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Charter customers have filed a class action lawsuit saying that the communications company misled its customers about the costs of its Spectrum cable television services.
The Charter class action lawsuit was filed by Randall Byrne, David Kleuskens, Jerry Henry, Jason Weber, and Susan Foster-Harper. These customers say that they are from Ohio and Kentucky, and all have Spectrum TV subscription with Charter.
Allegedly, the company deceptively increases the monthly rate, charges undisclosed fees, reduces the number of channels included in its packages, and makes it hard for customers to cancel their service subscriptions. The plaintiffs say that they were all offered a lower monthly rate that was then raised, contrary to what the company advertised.
The customers all present similar stories of how the company implanted a “bait and switch” scheme that led to them paying more than was advertised when they decided to purchase subscription.
In Henry’s case, he states that in May 2019, Charter promised him a flat promotional price of $150 per month for a cable package that included Spectrum TV Select. He says that the company promised him that the would be charged this rate for at leas ta year, but only five months later, increased fees. Henry says that by October 2019, the company had raised his monthly rate by increasing the Broadcast TV Surcharge by $1.51.
Then, in December 2019, the company alleged advertised a Spectrum TV “Seasonal Plan” that would allow him to pay less money per month to maintain service at his Ohio home while spending winter in Florida. The Charter bait and switch class action lawsuit asserts that, though the company advertised that he would be charged $9.99 per month for the plan, he was charged $23.40 per month after the company added an undisclosed $13.50 month “Seasonal Broadcast TV Surcharge” to his bill.
The Charter cable TV hidden fees class action lawsuit argues that Henry’s case is far from unique. Allegedly, the company makes a regular practice of advertising low rates but effectively charging customers much more by piling on undisclosed service fees.
The customers in the Charter cable class action lawsuit state that when customers have complained about this surcharge, they have been told a number of different, conflicting stories about the surcharge. They site one customer who says that the first time he called to ask about the Broadcast TV surcharge, Charter told him that it is a “tax” that Charter has no control over.
The second time he called, he says the was given a different explanation. Allegedly, he was told that Charter imposes the surcharge because the local government charged a fee to Charter to show some channels. The Charter representative allegedly told the customer that the surcharge was Charter’s way of passing off this government fee to consumers.
However, the customers in the Charter cable class action lawsuit assert that this is not the case. They say that the surcharge is really just part of what Charter charges, but is concealed so that the company can make the monthly rate appear lower.
According to the customers, the company misrepresents this fee in various ways throughout its advertisements and actively instructs its staff members to lie about the nature of the surcharge to customers.
The customers then go on to take issue with the discounts offered by Charter, saying that they are not real discounts. Allegedly, Charter advertises discounts by offering a certain percentage off of the monthly rate, but effectively makes this discount meaningless, because they strategically raise the base monthly rate, which also raises the discounted rate. This is done because then the discounted rate is still the advertised percentage of the full rate, but is higher than the dollar amount initially advertised.
The customers say that, when they complain about this fake discount, the company claims that the discounts have remained the same though the rates have risen.
Finally, the customers say that they purchased the Charter cable TV services specifically because they believed that the services would include certain channels. However, the company allegedly makes a practice of removing channels from the package, and then telling customers that they must pay extra for channels that were once included in their cable packages.
Have you ever encountered hidden fees in your cable or internet services? Share your experiences in the comments below.
The customers are represented by Hugh W. Cuthbertson and Steve Rickman of Zangari Cohn Cuthbertson Duhl & Grello PC, Michael W. Sobol and Daniel E. Seltz of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, and by Daniel M. Hattis of Hattis & Lukacs.
The Charter Cable TV Bait-And-Switch Class Action Lawsuit is Randall Byrne, et al. v. Charter Communications Inc., et al., Case No. 3:20-cv-00712, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
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568 thoughts onCharter Cable TV Class Action Alleges “Bait and Switch” Tactics
Beware–Spectrum in Columbus, Ohio has sent out a new offer for Spectrum TV Choice at $29.99/month for 12 months, but does not disclose that there is an additional $22.20/month local broadcast surcharge attached. They go so far as to advertise that TV Choice “includes many of your local channels” but do not mention that you have to pay nearly double the advertised amount every month. This one seems pretty bait-and-switchy to me, and I wouldn’t have even read the offer let alone signed up had I known the offer did not include the $22.20/month local broadcast surcharge.
