Comcast Improperly Cashes Customer's Rent Check

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Holy cow, is there nothing Comcast can get right? The list of screw ups seems to be growing daily. :(

When a 79-year-old Comcast customer accidentally included her rent check with her Comcast bill, not only did the cable company cash the check — which was more than 10 times the amount of her bill and was made out to someone else — but it also refused to issue her a refund when it acknowledged the goof.
Click to expand...
 
Comcast doesn't "screw up". They take every opportunity they can to milk every last cent out of their customers.
 
They are such a crooked bunch. I understand how it could get cashed but why the hell wouldn't they issue her a refund?
 
I'm wondering how Comcast managed to get the check cashed if the Landlord didn't endorse it first. Seems like Comcast and their bank both broke the law in this case.
 
Yes, the lady could make a claim at her bank that can be sent to the other bank; the Uniform Commercial Code covers this and there is a 2-year time period as the depositing bank warranties that the name on the check is the person receiving the funds.
 
Since she sent it in, and they cashed it when they weren't the name on the check, there is the bank policies and the USPS fraud stuff, too, right? Or does that not work with Comcast?

79 year old customer getting reamed by Comcast... They just screw everyone over, don't they. I can see how they could make the mistake. It happens. It's the fact that they refuse to fix it afterwards that gets me. We all make mistakes. It's what you do afterwards that makes you a good person or a shitty one.
 
Comcast didn't use the mail to perpetrate fraud; the customer (sadly) showed a bit of negligence mailing it to them. And with the huge volume they get, the process is probably someone (or a machine) tearing open the envelope, throwing a check into a pile that then goes into a giant machine that just reads the dollar amounts and deposits them is likely what happens - they don't read the name on the check or likely even compare the dollar amount.

Where they truly screwed up though is the refusal to immediately refund the massive overpayment, and is likely what could stand up in a court of law.
 
TwistedAegis said:
Comcast didn't use the mail to perpetrate fraud; the customer (sadly) showed a bit of negligence mailing it to them. And with the huge volume they get, the process is probably someone (or a machine) tearing open the envelope, throwing a check into a pile that then goes into a giant machine that just reads the dollar amounts and deposits them is likely what happens - they don't read the name on the check or likely even compare the dollar amount.

Where they truly screwed up though is the refusal to immediately refund the massive overpayment, and is likely what could stand up in a court of law.
Click to expand...

Ok, cool. I just hear things that if a crime is committed and the USPS was involved in any way, it's a federal crime. It's not the first time I've heard of an elderly person putting the wrong check in the wrong envelope. Usually, it's fixed by the company though, when it's brought to their attention. Not taking care of it is an asshole move. Not surprised though, with Comcast. Wasn't it them that said they were putting more into good customer service so they aren't shit anymore, or was that someone else?
 
Ha, no that was Comcast saying their customer experience would be their difference maker - in a good way. It's the opposite, however, with customer names being changed to "bitch" and "asshole", and now this...which is pretty much what 100% of the population not in the C-suite at Comcast knew would happen. Hell, they probably knew it too. Just have to make enough warm and fuzzy public comments to keep the feds off your back.
 
Comcast's bank should not have cashed the check...it wasn't apparently made out to Comcast, but to a third party. That is completely the bank's fault as they misapplied the check when it obviously was not meant for a Comcast deposit. The Comcast employee made a mistake and included the check in the Comcast deposit, but it was the bank that actually cashed the check and misapplied the funds.

BTW, they did issue the lady a refund (as it states near the bottom of the sensationalist "Consumerist" article.) Actually, I think that when a company deals with ~22 million customers a day that Comcast has a remarkably good error-free record--certainly better than Apple's...;) Something is missing from this story--like, why didn't the lady, upon learning she sent Comcast her rent check--simply call her bank and stop payment on the check? If she waited until the bank cashed the check and put the money in Comcast's account, then how did she pay her rent? Both must've been due at about the same time, otherwise she wouldn't have gotten them mixed up.

