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Show TCI adopted a more positive approach to customer billing By JAMS STUART Staff Writer Tele-Communications Inc. announced an-nounced that it has decided to adopt a more positive approach when billing bill-ing Encore customers. The cable television corporation had planned to automatically bill subscribers for services unless they specifically stated they wanted the service cancelled. Mindy Jeffries, spokesperson for TCI, indicated that the nationwide company has historically billed customers until they received notification of cancellation. However, public opinion favored a more positive approach, and in response TCI will charge only those Encore customers who indicate on their monthly bills that they want to subscribe to the channel. The Utah Attorney General's Office Of-fice and Department of Commerce issued a statement declaring. "TCI Cablevision will give up their negative option marketing of the Encore channel on a nationwide basis." According to the statement, "...at the request of the Attorney Gen- eral's Office, the Department of Commerce issued an emergency rule against TCI, clarifying that a negative option is a deceptive or unconscionable practice under Utah's Consumer Sales Practice Act unless the business first makes certain disclosures about the option to the customer, and obtains the customer's approval. Attorney General Paul Van Dam stated, "I am gratified that TCI has been so cooperative in working with our office and that they have agreed to replace their negative option op-tion marketing plan with a positive option marketing plan." Van Dam also added, "It is my intention to work closely with the Department of Commerce to try and make the emergency rule permanent perma-nent so we will not have to fight this fight with other industries in the future." |