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Massive Canadian Class-Action Cellphone Suit Is Approved
BeanBunny writes "A Saskatchewan, Canada court has ruled that a $12 billion class-action suit can proceed. The suit alleges that 'system access fees' that the cellphone companies have charged ($7-9 per month) are unfair and constitute price gouging. 'It is described as the largest class-action in Canadian history, potentially affecting every cellphone user in the country. Currently, there are 7,500 complainants signed onto the suit.'"
You know, that would've been a lot more topical back when we weren't so close to parity.
I've always wondered about that fee. I remember when I first got a cell phone eons ago, when I signed up for a plan and the first bill did not jive with the plan. I didn't remember paying a large fee for my landline so I phoned them and got quite upset at first. After that I noticed that the sales reps tell you there is an "access charge" which by now shouldn't need to exist.
It is also interesting that Bell raised their fees. Good thing I don't use them as my cell phone carrier.
The suit alleges that in selling the fee, representatives and company personal presented it as a regulatory fee rather than a non-regulatory fee.
7 Canadian dollars = 6.825273 U.S. dollars
Advertise one price, and then hit the customers with another. Their only real justification is that 'everyone else is doing it' and that not doing so would put them out of business. Its about time something like this came along. There's one company that doesn't have additional fees, and it's part of their sales pitch.
I don't like to do free publicity, so I'll just say that company hasn't been deflowered nudge, nudge, wink wink, say no more.
You can't take the sky from me...
They would probably just change the contract, which they are allowed to do, and then the consumers, if they are savvy. Problem is, most consumers don't: 1) thoroughly read everything that comes in their monthly bill 2) realize that the phone companies can change the contract at will 3) realize that the consumer can void the contract if the change has an adverse effect on them
I'm on prepaid, only paying $10/mth+tax and nothing else. That's one of the reasons I picked prepaid to begin with; No system access fee, at least in Canada on Telus.
If you are Canadian, and have a canadian cell phone, Go to http://www.merchantlaw.com/cellular.html to sign up...
Ian Ameline
It's deceptive. If I sign up for a $49/mo plan and incur no extra expenses (MMS, minutes, downloads) then why is my bill $63/mo give or take a few bucks? Why does it vary when I never have extra charges?
If the plan costs $63/mo then advertise it as that. Not $49/mo.
And then all these "free phone" deals. I keep asking them for that free phone, but they won't give it to me without money. The sign says "free phone." and it doesn't have an *. If it says free, then why can't I have it free?
I have a free phone you can have, just sign here. What did you sign? A contract for a variable monthly fee service which I can change the fee structure at any time and an agreement to pay $300 if you cancel. I reserve the right to increase your fee's at any time. And I can add $20 worth of monthly fee's if I feel like it with no recourse on your side.
Sucks. But they all do it.
Not for customers who already have $XX price for a plan. The price of the plan is fixed (unless you switch to a new plan), and would be grandfathered in with the contract, etc.
My captcha is parasite... how nice and fitting for a comment on a cellphone-related article
As a Toon Town resident all my life, and a SaskTel user for 95% of that (1.5 years with Fido, ARG!) let me paint a picture of how castrated SaskTel cell-phone service is.
;-)
I use that term because "it has no balls whatsoever".
- We pay Bell Mobility in Ontario. Yes, the last-bastion of Crown Corporations only gets a cut of the Bell pie.
- We cannot use the vast majority of web-to-phone services. Promotions and content are carrier-dependant, and despite paying Bell, we do not use their network. How quickly would you lay out a contract for another 400,000 potential customers versus another 4,000,000?
- We get CDMA, with no sim cards. Meaning the phone I pay $300 for can only be used in 14% of the globe compared to the phone you paid $300 for.
Tri-band is A Good Thing.
The main benefits of course are:
- We get rural coverage, which is kind of important. We're larger than California with less than 1 million people. (And yet there's never enough parking downtown!)
- Supporting a heartless local monopoly is preferable to a national one.
- Chances are you know someone who works in the local call centre and can kick them in the nuts for bad service. (See what I did there?)
However, I may be biased. Living here does that.
"> You sell us oil? You're joking right?
> We sell *you* you're oil ... and beef ... and lumber ...
Canada does oil swaps with the US. Rather than the US moving oil from the east coast to the west coast, and Canada moving oil from Alberta to the east coase, Canada sends some oil to the US west and central states, and "swaps" it with oil the us imports from the middle east and venezuela that is sent up to estern Canada.
However, the net balance i petroleum products is definitely in our (Canada's) favour, and there is not enough tanker capacity to make up for it if almost any country stops shipping, or unilaterally raises the price. Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela could form NorAmPEC, charge a $100/bbl "environmental tax", and there isn't enough capacity to replace it. Even with the resulting lower demand, NorAmPEC would still come out ahead, money-wise, especially since OPEC would probably jump in.
Kevin Smith on Prince
Bell is the worst of the lot. And the system access fee is just ONE of the fees Bell throws at you.
Try getting any bell services without paying for a landline. Go ahead...try...I'll wait. Want DSL from Bell without paying for a landline? Yeah, that'll be $20 per month, and THEN they'll let you pay for DSL on top of that.
Not one other phone company that offers DSL does that. I cut my landline off a year ago, and they refused to truly drop it, wouldn't let me. So I cut them off completely. Called up Execulink, had their DSL installed within 12 hours...over the SAME LINE, with no actual phone service over the line whatsoever...Plus their DSL fees were cheaper to boot.
Bell is big and dumb. Rogers is only a wee bit better...they used to be much better in a lot of ways, but they keep changing to do things the way Bell does...Well, Bell charges for it, so we should too.
All I can say about this suit is...sign me up!!!
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