Also, I know some old folks who love paying their bills online just so they don't have to bother with stamps & checks...! The lady might want to look into that in the future, because if she sent the wrong check to Comcast, next time she could send the wrong check to anyone.
 
While it's the bank's fault for sure, you're acting like Comcast walks into a branch and a teller goes through each check to make sure it's been made out properly. The bank knows that Comcast is a large, sophisticated entity, and has the liquidity to make the bank whole on losses like this, and/or handle it on their own. They're likely scanning these and sending them in a huge batch via remote deposit capture. You have to look at the cost/benefit to the bank and/or comcast to individually read each checks name and create an exception process.
 
I like this part:
In the end — and once again, only after the media got involved — Comcast issued the customer a refund check and kept the $235 credit on her bill.
Click to expand...
If all it takes is media attention for Comcast to get stuff done right, then maybe all that's needed is a full time news outlet that just publicizes Comcast screw-ups. There's certainly enough of them to keep a full-time news crew employed. :p
 
Comcast didn't deposit the check - their bank actually automatically did it for them. Almost all bill pay deposits are sent through a bank "lockbox". The address you send it to is actually the bank. The bank scans the check and deposits it automatically. Comcast then gets a data feed with images of the checks after the fact, or just access to the check images through a bank online portal.

That's why the fine print of most agreements you sign for services like this talk about messages written on checks won't be read or acted on - because nobody ever sees them.

I can almost give Comcast a pass on this. There are going to be customer service snafus when you have as many customers as Comcast does. But they don't get a pass, because there is a significant track record of problems like these, and many others. It's the rule, rather than the exception.

Comcast sucks.
 
WaltC said:
Comcast's bank should not have cashed the check...it wasn't apparently made out to Comcast, but to a third party. That is completely the bank's fault as they misapplied the check when it obviously was not meant for a Comcast deposit. The Comcast employee made a mistake and included the check in the Comcast deposit, but it was the bank that actually cashed the check and misapplied the funds.

BTW, they did issue the lady a refund (as it states near the bottom of the sensationalist "Consumerist" article.) Actually, I think that when a company deals with ~22 million customers a day that Comcast has a remarkably good error-free record--certainly better than Apple's...;) Something is missing from this story--like, why didn't the lady, upon learning she sent Comcast her rent check--simply call her bank and stop payment on the check? If she waited until the bank cashed the check and put the money in Comcast's account, then how did she pay her rent? Both must've been due at about the same time, otherwise she wouldn't have gotten them mixed up.

Also, I know some old folks who love paying their bills online just so they don't have to bother with stamps & checks...! The lady might want to look into that in the future, because if she sent the wrong check to Comcast, next time she could send the wrong check to anyone.
Click to expand...
As TwistedAegis mentioned above, these checks are fed into a huge machine which rips the envelope open, separates checks from other, then scans the MICR line at the bottom of the check that includes the account number and routing number and reads the amount usually using a camera and software. Anything it can't read it spits out for a human to take care of. I've seen these massive machines in person. The one at our bank headquarters for credit card payments was about the size of a small car and could handle millions of checks a day. This machine is all automated and submits the payment to the electronic systems.

This is how Comcast managed to process a check that wasn't written to them. Happens all the time with other companies and doesn't necessarily get them in trouble. As mentioned above, what really gets them in trouble is not investigating it and refunding it.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Yeah... and their remedy is always "we'll just credit your account"
Click to expand...

Again, not trying to defend Comcast, just explain the reason for this:

The customer service reps are going to be somewhat empowered to credit your account. But giving you money back is an entirely different thing. They have enough problems with asshats who work for them changing names to something insulting. Do you really want those same people capable of giving money to anyone?

But sending the wrong amount, or the wrong check must happen often enough that they should have standard procedures for dealing with it via escalation up the management chain.

The problem is Comcast is so screwed up from a company perspective they don't have those basic processes in place to properly deal with customers. These things are critical for customer satisfaction.

Because they have an effective monopoly or duopoly at best, they've never been forced to do so.
 
Here are some pics of some of these automated check machines I mentioned in my previous post.

