Washington AG Alleges More Comcast Violations, in Lawsuit
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) added to allegations that Comcast illegally charged for protection plans without consumer consent. Thursday in King County Superior Court, Ferguson filed an amended complaint in the case about nearly 2 million alleged violations…
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of the state’s Consumer Protection Act (CPA) by the cable company (see 1608010045). “This new evidence makes clear that Comcast’s conduct is even more egregious than we first realized,” Ferguson said in a statement. In May, the court ordered Comcast to send the AG recordings of phone calls in which Comcast sold a service protection plan to Washington consumers. The AG office analyzed 150 randomly chosen calls from 1,500 sent to the AG, it said. Comcast enrolled more than half without consent, even though the company didn’t always mention the plan or explain that it would cost extra, and some consumers rejected it explicitly, the AG office said. The CPA allows up to a $2,000 penalty per violation, it said. A Comcast spokeswoman disagreed with the AG claims and defended the service plans. "The Attorney General’s new assertions are largely based on a flawed methodology and assumptions," she said. Comcast provided more than 4,500 call recordings to the AG, but the office listened to a fraction, she added.