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Renew your service or we’ll trash your credit score, Spectrum tells ex-customer

latimes.com

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Re: Renew your service or we’ll trash your credit score, Spectrum tells ex-customer

#41

Post by soultrees »

paxys wrote: post #21
johndoughy wrote: post #7

I've never understood why ISPs and cellular carriers aren't prepaid by default, which would avoid the credit system entirely. Do these companies benefit somehow by being post-paid and relying on credit?

You are overestimating customers' willingness to prepay. Using the service all month and getting a bill at the end is a hardwired habit and how all utilities have operated forever. Increasing the up-front cost for a new customer by $50-100 is going to be a huge hit for the business.

Let’s also not forget that 2-3 contracts exist and are pretty standard for most people with a phone. That’s years of lock-in on a post-paid customer.

Re: Renew your service or we’ll trash your credit score, Spectrum tells ex-customer

#42

Post by quitit »

irjustin wrote: post #23
wolpoli wrote: post #20

It sounds someone crafted a letter for people who own balance and made a mistake when they queried the CRM for a list of customers. I am not convinced that it was meant to be an actual threat to trash the recipient's credit score.

Agreed, if the customer owed something/missed a payment, then this letter makes sense. This customer didn't owe anything, so clearly this letter wasn't intended for them, but got it by an error. I'm all for pitchforking Comcast and other giants who have terrible business practices, but this article seems like it's trying to drum up angst when this can clearly be explained by a mistake. If I had bad debt and an option…

Some people are bad with their finances and may believe that they had outstanding debt.

Although your suggestion is entirely plausible, shaking the chains is also plausible.

It would at least get me to call the company because the letter is written to suggest that there is outstanding debt.

If this was an error: The proper thing to do is a follow-up letter to apologise for the confusion and confirm that their credit rating is not at risk, until that happens it’s fair to assume the worst of the company.

Re: Renew your service or we’ll trash your credit score, Spectrum tells ex-customer

#43

Post by jpmoral »

irjustin wrote: post #23
wolpoli wrote: post #20

It sounds someone crafted a letter for people who own balance and made a mistake when they queried the CRM for a list of customers. I am not convinced that it was meant to be an actual threat to trash the recipient's credit score.

Agreed, if the customer owed something/missed a payment, then this letter makes sense. This customer didn't owe anything, so clearly this letter wasn't intended for them, but got it by an error. I'm all for pitchforking Comcast and other giants who have terrible business practices, but this article seems like it's trying to drum up angst when this can clearly be explained by a mistake. If I had bad debt and an option…

I agree with the article though that the letter borders on threatening and is misleading.

Nitpick: Angst != anger

Re: Renew your service or we’ll trash your credit score, Spectrum tells ex-customer

#44

Post by Supermancho »

jjoonathan wrote: post #35
Supermancho wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's outrageous that companies in the modern day and age can just elect to make cancellation difficult or impossible and keep taking money from yo I'm not sure you read the story. A small claims judge would make short work of that situation wherein they will inform Spectrum that they do not want this to go to jury. However, this story is about a guy getting a resubscription extortion letter in light of a non-existe…

I'm not sure you're familiar with how the "you can't cancel" trick works. The situation in TFA is what happens if you try to escalate an ignored cancellation request by stopping payment. The company graciously extends debt to cover the service that you surely didn't intend to cancel, and when your balance -- augmented by late fees, of course -- has grown to be worth their while, they try to collect. Variations on thi…

Oh, I'm familiar. Lots of people are familiar. This is a question of tort law wrapped in corporate sponsored "mandatory mediation", which never rules in your favor or delays. I am asserting that while the dispute is small it can be quickly resolved because the court is happy to mediate immediately regardless of the contractual body appointed.

It's when you exceed the small claims or wait, ie you're afraid to go to court or are lapse in monitoring your own finances, that the problem accelerates out of control.

Re: Renew your service or we’ll trash your credit score, Spectrum tells ex-customer

#45

Post by standardUser »

vegetablepotpie wrote: post #34
standardUser wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is outrageous, but the blame doesn't lie with companies doing precisely what companies are intended to due, the fault lies solely with politicians who reliably fail to put their voters interest above that of their donors.

