Rogers Class Action Lawsuit

[TigerTheLion77]

I'm surprised I haven't seen anything on this board.

In a decision released November 4, 2008, Justice Shaughnessy of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has certified a $100 million dollar class action lawsuit against Rogers Cable.

A couple of questions for those who might know: can you register as a claimant now or is it too late? If it's not too late, where do you register, with the law firm directly? I did find a link for details of the suit here - but it doesn't say anything about registering as a claimant.

I'm happy to see something like this against Rogers since I feel, like many others, they take their customers for granted and only have their interests in mind. Upon Googling this suit I came across a copy of Rogers Terms and Conditions. Point #8 says 'Except where prohibited by applicable law, you waive any right you may have to commence or participate in any class action against us related to any Claim and, where applicable, you also agree to opt out of any class proceedings against us.' Sounds like a typical Cover Your Ass tactic by a big corporation and don't know how much clout it holds.

Even if an individual only gets $10 out of this suit it's worth it. I'd take great satisfaction in taking their money for the grief I previously endured as a customer.

[docted]

Thanks for posting this.
Does anybody have any further details??

[PFD]

I wonder if every Rogers customer gets a rebate or soemthing, or whether you have to sign up for it.

[Bombtrack]

During 2006, Digital Home Canada received complaints from hundreds of Rogers cable customers who complained the Rogers on demand (ROD) service was subject to freezing, crashing, and at times completely unavailable.



Rogers on Demand (ROD) is a term coined by Rogers Cable to describe the companies Video on demand service. VOD is a pay-per-view television service in which a viewer can order a television program from a menu and have it delivered instantly to the television set, typically with the ability to pause, stop, rewind and fast forward programming.



According to Rogers Video on demand customers the problem extended well into 2007. This Digital Forum post from a Digital Home Canada readers is typical of the feedback we received during this timeframe.

I haven't seen an end to these problems.

[TigerTheLion77]

Originally Posted by PFD

I wonder if every Rogers customer gets a rebate or soemthing, or whether you have to sign up for it.

It might be a 'rebate' but I think you usually have to register as a claimant for these kinds of suits. I seriously doubt Rogers will just give rebates to their customers who subscribed to the service at the time but that might have something to do with the judgement in the suit as well. I would think whatever the ruling was it would be distributed equally to registered claimants but I really don't know anything about this process so I'm just speculating.

With regard to the actual complaint, I know I experienced disruptions with the TMNOD service which I was not credited for. It was probably unavailable for two months at one point but it was hit and miss for a while. Not sure if the suit goes into the various On Demand services or just ROD.

[thenewdc]

This whole lawsuit is ridiculous. I'm surprised it got certified in the first place. Not having access to a service is certainly not the same as being billed for something you didn't recieve, in which case the lawsuit might make sense. If this lawsuit against Rogers succeeds it will set a precedent. Does this mean everytime technology fails to meet expectations that a company is forced to pay up? I havent seen any type of technology that doesnt have glitches from time to time and sometimes timely fixes are just not possible. Maybe Rogers should just drop their On-Demand services altogether, that way they won't get sued. Personally, I will be surprised if the complainant wins this one.

[NeilN]

Why is it ridiculous? The package I paid for includes ROD so not having access to it is certainly being billed for something I didn't receive. We're not talking about one or two times here - the problems occurred over a five month period. Technology has nothing to do with it. If my newspaper fails to get delivered on certain days, I'll definitely get a rebate for these days.

[de-kidd]

I think the lawsuit is a little over the top. $100,000,000 Really???? In that case I think I can sue for $1 billion for the split recording issue and the improper IPG descriptions.

Quote -
The lawsuit is commenced on behalf of all persons who were subscribers to Rogers On Demand digital cable services on or after May 1 to September 30, 2006.

If this is the language in the lawsuit then I am amazed that this even made it this far. No where have I ever 'subscribed' to ROD services, never been billed for a ROD service unless it was pay-per-view so this lawsuit IMHO has no legs.

From the Rogers website -
The Movie Network OnDemand is included FREE with your subscription to The Movie Network.

ROD is promoted by Rogers as 'free' value added features, not something you are explicitly billed for.

VOD was just taking flight a few years ago and there will always be growing pains with technology as it is adopted and new features try to be added to increase the benefit. I think lawsuits like this only stand to create roadblocks for companies trying to increase the features they can offer their customers.

While it pains me to take the side of Rogers I think those in the lawsuit will be hard pressed to prove they were paying for ROD services explicitly.

