Comcast is paying Montgomery County’s Office of Consumer Protection $25,000 for consumer education under a new settlement agreement, the county announced Tuesday.
The agreement was reached after the county’s Office of Cable and Broadband Services received 85 complaints from residents who had been charged “truck trip fees” of $19.95, $29.95 or $39.95 for service calls at their homes without advance notice of the fees by Comcast. Some of the complaints also said the fee was charged even when the service problem was caused by Comcast’s equipment.
Under the terms of the latest agreement, Comcast is required to give customers two notices disclosing the fees, one by a live operator when a customer calls to schedule a technician’s visit and one through a recorded telephone call before the appointment.
Comcast is not supposed to charge a fee if the problem is caused by the company’s equipment malfunctioning. However, the company can charge customers if the problem is caused by the customer’s equipment, inside wiring or the customer misusing Comcast’s equipment.
