State announces $100 million lawsuit against Comcast over alleged deceptive practices

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court on Monday, alleging that internet giant Comcast has more than 1.8 million violations of the state’s Consumer Protection Act.

The Washington State Attorney General’s office often sues companies under the state’s Consumer Protection Act, which protects the marketplace from unfair competition and consumers from deceptive practices.

His office said Monday that Comcast’s actions affected about 500,000 consumers in the state. “However, Comcast did not appropriately disclose that the plan does not cover repairs to any “wall-fished” wiring – wiring inside a wall – which constitutes the vast majority of wiring inside homes”. Comcast claims that its Service Protection Plan has covered over 99% of customer fix bills, but Ferguson punched holes in that theory, as his team believes the 99% only applies to specific types of fix services.

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Comcast said it was blindsided by the lawsuit, which came after discussions between the company and the government.

At a news conference he said Comcast committed more than 1.8 million violations of the state’s Consumer Protection Act by charging improper service call fees and using improper credit screening practices.

The lawsuit also accuses Comcast of violating the CPA to all of its almost 1.2 million Washington subscribers due to its deceptive “Comcast Guarantee”. He 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.

Comcast said it was not aware of the lawsuit before the state’s press release.

“Over and over and over again, Comcast most certainly did not play by the rules”, Ferguson said.

Finally, the AG’s Office says Comcast conducted thousands of improper credit checks of customers, thereby dinging their credit score.

The AG is asking that improper credit checks be removed from credit reports of more than 6,000 Comcast customers.

Last week, Comcast said it recorded its 29th consecutive month of customer growth, driven it claimed in large part due to improvements in customer service.

“The Service Protection Plan has given those Washington consumers who chose to purchase it great value by completely covering over 99% of their fix calls”. “The Attorney General’s Office brought these issues to Comcast over a year ago, but the company didn’t begin to make changes until recently – on the verge of this litigation”. “We stand behind our products and services and will vigorously defend ourselves”.