Complaint Review: Xfinity - Philadelphia Pennsylvania

MY BILL KEEPS GOING UP AND UP EVERY MONTH BECAUSE I AM BEING SUBSCRIBED TO SERVICES I DO NOT NEED OR KNOW I HAVE WITHOUT MY CONSENT:   The first issue is that I was supposed to be paying much less rather than more because your representatives have assured me that they would be crediting all of the 11 payments you charged me for the Andy Griffith movies that I did not rent, did not know existed, and could not watch in the 5 days your system shows that I watched them.  

  The second issue is that you had been charging me for a Netflix subscription I never sought from your company and never used. I was supposed to be reimbursed for the months you had been charging me, and I expect this credit to show on my account, which would have reduced my bill considerably. Instead, you somehow managed to get my bill to go higher.  

Third, after multiple calls and hours spent on the phone to resolve these issues, I was told this week that I had a subscription to HBO and DVR. I am not even sure what use I would have for a DVR service. And why am I been subscribed to things without my knowledge or consent? This is the more absurd since I keep getting texts from Netflix saying "Your subscription payment was declined." And I have no Netflix subscription. I can watch both Netflix and HBO if I want to because my daughter pays for a subscription and since she is allowed to add several users, she has me on her subscription as  "Mom." Same for HBO, plus I can watch on Demand if I want to rent a movie, which you have to do consciously and voluntarily and cannot end up doing by accident.   You owe me money and need to restore my Demand service, which they canceled when I disputed the multiple add-ons I did not subscribe to/  

Lastly, I still have not been able to apply for the federal $30 discount benefit because when your representative called me about that specifically, he told me that I needed "a VIN," which I don't know.   I OBJECT TO OFFENSIVE, DESENSITIZING, AND SPAM COMMERCIALS ON MY PAID PROGRAMMING:     30-DEMAND LETTER VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMITTAL TO: [email protected] (October 3, 2022, following the first complaint I launched in March 2022)   Re:  Intolerable – Predatory – Abusive & Exploitative Commercials in My Paid-Subscription Package   Dear Mr. Swayne,   I first sent you this email on March 22, 2022. When we spoke on the telephone soon thereafter, you advised me that despite your inextricable affiliation and other close relationships with the networks, you had no control over the content broadcasted soon thereafter, you advised me that despite your inextricable affiliation and other close relationships with the networks, you had no control over the content that is broadcast into my home. As a result, I forwarded the email to multiple executives at CNN, ABC, CBS, and the local stations with no response whatsoever. The recipients’ names are all listed below, and I received no reply. I then forwarded this complaint to the Massachusetts Telecommunication Commission for cable TV, complaining about the offensive commercials. They told me to file the complaint with the FCC, which I did. However, I received an email from the FCC, which suggested that I file the complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, but there was no option for telecommunication matters in their complaint portal. This leaves me with no recourse. And since you refuse to resolve this problem through Comcast, my service provider, I see no alternative, at this time, but to file this complaint in the district court and allow the court to handle this matter.  

