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Washington AG Suing Comcast For $100 Million Over ‘Deceptive Practices’

A pattern of illegally deceiving all its Washington state customers – that’s what cable provider Comcast is accused of in a $100-million lawsuit filed Monday in King County Superior Court by the state Attorney General’s office.  

In its complaint, the state says Comcast violated Washington’s Consumer Protection Act more than 1.8 million times, through unfair and deceptive practices.

Chief among the concerns is the marketing of a service protection plan as “comprehensive” and covering all service call fees, should customers ever experience a service problem that requires an on-site Comcast technician visit. But State Attorney General Bob Ferguson says his office found it actually only covers a narrow scope of repairs.

“For example, despite advertising to consumers that the plan covers — [I'm] quoting now — ‘all inside wiring,’ it does not include wiring inside the walls of a residence. And that of course is wiring that constitutes most of the inside wiring in the majority of customer homes,” Ferguson said.

He says customers were also routinely charged for failures caused by the company’s equipment or network problems and that Comcast even created a special code for its technicians to carry out the deception.

“To charge consumers for a service call that under the guarantee should be free, the service resolution code allows technicians – and this is a quote from the code – ‘to add service charges to a normally not-charged fix code,’” he said.

Ferguson says over the past 5 years, some 500-thousand Washington customers paid $4.99 per month or about $60 a year for the plan – totaling more than $73 million dollars.

“Comcast needs to pay that money back,” Ferguson said.

The suit also details thousands of instances of improper credit screening and associated fees.

Ferguson noted that the Washington lawsuit was the first on this issue in the country, though the company’s service protection plan is a nationwide program. Ferguson said he’s not yet aware of any other states planning to sue the company.

A statement from Comcast says the protection plan covered 99 percent of repair calls and that the company is “surprised and disappointed” to hear of the litigation, since it’s been working with the AG’s office to address the issues.

“We stand behind our products and services and will vigorously defend ourselves,” the statement says.

The attorney general’s office says a trial has been set for July 31, 2017.

Bellamy Pailthorp covers the environment for KNKX with an emphasis on climate justice, human health and food sovereignty. She enjoys reporting about how we will power our future while maintaining healthy cultures and livable cities. Story tips can be sent to bpailthorp@knkx.org.