This is a more modern machine.
stacks_image_4090_1.png



The one at the bank I work at looked more like this one. Slightly smaller.
12_reader_sorter_-_smaller.png
 
WaltC said:
Comcast's bank should not have cashed the check...it wasn't apparently made out to Comcast, but to a third party. That is completely the bank's fault as they misapplied the check when it obviously was not meant for a Comcast deposit. The Comcast employee made a mistake and included the check in the Comcast deposit, but it was the bank that actually cashed the check and misapplied the funds.

BTW, they did issue the lady a refund (as it states near the bottom of the sensationalist "Consumerist" article.) Actually, I think that when a company deals with ~22 million customers a day that Comcast has a remarkably good error-free record--certainly better than Apple's...;) Something is missing from this story--like, why didn't the lady, upon learning she sent Comcast her rent check--simply call her bank and stop payment on the check? If she waited until the bank cashed the check and put the money in Comcast's account, then how did she pay her rent? Both must've been due at about the same time, otherwise she wouldn't have gotten them mixed up.

Also, I know some old folks who love paying their bills online just so they don't have to bother with stamps & checks...! The lady might want to look into that in the future, because if she sent the wrong check to Comcast, next time she could send the wrong check to anyone.
Click to expand...

probably didn't stop payment because that usually costs money, something she really didn't have it seems.
 
So, Comcast is one step below being a criminal organization now?
 
xinco said:
But sending the wrong amount, or the wrong check must happen often enough that they should have standard procedures for dealing with it via escalation up the management chain.
Click to expand...
Yes, they should. I'm sure they have an entire department dedicated to these situations. I deal with online bill pay escalations at the bank I work at. I deal with other customer service reps and these departments directly all the time.

Oddly enough, I haven't dealt with Comcast yet. But I have dealt with Time Warner, Cox, ATT, Utility companies, credit card companies, etc. The worst one I've dealt with was GECRB (now Synchrony Financial) who owns a bunch of department store credit cards.

Most of the companies I deal with have reps trained and setup a workcase or escalation and its fixed in a couple days. Other times they transfer me directly to the payments department. ALL of them had some sort of process in place.

xinco said:
The problem is Comcast is so screwed up from a company perspective they don't have those basic processes in place to properly deal with customers. These things are critical for customer satisfaction.
Click to expand...
I'm willing to bet they do have the process in place, but the issue is an extreme disconnect and lack of training for the customer service reps. This is highly likely considering all the other bullshit customer service stories we have heard from them. I used to work at Sprint in 2008-2009, they had the same issue. Nobody ever knew what they were doing except people who managed to survive the yearly layoffs. When you needed help, there was none to be found. All their tools were online and you had to navigate their overcomplicated intranet to find it assuming you knew where to look in the first place. This was how it was in 2008, things may have changed in the past 7 years.

Since I work at a bank, everything has a set procedure. At any point you don't know the procedure, we can hit a speed dial directly to a team of supervisor know-it-alls that lead us through step-by-step. That's the way it should be at all these companies. Comcast is so huge, they have no excuse.
 
Bigbacon said:
probably didn't stop payment because that usually costs money, something she really didn't have it seems.
Click to expand...

This woman didn't need to file a stop payment. She needed to walk straight into her bank branch and filed a dispute. Disputes cost nothing. The bank would have gotten her money back. It may have taken several business days, but Comcast would legally have to oblige since they cashed a check not made out to them.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
This woman didn't need to file a stop payment. She needed to walk straight into her bank branch and filed a dispute. Disputes cost nothing. The bank would have gotten her money back. It may have taken several business days, but Comcast would legally have to oblige since they cashed a check not made out to them.
Click to expand...

Yup. Can I also say A) nice seeing someone else on [H] with banking experience and B)even better that person has the title of "bullshit master" :D
 
for cashing the check.. it is failure from the woman all the way down to the bank. Mistakes happen though.

For not correcting the mistake comcast needs a kick in the nuts.
 
Comcast sucks.

