Comcast Would Like Tornado Victims to Pay 'Vacation Fee'

I keep my cabin up north on vacation mode. Its like $20 bucks a month, and you get to avoid the installation hubub.

I mean, if people want to keep their phone numbers available, i dont really see a way around it.

Not your primary residence and it has not been destroyed. Have some perspective will you?

Indeed. Apples to Oranges. The comparison is not even close to being the same.

$20 a MONTH to keep your existing service in a "suspended" state (ie: where it is all but COMPLETELY shut off) is RIDICULOUS!

DirecTV charges you - ZERO/month, & you can keep it suspended for up to 6 months.
DISH charges you - $5/month (not sure how long you can keep it suspended)

Both services allow you keep ALL your existing leased receivers in place during this time.
Neither one charges a fee to "un-suspend", either...

We used DirecTV's "suspension" service during a two-phase move when our house was being constructed. They were TERRIFIC. They told us to just take the receiver and call them when we were ready to have a dish hooked up and if we needed additional time to let them know.

The Dexter tornado went over my house before hitting Dexter; we're not that far. Local churches, banks, restaurants and other businesses went into overtime getting water and supplies to those who were working to clean up the mess as well as those suddenly without a home.

The $20 is inexcusable. I could see a $1 fee to hold your account open, but anything more than that is just extortion.

Seriously?

$20/month is roughly the cost of the phone line at my parent's cottage when it IS active.

And your cabin up north - it was recently destroyed in a natural disaster?

Otherwise - WTF?

...is there a punch line somewhere?

Even worse its the first post.

Wow. Talk about revealing your true colors. I wonder if the percentage of sociopaths in American is higher than in other countries.

Do you even know what a sociopath is? .. clearly you don't.. perhaps you should keep the Doctoring to those with PhDs....

Antisocial Personality Disorder is also known as psychopathy or
sociopathy. Individuals with this disorder have little regard for the
feeling and welfare of others. As a clinical diagnosis it is usually
limited to those over age 18. It can be diagnosed in younger people
if the they commit isolated antisocial acts and do not show signs of
another mental disorder.

I'd say he has the definition just about right, are you the one that doesn't know what a sociopath is? The OP just compared keeping his "vacation" home on vacation mode to people that have lost everything and implies it's the same thing and reasonable. Lack of empathy is THE key aspect of a sociopath and the OP demonstrated it in spades.

Ah yes, since we all have vacation homes, and "fart" 20 dollar bills out every month to pay for an unused service.

Seriously though, this is yet another reason I will never use Comcast. In fact, I have chosen where I will live, based on the services available, and that if I only have Comcast and one other option, I would choose another location.

To be honest, I dislike Comcast enough, that I have convinced my brother in law to switch to DSL from cable, and he is very happy he did. I also convinced my parents to drop cable and just use DSL, and they now have a Roku and use this for entertainment.

Message to the cable providers: you may have some of us fooled now, but eventually, you will be an optional service for most of us, and we will more than likely be choosing your competition. With the constant rate increases, decreases in level of services, throttling, caps, fee's, bandwidth gauges, horrible customer service, etc....your only making it harder for yourself to stay viable in a competative future...good riddance

Wow, the point of this article went WAY over your head....I guess reading comprehension fails on your part.

how stupid, so much bad publicity for revenue of a few Thousand dollars.

There's no such thing as bad publicity. There's good publicity, and publicity. If they pulled it off, they are a few thousand dollars ahead. If they have the PR issue, they are out no less then what they would be had they done the "right" thing to begin with. Anyone who leaves because [AT&T|CableOne|Charter|Comcast] is nothing more than a blip on the churn rate radar.

It sucks, but it's reality.

They don't care because no one can leave. No one competes with them.

What I don't get is where is the franchiser in this? It is the responsibility of the franchiser to stop such shenanigans. If they shirk their responsibility then the citizens can vote them/their superiors out of office and can sue the monopoly and put pressure on the franchiser to not renew the franchise when up for renewal, to revoke the franchise, etc. With the right to be a monopoly comes certain responsibilities and it is the job of the franchiser to make sure those responsibilities are taken seriously.

While it's a nice rant you made, the issue remains that the franchise authority has nothing to do with anything as you have stated it. I would guarantee you that there are no provisions in the franchise agreement that states "after a natural disaster, the franchisee must forgive all damages due for lost boxes... " etc. The cable company does have a right to collect on the damages or lost equipment from the customer which WILL be payable through their home owner's insurance once a claim is filed. Many people do have insurance on their homes AND the home owner / subscriber is able to file the lost equipment at the time of claim. When this is the case, the provider has EVERY right to claim their losses as well.. it's the responsibility of the home owner.

