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Don't want Comcast junk mailers? They'll charge you $1.99 "service fee"

Update: Comcast has contacted the customer referenced below, has apologized for the charge, has refunded it, says was applied in error, counseled the customer service rep not to do this, and said it won't happen again. But not before this all went down:In addition to Comcast's invoices- which already are too much- they'll send you promotional mailers throughout the month.
Written by Russell Shaw, Contributor

Update: Comcast has contacted the customer referenced below, has apologized for the charge, has refunded it, says was applied in error, counseled the customer service rep not to do this, and said it won't happen again. 

But not before this all went down:

In addition to Comcast's invoices- which already are too much- they'll send you promotional mailers throughout the month. Stuff like sign up for their digtal phone service or on-demand cable.

While it is possible some of you will look forward to these mailers, here's a shocker. Many of us, including this Comcast customer, don't really look forward to the clutter.

Want to stop those Comcast junk mailings? Well, cost 'ya.

Consumerist reader Ian says that when he notified Comcast that he'd really like the mailings to stop, he called Comcast to advise them of this. While they did indeed act on his complaint, Comcast added $1.99 to his bill.

Here's what Ian wrote Consumerist:

I noticed a $1.99 "change of service" charge on my most recent Comcast bill. During an online chat, a Comcast rep explained the source of the fee:"It looks like on 2/5/08 you contacted us and requested to have all direct mailers stopped on your account. There is a one time "Change of service" fee associated with making that change on the account."

I had in fact called Comcast a few weeks earlier and asked them to stop sending me anything except a monthly bill. They were happy to do so, but had not told me that they would try and stick me for $2. They rep removed the fee from my bill.

Your readers might want to be on the lookout for bogus charges on their Comcast bill if they've ever spoken to Comcast on the phone. Perhaps this is how they pay for people to fill seats for them at FCC hearings.

-Ian

Several readers wrote in, attesting to similar experiences.

My takeaway: yet another example of Comcast nickel-and-diming.

You too?

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