Comcast promised not to raise prices—guess what happened next

Enlarge / A Comcast sign at the Comcast offices in Philadelphia. (credit: Getty Images | Cindy Ord )

Comcast offered customers in Utah a "lifetime" price guarantee in order to compete against Google Fiber, then later violated the lifetime promise by raising those customers' prices, according to a lawsuit pending in a federal court.

"In 2016, Comcast was under intense competitive pressure from Google's high speed fiber-optic data service," the lawsuit says. In Salt Lake City, "Comcast engaged extra sales staff to try to effectively beat the Google Fiber sales staff as they made their way up and down the streets of each neighborhood. To compete, Comcast sales staff began to offer 'lifetime' contracts to some of its customers and sold Comcast's broadband services by using door to door salespeople, especially in cities and neighborhoods where Google was aggressively offering its fiber-optic service."

Customer Brian Baker, the plaintiff in the proposed class-action suit, says that in July 2016 he took up Comcast's offer for a $120-per-month plan including TV, Internet, and phone service. Baker's lawsuit says he received a mailing from Comcast that said the $120 price would be locked in for as long as he wanted.

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