The fee to keep the account on hold is a joke. However, there is clearly going to be more to the story.. there always is. The media, and Karl, love to sensationalize things a bit... okay, a lot. (Giving credit where due) I'd imagine that a few representatives in call centers several states away had no idea what they were facing when people call in. However, providers SHOULD be a bit more proactive about these kinds of situations and have a policy in place so they don't insult the victims of these natural disasters. The providers SHOULD have a flag placed on these accounts and assign an adjuster or representative to handle these accounts.

Asking for "immediate payment" as stated here is a bit of the same crap comcast is being accused of on the part of the "reporters".. I don't think I've EVER heard a CSR say "you have to pay NOW tornado victim!!" Seriously! And even then, do you really think that these residents are worried about Comcast demanding payment for their service at the time of impact or right after? .. yea.. right.

I'm glad you all have been emotionally charged by these stories, but they get blown up quite a bit for ratings of course.

If my house was blown down in a tornado, I'd absolutely take care of business in a reasonable amount of time - calling providers. I'd make them aware, and move on. As things come in I'd deal with it. First thing I'm going to do is contact the insurance company anyway. Any bill that I get from Comcast, Charter, TWC, Verizon, ATT, etc, I'm going to turn over to the insurance company anyway.. that's what we have insurance for! and like I said, those providers are absolutely entitled to ME paying them out of my insurance which covers that stuff.

Now.. as for those less fortunate, either as renters who haven't insured their contents, or the lower income, and even for idiots who don't insure their homes for what ever reason, then I'd say that the companies should write that stuff off if there are no other security blankets available.

As for their service status.. where I do agree with other users here is that there should be no charge to place accounts on hold, or suspend billing for things like telephone service, etc. for at least up to 90 days at no charge so the customer can get their life in order.

Of course, the franchise authority has everything to do with it. You want to continue your fanciful ignorance go ahead...it just makes you look dumb.

As for renters, yeah, I have renter's insurance but it would not cover my modem. It has a $500 deductible and there are no lower deductibles. Plus, it does not cover acts of God which is what a tornado, hurricane, tsunami are. I was extremely lucky to even be able to get any renter's insurance because almost all insurers will not insure the contents of homes on the coastline for anything and 95% of them insure only for cash value only if you are a renter and live away from the coastline. Renter's insurance is for liability mostly and to cover fire, theft and not much else.

Please show me on a franchise agreement where "compassion" is part of the terms? In a contract there isn't a lot left to grey areas.. it's usually black and white. You can continue to view things in an emotional way but when it comes to franchises it's all about the black and white - that is the extent of their reach. Do you understand what contracts are? I find it ironic you call me ignorant when you yourself have no understanding of what you speak of.

You're in Hawaii and things certainly are different there. Other than being a state in the U.S. there doesn't seem to be much other in common with the rest of the country. (For example, name another state that charges non-residents different taxes or rates than residents.) You also live on an island.. a real island, and not an island like Manhattan. With that said, in the state I live in, which is one of the tornado alley states, renters insurance here covers content in case of "acts of god".. that's more than half of why you have covrerage.

this thread is only about discussions from a PR not legal standpoint.

Who said anything about the actual terms in legalese of the franchise agreement? I'm referring to good or bad PR and how the consumer does have weight to bring to the table. In Hawaii, if Oceanic TWC were to pull something like this...well, I would be shocked if they tried because they know damn well that you don't do this crap in this state. Oceanic was a locally grown and owned cable company for many, many years (and much loved) until TWC purchased them and, yeah, I guess things are different here. Note the official name is OCEANIC TWC. TWC corporate, idiots that they are, tried to force the removal of "Oceanic" from the official name of the company. That went over with Oceanic, and the general public, like a lead balloon. Oceanic got to keep "Oceanic" in the offical name and we are the sole exception of all TWC franchises/divisions in this regard.

If Oceanic tried this after a major natural disaster, not only would the media be all over it quickly but consumers would file formal complaints with the Dept of Commerce and Consumer Affairs under which cable TV division resides and the consumers would also file formal complaints against Oceanic with the state of Hawaii Office of Consumer Affairs. There would be investigations by both departments, hearings, etc. This is a pro consumer state unlike many on the Mainland. Businesses that forget about the concept of Aloha don't last long here.

