Comcast ordered to pay $9.1M for charging Washington customers without consent
Jun 7, 2019, 8:58 AM
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
A King County Superior Court judge ruled against Comcast Thursday, stating that the cable and internet provider had violated Washington’s state consumer protection laws upwards of 445,000 times.
AG Ferguson files lawsuit against 3 large pharma companies
As a result, Comcast was ordered by the judge to pay almost $9.1 million in penalties, as well as “restitution” to tens of thousands of Washington state customers. The lawsuit alleged that Comcast had charged those customers for its Service Protection Plan without their consent.
“Comcast refused to accept responsibility for its egregious conduct that resulted in Washingtonians losing money every month for a product they did not want or request,” Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a news release. “Instead of making things right for Washingtonians, Comcast sent an army of corporate lawyers into court to try to avoid accountability.”
Comcast, on the other hand, attempted to find the silver-lining in what was the largest trial payout the state has ever won in a consumer protection case.
“We’re pleased that the Court ruled in our favor on several of the Attorney General’s key claims and awarded less than five percent of what he was seeking in damages,” a Comcast spokesperson told Geekwire.
Thursday’s ruling concluded that the company had enrolled roughly 34 percent of customers for the Service Protection Plan over the phone without their consent.
One employee of the company even testified that he had received such a high volume of complaints from customers about SPP enrollment, that he stopped relaying them to management.
Want money from Comcast lawsuit? Might take years
“Despite Comcast’s systemic guidelines and policies, the practice of subscribing (Washington) customers without meaningful consent was widespread,” King County Superior Court Judge Timothy Bradshaw wrote in his ruling.
Almost 31,000 Washington customers had the SPP added to their Comcast bills without knowing, while another 18,660 were not told the actual cost of the plan.
In addition to the $9.1 million penalty payout, the company will now have to refund affected customers with 12 percent interest. The exact cost of that restitution isn’t known, but Ferguson’s office noted that it would be “significant.”
Comcast has consistently found itself on lists among some of the nation’s most hated companies.
