Comcast Cable has enjoyed a long standing franchise agreement in Oakland, which is why it seems every apartment has the service at the exclusion of any alternative. That monopolistic setup has led to some very bad behavior on the part of the cable giant.
For example, Comcast has a system where if one is late for a payment, then pays it to get current, they still count a penalty charge for the number of days the payment was late, which is charged on top of what is owed but does not show up until months later.
In other words, you could late pay, think your bill is current, then three months later be informed that you still owe them for past months, even if you thought and they told you that you were current. It's a very weird billing system that does not serve customers well and could cause customers to think Comcast was scamming them.
That's why I stopped Comcast and went to satellite service. I'm of the view that I should not have to pay to get a communications transmission -- that was true in the old days and we should return to that state of affairs. It's making being informed a class-determined affair: the more you can pay the more you get. That's not what a well-functioning society deserves.
So in that sprit, I propose a reworking of the Oakland Franchise agreement under the matter of customer service. The simple adjustment has to be a reworking of it such that billing late fees are not delayed in their reporting; they're a simple percentage of the bill immediately applied and reported and there's no fee that "kicks in" after so many days.
Here's a link to the City's agreement: http://clerkwebsvr1.oaklandnet.com/attachments/11098.pdf
For example, Comcast has a system where if one is late for a payment, then pays it to get current, they still count a penalty charge for the number of days the payment was late, which is charged on top of what is owed but does not show up until months later.
In other words, you could late pay, think your bill is current, then three months later be informed that you still owe them for past months, even if you thought and they told you that you were current. It's a very weird billing system that does not serve customers well and could cause customers to think Comcast was scamming them.
That's why I stopped Comcast and went to satellite service. I'm of the view that I should not have to pay to get a communications transmission -- that was true in the old days and we should return to that state of affairs. It's making being informed a class-determined affair: the more you can pay the more you get. That's not what a well-functioning society deserves.
So in that sprit, I propose a reworking of the Oakland Franchise agreement under the matter of customer service. The simple adjustment has to be a reworking of it such that billing late fees are not delayed in their reporting; they're a simple percentage of the bill immediately applied and reported and there's no fee that "kicks in" after so many days.
Here's a link to the City's agreement: http://clerkwebsvr1.oaklandnet.com/attachments/11098.pdf
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