Companies are intended to extort money from former customers based on real and implied threats? What is the claim here? Are you saying for profit companies are inherently parasitic and politicians need to pass specific regulations to prevent every instance of bad corporate behavior? Or is it that politicians have created systems that makes companies acting antisocially inevitable? Or is it that companies have made ad…

The obvious claim is that companies will (and should) use any legal means to profit. If we don't want a certain behavior from a company we should elect people who support passing laws to regulate those activities. As has been done for generations.

But to pretend companies should just act like we want is ridiculous.

Re: Renew your service or we’ll trash your credit score, Spectrum tells ex-customer

#46

Post by dwaltrip »

standardUser wrote: post #45
vegetablepotpie wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies are intended to extort money from former customers based on real and implied threats? What is the claim here? Are you saying for profit companies are inherently parasitic and politicians need to pass specific regulations to prevent every instance of bad corporate behavior? Or is it that politicians have created systems that makes companies acting antisocially inevitable? Or is it that companies have made ad…

The obvious claim is that companies will (and should) use any legal means to profit. If we don't want a certain behavior from a company we should elect people who support passing laws to regulate those activities. As has been done for generations. But to pretend companies should just act like we want is ridiculous.

The law and profit motive aren’t the only things guiding company behavior.

Those factors are very dominant, but I don’t think that is the whole story. Companies are composed of individuals, and individuals have complex reasons for their behavior, much more than simply not going to jail and making money.

Re: Renew your service or we’ll trash your credit score, Spectrum tells ex-customer

#47

Post by [deleted] »

kmonsen wrote: post #15
tomc1985 wrote: post #5

I don't know the details of his debt but this seems a lot less sinister when you realize that they're offering to cancel a debt if he resumes service

That's what the mobsters say as well, and somehow even they get a bad reputation. Can't people see we are trying to do them a service?

[deleted]

Re: Renew your service or we’ll trash your credit score, Spectrum tells ex-customer

#48

Post by not2b »

irjustin wrote: post #39
not2b wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the person owes money the letter should describe how much is owed and what it is owed for.

Please link a source for this one. Look, this is a great practice for sure, but we're in the realm of legal now. I looked briefly[0] and couldn't find anything that explicitly that's what you need to do when describing options. The only requirement that I can see they are *required* to do: > furnishes negative information to such an agency regarding credit extended to a customer, the financial institution shall provi…

Sorry, no. You may be "in the realm of legal now", but I wasn't.

You fundamentally misunderstand what I was saying. I was not claiming that they were violating a legal requirement, just that they are behaving unethically, and if the rules allow this then new rules are needed.

Re: Renew your service or we’ll trash your credit score, Spectrum tells ex-customer

#49

Post by irjustin »

not2b wrote: post #48
irjustin wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please link a source for this one. Look, this is a great practice for sure, but we're in the realm of legal now. I looked briefly[0] and couldn't find anything that explicitly that's what you need to do when describing options. The only requirement that I can see they are *required* to do: > furnishes negative information to such an agency regarding credit extended to a customer, the financial institution shall provi…

Sorry, no. You may be "in the realm of legal now", but I wasn't. You fundamentally misunderstand what I was saying. I was not claiming that they were violating a legal requirement, just that they are behaving unethically, and if the rules allow this then new rules are needed.

Ah sorry i thought you were replying to the FCRA violation part of the post.

Re: Renew your service or we’ll trash your credit score, Spectrum tells ex-customer

#50

Post by standardUser »

dwaltrip wrote: post #46
standardUser wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The obvious claim is that companies will (and should) use any legal means to profit. If we don't want a certain behavior from a company we should elect people who support passing laws to regulate those activities. As has been done for generations. But to pretend companies should just act like we want is ridiculous.

The law and profit motive aren’t the only things guiding company behavior. Those factors are very dominant, but I don’t think that is the whole story. Companies are composed of individuals, and individuals have complex reasons for their behavior, much more than simply not going to jail and making money.

Historically, companies only stop doing bad things when regulated. That's just the reality and anything else is wishful thinking.
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