A Spectrum customer faces $75 in fees for leaving an old credit card on his Spectrum account.
Reddit reader “u/round-disk” reported that credit card ‘lost’ in April. That is where the trouble started.
“At some point between when my old number stopped working and my new card arrived, Spectrum tried to do an Auto Pay charge. It failed,” the reader reports. “I received a voicemail about it, and a few days later I got my new card and updated the payment info. All is well, or so I thought.”
When Spectrum’s May bill arrived, the cable company charged the reader $59.99 for the next month of service, and just under $75 in fees for last month’s payment mishap. A $49.99 fee for “Credit Card Payment Rejection or Denial” and a $25 charge for a “Return Item Fee” turned a $60 cable bill into $134.98.
Normally, companies are not penalized for declined credit card transactions, but Spectrum is ready to charge you plenty for their inconvenience.
“I have paid my bill on time and in full every single month for over four years. This is what I get?” the reader asks. “Spectrum is literally any without exaggeration the only company I have ever personally dealt with who has ever presented a fee of any kind on a failed credit card charge.”
Attempts to reach customer service meant at least 40-minute hold times, so the matter remains unresolved, at least for now.
Both the NY City Public Advocate and the state’s Attorney General’s office are investigating.
Updated 5/14 (2:45pm EDT): Updated to reflect investigations by authorities in New York.
The same thing happened to me a few years ago when it was still TWC. Only then I think the fee was $25. I was able to call and have it taken off, I think.
I was charged $84.99. I will be leaving spectrum as soon as there is an alternative in my area.