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Comcast Fined $2.3 Million by FCC For 'Negative Option Billing' Practices (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader shares an ArsTechnica report:The FCC announced a $2.3 million fine against Comcast on Tuesday after confirming that the company had been billing customers for products and services they had never ordered. After calling the fine "the largest civil penalty assessed from a cable operator by the FCC," the federal agency's announcement detailed exactly how Comcast bilked customers -- and new company practices that must be put into place as a result. According to the FCC's Office of Media Relations, the agency had received "numerous complaints from consumers" about the issue of "negative option billing" -- meaning, receiving charges for items that the customers had never affirmatively requested. (The FCC reminds readers that in the telecom world, this practice is known as "cramming.") The listed complaints revolve specifically around items related to cable TV service, including "premium channels, set-top boxes, and DVRs."
That's pocket change to that company.... They won't change a thing.
Comcast had $19.269 billion in revenues last quarter. (Source) This equates to about $211 million per day or $8.8 million per hour. They'll earn back the $2.3 million fine in about 15 minutes and 42 seconds.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Validating the old saying "Better to ask forgiveness than approval."
This just in: Cable company becomes desperate in the face of wide abandonment. Film at 11.
I have a contract with the same company only because of my Internet service. It seemed worth the extra few bucks to get TV tacked on just because. No. The fees and rate increases since have vastly amplified the monthly bill.
In my neck of the woods, we don't have Google Fiber (yet), but we do have UTOPIAnet (Wasatch Front in Utah, for the record). Even with the cost of the FTTP gear, a 100/100mbit connection is still far less than what Comcast charges. For the same price Comcast charges, you get a symmetrical gigabit.
Uploading at 12mbps grows old fast even if your download speed is in the 180 range.
In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.
Outside of the telecom industry this is called fraud, and should result in jail time for those who are responsible.
Comcast and its ilk own too many congressmen, so they have to pay back a small percentage of the profits if they get caught. Usually no admission of guilt is even needed.
Carry on, business as usual.
I posted my experience in a comment back in February on the article where Comcast was being grilled by Congress.
I agree it's not much money for a big company but at least they're getting a good public flogging.
How much did Comcast earn from this evil behavior? Was it more than $2.3 million? Then why shouldn't they do it again?
When you reward a behavior you get more of it.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
My elderly mother complains to Comcast (and me) that they charge her for on-demand shows that she has not ordered. Like the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Another big telecom did this to us also multiple times. I suspect it's rampant in the industry(s) because nobody with authority is monitoring.
If a customer detects it on their bill, the company just says, "Oh, we're sorry, we must have misunderstood your prior call. We thought you asked for our deluxe roach-chewing-cable-wires insurance policy."
Coincidentally, their "misunderstanding" always benefits them, NOT us.
Table-ized A.I.
Does public flogging even accomplish anything anymore?
Really, about the only "public flogging" I've seen accomplish anything in recent memory might have been Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic rants and Trump's pussy grabbing comments (but ONLY the pussy grabbing).
It sure seems like everyone else just gets away with whatever they did. Puny fines, some half-hearted yelling by a congressional committee, and no prosecutions of any kind. Whether it's Hillary or big corporations like Wells Fargo, they do what they do and nothing seems to happen. Nobody faces any personal accountability, what punishments happen seem to be largely trivial and never seem to detract from general misbehavior.
I live in a well-populated area and we have only two choices, and they both suck. One pulls billing tricks similar to TFA, the other has unreliable technology (flaky connections).
I was so happy when a 3rd player announced they were available in our area, but then they got bought out by one of the first two.
Historically, oligopolies usually suck. Competition makes a big difference, and insufficient competition almost always leads to crappy products and services. You need at least about 5 players to start getting decent choice.
It's why Japan kicked Detroit's ass in the early 1980's: Detroit's auto oligopolies grew fat and lazy due to lack of competition, and produced fragile expensive gas-guzzlers. Detroit cars still have not quite caught up, but are MUCH better now compared to the world market because they have to compete on the world market.
Table-ized A.I.
