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...