DonLibes
Premium,ExMod 2001
join:2003-01-19
| MCMD 28-02 makes its first impact
A Montgomery County, MD complaint which was to be the first case heard by its new Cable Compliance Commission next week, has been settled prior to its hearing before the commission. The complaint described a Comcast installation gone wrong including Comcast allegedly lying about the customer missing the appointment window to avoid honoring the on-time guarantee, the installer leaving behind 2 TVs and a computer disabled, Comcast never returning to repair this same equipment, Comcast charging for services never received and for equipment the company had failed to pick up, Comcast refusing to produce written copies of their own policies, and other allegations.
The MC law (originally known as "bill 28-02") requires that the complainant give the County's Cable Office 30 days to resolve the issues before being passed on to the Commission. This period passed without resolution. After the complainant lost a day's work and another 32 hours trying to resolve the issues, the complainant offered to settle for $1000, given that was also the maximum that could be received through the Commission's adjudication process. The offer was promptly accepted. The money was paid by Virtek, a Comcast contractor, which was responsible for the installation.
Longtime members of this forum will recall that I predicted providers would do whatever it took (whether that was settlements or an increase in quality or both) to avoid negative judgements before the commission to avoid any kind of negative publicity or ripple effect.
One may claim that Comcast and its contractors will merely raise their rates to cover costs such as these. Although I prefer to think otherwise, I agree that it's a possibility. On the other hand, there is also the possibility that such serious complaints will spur providers to raise quality levels to avoid such actions in the first place at lower overall expense. |
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JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
clubs: |  |
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AgentPhish
join:2003-04-02
Lancaster, PA | reply to DonLibes
im glad comcast MC is getting theirs... in a way anyays... |
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Arthur96
join:2000-12-17
Salem, NH | ok soooo he got a grand ok fine but umm are his TV's and HSI working now or what? |
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DonLibes
Premium,ExMod 2001
join:2003-01-19
| It is my understanding that when it became apparent that Comcast or the contractor wasn't going to return to fix anything, the complainant (who is not a technical person) repaired all the damage personally with the help of friends. The 32 hour figure included the time to jump through the hoops of trying to get a useful response from Comcast and the county via phone calls and writing letters as well as time spent doing whatever repairs were needed. |
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