Optimum Cable Termination Policy NY, NJ, CT Class Action

When you cancel a service, what is the termination date? Is it the day you call, or the last day of the month you have so far paid for? The complaint for this class action claims that Optimum Cable instituted a new policy that were unlawful in two ways. It required proper notice in New York and Connecticut and it is illegal in New Jersey.

Optimum provides cable, Internet, and telephone services in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. It is owned by Cablevision Systems Corporation and its parent company Altice USA, Inc.

Plaintiff Lee Presser, who lives in Katonah, New York, subscribed to Optimum beginning in December 2014. On January 26, 2019, Presser called Optimum to cancel the services and to notify the company that he would return the equipment to an Optimum location in Peekskill. 

However, the Optimum representative told Presser that he would be charged through the end of his billing period, which had begun just three days previously—that is, he would be charged through February 22, 2019.

Earlier, Optimum’s policy had been to make terminations effective on the day they were told of the termination. However, in October 2016, the company changed its policy: “Service cancellations are effective on the last day of the then-current billing cycle.” Optimum did not give a separate written notice of this policy change to the customers who would be affected by it.

However, New York’s regulations require that “[e]very cable television company shall provide notice to subscribers of its billing practices and payment requirements … 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 payments.”

Connecticut has a similar law: cable companies “shall give notice to the department, its advisory council, and each subscriber not less than forty-five days prior to implementing any changes in billing practices.”

In New Jersey, the change is actually a violation of the law: for cable companies, “initial and final bills shall be prorated as of the date of the initial establishment and final termination of service.” 

A class and two subclasses have been defined for this action. The Nationwide Class is all natural persons living in the US who subscribed to Optimum services before October 10, 2016, and who cancelled their services before the end of their billing period, but who were charged for the entire final billing cycle. The New Jersey and Connecticut Subclasses are the same but for people living in New Jersey and Connecticut, respectively.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Illicit or Unlawful Actions, Improper Notice, Improper or Unlawful Termination or Cancellation Policy, Unlawful Practices