My router was burned in the Eaton Fire. Here's what I had to do to avoid getting charged

Earlier in the year, I lost my house to the terrible wildfires in California. My family and I were thankfully away from Altadena and unhurt, but the place itself was a total loss.

We didn’t find much in the ash, but I did locate a lump of charred electronics — what was my internet router. Normally, you return these when you turn off service or you pay a fee.

On my first call right after the fire, customer service was sympathetic and said “just ignore the equipment charge.” But that fee stayed on the bill.

You can see the the toasted router in a Marketplace video from a few weeks after the fire.

“They’ve been trying to dun me for the 150 bucks because they want their router back,” I say. “I’m going to enjoy bringing my router back so they leave me alone.”

It was just a passing thought — nobody needs to see my rubble. But the charge was unwelcome at a time I’d not seen any fire insurance money. And Marketplace listeners were writing in asking how it was going with my router. So I kept at it.

It’s been an adventure. Call No. 2, the rep said she’d put “router burned in wildfire” in my account.

By the end of January, an AT&T salesman came over when I was putting internet into our new rental place. That $150 charge was still there. He said he’d take it to his supervisor.

But about six weeks later, a “final notice” came in the mail. So, it was time to go to the brick-and-mortar AT&T store in Los Angeles.

Inside the store, it was back on their phone to a rep with enhanced powers, yet still no easy way to zero out that charge. But when I said I still had the evidence, he got an idea.

The plan was elaborate: Find a UPS or FedEx place and — it was really happening — send in my briquette. So I drove to the UPS store to see if they’d take this burnt-up thing in a Ziploc bag. Fingers crossed.

Once inside — uh oh, where’s the serial number? Melted. Creatively, the UPS guy offered to try putting in a bunch of ones where the serial number should go. Would that really work?

Less than a week later: Success. The $158.61 charge was gone. I’m not sure which of all those interventions worked, but something did.

Now, you could say a bill like this is why you have fire insurance. Fair enough. But, you know, the electric company isn’t charging me for the burned wires, nor did the garbage company for my melted bin.

And I worry about fellow fire survivors. More than 16,000 homes and other structures were destroyed in the Eaton and Palisades fires. What about their internet boxes or possible effects on credit scores if they don’t pay? After resolving my thing, only then did I reach out to AT&T media relations for comment for this piece.

The company declined my request for an interview but sent back a statement saying the company’s “thoughts are with everyone impacted by the devastating wildfires.” The statement did, at least, clarify their policy: “Customers are not expected to return equipment destroyed in the fires or pay out-of-pocket for damaged equipment. We apologize for any miscommunication implying otherwise.”

Other information for internet provider customers impacted by the L.A. wildfires earlier this year:

The following is the full statement AT&T gave to David Brancaccio: “Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by the devastating wildfires in Southern California, and our teams continue to support impacted communities and customers during this extremely challenging time. Customers are not expected to return equipment destroyed in the fires or pay out-of-pocket for damaged equipment. We apologize for any miscommunication implying otherwise.”

A spokesperson for AT&T also provided the following information and links:

• Customers with concerns about their service or damaged equipment can reach us at att.com, on the myAT&T app or over the phone at (800) 288-2020.
• For more information on our response to the Southern California Wildfires, please visit go.att.com/california-fires.

Spectrum, a competing internet company in the area, states that their customers will not be charged for equipment damaged in the fires.