bill just went up by 15 bucks with the excuse that the promotion ran out and they don't have any new one, this report seems to be on the money.
If all billing mistakes were purely honest, surely there would be a more or less even distribution of over billing and under billing, right?
But it seems like billing errors are *always* in the biller's favour.
Doesn't that seem fishy to anyone else?
You don't even need a laptop. Get a Roku box and in minutes you can be watching Netflix, Hulu, etc. It's simple to do for people with little to no techy skills and is very inexpensive. (The priciest Roku is $100, IIRC.)
Same thing with a 4th gen AppleTV; but even easier, due to the Siri Voice Search.
As I said, that is getting better; but it still puts off a LOT of people over 30 or 40 years old.
you are being overcharged, regardless of who sent you the bill.
same applies to satellite (directv/dish) and tv over dsl/fiber (centurylink/fios/att)
your telling me these huge cable monopoly's are ripping people off blind say it isnt so. like this is news.
Hulu, Netflix, etc are too difficult for normal people to use? Since when? It's a rare person who has trouble using a web browser these days.
I would agree if you restrict your audience to people
"Fuck 'em" you say? Well, unfortunately, at least for the next 10 or 20 years, those people are still a demographic that needs to be addressed, and "we" (techies) just haven't done that in a way that "just works" for the majority of people who can't spell, and/or can't type, or are just not happy with "computer-y things".
Yes, I am sure there was a time when there was a significant number of people who couldn't deal with the whole idea of a TV in general; but we're here, now, and either have to wait for the non-computer-savvy people to all exit this plane of existence, or try to accommodate them.
But even I am annoyed with how annoying it is to use NetFlix or Hulu to try and find something to watch. I can certainly do it; but it just kinda sucks. As I said, more like dealing with a File Server (which it ultimately is) than a TV or an old-skool Jukebox.
Maybe part of it is the search tools on both NetFlix and Hulu SUUUUUCK. They BOTH return FAR too much irrelevant and non-matching content, even if you know EXACTLY the title of the thing you are trying to watch!
Case in point: I was wanting to watch the 1983 movie "Doctor Detroit" (don't judge!) the other day. I thought "Surely a movie this old will be on NetFlix and/or Hulu." So, I fire up the App for NetFlix on my TV. Search. Deal with NetFlix's abysmal on-screen keyboard. No Results Found (at least I don't remember it "suggesting" a thousand other non-matching things, though). Ok, so launch Hulu Plus on the TV. Deal with it's even WORSE on-screen keyboard and enter the EXACT Title of the movie. Instead of it just admitting it didn't have it either, instead, it shows me a scrolling-list of who-know-how-many IRRELEVANT search results that have EITHER "Doctor" OR "Detroit" in the name!!! Yeah, ok, I guess; but NOT what "non-computer-search-savvy" people would expect.
Then, I gave up and Googled the title on my laptop. Three hits down, I found a site that streamed the entire movie for free. Had to watch it on my laptop, because I was too lazy to crawl around the back of my TV and plug in another cable, though.
And all that is fine for you and me (well, sorta, for limited values of "fine"); but there are a LOT of people that never would have gotten to that point AT ALL, even if they sort of knew how to use a Browser.
I am one of those Ohioans who was over charged. They sent a rep to my door that actually admitted to the 'error' as they called it. I asked if I was getting any money back or credit towards future service and the answer was no. So I gave him their equipment (DVR/Modem/Etc) and told him bye-bye.
The sad thing - WOW isn't any damn better.
The amount to service the US National debt is in the billions. The actual debt is purported to be 20 or so TRILLION but the Federal Reserve doesn't publish an M3 money supply report so it's all estimates. They inflate. They play shell game with Treasury bonds. They publish tangent stories like this all across the web and cable TV.
Cable monopolies are a problem as are any monopoly. Time Warner just wants your dessert money. The US Government wants to database any and everything you do... does that make you feel safer? Do you think the government vultures will actually protect you from baby vultures?
Vultures.
... is too damn high!
Surprised no one has hit them with a Dumping lawsuit for this yet...
Midwest -- TWC -- 20down/2up -- $65/mo
An effective "democracy" creates the illusion the people have a say in their government.
I think you just have a shitty device. I've used all of the Rokus and I now have an Nvidia Shield. Voice search will find it across providers, many of which I subscribe to (Netflix, Hulu, Sling, Amazon) and I'm there in one click. Just because you have a shitty setup doesn't mean it's difficult -- it just means you have a shitty setup. I gave my parents my old Roku (they're pushing 70 years-old) and they have no problem.
I think you just have a shitty device. I've used all of the Rokus and I now have an Nvidia Shield. Voice search will find it across providers, many of which I subscribe to (Netflix, Hulu, Sling, Amazon) and I'm there in one click. Just because you have a shitty setup doesn't mean it's difficult -- it just means you have a shitty setup. I gave my parents my old Roku (they're pushing 70 years-old) and they have no problem.
You could be right. I need to do some research. Stuff changes...
I always laugh when I see far left lunatics complain about a corporation ripping people off for stealing millions but you never hear the far left lunatics complain about the biggest criminal of all the federal government who has ran up trillions in debt and stolen trillion from the American people.
The brain dead far left lunatics want us all to believe the biggest criminal government is gonna watch the petty criminal the corporations in the store. Lol
Who the hell just approved the Charter Time Warner merger ? Our worthless criminal government the Obama FCC.
Being a regressive liberal really is a mental illness.
You can take these stupid types to the truth but you cannot make them think.
So simple for a child to understand but so hard for a regressive liberal to comprehend.
Without the trillion dollar criminal the federal government the million dollar criminal corporation couldn't exist. Corporations get their power from the ruling class in government. From the likes of Bernie Hillary And Obama.
They call profit.
Really, if I buy candy in bulk and sell it to my coworkers for twice the unit price am I overcharging?
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
You've just described *exactly* why I think "smart TVs" and related dongles are gratuitous - we already have better solutions available that most people already know how to use. In the effort to "dumb down" internet streaming they remove much of the convenience that makes it so much nicer in the first place.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
https://www.dslreports.com/for... for a screen shot/capture and discussion. ;)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I would agree if you restrict your audience to people
WTF?
I would agree if you restrict your audience to people
WTF?
LOL I knew someone would notice that!
Something ate the end of that sentence (probably an unclosed tag).
IIRC, I think I was saying "...if you restrict your audience to people who are at least somewhat computer literate."
If you're lumping Bernie into the same group as Obama and Hillary (the 'usual suspects'), you don't understand his argument.
No sig for you! Come back one year!