From the letter:

> “You have worked hard to build a great future for yourself and your family,” it says. “We look forward to welcoming you back.”

I think I just threw up in my mouth. "Shame if something happened to that great future you built", indeed.

It doesn't surprise me. Spectrum is currently the only non-dsl provider in my area, so I'm basically forced to use their service since I moved here. The first time I paid with one of my cards, the bank flagged it as suspicious and denied the transaction. Spectrum then charged me a $25 fee and initially refused to refund it until I was very persistent and annoying.

They also constantly send me spam regarding Spectrum mobile with subjects like "Your response is required". I even used their cost estimator to compare it to my current provider, Mint Mobile. When I entered my current plan into their calculator, it told me that I made a mistake (because it was so much cheaper.)

I've never understood why ISPs and cellular carriers aren't prepaid by default, which would avoid the credit system entirely. Do these companies benefit somehow by being post-paid and relying on credit?

It's outrageous that companies in the modern day and age can just elect to make cancellation difficult or impossible and keep taking money from you.

Spectrum has turned old equipment into a profit center. Twice now when I canceled and turned in my equipment I still had to file an appeal to keep from being charged. Full price of course - for some old cable box or modem they just throw in a landfill.

It sounds someone crafted a letter for people who own balance and made a mistake when they queried the CRM for a list of customers. I am not convinced that it was meant to be an actual threat to trash the recipient's credit score.

So this is what it's come to: The only sure way to cancel cable service is to have your lawyer send them a certified letter giving notice that you're breaking the contract and you will not be responsible for future debts. That way if they try any funny business later you can take them to court and have a pretty good chance of victory. (IANAL)

I don’t know about Spectrum, but that news page was pretty ”extractive”. When trying to copy/paste from iPhone, it was all but inevitable to click an ad. When I tried to highlight a word, the whole page would highlight. When I tried to click off to deselect, it would register as a click to an external advertisers page.

I’d like to apply Hanlon’s razor, but it feels too coincidental that someone making money from this hasn’t fixed it.

https://archive.ph/Quf2k

That's extortion. Contact a lawyer.

I don't know the details of his debt but this seems a lot less sinister when you realize that they're offering to cancel a debt if he resumes service