This complaint was sent to the following parties:   CNN Leadership Team Michael Bass – Executive VP of Programming, CNN U.S. Katrina Cukaj – Executive Vice President of Ad Sales Strategy, WarnerMedia Richard Davis – EVP of News Standards and Practices, CNN   Johnita P. Due – Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, WarnerMedia News and Sports Amy Entelis – Executive VP for Talent and Content Development, CNN Worldwide Brad Ferrer – Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, WarnerMedia News and Sports Allison Gollust – Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer, CNN Worldwide Robin Garfield – Senior Vice President of Research and Scheduling for CNN Lisa Greene – Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, WarnerMedia News & Sports Ken Jautz – Executive VP, CNN Mike McCarthy – Executive Vice President and General Manager, CNN International Andrew Morse – Executive Vice President & Chief Digital Officer Rani R. Raad – President, CNN International Commercial David Vigilante – Executive Vice President and General Counsel for CNN and Warner Media News and Sports Jeff Zucker – Chairman, WarnerMedia News and Sports & President, CNN Worldwide WarnerMedia Leadership Team John Stankey – President & Chief Operating Officer – AT&T Inc. & CEO – WarnerMedia Keith Cocozza – Executive Vice President, Corporate Marketing and Communications, WarnerMedia Jim Cummings – Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, WarnerMedia Pascal Desroches – Chief Financial Officer, WarnerMedia Priya Dogra – Executive Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development, WarnerMedia Robert Greenblatt – Chairman, WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer Christy Haubegger – Executive Vice President, Chief Enterprise Inclusion Officer Jim Meza – Executive Vice President and General Counsel, WarnerMedia Ann Sarnoff – Chair and CEO of Warner Bros. Gerhard Zeiler – Chief Revenue Officer, WarnerMedia & President, WarnerMedia International Networks Jeff Zucker – Chairman, WarnerMedia News & Sports, and President, CNN   The following was essentially the content of my original email to you: I am paying an average of $177.00 a month for my Xfinity Comcast service, an amount that is excessive for our budget. Your company claims to offer some $50 discount for people like us. But although I took the time to go on your site and apply for this purported benefit on three separate occasions, I never even received a response, never mind a denial. We also should not be paying for operator assistance or long-distance service, which I neither need nor use. I have these services for free on my cell phone.   This being said, I believe that Xfinity Comcast is violating the guarantee of fair dealings and is, frankly, engaged in unfair and deceptive business practices. Your company may also be violating deceptive advertising by allowing deceptive, questionable, and borderline fraudulent ads to be featured on your network. I am asking you to address these problems, which I am fully prepared to take to the proper authorities. I hope that you will do your due diligence to resolve this problem.   It is uncontainable for a company such as Xfinity Comcast, with a virtual monopoly in the delivery of cable television programming to customers in my area, to subject paid customers to this level of abuse. As it stands now, I am only getting one segment of about 1 or 2 minutes of news for DOZENS [emphasis], if not hundreds, of commercials and advertisements every day.   In addition to the sheer volume, those commercials and advertisements last 3 or 4 times longer than any segment of news programming, at a rate of up to 12 commercials following each news segment. Most of those commercials and advertisements are senseless, unwanted, unwelcomed, indecent, crude, desensitizing, vulgar, sexually explicit, offensive to my senses and sensibility, overly graphic, spamming, harassing, annoying, immoral, intrusive, and right down disgusting.   I did not give Comcast the right to broadcast offensive content into my home, and when I asked you months ago to opt me out of these specific television commercials, you and the networks you sent me ignored me.   I DO NOT WANT TO SEE THESE TV SPOTS OR SIMILAR ON MY TELEVISION)  For excessively graphic, offensive, deceptive, and dangerous content: 1. Inggrezza 2. Vraylar 3. Austedo 4. Caplyta 5. Rexulti 6. Latuda 7. Emerge Tremfyant 8. Biktarvy (Sexually explicit) 9. Shingrix    The Emerge Tremfyant commercial is one of the most insufferable, and like the others, it is a horror spot designed to scare people by burning through human sensitivity with melting skin under lava or burning coal.   The Shingrix TV Spot for Shingles is disgusting, and I want this off my television programming.   Similarly, TV Spot #39, Shingles: This commercial is unnecessarily overly graphic. It shows a melting body and people's skin and body distorting and burning under what appears to be hot coal or some semblance of lava.   Numbers 1 through 9 above must be removed from my programming.   