Really were they that put out by this, take the good with the bad look where we are now more movies and shows available FREE with ROD.

[PFD]

I agree it is superflous. Especially since all it means is that each plaintiff gets a few bucks.

Meanwhile, Rogers legal costs and insurance costs go up and guess who ends up paying for that?

[TigerTheLion77]

Does almost everyone that responded here work for Rogers or what? Talk about defensive. It sounds like you've been brainwashed with this what-can-we-do-about-it mentality. Without trying to sound fanatical, I think these are the kinds of things that need to happen in the world to show these conglomerates that they can't bend over the 'little guy' and give it to him without someone standing up and saying 'Hold up, Tonto, not this time'.

There seems to be a lot of armchair judges out there who, not knowing the details of this suit, can't believe it was ever certified. What's ridiculous is to think this would have been done on a whim.

Look, let's not kid ourselves and believe that Rogers is just going to give us something for free. It may not be billed as a separate line item on your invoice but you can rest assured it's a service you ARE paying for one way or another. It's a cost that is worked in to your monthly fee whether you use it or not.

NeilN hit the nail on the head, this wasn't just a minor service interruption, it was something that occured over a few months or more and inconvenienced their customers while Rogers offered nothing in the way of compensation.

This is simply a case of a corporation not giving a damn about their customers and thinking they can take advantage of them without fear of consequence. I'm glad this suit was filed and hope Rogers is held accountable. Whether or not compensation is given to their customers or Rogers faces a fine, it really doesn't matter to me, I'll just be glad if the ruling goes against them.

[Sandman71]

I too would like to know if its still possible to add my name to the suit. I was a Rogers customer during that time frame and used On Demand almost exclusively to watch movies & shows. And yup, 9 times out of 10 it would fail.

[nathan]

Whether or not the service actually costs Rogers money to provide (which I'm sure it does) is beside the point.

It's advertised and promoted as a free add-on/service. While I understand people's frustrations with it's shortcomings (of which there are many), I don't see how anyone can possibly feel morally justified getting behind a class-action lawsuit that demands monetary rewards for something advertised as free.

But since I dare take the side of a "big-evil corporation", it must, of course, mean I work for them, and this post can be ignored.

[TigerTheLion77]

Originally Posted by nathan

Whether or not the service actually costs Rogers money to provide (which I'm sure it does) is beside the point.

It's advertised and promoted as a free add-on/service. While I understand people's frustrations with it's shortcomings (of which there are many), I don't see how anyone can possibly feel morally justified getting behind a class-action lawsuit that demands monetary rewards for something advertised as free.

But since I dare take the side of a "big-evil corporation", it must, of course, mean I work for them, and this post can be ignored.

Well, if it's advertised and promoted as free then it must be completely true. That's like saying the advertised price of a car is the final price you expect to pay. You gotta read the fine print, only in this case Rogers hasn't put it in the fine print, they've put it out there as this look-at-how-nice-we-are pseudo-advertising claiming it's free all the while raising your bill every year, usually more than once. If it's on your TV and Rogers supports it then you pay for it, plain and simple, but I guess ignorance is bliss.

I think the crux of this suit is that Rogers wasn't being truthful and didn't act responsibly in the matter.

I welcome your posts even if you only support the evil-doer's but some disclosure would be nice. (That's a joke, BTW).

Now, let's get back to the OP: I haven't been able to find out any news about how/if you can submit a claim. I've sent a couple of emails but haven't received a response.

If anyone out there knows anything in terms of when you need to register as a claimant in the process or any other info about the suit it would be appreciated.

[boink]

my ROD sevice hasn't been perfect, but I think the lawsuit is a waste.

even if for some crazy reason they win, and rogers has to shell out a few million, do you think for a moment they will take it from their cashflow? or stop a dividend payment to the investors to pay for it?

no, it will be paid by increasing what customers pay each month.

if you want to get money/credits from rogers for on-demand services or technical issues. They do it all the time, call them directly and talk about your frustration and work out something. These frivilous lawsuits are a big waste of everyone time.

cheers!

[MapMaker]

It's advertised and promoted as a free add-on/service. While I understand people's frustrations with it's shortcomings (of which there are many), I don't see how anyone can possibly feel morally justified getting behind a class-action lawsuit that demands monetary rewards for something advertised as free.

If it's free, then I don't need to pay ANYTHING every month in order to use it!

Oh? I need to pay Rogers for access to it? Then it's NOT free.