This is in Michigan -- one of the states where our elected officials decided to team up with AT&T, and pass a franchise reform bill. Franchises are granted at the State level, with no input or responsibility to the local level.

In turn, us citizens can appear before the state PUC's monthly meetings (located in Lansing) and petition for a hearing if we want anything done. Currently, their schedule has slots about 12 - 16 months away, if they choose to pick up your request.

It's an awesome setup -- and allows for consequence-free actions of our local telecoms :S

Actually Most cable systems are a monopoly only because nobody wants to overbuild. They are not like electric and POTS phone companies who have true monopolies and are monitored by state PUC's. The franchiser (city or county) CAN grant overbuild rights to another cable company, but in most places nobody is interested, as they say there is not a sufficient market to support overbuilding.
In my area, two of the three largest towns in the county had overbuilding by a new company that built out the entire county except for the largest town. All three towns were served by TCI (remember them?). After TCI lost the franchise in the largest town to a municipal built system, they eventually pulled out of the other two towns, and the county wide system was eventually bought by Charter. Since then there has been no overbuilding here, actually not even any interest in it by anyone.

Yeah, don't joke about that, it will probably be added in the next biannual rate rape.

Seriously, how is the 'vacation mode' any better than demanding the replacement cost upfront?? You still don't have the cable box to return, so they probably can't even cancel the service without paying for the box, or not paying and having their credit ruined....

Shouldn't this be something that homeowner's/renter's insurance covers? If an item you're borrowing/renting is destroyed while it's in your possession, be it a car, grill, TV, couch, cable box, etc., you are liable for the cost of repairing/replacing it, per the terms of the borrowing agreement. Plain and simple. Write the check to the cable company when you get the check from the insurance company. Buy insurance... what's the problem again?

You have two things here, the equipment and then the fee to "suspend" service to the customer. This is talking more about that monthly fee.

But he is correct... and the topic of equipment was also raised by Prince Karl earlier as well. But also, insurance companies do have money payable for interim living expenses as well.. but still, it really doesn't cost the companies anything to hold the service at no charge to the consumer.. it's only the right thing to do.

I still believe that there is far more to this story than we all know. However, many people here take Karl for his word and superb reporting skills as he blogs.. and for the record, he's not always right and uses a lot of opinion and hype too.

I take it you didn't read the linked article? It's pretty plain.

Time to crawl back under your rock.

Yea.. because that news article is an accurate description too. You know, before you craw back under YOUR rock, I used to work in a news room.. I used to anchor news as well for an NBC news station.. I have a degree in broadcasting. I'm very well aware of how these stories are written. I read this story and it's just outlining some facts.

... it got an emotional rise from you didn't it?

"Katherine Pfeiffer and Kathy Crawford soon found that residents were being told that they would be responsible for damaged or lost cable boxes and modems."

Yup! ... what's incorrect about this? They are in fact responsible for the price of the equipment - they can turn this over to home owners, as they should. Here's another side of the coin that ignorant people refuse to see. Any idea how many people claim the lost equipment on their claim, yet never pay the carrier? It works both ways.

I've already stated that the hold fees are ridiculous, however, why are people "holding" their accounts anyway? Turn the service off if the house is damage and has to be rebuilt or repaired. Phone services can be handled and I do find that it's a failure on Comcast's part for not having a plan in ANY system for these kinds of situations.. if they want to be a phone provider, they need to realize that they have to address these things. does that make the troll happy?

However, all the "outrage" of this story, there's nothing wrong with what was said.. the only thing I find ill-prepared is that they'd charge a hold fee but I write that issue off to lack of plans nationwide on Comcast's part AND talking to a tier one rep that's most likely in another state. This stuff happens but the providers do in fact end up resolving these things.

You guys spend so much time finding the slightest reasons to bash anything that you often forget, tornado or not, people still have to pick up their lives, and this is also part of it. You think the issue with Comcast is bad? .. wait until you have to deal with the insurance company, or the city or townships for that matter. Like it or not, the world still has to function in some sort of order and these are things that are worked through..

Buck up and join us in the real world.

I wish ISP would tell press yes we are going to charge them for our equipment as state in the contract. You can report it on this story as you like but it will not get us to back up. If business started doing this press would just shut up.