I also herein demand that the following (A – G) be removed from my programming for spamming, annoying, harassing, abusive, intrusive, and deceptive content: A. Medicare Advantage (for spamming) B. Medicare Parts A - B and C C. The Medicare Helpline D. Senior benefit line and their multiple version E. Colonial Penn F. Senior Life Insurance G. Car shield The complained-of TV commercials do not include dozens of the following: PLUS Every health insurance company in the country Hospitals, dental offices, and clinics Veterinarians Health supplements Enticement to gambling Every car insurance in the country Home goods Food, food service, and kitchen and cooking utilities   Beauty products Fashion and clothing All sorts of service Technology Colleges Law Offices Small businesses Giant corporations Drug companies Medical device Hospital and healthcare centers Mental health propaganda and hoaxes Drug addiction treatment Real Estate Diseases (real, made-up, or imagined) Sporting goods, products, and equipment Home appliances Home repairs and renovation Credit cards and banks Mortgage and investment companies Sports and Entertainment  Miscellaneous health devices  Apps And Fundraisers and Public Service Announcements   These only represent a small sample of the deluge of 100s of these commercials I am paying for, in addition to Xfinity selling my information, which is evident in the dozens of spam calls I receive every week, multiple of those per day, even though I have not given out my phone number, but to a select group of people who are mostly medical providers.   On several occasions, I waited between two news segments to objectively document this despicable practice. The commercials lasted 8 minutes, and I counted 17 commercials running one after another, some longer than others, while the news segments lasted no more than 2 to 3 minutes. As I monitored this practice in preparation for this email, I saw commercials that lasted over 8 minutes without any warning that they represented "paid programming," which, of course, would have no place in between a news broadcast.   Note that none of the above accounts for trailers, promos, and fundraisers, which I would not mind remaining on my service. Also, note that I worked on the radio when I was younger, and therefore I listen to the radio all the time. The difference is that radio does not charge people for tuning into their frequencies. They also do not broadcast anywhere near this type of bombardment of junk advertising, and they certainly do not undermine the sensibility of their listeners with outrageously graphic and offensive content. I have tried everything I can to avoid these commercials, including putting the television on mute and closing my eyes. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DO THAT. Even then, the sheer number of commercials associated with my programming is far too pernicious for me to do anything about.   I am heartsick about having to deal with this problem at all. Almost always, this junk content is coordinated to show on nearly every channel at the same time. This is cynical, as it traps the subscriber and leaves her with no escape route. Your business practice is abusive and poisonous. Xfinity Comcast is not only aware of this problem, but the company also actively participates in this scheme and works closely with these subscription pirates, namely the networks, to defraud subscribers by bombarding programming with these mind-numbing spots with a malign influence.   Furthermore, these things have all one thing in common. They are loud, and all include bells and whistles, surrounded by illusive mirrors, fake smiles, and concocted-up happiness. But worse yet, it has been made a practice to allow companies to simply yell at the speed of sound dangerous warnings, which everyone understood should be printed on important contracts or products where customers could take the time to read these things and even seek advice or ask for explanations for other people who might be knowledgeable about certain legal or specialty terms. This is rampant fraud being perpetrated on the American public. And Comcast needs to stop this practice.   MY FORMAL DEMAND   Based on the above, and for the harm that I have been and continue to be subjected to, my formal demand is as follows:   1. A six-month (6) rebate on my account from March through October 2022 at my bill average of $177.00 a month for a total of $1062.00. 2. The removal of the commercials numbered 1 through 9 and marked A through G above from my programming.   Comcast is daring me to take their executives to court by lying and refusing to meet my demands.    So, in addition to going public with their scam, I am fully prepared to sue them and test the reality that "Criminals are predators without the resources to form a corporation." Clarence Seward Darrow - April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938), was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century. In today's corporate greed and corruption environment, we can modify that quote to say: Superpredators with the resources to form corporations, which is what Xfinity Comcast is proving itself to be. First, they wheel you in just to suck up every dime you have with all kinds of scams, the classic bate and switch with a hefty dose of highway robbery to boot since they also managed to establish monopoly empires by buying off politicians.   For an example:   Brian L. Roberts Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer Total Compensation $33,976,749 View details Michael J. Cavanagh Chief Financial Officer Total Compensation $27,356,996 View details   Marie