Comcast fined $2.3 million for billing customers for things they didn’t order

The FCC fined Comcast $2.3 million for “negative option billing” or charging customers for products and services they never ordered. The regulatory agency called the fine “the largest civil penalty assessed from a cable operator by the FCC.” Comcast will pay the fine, but has deflected responsibility. The company would do well to learn about the risks of deceitful business practices from the Wells Fargo scandal.

In its Order, the FCC details numerous examples of Comcast’s negative option billing practice. One Florida subscriber was told she owed over $300 for a service bundle and equipment she never ordered.

“It is basic that a cable bill should include charges only for services and equipment ordered by the customer—nothing more and nothing less,” Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said in a statement. “We expect all cable and phone companies to take responsibility for the accuracy of their bills and to ensure their customers have authorized any charges.”

The FCC fined Comcast $2.3 million and the company agreed to implement a five-year compliance plan, which will include “procedures designed to obtain customers’ affirmative informed consent prior to charging them for new services or equipment.”

You might think that a fine and compliance plan would force Comcast to accept responsibility for its anti-customer business practices. You’d be wrong. As soon as the FCC fine was announced, Comcast avoided responsibility by blaming “isolated errors or customer confusion.”

That excuse may sound familiar – John Stumpf, CEO of Wells Fargo, blamed isolated pockets of workers for the two million fake bank accounts. His attempt to dodge responsibility backfired when frontline workers explained the intense pressures from the company to increase sales by any means. Once the workers brought the details of sales metrics into the public eye, the company dropped their quotas.

The FCC’s fine of $2.3 million is nowhere close to Wells Fargo’s $185 million fine  and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts won’t have to face the wrath of Senator Warren (D-MA), but there are lessons for Comcast and its workers. Raking in profits by taking advantage of customers and then avoiding responsibility can make a bad situation worse. And when workers have a voice in the workplace, they can bring bad business practices to light – to the benefit of customers and themselves.

Links:

FCC Order fining Comcast $2.3 million for negative option billing (FCC, Oct. 11, 2016)

Comcast to Pay $2.3 Million After Subscribers Complain of Billion for Services & Equipment They Never Ordered (FCC, Oct. 11, 2016)

Comcast fined $2.3 million by FCC for “negative option billing” practices (Ars Technica, Oct. 11, 2016)

2 million fake accounts later, Wells Fargo drops sales quotas for its employees (Ars Technica, Oct. 11, 2016)