Only one or two people on this thread actually understand "how that check was deposited". Lockbox etc. This lady had several avenues to getting her money back, but instead the media just wanted to sensationalize it.

Comcast did not commit fraud no matter how much you want to believe it, it was a simple banking error.

The easy solution is for the rep to credit the account and for the customer to just use that credit over the coming months; however, the reality is the customer probably needed those funds NOW for other things and couldn't afford to have credit with Comcast.
 
XvMMvX said:
Comcast did not commit fraud no matter how much you want to believe it, it was a simple banking error.

The easy solution is for the rep to credit the account and for the customer to just use that credit over the coming months; however, the reality is the customer probably needed those funds NOW for other things and couldn't afford to have credit with Comcast.
Click to expand...

Right, but Comcast took an easily understandable error, and compounded it by having poor training and not realizing that, hey, an elderly woman's rent isn't going to be paid, let's just cut her a check back real quick.
 
Its very true about Comcast saying that they are incapable of fixing their mistakes, which is mind boggling to me.

There was a billing error on the account in which comcast billed my parents for about a year when I showed a receipt showing when it was turned in and Comcast immediately says their files show it was turned in and that I had called to verify it was turned in to disable it from the account and enable the new modem for service... but somehow it stayed on the bill due to an error.

However, they could only ensure that it wouldn't be billed next month, they couldn't actually refund or provide credit for the last year of $10 a month they were overcharged.

Finally, magically, after I bitched and moaned enough, they somehow did manage to figure out how to credit the acct for $120 or some such amount, lol! Miraculous!
 
TwistedAegis said:
While it's the bank's fault for sure, you're acting like Comcast walks into a branch and a teller goes through each check to make sure it's been made out properly. The bank knows that Comcast is a large, sophisticated entity, and has the liquidity to make the bank whole on losses like this, and/or handle it on their own. They're likely scanning these and sending them in a huge batch via remote deposit capture. You have to look at the cost/benefit to the bank and/or comcast to individually read each checks name and create an exception process.
Click to expand...

Yes, is definitely is entirely the banks' fault. Yes, I typed "banks'" on purpose. First off, Comcast's bank should have seen the "Pay to the order of" line and immediately dropped the check and sent it to her. They didn't. Second, her bank should have seen the "Pay to the order of" line and bounced the check back to Comcast's bank as invalid, and Comcast's bank would have to send it back to her. This is the established bank operation for over a century. The fact that so many banks don't even bother to check that line or the date line to make sure checks are valid before being processed shows a SERIOUS problem in the banking industry right off the bat.

She could come back at her bank that this was an invalid check, and they, by law, would have to put the funds back in her account and collected the funds from Comcast's bank for the invalid check. This is completely check fraud.

If an individual were to do this, it would be caught by the bank in a heartbeat, and that individual would immediately be prosecuted for check fraud, with 6 months in jail and hefty fines.

The fact that Comcast does this without repercussion shows their total disregard for enforcing the law.
 
Had it happen to me with utility company a long time ago...

Wrote check for $64.37 to Baltimore Gas and Electric

They cashed it for $643.70

When I called the bank to protest and showed them the canceled check scan, they issued me a refund and back charged the utility company.

Utility company came out two days later and disconnected my service even though I was never ever behind. Then had the nerve to try to charge me for bounced check and reconnect service fee.

I
was
pissed.
 
dgingeri said:
Yes, is definitely is entirely the banks' fault. Yes, I typed "banks'" on purpose. First off, Comcast's bank should have seen the "Pay to the order of" line and immediately dropped the check and sent it to her. They didn't. Second, her bank should have seen the "Pay to the order of" line and bounced the check back to Comcast's bank as invalid, and Comcast's bank would have to send it back to her. This is the established bank operation for over a century. The fact that so many banks don't even bother to check that line or the date line to make sure checks are valid before being processed shows a SERIOUS problem in the banking industry right off the bat.

She could come back at her bank that this was an invalid check, and they, by law, would have to put the funds back in her account and collected the funds from Comcast's bank for the invalid check. This is completely check fraud.

