Plaintiffs From Seven States Sue Comcast For Misleading, Hidden Fees (dslreports.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from DSLReports: Back in 2013 Comcast began charging customers what it called the "Broadcast TV Fee." The fee, which began at $1.25 per month, has jumped to $6.50 (depending on your market) in just three years. As consumers began to complain about yet another glorified rate hike, the company in 2014 issued a statement proclaiming it was simply being "transparent," and passing on the cost of soaring programmer retransmission fees on to consumers. There's several problems with Comcast's explanation. One, however pricey broadcaster retransmission fees have become (and keep in mind Comcast is a broadcaster), programming costs are simply the cost of doing business for a cable company, and should be included in the overall price. Comcast doesn't include this fee in the overall price because sticking it below the line let's the company falsely advertise a lower rate. Inspired by the banking sector, this misleading practice has now become commonplace in the broadband and cable industry. Whether it's CenturyLink's $2 per month "Internet Cost Recovery Fee" or Fairpoint's $3 per month "Broadband Cost Recovery Fee," these fees are utterly nonsensical, and inarguably false advertising. And while the FCC can't be bothered to take aim at such misleading business practices, Federal class action lawsuit filed this week in California is trying to hold Comcast accountable for the practice. Plaintiffs from seven states -- including New Jersey, Illinois, California, Washington, Colorado, Florida and Ohio -- have sued Comcast alleging consumer fraud, unfair competition, unjust enrichment and breach of contract. What's more, the fee has consistently skyrocketed, notes the lawsuit. Comcast initially charged $1.50 when the fee first appeared back in 2013, but now charges upwards of $6.50 more per month in many markets -- a 333% increase in just three years.

Comments

It's a way of pointing a finger

[hawkeyeMI]

Based on what I've seen in other cases, it seems to me like those fees are broken out so that a finger can be pointed at someone else and used for leverage. In other words, "Don't like that cost? It's all the FCC's fault", or something like that.

Re:Fees == false advertising

[rickb928]

"Let's be clear, all these fees exist as a way to hide the true cost of the service."

Not really. They exist to inflate pricing while allowing an advertised rate that doesn't actually include what should be part of the service fees. Imagine subscribing to cable TV and discovering the set top box fee they didn't tell you about, and didn't volunteer. As if you were going to pull TV shows out of the back of the modem with your little finger.

When I price service every year or so I just want a list of all the fees. The taxes are, around here, essentially identical rates, so I will pay anyways. It's ferreting out the fees that is tedious - and that's where they get another $10/month for the modem, or the box, or whatever. Even the remote.

All I can expect is a consistent disclosure. And they will try not to, since neglecting to tell me about a $10 fee makes it appear they are cheaper, and if I sign, I'm committed. Usually. And I hate changing service, so heh, I sometimes tolerate a few bucks difference.

But these fees are also often either unregulated or, again, in the dark.

Re:Fees == false advertising

[Miamicanes]

The thing is, this goes above and beyond their mass-market advertisements. You can go walk into one of Comcast's neighborhood service centers, give them your address & say you're shopping for services, and they STILL can't/won't give you an itemized breakdown of the exact fees that apply as of that day.

Literally, every scrap of paper you'll ever get from Comcast, including a computer printout made on the spot, inevitably has fine print saying that the entire thing might be a complete fiction and total lie if they feel like it.

Comcast bends over backwards to NEVER, EVER document any promises they make in any non-ephemeral form they can't turn around and argue was faked by you. Just TRY to make any changes to existing Comcast service & get them to send you an email confirming the changes and new charges. They won't do it. A few weeks ago, I had what SHOULD have been a simple, straightforward question... does "Digital Starter" include MSNBC, CNN Headline News, The Weather Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, NatGo, and/or the History Channel. I had to escalate it all the way up to the site manager at their service center before finding someone who could even VIEW the channel lineups for packages besides their two most expensive ones. And then, I caught HER trying to slip in, "Of course, this is just the potential lineup for what we consider a "typical" market... the exact channels available with that package in your neighborhood might vary." That was when I lost my temper & stormed out in rage over their inability/refusal to give real answers to even the most basic, straightforward questions imaginable.

Please, explain how it is that a DirecTV or U-verse employee in Nevada or India can tell you the precise monthly cost, including all local taxes, franchise fees, and whatever else for a subscriber at an address in Florida, but Comcast -- with local offices throughout their service area -- can't do it.

U-verse TV was extortionately expensive, but I do give them fair credit for being open & fairly transparent about their exact charges. Getting ANY kind of concrete detail out of Comcast almost requires divine intervention, and getting those details in non-ephemeral form from Comcast won't happen at all.