Charter Internet class action overview:
- Who: A Spectrum internet consumer is suing Charter Communications.
- Why: The plaintiff says Charter violated the law with its cancelation policy.
- Where: The Charter Internet class action was filed in a California federal court.
Charter Communications violates the law when it stops its customers’ internet immediately after they cancel their service plans, even though they have paid for their services to the end of the month, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiff Erica Steinberg filed the class action lawsuit against Charter Communications Inc. on March 10 in a California federal court, alleging violations of state and federal consumer laws.
According to the lawsuit, the cancellation policy for the telecommunications company’s internet service violates state consumer laws by requiring customers to pay for the internet even after the service has been stopped.
The lawsuit says Charter offers “Spectrum InternetTM Total,” a monthly service. Consumers purchase the product to obtain internet services for their home.
“When individuals who have bought the [Spectrum] service cancel it, they are still charged for one whole month of service, even though Defendant Charter has stopped the service,” the lawsuit alleges.
Customers threatened with collections, lawsuit states
Steinberg says she first bought the Spectrum internet package from Charter about five to seven years ago, and was paying $74.99 per month.
She canceled her service June 2, 2022, due to a move, but was told she would need to pay for services through June 30, even though the internet was no longer available, she alleges.
Steinberg added that Charter used the threat of sending the bill to a collections agency, potentially affecting her credit score, to force her to pay.
“Charter essentially extorts consumers, forces them to pay unlawful termination fees and knowingly ruins consumers’ credit ratings for services that were not even used,” Steinberg alleges.
Charter conceals its cancelation policy from consumers and reaps ill-gotten gains at the expense of customers, the lawsuit states.
Steinberg seeks to represent a class of consumers who canceled their account and were still required to pay until the end of the month.
She is suing for violations of California consumers laws, breach of contract and unjust enrichment and seeks certification of the class action, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial. She is also asking the court to reimburse the payments made to Charter after the cancellation of services.
Charter cable TV customers sued the company in a Connecticut federal court in January 2022 over an alleged bait-and-switch scheme.
Do you have a Spectrum Internet Total service through Charter? Let us know in the comments!
Steinberg is represented by Shalini Dogra of Dogra Law Group PC.
The Charter class action lawsuit is Erica Steinberg, et al. v. Charter Communications, et al., Case No. 2:23-cv-01821, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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62 thoughts onCharter class action claims company fails to prorate canceled Internet service
I called spectrum a few days before my monthly renewal and asked if they could reduce the price of my internet, which was now up to $95 per month. The gentleman told me he could take five dollars off of the bill, what would I like to do. I told him that wasn’t enough credit that they had just raised my bill twenty dollars per month and I would like to either speak to the retention department or I will find other means to have internet provided to my house. The gentleman told me that would be fine. Five dollars is all he could offer and he would not let me talk to the retention department. I then waited 1 or 2 days and called again and told the lady on the phone I wanted to cancel my account. She wanted to know why, I told her because of the price, and she said, well, I can get you a better price. I told her no need because I had already made other arrangements. She continued down her spiel of telling me over and over again that she could reduce my cost down to thirty or forty dollars a month. I again told her it was too late, I’d already made other arrangements for internet coverage. She then wanted to know who I got my coverage with and how much I was paying at which point I told her that was none of her business. I just wanted my account canceled. At this point I am very perturbed at the fact that I’ve had to make two calls and I still can’t get an account cancelled without arguing with their customer service people. I am at this point very angry about the fact that she continues to question me as a consumer, who should have, at all times, rights to cancel a service with anyone. I’m sure at this point my voice rose and I told her just to fricking cancel the account at which point she disconnected me and never called me back. The next day, I called again and got a new person who is going down the same roll of giving me a spiel about they can reduce my premium and make me a happy camper. Again, I told them just to cancel the account several times in which the guy just continued to give me a salespiel and ask me questions again about who I moved to and what the cost was? The breaking point was when I told him the cost was thirty dollars, he responded that’s not right, because nobody gives that for thirty dollars. At this point I am severely angry and tell him to cancel the effing account and quit asking me questions and do what I ask him to do. He promptly told me that if I spoke in that manner again, he would have to disconnect me. I told him fine, go through your entire spiel, and when you are done talking, I will once again say, cancel my account and I expect you to do it. I let him continue and go through his entire spiel, and at the end, I told him to cancel the account once again, which he did. He also told me that the bill for the next month was about to drop, and he didn’t know if he could stop it, but that I would not be billed for the next month because I had called in to cancel the account prior to the phone call with him. At this point I jumped onto spectrum website and tried to stop my autopay so they could not charge my credit card only to find out that there is no button to stop your autopay. You are just stuck in that function. So the bill dropped, and they took $94.99. Trying to stay off the phone with spectrum, I decided to use their chat feature and ask the chat person to refund my $94.99, as I was told that it would happen I wouldn’t be charged for it. I indicated I had made three phone calls already to cancel the account. The guy on the other end of the chat wrote back to me and says, yes, he sees where I had called in and the last person requested the cancelation and it was denied. No refund. I would like to join this suit if for no other reason than to stick it to spectrum. This is wrong and the consumer has no rights anymore. Big companies now just do what they want and take your money regardless of whether you receive service or not. I will again call spectrum and try to talk to somebody to get my money back but I really don’t have any hope that that will happen.
Yep I called them today to cancel the phone service that is an extra 30 dollars a month now on top of the internet as I am not able to get any kind of promotion since I am a long standing customer. They flat told me that I will have to pay for the full month, even though the new billing cycle doesn’t start till the 22nd of the month. I want to sue the snot out of them, they are not supposed to bill you like that.