This is no surprise coming from the same company that billed a lady in Galveston $931 for lost equipment after Hurricane Ike:

»abclocal.go.com/ktrk/sto ··· =6460278

I'm guessing the storm wiped out Comcast's ability to deliver service too. Does this fee then start AFTER the homeowner's nearby pedestal / utility pole has been restored? How would a homeowner know since Comcast probably won't run a new drop without a structure on the property and/or if the home is condemned, it won't have electricity.

The residential service agreement says the customer is not responsible for outages beyond 24 consecutive hours after the outage is made aware to them.

- If the house is destroyed, but a pedestal still have service, technically Comcast at that point could bill.
- If the pedestal service is gone, then Comcast couldn't bill until that service was restored.
- If the home is destroyed and the family that lived there doesn't call Comcast for several days because they have more important things to do then call about CATV or internet, then technically Comcast could bill.

A corporation's goal, its only goal, is to make money. Why is it at all surprising that the company should act without compassion? Why is compassion expected? This company is acting exactly like a company must act, after all, a few minutes on the evening news, even if it gets that far, which it wohn't, won't be too much of a problem, given that so many people must, because of their location, either use their cable company or just do without television and high-speed internet. That last option is one which most people won't touch.
My problem is with the people involved in the decision. They are supposed to be compassionate, merely as the price of being human. The problem isn't that a company should act this way, it's that people act this way. If my employer expects me to make trouble for people who have already suffered a disaster, it's time for me to leave and, if need be, starve.

.....as long as the service is working.

Wait, what do you mean there is no service? I have my temporary trailer and I want my service. Sorry Comcast, what do you mean your lines are down? I am paying for service and your lines are down and you still want me to pay for it? No, I don't want "vacation mode" on my service, I want my service. What do you mean your plant is having problems?

Yeah, Comcast better hope that their infrastructure is working at 100% before asking people to pay for service after a disaster.

While I realize that this story is about a stupid 'Vacation Fee' for people who no longer have a place to live it would seem to me that the other issue of these company's charging $200-1k per leased box/modem/etc.. (yes I know in some cases you can buy the modems now) would be a non-issue if they would allow the consumers to own there own equipment, there would not be a need for any of this crap as the person who just lost everything would include it in the home owners insurance claim and just cancel the service from the provider.

Kinda like when your house blows up burns down it's like happy festival fireworks, ya?

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· 9Ohc3ng8

That is what homeowner's insurance is for. It sucks, but the sub is responsible for borrowed or leased equipment. If it was a Hertz rental car in the driveway would they expect Hertz not to come wanting their car back?

Vacation fees is a different matter, especially $15-$20 to do NOTHING. Subs would be better off canceling their service and coming back in 90 days to a bunch of free promos and Comcast would do better by trying to KEEP subscribers rather than giving them a reason to jump ship to DirecTV, Dish or a telco.

Meanwhile I'd have my contractor hit up Comcast for the inside wire maintenance plan Let them reinstall all the RG6.

That's the $20 Disaster Fee.

We'll be at your smoking crater between 8am and 4pm on Thursday.

Hours later this will still be funny.

I went with comcast and had a very good experience, told them my balcony which had my DirecTV dish was going to be worked on for 3 months,, after all was said and done my dish is still out there comcast provided great service the time i couldn't have DirecTV, of course YMMV

In the bad old days, when a business could only lease their telephone equipment from the phone company, if the business was destroyed, the telephone company was more interested in getting the customer temporary service rather than shaking down the customer for the cost of the equipment. In some cases the company wrote off ten's of thousands of dollars of destroyed equipment. The telephone company always stated that they were self insured.

am i missing something?

they arent cancelling their service.....so they either pay full price per month, or $20 a month to keep it active.....right?

this isnt just for boxes, im sure its most for CDV service, because if they cancel their service without porting their number away they risk losing it......

not like comcast is charging them for nothing, they obviously still have service with comcast....if they dont have a house, cancel the service, then you dont have to worry about some $20/month fee....and let the homeowners/disaster insurance pay for the equipment that got lost....

If Comcast can't provide service to the gaping hole in the ground where your house used to be, aren't they breaching their contract?

If Comcast can claim force majeure, why can't their customers?

quote:

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Without a response policy, Comcast charges tornado-affected residents vacation fees

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sheesh ... you can't get more heartless than that.

If this had been two weeks ago ... Comcast would have won the Wort Company in America against EA Games on the strength of this faux pas alone.
»consumerist.com/2012/03/ ··· ast.html

Reason capitalism needs to be replaced with an RBE.