Cablevision Class Action Alleges Deceptive Cancellation Dates

A class action against telecommunications giant Cablevision, and the company that bought it, Neptune Holdings US Corp., doing business as Altice USA, alleges that the company no longer cancels customers’ services on the date they actually cancel. Instead, Cablevision allegedly waits to finalize the cancellation until the end of the billing cycle.

“Defendants deceptively changed their billing practices to increase profits on the backs of consumers and failed to provide proper notice to consumers,” the complaint asserts.

Plaintiff Christopher Krafczek lives in New York, and states that he became a Cablevision subscriber for telephone, cable tv, and internet services in December of 2014.

Krafczek says he cancelled these services on Dec. 3, 2016, and his wife returned all of the equipment to the Cablevision store. According to Krafczek, it was only then that he and his wife were notified that they would continue to be charged for their subscription services until the end of the billing cycle, on Dec. 22.

Krafczek claims that had they known of Cablevision’s change in its cancellation and billing practices, he would have waited until the end of his billing cycle to cancel. Instead, he paid for almost a month of services that he could not use.

Krafczek returned to the store to ask about the cancellation, where he was allegedly told to look at his billing statement from September. The complaint acknowledges that Krafczek’s billing statements from August and September of 2016 had a section labeled “Optimum Updates” and said that “Effective October 10, 2016, service cancellations become effective on the last day of the then-current billing period.”

However, the Cablevision class action argues that these statements were insufficient to provide actual notice to Cablevision customers. Under New York law, “Notice shall be in the form of a separate written notice and shall be provided…to all subscribers at least 30 days in advance of any significant change in such billing practices or payment requirements.” Since the “notice” provided by Cablevision was limited to “updates” in a couple of billing statements, and not a separate notice, the class action alleges that Cablevision violated New York consumer protection laws.

In addition, the lawsuit contends that Krafczek is not the only Cablevision customer to complain of the lack of notice for this change in services. The class action cites “numerous complaints on social media” regarding the same circumstances. For example, one person posted, “Scam artists…Called to disconnect on Oct 10 and they say I have to pay thru Nov 8…was a result of a policy change that supposedly came in fine print…I did not see this, and I did not agree to this change.”

The Cablevision lawsuit requests certification of a Class of “[a]ll people who subscribed to Defendants’ Optimum services prior to October 10, 2016 and who have cancelled their services before the end of their then-current billing cycle, but who were charged for and paid Defendants for the entire then-current billing period.” The class action seeks damages, including statutory and punitive damages, to potential Class Members.

Krafczek is represented by Marisa Glassman and John A. Yanchunis of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group.

The Cablevision Deceptive Cancellation Date Class Action Lawsuit is Christopher Krafczek v. Cablevision Systems Corporation, et al., Case No. 2:17-cv-02915, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.