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“The ultimate goal is, they were overcharging people, charging people wrongly and we want the money back,” said Tony Merchant, a lead lawyer in the class action suit.
Ottawa (12 July 2012) - Big telecom in Canada is facing a $19 million class action law suit, following the Supreme Court of Canada's decision to allow the suit to proceed. The big three, Rogers Communications, Bell Mobility and Telus had been asking the court to throw out the case over the use of system access fee charges.
Telecommunication companies have been charging subscribers "system access fees" to allow customers to use their networks. Different companies used different terms to describe the same fee which was applied on top of any monthly usage costs. Tony Merchant, a Saskatchewan lawyer with the Merchant Law Group, launched a class-action lawsuit in 2004 alleging the companies were overcharging people.
It has not just been the major telecom companies charging these fees. Regional providers such as SaskTel, MTS and Bell Alliant have been collecting money from customers on this basis as well. They are also named in the suit.
The carriers unsuccessfully tried to have the case thrown out at the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in 2011 but the judicial panel saw enough merit to the case to allow the case to continue.
Merchant, now representing over 30,000 people who have joined the suit, will be able to present the full case at trial. Two points in his argument will be that the fees amount to "unjust enrichment" and that the fees were not adequately disclosed to customers.
“The ultimate goal is, they were overcharging people, charging people wrongly and we want the money back,” said Merchant.
System access fees have been an on-going concern in Canada for consumers. Canadians pay some of the highest cellular fees in the world and class action law suits are a new trend for consumers seeking resolution to concerns. In a previous case against Telus over charges for a long-distance network fee, the court ruled that the company must reimburse customers for the costs. Other cases have been filed in the United States, most of which have been settled out of court.
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) launched its publication series, Smart Money: Consumer Self-defense for Times Like These to raise awareness of issues of concern to consumers and to help find solutions to individual and collective problems. The publication, The True Cost of Communicating, tackled the outrageous fees being charged by the telecommunications industry, as well as other consumer concerns, and argued for goverment regulation in the industry to protect the public interest.
More informaton:
NUPGE's Smart Money: Consumer Self-defence for Times Like These
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE