Comcast Hit With $2.3 Million Fine to End FCC Investigation Over Mischarging Customers

The Federal Communications Commission has levied the largest ever fine on a cable provider, ordering Comcast to pay a $2.3 million fine to resolve an investigation into whether the company wrongfully charged cable TV customers for services and equipment that the customers never authorized, the FCC said on Tuesday.

The Communications Act and FCC rules prevent cable providers from charging subscribers for services and equipment they did not request, a practice known as "negative option billing."

According to the FCC, the commission received numerous complaints from consumers alleging that Comcast ordered charges to their bill for unordered services or products. Some of the services and products Comcast is alleged to have charged for without consent include premium channels, set-top boxes and DVRs. Some customers said they were billed despite specifically declining service or equipment upgrades, while others said they had no knowledge of the charges until they received unordered equipment in the mail, obtained notifications of unrequested account changes by email, or conducted a review of their monthly bills.

In addition to paying the fine, Comcast will send customers an order to confirm, separate from any other bill, clearly and conspicuously described newly added products and associated charges. Comcast will also offer customers, at no cost, the ability to block the addition of new services or equipment to their accounts. The settlement also requires Comcast to implement a detailed program for redressing disputed charges.

The FCC said consumers described expending "significant time and energy" to remove the unauthorized charges and get refunds. In one incidents detailed by the FCC, a customer in Florida who claimed he was charged for a pay-per-view boxing match that he never ordered, was told by a Comcast representative that he would receive a one-time courtesy refund. The customer said the credit was denied and his wife subsequently spent over two hours on the phone with customer service and a representative said they could not be transferred to a supervisor.

Another customer in D.C. was charged for Showtime without ever ordering it, the customer alleged to the FCC. The customer was told by Comcast that the company would only go back six months when inquiring about the charges even though the customer had been charged for the channel for over a year.

Comcast did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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