If an individual were to do this, it would be caught by the bank in a heartbeat, and that individual would immediately be prosecuted for check fraud, with 6 months in jail and hefty fines.

The fact that Comcast does this without repercussion shows their total disregard for enforcing the law.
Click to expand...

LAWL! Do you realize how many MILLIONS of checks clear the banking industry? It is impossible to verify every check that is present to a bank.

Also, it is common sense that Comcast wasn't trying to commit fraud and a consumer who MALICIOUSLY deposits an item knowing it was not theirs is trying to commit fraud.
 
Short version : Comcast should issue her an immediate refund. If they refuse to do so, she isn't yelling at the right people. If Comcast just refuses to help, she needs to get her bank involved.

So I've seen stuff like this happen. Check made out to party A gets mailed to party B and party B deposits it. It shouldn't be allowed, but it happens all the time. Especially nowadays with machines and scanners doing the work. I was even sitting next to a lady one time at the bank who was LOSING HER SHIT at a bank manager because a wrong party cashed the wrong check, accidental envelope mixup. The bank will have to get the funds back if Comcast refuses, but don't expect them to be quick about it. In fact she can probably kiss that money goodbye for 90+ days. Hopefully she doesn't need it to live on.

Always pay this kind of stuff with your credit card people, so you have some recourse. I know in this story it's an old lady though and they write checks for everything.

I mean worst case, Comcast should at least agree to credit her account (if they didn't already) for the amount and not have to pay any future bills until those funds are used up. But it's Comcast so they'll find a way to screw the customer regardless.
 
dgingeri said:
Yes, is definitely is entirely the banks' fault. Yes, I typed "banks'" on purpose. First off, Comcast's bank should have seen the "Pay to the order of" line and immediately dropped the check and sent it to her. They didn't. Second, her bank should have seen the "Pay to the order of" line and bounced the check back to Comcast's bank as invalid, and Comcast's bank would have to send it back to her. This is the established bank operation for over a century. The fact that so many banks don't even bother to check that line or the date line to make sure checks are valid before being processed shows a SERIOUS problem in the banking industry right off the bat.

She could come back at her bank that this was an invalid check, and they, by law, would have to put the funds back in her account and collected the funds from Comcast's bank for the invalid check. This is completely check fraud.

If an individual were to do this, it would be caught by the bank in a heartbeat, and that individual would immediately be prosecuted for check fraud, with 6 months in jail and hefty fines.

The fact that Comcast does this without repercussion shows their total disregard for enforcing the law.
Click to expand...

Actually, this is not really the banks fault. The poor old lady is really at fault, and the issue is completely forgivable from the banks perspective.

Everything is automated these days. There is no technology to reliably read the 'pay to the order of' line in a reliable fashion if it is handwritten. And really no great reason in this case to do so. If a check is sent to the bill to address for Comcast, it is an entirely reasonable assumption that it is intended for Comcast without looking at the payee.

As stated elsewhere, the real issue isn't the fact that check was deposited to Comcast's account. It is Comcast's terrible handling of the customers mistake after the fact.
 
Last I checked (no pun intended) if I was to cash a check that was not signed to me, I would be charged with larceny. Just like if UPS delivers a package to me that is for someone at another address and I decide to keep it, I'll be charged with theft.

It should not be any different for a massive company or an individual. To claim a machine did it should not be an excuse.
 
NeghVar said:
Last I checked (no pun intended) if I was to cash a check that was not signed to me, I would be charged with larceny. Just like if UPS delivers a package to me that is for someone at another address and I decide to keep it, I'll be charged with theft.

It should not be any different for a massive company or an individual. To claim a machine did it should not be an excuse.
Click to expand...

Because as an individual you are pre-meditating a crime that you know is fraudulent. You have to make exceptions to keep things efficient. It is just the way a massive operation and banking works. I am sorry you don't understand that and want to make Comcast and banks out as boogeymen.

The real probably as stated over and over was the rep just saying they would credit the account when the customer just wanted their money back.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top