Consumers expect to pay the price they see advertised for services. But the complaint for this class action alleges that Altice USA, Inc. and CSC Holdings, LLC, its which provides Internet services as Optimum, promised to give consumers Internet services for a flat fee, then added “a fabricated, undisclosed, and extra-contractual additional charge” they called a Network Enhancement Fee to increase the cost.
The class for this action is all current and former Optimum customers who were charged a Network Enhancement Fee for Internet service received in New York or Connecticut within the applicable statute of limitations.
Altice is a large provider of cable TV, Internet, and telephone services serving nearly 5 million home and business customers across twenty-one states. CSC is a regional subsidiary for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, providing 2 million people with Internet and/or a bundled plan that includes television or telephone services.
The companies normally offer Internet plans at flat monthly fees that apply for a certain period of time, for example, one year, the complaint says, and for a while they appear to have charged the advertised flat fee.
For example, the companies advertised a $29.99 Optimum 100 Internet service plan, although the complaint admits that smaller print warned, “Additional taxes, fees, surcharges, and restrictions apply.” However, the complaint contends, “A reasonable consumer would assume that any ‘additional taxes, fees, [or] surcharges’ would be legitimate government or pass-through charges outside of [the companies’] control…”
But the complaint alleges that in February 2019 Optimum began adding the Network Enhancement Fee to its bills at the rate of $2.50 per month per customer. The complaint claims that the companies “buried the Network Enhancement Fee in the middle of their monthly bills, and provided no definition of explanation of the Fee in their monthly bills or on their Optimum website.” The fee was imposed even on customers who were in the middle of a guaranteed-price promotional period, the complaint says.
Around a year later, in or about February 2020, the complaint alleges, they raised the fee to $3.50.
The complaint claims that if a customer noticed the fee and asked about it, the companies’ “agents would falsely tell the customer that the Fee was a tax or government fee or was otherwise out of [the companies’] control.” But the complaint says this was false and that the extra fee was simply a way for the companies to charge customers more than the rate they had advertised.
According to the complaint, the companies have now extracted an extra $150 million from New York and Connecticut customers in the form of the Network Enhancement Fees.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Optimum Internet Added “Network Enhancement Fee” NY, CT Complaint
July 22, 2022
Consumers expect to pay the price they see advertised for services. But the complaint for this class action alleges that Altice USA, Inc. and CSC Holdings, LLC, its which provides Internet services as Optimum, promised to give consumers Internet services for a flat fee, then added “a fabricated, undisclosed, and extra-contractual additional charge” they called a Network Enhancement Fee to increase the cost.
Optimum Internet Added “Network Enhancement Fee” NY, CT ComplaintCase Event History
Optimum Internet Added “Network Enhancement Fee” NY, CT Complaint
July 22, 2022
Consumers expect to pay the price they see advertised for services. But the complaint for this class action alleges that Altice USA, Inc. and CSC Holdings, LLC, its which provides Internet services as Optimum, promised to give consumers Internet services for a flat fee, then added “a fabricated, undisclosed, and extra-contractual additional charge” they called a Network Enhancement Fee to increase the cost.
Optimum Internet Added “Network Enhancement Fee” NY, CT Complaint