Spencer Pratt is speaking candidly about life following the devastating Los Angeles wildfires that destroyed his and thousands of other Southern California homes.
In a video posted on Instagram on Thursday, March 6, the proud husband and father of two, 41, returned to the location of his burned-down home in the Pacific Palisades where he lived with his wife, Heidi Montag Pratt, 38, and their sons Gunner, 7, and Ryker, 2.
At the start of the clip, Spencer held up a charred, barely-recognizable metal box and announced, “Hey Spectrum, I’m pretty sure this is the box that you guys asked if I still had,” apparently calling out the television and cable company with a smile. “I found it!”
He goes on to ask into the camera, “How much am I going to get for it though?” before suggesting that the company “could figure something out” with the destroyed device, adding, “We could do a deal, maybe half?”
Pratt’s video was a direct response to a conversation The Hills alum had with a Spectrum representative about canceling his account after he realized the account was on autopay. He recounted the original exchange on a TikTok earlier the same day, explaining that the representative wanted to confirm he had retrieved the cable box after telling them that his home burned down.
Spencer Pratt/Instagram
“I told them, ‘No, I didn’t grab it with my birth certificate and passport. I just left it…accidentally,’ ” adding that it wasn’t in his emergency go-bag. He then recalled potentially seeing one of the cable boxes in the rubble and decided to retrieve it and send it back to the company with hopes of getting his deposit money back — which he suspected to be about $100.
He then made a follow-up response video after he was contacted by a Spectrum representative, who confirmed in an Instagram message that the company does not “charge for equipment that was damaged due to the wildfires.”
However, Spencer went on to explain that his original gripe with the exchange was that after telling the representative his home burned down, the employee continued the standard prompt of questions and inquired about the cable boxes.
“I would just advise the powers that be at Spectrum to edit the script when somebody says to your lovely employees that their house burned down, you say instantly, ‘Okay, let me waive that fee for your damaged boxes,’ ” said Spencer. “You don’t ask if they have the boxes.”
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, Spectrum expressed that customers who have lost their equipment to the wildfires will not be charged and that company representatives will not be instructed to ask for devices to be returned.
“We are reviewing the agent instructions to make sure that our communication is clear,” read the statement. “Anyone in the fire areas can contact us at this special number 833-499-3306 to help with any questions about their situation.”
The statement also prompts customers to contact the company to receive “options regarding service, billing concerns, credits, or other needs” for equipment that’s been lost or damaged due to the fires.
On Jan. 31, the Palisades and Eaton fires were fully contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
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