Spectrum’s new cancellation policy explained

By eliminating the prorated credit on final bills, Charter-Spectrum will be making it more expensive for internet customers to drop their service with the new Spectrum cancellation policy.

“Effective on or after June 23, 2019 and consistent with the Terms and Conditions of Service, Spectrum will no longer provide a pro-rata credit for services sold on a monthly basis that are canceled prior to the end of the current bill month,” Spectrum told customers in the fine print of their May billing statements.

What does this change mean for Spectrum customers?

In the past, Spectrum internet customers could cancel services at any time without facing consequences. Under the new policy, consumers are better off waiting until the end of their billing month to cancel if they’re looking to avoid charges for internet service that’s no longer in use.

Customers compelled to cancel service due to a change of address or relocation will have to bite the bullet and pay for the rest of the billing period no matter what. If a new occupant moves in and resumes service with Spectrum during this time, the company would potentially be able to collect from two customers for the same internet service.

AT&T’s DIRECTV service made this same policy change in January 2019 and will be doing so with AT&T internet access as well. Smaller providers like Optimum and Windstream were some of the first to remove the prorated credit from cancellation.

Major service providers like Cox and Xfinity continue to prorate their bills, as does Frontier for FiOS TV customers in California.

But cable replacement streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Sling TV have historically never applied a prorated credit to cancellations, which may signify that the new Spectrum cancellation policy may be closer to the norm for other service providers as well.

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