Class-Action Filed Against Comcast for Confusing Fees on Cable Bills
Recently, according to Wired, a group of eight Comcast customers filed a class-action lawsuit against the cable giant. At issue is Comcast’s practice of tacking on a variety of fees and surcharges to its base bill, often so confusing that customers cannot ascertain whether they are legitimate or not. The plaintiffs claim that Comcast is engaged in deceptive advertising by promising to charge a fixed monthly rate but instead adding a variety of concealed fees that jacked up the cost of cable their service. The cable company denies this allegation, maintaining that it does inform customers up front that it includes a variety of taxes and fees in the fine print of its contracts.
The class action, whose outcome is uncertain, has been filed as the Federal Communications Commission is starting to take a more serious look at the practice of adding fees that customers often find confusing. The lawsuit, even if it does not succeed in a court of law, may inspire federal, state, and local governments to step in and reform the practice that cable customers find maddening.
The cause of the problem has been a dearth of competition for cable services in many markets. Companies like Comcast engage in practices like tacked-on fees because they can get away with it. Changing cable providers can be a challenging and disruptive process, involving swapping out home equipment and ascertaining competing plans that may be confusing and with details obscured in the fine print. One reform may be to facilitate both competition and transparency in home cable services, the better to disincentivize predatory pricing practices.
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