Consumer Reports Hammers Comcast Over Sneaky Fees Consumer Reports has launched a new PR campaign taking direct aim at Comcast's use of sneaky fees to covertly jack up subscriber bills. Like many ISPs and cable companies, Comcast has long made an art form out of falsely advertising a lower rate, then socking consumers with a higher bill thanks to various, misleading below the line fees. Like the company's sneaky broadcast TV fee, this usually involves taking an ordinary cost of business (in this case programming), then burying it below the line.

Again, it lets Comcast falsely advertise a lower rate. And it's something regulators and politicians from both parties have turned a blind eye to for the better part of the last two decades. While Charter, Comcast and other companies are facing numerous lawsuits for the practice, accountability has proven hard to come by. Consumer Reports is hoping to change this by launching a new “What the Fee?!" campaign directly targeting Comcast. The effort involves delivering a petition to Comcast's HQ in Philadelphia with 110,000 signatures--demanding Comcast be more transparent about the numerous fees it applies to everything from cable service to hardware rentals. "With the proliferation of add-on fees, it’s nearly impossible for consumers to find out the full cost of a cable package before they get locked into a contract--and cable companies count on this," says Jonathan Schwantes, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union, the advocacy division of Consumer Reports. "These confusing, often misleadingly named charges continue to drive up consumer bills, even if you lock in a promotional rate." Again, between limited competition and napping regulators, there's not much that has been able to hold Comcast's feet to the fire on this issue. But you can head over to the What the Fee website and sign the petition in the off chance that Comcast will actually give a damn. "It’s time for Comcast and the cable industry as a whole to ditch these fees, and advertise the full price of their service so that consumers aren’t left asking ‘WTF?’ when they get their bill," Schwantes said. "It’s time for Comcast and the cable industry as a whole to ditch these fees, and advertise the full price of their service so that consumers aren’t left asking ‘WTF?’ when they get their bill," Schwantes said.







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Most recommended from 64 comments



maartena

Elmo

Premium Member

join:2002-05-10

Orange, CA 53 recommendations maartena Premium Member Would you accept this? You walk down the street, and you see a sign that says: "COLD BEER $3!"



It's a hot day, you are thirsty, and you decide that a pint of beer would be delicious. So you go into the bar with the sign out front, sit at the bar.... and order a cold beer.



You get your beer, and with much enjoyment you drink the golden liquid. Refreshing. You nod to the barkeep that it is time to settle the tab, and after he hands you the bill... you notice this:



Beer: $3.

- Refrigeration Fee: $1.

- Glass washing surcharge: $0.75

- Air Conditioning surcharge: $0.50

- Liquor License Recovery Fee: $1

- Tap System Maintenance Fee: $0.75



TOTAL: $7.



Wait a minute.... you tell the barkeep: "You are advertising beer for $3 outside! How is it that I have to pay $7?"



The barkeep goes to explain and tells you a sob story about how the city has increased their liquor license fees, and the water company has increased the water rates which makes washing glasses more expensive, and the electricity company increased their rates making it more expensive to cool the building and to refrigerate the kegs..... and equipment maintenance prices are increasing too. So, he HAS to charge all these extra fees.



Now... in the real world, this doesn't happen. Sure, there are happy hour prices designed for you to come in and hopefully consume more than just a happy hour beer, but on average.... if you sell your beer for $6, and some of the costs mentioned above are rising, a barkeeper would just increase the price of beer to $7, and call it a day. If a customer asks, its just increased cost of doing business.... but he certainly isn't going to give you a sob story how all the other businesses and governments he has to deal with are increasing their prices.



Yet.... this is EXACTLY what cable companies are doing. You wouldn't accept this in a restaurant. You wouldn't accept this in a store. Why would you accept it from your cable company?

karlmarx

join:2006-09-18

Moscow, ID 15 recommendations karlmarx Member The bigger the company, the less the rules apply Comcast is a perfect example of what is happening to this country. They are big enough, that NEITHER party is willing to stand up and call them out for bad behavior. Blame Citizens United for this one. Comcast is more than willing to donate 100 million to politicians to collect several billion in fake fees (Broadcast 'fee', Modem 'fee', and the granddaddy of them all 'Bandwidth fee's). Lets be honest, once the network is BUILT, the 'cost' for 100Mbytes is NO MORE than the cost of 100Gbytes. They charge a bandwith 'fee' to put a leash on companies like netflix, who they feel are 'stealing' from them. But the money they spend on politicians ALWAYS pays them back 100 fold. Just look at the recent california net neutrality rollback. They bought the politician, and voila, no limits to their ability to rape the customer.

Anon8797f

@teksavvy.com 7 recommendations Anon8797f Anon There is only one sure way to control what you pay for service. Don't get it. This is the only way to force companies to change their behavior.

tshirt

Premium Member

join:2004-07-11

Snohomish, WA 4 recommendations tshirt Premium Member Not really... ...Sneaky Fees. more like inexplicable.

RSN fee= I'm not a sports watcher not sure why this apparent extra tier fee appears on my bill, for something I did not order.

Broadcast fee= I understand why the cost of locals varies, but should be included in the basic TV package, any TEMPORARY surcharge for recent additions (or credit for deletions) should be printed in the most recent price sheets.

HD fee= very confused about this one 99% of programming is of HD origin at this point, certainly any cost of conversion has been long pay for/absorbed into CATV, with no need of a continuing surcharge.



Not sure what CR can do, apparently Cable feels no shame for this misleading billing practice, but maybe each subscriber should call in to get specific answers

10's of 1000's of hours of CSR time MIGHT convince them it is more expensive then it is worth.