Can we get some actual law enforcement? This was a criminal act, an intentional criminal act. The fact we do not enforce the law on corporatios and the wealthy makes a mockery of our judicial system. It actually makes me laugh to hear the comment "We are a country of laws", while at least until the tears come.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
The bottom line is that Comcast has very little incentive to do the right thing until it is coerced. They are always publicly stating how they are working to improve customer experience and customer service. The former is true. They are indeed working diligently to make it easier to make incremental purchases on things like Video on Demand. That interface is smooth and polished and it is in their financial best interest to make it so. The latter is debatable. Comcast is no longer the MOST hated consumer brand in the country. I believe they are now in 4th or 5th place. Still pretty dreadful, but a small improvement. It is my assertion that they feel the financial gain from making the investment in customer service is a poor investment given that they've got a captive audience due to their monopoly position in many markets.
Except Comcast is quite squarely in bed with Democrats, in this case. Lobbyists are lobbyists, and both parties love them. Many Democrats talk publicly like they want less corporate influence, but mostly it's an act.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
No mention of forcing Comcast to provide full refunds to everyone they defrauded.
That's pretty much how it works these days. A company is caught with it's hands in the cookie jar, get's time out, but gets to keep the cookies.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Citation, please.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
Like most of the petty "fines" the FTC have been crowing about about the last few years, this is a consent decree - Comcast AGREED to pay $2.3 million.
A consent decree / plea bargain can make sense if the prosecuting agency and the defendant agree to a reasonable penalty, but since the current FTC never prosecutes these cases, Comcast knows they can offer peanuts and the FTC will take it. If the adminsitration would say "no" to a deal once in a while and get verdicts for $20 billion, they'd be able to get negotiate consent decrees for $2 billion.
The key concept here is that the money wasn't donated in the hopes that that party would win an election, or that the doners agree with that party's beliefs. It's bribe money, pure and simple.
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Hippie Logger Jock
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Total load of bullshit
Somewhere, in a dark smokey room, Democrats are laughing their asses off that you keep buying their spin. Both parties are corrupt as hell, but Comcast in particular is in bed with Democrats. Your own link says this. But let's add this:
How Comcast Bought the Democratic Party
Lots of good reading
Forget the paltry $50k or $100k donated directly, let's examine the *millions* raised by Comcast for Obama and the DNC, and the "Comcast Foundataion" (sound familiar?) that channels donations to the needy as long as they support Comcast's initiatives.They are a dirty dirty dirty company (and not in a good way). A lone notable exception: Al Franken, who despite taking $15k from Comcast lobbyists still spoke out against them.
https://sillyutility.net/ -- Compare your Comcast bill with others in your ZIP code to see if they are charging too much. Just launched today. It is mostly for the Philadelphia market but actually it works anywhere in the US.
Funny though, this actually just launched today.
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
Isn't that a really low-ball number? they have ripped off so many people (myself included). I think a fair number would be 10x that.
g0t b33r?
If an individual commits fraud, the civil and criminal penalties are typically many times more than the profit they made from the fraud.
If a corporation commits what is essentially a type of fraud, the penalties are some fraction of a percent of the profit they made.
Seems fair, right?
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I refuse everything when Comcast calls me, I'll even refuse to speak English if it can get me off the call faster. Even vague responses can be kind of dangerous with these guys. Anything except "die in a fire" is considered consent with them.
I used to have a ton of problems with the local newspaper signing me up for subscriptions if I didn't respond to their phone call with a written request to terminate any subscription, delivery, or offer that they think they might have with me. Luckily the newspaper business is dying and it has been less of a problem.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I think they should estimate all the profits they made on the violation, and THEN levy a fine on top of that. There is no way a company should profit from criminal actions. If that happened and the company actually LOST money, the stockholders would take care of the CxO's/boardmembers in a fashion that would really be a punishment to them, via the pocketbook. It would lead to a tying of bonuses and golden parachutes to actual company performance.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
.0000370967 of comcast annual sales.
CEO is democrat means nothing whatsoever as far as the relevant politics goes. A binary left vs right, democrat vs republican, or liberal vs conservative is simplistic kindergarten style of thinking. Companies give campaign donations to help out their own bottom line regardless of how they feel about other political issues. This is why they shotgun the money to whoever is on the relevant committees regardless of the party.
At least as far as using the corporation's money. The CEOs may donate their own personal money to various political causes of course, like with the Koch brothers (though their company is privately held they can't just dip into its coffers for these purposes).
I think that when a company does something like this, the fine should be 2-5 times the amount of money they made... That would make them much less interested in doing something that is clearly wrong.
I doubt very much that the tiny fine they have to pay even comes close to how much money they made.
Shouldn't the customers get it back? Why aren't these cases processed like a class action suit?