Comcast is currently facing a $100 million filed by the State of Washington in behalf of its constituents who were allegedly duped by the cable company.
Bob Ferguson, the State Attorney filed the consumer protection complaint against Comcast, according to Ars Techinca. State justice officials accused the company of misleading its Washington subscribers about its Service Protection Plan. The full document of the lawsuit can be obtained here.
Ferguson said that Comcast basically tricked its customers into paying $4.99 a month for a service that was supposed to be free in the first place. Subscribers who availed of the plan will no longer incur a service fee every time the company's cable technician comes to make repairs.
However, Comcast failed to inform its service protection plan holders that the monthly payment does not cover "wall-fished wiring" repairs or those wires hidden inside the house's walls. The Washington State claimed that it was an intentional omission since most if not all repairs involved hidden wirings.
A Comcast spokesperson said that the company has yet so see the complaint but mentioned that the issue has already been addressed. The spokesperson also said that the company was taken aback by the state government lawsuit. But the cable company will not take it lying down and will fight it out in court, according to the spokesperson.
The state attorney did admit that there were indeed negotiations going on. However, he claimed that Comcast had been unable to adequately address the issue. The company reportedly balked at the state attorney's proposal to pay the aggrieved plan holders.
Comcast is also accused of engaging in dubious credit checks on its customers. Normally, deposits are only required from subscribers with low credit scores. Company records reveal however, that it also collected deposits from several thousand high credit scores subscribers. This implies that Comcast did not conduct the credit score check once it obtained the deposit from the cable subscriber.
