Spectrum Class Action Says Internet Speeds Are Falsely Advertised

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Charter Communications Inc. and Spectrum Management Holding Company LLC, formerly known as Time Warner Cable, are facing a class action lawsuit that accuses both companies of misleading consumers into believing that they could “deliver internet service at speeds and with access that they knew they could not deliver.”

Plaintiff Elizabeth Hart and Le’Roy Roberson file this class action complaint alleging that they were, “harmed by defendants’ false representation and other wrongful business practices.”

Hart and Roberson are both California residents who say they signed-up for Time Warner Cable years ago. TWC formerly provided internet and cable services to the residents of California before May 18, 2016.

However, “on May 18, 2016, as part of a series of corporate transactions that resulted in Charter Communications, Inc. (Charter) merging with TWC and continuing to operate its business, TWC merged with and into Spectrum Management Holding Company,” the class action explains.

Spectrum and Charter continue to provide cable and internet services to customers under the name, “Time Warner Cable.”

According to the class action complaint, the defendants promised an advertised and specific internet speed but failed to deliver on that promise. Hart says she tried to change her internet service provider but was told that her only option was Time Warner Cable or Spectrum.

Roberson says he paid for an internet speed of 300 mbps, which he believed to be the highest allowable internet speed, but it continuously never reached anywhere close to that speed. Roberson claims that “when defendants’ personnel came to his home to test his internet speed on multiple occasions the speeds never registered above 130 mbps, far below what he was paying for.”

The plaintiffs’ complaint states that, the defendants knew that the internet speed request could not be delivered upon as they had already, “leased to many consumers older- generation modems and wireless routers that were incapable of supporting the promised internet speeds.”

Accordingly, a proper network and infrastructure was not set up to allow new consumers with newer modems and wireless routers to obtain the promised internet speed, the lawsuit states.

The defendants’ misrepresentation has been deemed fraudulent by the plaintiffs and as such, unlawful, unfair, and deceitful. The wired and Wi-Fi internet speeds are often far below what was being promised. What the defendants had moreover continued to do, was to “advertise that their wireless internet services supported the same speeds as wired connections that are not hampered by modem and wireless router capabilities and network limitations.”

Charter Communications and Spectrum are alleged to be in violation of: 1) The Lanham Act, 2) California’s False Advertising Law, 3) California’s Automatic Purchase Renewals Law, 4) California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, and 5) California’s Unfair Competition Law.

The plaintiffs are represented by Jamin S. Soderstrom of Soderstrom Law PC; and Douglas L. Mahaffey of Mahaffey Law Group PC.

The Charter, Spectrum Internet Speed Class Action Lawsuit is Elizabeth Hart and Le’Roy Roberson v. Charter Communications Inc., et al., Case No. 8:17-CV-00556, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.