EECB

Yesterday morning, I sent the following EECB to Comcast's execs:

From: Molavi, Dariush
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 8:41 AM
To: Molavi, Dariush
BCC: 'shawn_feddeman@cable.comcast.com'; 'corporate_communications@comcast.com'; 'brian_roberts@comcast.com'; 'stephen_burke@comcast.com'; 'david_cohen@comcast.com'; 'david_watson@comcast.com'; 'david_juliano@comcast.com'; 'stephen_burke@cable.comcast.com'; 'david_watson@cable.comcast.com'; 'david_juliano@cable.comcast.com'
Subject: Deceptive Customer Service Practices and Misleading Advertising

To whom it may concern-
I am a longtime subscriber of Comcast and it's predecessors in various markets (AT&T and MediaOne). Recently, I did a review of my various service providers, their product offerings, and the prices, and found a slight inconsistancy. It was one which I thought could be dealt with by a quick call to customer service, Unfortunately, I was wrong.

I am a cable internet only subscriber, having left your cable TV service after a rate hike (and receiving no additional programming or features). As I was doing my review of service providers, I looked at my most recent bill from your company, and saw that it was approximately $58 for a month of service. However, when looking at your comcast.com website, I see the "Performance" tier of internet service, of which I fall under, is only $42.95 per month.

At first I thought that the price shown on the website was a promotion or a bundled discount. However, upon closer inspection of the "Terms and Conditions" page and the "See all Features" page, as well as the fine print at the bottom of the "High-Speed Internet" page, I saw no mention that the $42.95 per month pricing was either promotional or required bundled services. In fact, you've got an entirely separate page for bundles.

So, off I go to call customer service asking about this inconsistancy. After being on hold for a few minutes, I get a CSR on the phone and explain to her my situation, and ask her to please adjust my pricing in accordance with what is advertised on your website. She tells me that the prices on the website reflect a discount if you have bundled service. I inform her that nowhere on the page, or the linked pages, does it state that bundled service is required. She tells me to hang on while she checks it out, and sure enough, she says "Huh, you're right, it's not there. But that's our policy, sorry" and hangs up.

This boggles my mind. Is it really your corporate policy to advertise a service for one price, with no restrictions or limitations listed in the T&Cs, and not honor that price to a customer who calls and requests it? If so, my false advertising alarm is going off.

Please clarify to me your policy on honoring the prices shown on your website. I've attached screenshots of the "High-Speed Internet" page, the T&C page for the "Performance" package, as well as the "Features" page for the "Performance" package. Nowhere on any of those pages do I see a requirement stating that I have to bundle services to receive the advertised price. (There is a separate "Bundles" tab that has those discounts).

I will be sending a copy of this email under separate cover to the Consumerist.com website. Addtionally, I will investigate the possibility of filing a false/misleading advertising complaint with the FCC as well as with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Thank you,
Dariush Molavi

I attached the images below to the EECB.

A couple of hours later, I got a reply from a regional manager by the name of Michelle Adderly who asked for my account information, and when a good time to discuss the matter would be. I gave her my account info, and told her anytime after 5PM.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting her to call. After all, Comcast is infamous for it's no-shows during installs and service calls. Why should this be any different?

The gods must have been smiling upon me, for at 5:04PM, I received a call from Ms. Adderly. She let me know that it was an error on their website, which was corrected when they got my email. (Sure enough, I checked while on the phone with her, they fixed it.)

She asked why I had called their CSR, and why I had written the email to them. I said it was just to get the price which they advertise on their site for the service to which I'm a subscriber. She conceded the error, and will issue a credit to my account for $15 for the next 6 months. A (small) victory.

Now, for those of you nay-sayers out there: I wasn't looking for free service for life or any such thing, just to get Comcast to live up to their end of the deal. I'll re-evaluate their site in 6 months and see if the mistake re-appears. Hopefully, FIOS will be available to me by then...

How it all began

Unfortunately, I've been a long time customer of Comcast and it's predecessors, MediaOne and AT&T Broadband due to a lack of competition in my local cable market. Until recently, I was both a Comcast television and broadband subscriber.

In February of 2007, my wife and I decided to switch to DishNetwork for our television service, and canceled Comcast's cable TV service. I was notified of, and received, a rate hike on my now standalone broadband service.

However, last week, I was browsing around Comcast's site and noticed the following (click to enlarge):
You'll notice that the price for the base broadband package is $42.95 per month. "Self," I said, "You're paying $16 more than that." So I checked the fine print at the bottom of the page for a "must be bundled" clause. Nothing. Go ahead, enlarge the above image and check for yourself. So, I check the T&C's that they had a link to (click to enlarge):
"Self," I said, "There's nothing in there about bundling either." So, being the savvy shopper I am, I check out the "Features" link:
Whoa, still nothing about bundling, not even in the fine print.

So I called the 800 number and spoke to a rep. They told me that it's policy to charge more for non-bundled services. Fine, I said, but nowhere on these pages does it say that, and they've even got a separate page for bundled services. The rep checked the site while on the phone with me and said "huh", but it's policy.

Sounds like bait and switch false advertising to me. If they're going to require bundled services to receive the lower prices, they should have that noted in the fine print somewhere, along with the price for the service if it isn't bundled.

I will be crafting up an EECB shortly and lobbing it towards the CxOs of Comcast. I will post the letter and any responses here.

Post your thoughts in the comments...

Let the games begin

This blog will serve as my soap box for consumer rights and truth in advertising as they relate to customers of Comcast, Inc. For a preview of what I'm up against, read the Comcast articles at The Consumerist. EECB, here we come :)