XFinity Box I didn't ask for

[Cryofax]

Honestly is Comcast the sleaziest company on earth (Well maybe besides Electronic Arts)? I use all my own equipment with one of their cable cards. Have for over a year. Today I get an unsolicited package from them in the mail with a XFinity settop box. When I called they were so quick with an answer that I suspect this is standard procedure. Just take it back to UPS or their service center they said. Is this some sleazy way to get people to start paying an equipment rental who don't want it? lol. I'd chock it up to a simple mistake if Comcast didn't constantly try to pull crap on me like not honoring their price commitments (which I've had to call about several times to have them correct).

Anyway as irritating as it is for me to have to inconvenience myself to return their equipment I didn't order (return shipping is free), the UPS store is right by my normal errand route. And people wonder why we don't want these companies merging. We need more companies competing, not the current ones consolidating.

[boogmeister1]

I had such a bad experience with Comcast in the past that I swore them off and vowed to never use them again. I would rather go with DSL than Comcast. They really are a horrible company.

[blueiedgod]

What if you keep it? Will they bill you if you don't connect it to their network?

Tell them to send the tech out to pick it up. It will cost them at least $60.

[barnabas1969]

It's a federal law that if someone ships you something you didn't ask for, you can keep it without any responsibility to pay them for it. I would tell them that if they want it back, they can send someone to your house to pick it up at a time when it's convenient for YOU.

[werds]

Barnabas nailed it, you are under no responsibility to send it back and if they cannot legally charge you for it if you did not request it. Comcast did similar to my mother. So she hooked it up and the cable box does not have an equipment rental fee attached to it. YMMV according to how rude Comcast may decide to be as they tend to try and take advantage of people that do not know the law at times (or maybe their CSR's are incompetent, ill-trained, and uninformed). I speak only from my personal experience...

BTW here is a link to the relevant information from the Federal Trade Commission https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0 ... erchandise


http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus02 ... ndise-rule

Unordered Merchandise

Whether or not the Rule is involved, in any approval or other sale you must obtain the customer’s prior express agreement to receive the merchandise. Otherwise the merchandise may be treated as unordered merchandise. It is unlawful to:

Send any merchandise by any means without the express request of the recipient (unless the merchandise is clearly identified as a gift, free sample, or the like); or,
Try to obtain payment for or the return of the unordered merchandise.

Merchants who ship unordered merchandise with knowledge that it is unlawful to do so can be subject to civil penalties of up to $16,000 per violation. Moreover, customers who receive unordered merchandise are legally entitled to treat the merchandise as a gift. Using the U.S. mails to ship unordered merchandise also violates the Postal laws.

[barnabas1969]

I have a friend who made the mistake of letting a Kirby vacuum salesman into his house. He did the sales pitch, and when my friend told him that he didn't want it, the guy said, "I'll leave it with you for 30 days RISK FREE. If you don't want it, I'll come back and pick it up."

Well, long story short, he called them after 28 days and told them to come pick it up. They didn't show. So, they billed him for it. He kept calling them to pick it up. After about 6 months, he finally called and said, "I'm going to leave it in my front yard. It's going to rain later today, so if you want it, you better come get it."

They came and got it right away!

EDIT: I also made the mistake once of letting a Kirby salesman in my house. He showed up at my front door with two big jugs of Tide laundry detergent... the ones that cost about $20.00 each. He said, "We just opened a new store near here. I'll give you these two bottles of Tide if you let me demonstrate our products." He never said anything about Kirby. I thought, "Why not? Forty bucks worth of Tide (which we use anyway) for free?"

When he returned from his van with a Kirby, I was ready to slam the door in his face. My wife (who is now my ex-wife) wanted to let him in. She had the poor guy clean our entire 5-bedroom house, including the stairs! Then, she talked him down on his price until he had cut 2/3 of the price off (which I thought was still ridiculous for a vacuum). She liked playing good cop, bad cop (always making me the bad guy). So, it took several hours to get rid of the guy, but we got forty bucks worth of detergent and got the house cleaned too.

[makryger]

The same thing happened to be me several months ago. I got an email saying that to enjoy the fastest XFinity services, I would have to order a new docsis 3 modem. (I have owned a docsis 2 modem for over 3.5 years; bought it refurbished for $30, and it has been working great. Gets all the speed I need in a compact modem). The letter told me to call comcast to order the new modem. I did not. I got several more letters, but still did not respond. Suddenly, one day, I got an "order confirmation" email... had no idea what it meant, but it didn't change my service, so I figured it was a fluke. Then a modem arrived at my door a few days later.

Not knowing any postal rules about keeping stuff for free, I called them up and asked for a return shipping label. They did and I returned it. But it really annoyed me that they tried to force me to start paying $5 a month for something i didn't need. Though I suppose thats the mantra of cable companies, "Use our service, and we'll start charging you random extra costs for stuff you don't need".

For example, has anyone noticed the newest comcast fee: "BROADCAST TV FEE"!!! Yay, another $2.50 stolen from me for the same services.

[Cryofax]

Here's an update (this all happened before all these posts btw). Since the UPS store was on my way to another errand I took it in and told them Comcast (Xfinity, whatever) told me to have them return it. She said since I'd opened it (since I had no idea what the hell it was) that "ownership had been transferred" and without a return label in the box I'd have to buy one. I specifically had mentioned to comcast that I opened it to see wtf it was and they said no problem just drop it off at UPS.

Anyway so I guess I'll just tell them to come get it. Not going to waste more of my time on it (outside of telling them to get it). Knowing comcast they'll either try to charge me for a service call or a rental fee on the equipment. I only looked at the contents I never hooked it up or did anything further. I know perhaps I could keep it legally, since I didn't order it, but I have no use for it.