PORTLAND, Maine (WMTW) – South Portland Rep. Chris Kessler says his internet provider broke Maine law and overcharged him, and he’s worried this could be happening to many others.
Kessler says he canceled his Spectrum Internet on August 6th, and according to Maine law, the provider should not charge him for the rest of August.
“We passed a law last year that requires that if you cancel your service at the beginning of the month, you only get charged for the days that you use,” he said. “I can’t believe they’re still doing this.”
Yet Kessler says he was charged for the full month, and when he reached out to Spectrum, a customer service representative originally told him he was charged correctly.
“I just cancelled my service and was billed $80 for the entire month of August,” Kessler said in recordings of the chat that he shared with Maine’s Total Coverage. “Service stopped yesterday. My bill should be pro-rata charges, not for the entire month.”
“After reviewing your account, I can confirm that the account was disconnected on 08/06/25,” a Spectrum representative said in the chat Kessler shared. “Please know Spectrum is a monthly subscription service so if you cancel service even 1 day after the billing cycle begins you are charged for the full month.”
The state lawmaker says he then pressed the customer service representative to follow the law.
“No it does not,” Kessler responded in the chat. “It is against Maine law to charge for the entire month and you are supposed to only charge for the days of service used. As a matter of fact, I am one of the lawmakers that worked on the law.”
“I can’t believe the company is still doing this to people,” he continued. “Actually, I can believe it.”
Kessler was eventually credited the money he was owed, and the Spectrum representative also noted it may take about two days for the online balance to update.
“Thank you for bearing with me,” the representative responded. “I do see that the account was credited $68.55. Please know it will take up to 48 hour from when the cancellation order was placed for the online balance to update. Please know the credit will reflect on the final bill that will be cycled on 09/01. I see that this last bill will be $11.45.”
When asked for a response to what Kessler said he experienced, a spokesperson for Spectrum said “Spectrum is following Maine law LD 1932. The bill proration process is automated, helping to eliminate error when processing an account change.”
Kessler encouraged other Maine residents to check on their internet bill. If you are overcharged and your provider refuses to change your bill, he says you should reach out to the Maine Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.
“If there are enough of those happening, then the Maine Attorney General’s office can help collect,” he said.
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