I’m pretty annoyed.
I have had a living nightmare with this company I was at it to the affordable internet service that the government provides free services for those that can’t afford obviously internet and so I went in had it installed after over a month of being charged of services that were clearly not even being used and weren’t even hooked up and so I didn’t get that free trial I did get charged for the whole month and then it gets worse so since I didn’t use my ACP credit it was discontinued cuz you have to use it within the 30 days and clearly if I sign up on that I would like to obviously apply it and I can’t pay for my internet that’s why I got approved but they didn’t ever give me my internet so now I’m on this ongoing monthly thing I’ve called so many times I’ve been forwarded to like eight people every time I’m on the phone and it just strikes me as just the most f***** up place I’ve ever f****** talked to no one’s helpful and everyone just put you on hold and then you have to start all over again It’s awful I hate them and I will not for some reason they will not drop my service that they don’t give me I have not used the internet at all at all like nothing and they would say oh well it’s not based on that but they will not end my service they just transfer me to the next person the next person the next person and so I just have this ongoing bill of services I’ve never clearly used and people that want to just rob others for something that they couldn’t even afford in the first place
Told I would have to upgrade my 4 receivers to updated equipment. Went to the spectrum store and turned in my 4 receivers and got just 3 updated ones. Installed them and everything worked fine for 2 days. After that I was locked out of about 30 percent of the channels I had subscribed to for more than 5 years. When I contacted Spectrum they said I would now have to pay $30 more a month for what I had before and I have one less receiver. They said nothing at the Spectrum store when I exchanged the receivers. They said plug them in and I was good to go. Talk about a bait and switch. Tell me to get newer receivers say nothing and than two days later extort more money from me for the same service I had. Add me to the lawsuit. They are nothing but lying thieves.
Good evening I really need to speak to an attorney ASAP cause 90% Of my issues plus some that will help the clients (Prayfully to STOP Charter/Spectrum, Time Warner) above from Robbing & Lieing & Misleading & Deceitful Practices. They just sent $365.10 to my Benefits card & I’ve only been with them since December on the Mobile & This has been a nightmare!! I was with Sprint for 23 years & this COMPANY has them topped & I have at least 100 pages of notes, names, times & dates when speaking to these people who work at for this company. Please HELP???
I get charged $21 for that Broadcast Fer. It went up from $6 to $9 and now $21. Plus my internet went up $30 without hearing a word from them. They are thieves!
I got lied to by charter spectrum as well cell phone package is wrong and they are giving me a different amount t back that was not the amount promised and my package was to be all inclusive and they were getting us to pay by the gig not all inclusive they said it’s charges that I still have to pay even though I was deceived and that they would coach the sales agents who misled me and even though I got lied to I needed to pay these charges even though I didn’t want what they gave me .one of my cell phone bills were 200 when I was promised and inclusive bill of 85.oo please help I feel stuck with them because of working from home and needing fast internet even though I’m having trouble with that as well low speeds and supposed to get 400 mb per
Been so many lies by this company please get ahold of me from me changing my plan to and issues for years with the sound when I changed plans I never did see the price and I lost more then one movie channel which person never told me and since just keep charging more and more non caring company there’s so much more criminal stuff they did I’d have to write all night also why $17.95 for 3 local channels and fees you don’t even know what they are or wear there from .
Please add me. With Spectrum being the only provider in my area we are held hostage by there awful service, outages and constant fees and rate increases. The only resolution they have is that you buy a new router! Service can never find the wires, it’s ridiculous
Please add my name. I too have tried to complain about channels being removed with no reduction in price. The $21.00 surcharge is more than 10 % of my total bill so it seem s highly illegal. It seems like a classic bait and switch. J gave been a Charter Spectrum customer for over 20 years and have always been able to watch NFL football games before, but now I was required to pay $6.00 more for that same NFL football coverage.
Charter Spectrum has been charging me for a home phone line for a year and half that neither my husband or i requested. I did not look at our bill since I had it set up on autopay. They are denying us a full refund. Please add me to the list.
I recently noticed I’ve been paying a 21 dollar fee for several months for that same fee I was told it was for the 3 charter local channels please add me to suit
Would like to have my case looked into for spectrum/charter who on 3 occasions within 3 months have misled me on what I was getting and not sticking with what they said I would get on fixing the problem.