$150 suddenly taken out of my bank account for 'Early Termination Fee', a year after moving out of the United States. Any advice for what I can do about this?
In May of last year, after over a decade with Comcast, I canceled my Xfinity service, because I was moving overseas. I paid my final bill and returned all my equipment. All was quiet for almost an entire year - the last communication I ever received from Comcast was confirmation that my last bill was paid.
Today I woke up to my bank account heavily overdrawn thanks to a $150 charge from Xfinity. I had a DM conversation with two Xfinity representatives who first asked if I was sure I had not made the payment myself - I confirmed that I absolutely did not. I was then essentially told "well, someone made the payment" and that there was nothing they could do - my bank account had been charged, the transaction had been made, and they will not reverse it.
I impressed upon them that I had been an Xfinity customer for many years, had paid my final bill and returned the equipment, and had not been notified of the early termination fee nor given a chance to make arrangements to pay for it myself. The money had simply been taken from me at their own discretion. Had I been notified, I would have chosen to pay it next month when I could afford the expense. Now I'm heavily overdrawn and will not be able to buy groceries or necessities for the next three weeks.
They said the early termination fee was in the contract, that the payment had been made (regardless of the fact that I did not authorize or make it), and thus could do nothing about the situation.
If I am truly responsible for paying this fee, that's one thing - if I had been informed about it at some point in the last year, I would have paid it.
What I really strongly protest is how they've charged me the fee without any prior communication - not even a heads-up. "Hey, you owe us this fee so we're going to charge your bank for it next month/week".
I've filed a Notice of Dispute on the Xfinity website. I was wondering if there's anything else I can do, or if it really is true that Comcast is allowed to do this kind of thing and I have no recourse.