Woman says Xfinity wanted her to continue paying dead brother's phone payments

AURORA (FOX 32 News) - An Aurora woman called FOX 32’s tip line after her brother died and a phone company wanted to keep her on the hook for his mobile phone installment payments.

And now, the company is changing their policy based on our questions.

“Was my only brother, so standing joke was, he's my favorite brother,” said Tina Pavlich.

Pavlich says her brother Steve died suddenly just a few weeks ago.

“He was doing what he wanted to do, he was at a 4th of July parade and just collapsed,” she said.

The Vietnam vet joined Pavlich's Xfinity phone plan back in May. He was set up to pay $27 dollars every month for 2 years.

“I called Xfinity Mobile to cancel the service,” Pavlich said.

But to Pavlich's surprise, Xfinity wouldn't waive the remaining balance for the phone, even with a death certificate.

“Sorry, there's nothing we can do, there's nothing in the policy about a death,” Pavlich said.

She says she tried talking to supervisors, but got nowhere.

“I feel frustrated, I feel angry, you know, if he was still alive and god, I wish he was, so, but he's not,” Pavlich said.

She says she was given two options: continue to pay for 22 months or pay it all at once -- nearly $600.

“I just want it canceled so I’m not getting this memory every month for $27.09 reminding me that my brother died. I mean, that's basically what it would be,” Pavlich said.

Since Pavlich wasn't getting the results she wanted, she contacted FOX 32.

“I contacted you, and God bless, you called me back and we set this up,” she said.

We reached out to Xfinity. The next day, they called Pavlich to apologize and waived her remaining balance for the phone.

She then sent us this message. "If it wasn't for FOX 32 News, I believe this would not have occurred. I'd like to thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Xfinity tells us they're in the process of revising their policies to clarify that phone balances may be waived in these circumstances.

"We are very sorry for the customer's loss. We have contacted the customer to apologize for the difficulty they experienced and waived the remaining balance for the phone. We are in the process of revising our policy to make clear to our customer care reps that the bill may be waived in these circumstances,” Xfinity said in a statement.

Editor’s Note: Comcast immediately stopped charging for phone service, but not the outstanding charges for the phone.