Charter Faces A Lawsuit For Billing Mistake

The telecom giant, Charter Communications recently admitted that they unintentionally charged a “Wi-Fi Activation” fee to some of their customers. Consequently, the telecom company will have to face a lawsuit due to their actions.

The wrongful Wi-Fi activation billing hit a few subscribers of Bright House Networks, which is actually a company that was purchased by Charter a few months ago. One of the Bright House Networks customers filed a complaint against the telecom company on January 31 in the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Florida. The lawsuit seeks class-action status for all subscribers who were hit by the “Illegitimate Wi-Fi Activation Fee.”

The officials from Charter Communications refused to comment on this lawsuit, but they admitted their mistake and stated that the company wishes to make things right. The lawsuit though, held the telecom company responsible for “knowingly attempting to collect an illegitimate debt.” The complaint also claimed that the charging of the additional fee was intentional.

In a recent statement, the officials from Charter Communications said, “Some former Bright House Networks Internet customers were inadvertently charged the Wi-Fi Activation fee when they transitioned to a [Charter] Spectrum package, due to a billing-code error. We apologized for the inconvenience and are proactively and automatically crediting any customer who was incorrectly charged and are communicating that to those customers on an upcoming statement.”

Interestingly, the $10 fee charged by Charter is actually a lot lesser than the fee, which is listed on the official website of the telecom company. The list in the website points out a “One-time Professional Installation Fee” of $49.99 and a “One-time Wi-Fi Activation Fee” of $39.99. However, the company said that customers who sign up for the special offer will be excluded from these charges.

Reports indicate that Charter intended to charge the Wi-Fi activation fee only from their new customers. However, the company was planning to charge current Charter customers who rent a new wireless router from the company and who want a professional technician to install the device.

Charter officials have not yet made clear why they are charging an addition fee from their new customers for just connecting the router, especially when the telecom company is charging a separate fee from the brand new customers just for the installation of the equipment.