Comcast Customers Urged to Opt Out of Arbitration Policy

HOUSTON -- The Comcast cable television company is changing the rules for some of its subscribers, including those in the Houston-area. But it is giving customers a narrow window to reject those changes. FOX 26's Ned Hibberd reports.

Comcast is sending a black-and-orange notice to all 750,000 Houston-area customers. It's called an Arbitration Policy and it spells out the new terms of your contract with the company ... unless you take action within 30 days.

Consumer activist John Cobarruvias is not even a Comcast cable customer but he's hopping mad about the arbitration notice.

"It's amazing. We have allowed corporations to decide what part of the constitution we have access to," Cobarruvias told FOX 26 News.

The consumer activist points out the seventh amendment guarantees Americans the right to a trial by jury.

But Comcast customers who receive the arbitration policy, even if they don't read it, have agreed to waive, to the fullest extent allowed by law, any trial by jury.

The policy substitutes a dispute-resolution process called "arbitration," where both sides plead their case to a private, neutral decision-maker, whose decision is final.

In a statement, Comcast says "arbitration is generally a faster, less formal and less expensive process."

That is an assertion Cobarruvias disputes.

"A lawsuit you can file for $125 ... in an arbitration, we've seen anywhere from a couple of hundred to thousands of dollars ... just to file," Cobarruvias said.

Last month, a bill was filed in Congress that would make binding arbitration policies, like this, unenforceable. Because, according to the consumer organization Public Citizen, consumers restricted to arbitration alone are at a distinct disadvantage.

"Where you do not have the right to sue, even if you never use that right, companies are much more likely to take advantage of you," Public Citizen spokeswoman Joan Claybrook said.

And a lot of companies have so-called arbitration clauses in their customer agreements from credit cards to home-buying contracts to vehicle purchases.

Houston's former cable company Time Warner had one too, which required arbitration for any claim arising out of or related to the customer agreement.

Attorney Sanford L. Dow told FOX 26 News that Comcast's arbitration policy expands its reach considerably.

"This says that 'any' dispute goes to arbitration and 'any' dispute is so broadly defined that the judge may look at the agreement and say, 'You know what, you had your opportunity to opt out. You chose note and these are the consequences,'" Dow said.

Here's a real life example: Three years ago, a 13-year-old girl was raped by a Time Warner Cable subcontractor installing cable at her home. Douglas Alberto Sanchez, the subcontractor, was sentenced to life in prison.

Now, we don't know whether her family filed a civil lawsuit against Time Warner but Dow saud under Comcast's arbitration policy, the family may have well been barred from filing a civil lawsuit.

"Theoretically and arguably, that could be subject to the arbitration provision," Dow said.

And if so, the provision says the victim's family would have waived "any claim to indirect, consequential, punitive, exemplary or multiplied damages."

In other words, the kind of big-money awards that big companies fear.

In a statement fro, Comcast to FOX 26 News, the cable company said it "strives to resolve customer concerns quickly. The policy does not relate to claims like personal injury or property damage."

But Dow says it is what is written in the policy that counts with Texas judges.

"There's a policy-favoring arbitration and courts broadly construe those things," Dow said.

If you don't find any of this to be "comcastic," the cable company is giving you a choice: you can opt out.

That is what officials in Montgomery County, Md., are advising their residents out of concern over the change in Comcast's policy.

That's Dow's advice too, and he notes that it is a limited-time offer.

"If you don't opt out within the 30 days (from when you receive the notice), you're stuck," Dow said.

Cobarruvias is also joining in the opt-out chorus.

"They are giving you the option to opt out and you need to opt out tomorrow," Cobarruvias said.

Comcast says you can opt-out without any negatives repercussions. You can do so in writing or click here to opt-out on Comcast's Web site.